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Today we got to experience something we were not sure we
would have been able to 10 months ago – Father’s Day. Ten months ago things were looking so grim we
didn’t know if George would be here for this…. But… not only is he here, he is
starting to be more “alive” and is looking toward the future.
As a testimonial to the Power of Prayer (POP) and Power of
Faith (POF), George was the guest “preacher” at church today. A while back he had told Pastor Rod that he
wanted to do so. He needed to wait until
he could be a little less emotional about all that has happened. He probably would have gone a little bit
longer but Pastor is retiring in a week so it was going to be now or
never. On one level he is less emotional
about the effect this has had on him, but deep inside the emotions are always
there and ready to surface at a moment’s notice. Some things are just not in our control.
I was able to round up the three daughters, a son-in-law and,
of course, the grandkids – It was important to us that family be there for this
special sermon. I was glad that a few of
his closest friends made it as well: Steve and Robyn, Cathy and John.
He spent the past two months or so drawing up his outline,
trying to figure out which points he would like to cover. This was going to be a somewhat educational
talk about appendix cancer as well as a few miracles that happened because of
POP and POF. He did a good job with his
sermon today. . . . Despite the fact
that I was tearing up before he even took to the pulpit. That didn’t help … but I couldn’t help
it. It’s just who I am. I get very emotional when I remember not only
the hard times but the times pure faith, the moments of relief, of joy,
etc. All of those together are very
emotional for me.
George was able to make a few jokes – even ad libbing about
calling up “Mr. Google” and “Mr. Yahoo” in order to find out more about this
cancer. He took us on a roller coaster
ride of ups and downs, laughter and tears, during his 25 minutes or so of
speaking. Yes, some of the jokes were at
my expense – especially when he spoke of me trying to get him to eat – eat – eat! Among the “miracles” due to prayer were the
fact that we found a surgeon close to home, that the surgery was given the “go”
signal and that surgery was shorter than expected, that he was able to climb
stairs before going home, and the biggest miracle of all was the sudden return
of his taste buds.
For lunch today a catered meal from Buca di Beppo (Italian
food) was on the agenda. It was perfect! No cooking for the guys on Father’s Day (and
also none for me either) – and easy clean up as well. So we got to sit, eat, relax and visit for
few hours before the kids all went home.
Addy and Bella got to play in the little pool and get some energy out
before their ride home as well.
Later in the day at home he asked what he did right and what
he could have done better with. I told
him that he did pretty well. Aside from
a few facts that were incorrect, things only I would know because I remember,
he got the point across at how this played out and how effectual the prayers
were. Of course, this led to a
discussion about how the facts were wrong and it took me awhile to convince him
that I was right! (He could always go
back and read this blog to confirm it!) He
said he left out a few things – some intentional, some not. He was going to talk about why this was hard
to tell his daughters – but some of the girls are in difficult places right now
so he decided to omit this today. A few
other things he either forgot to speak to or decided he was running out of time
so he would just have to table them for this particular sermon.
All in all, it was a good day. George says it was one of the best Father’s
Days he has ever had. Mostly because he
got to see all the girls in the same day and that doesn’t happen very
often. The fact that they were at church
with him while he gave his sermon – priceless to him.
So, we give glory to God that George is continuing to get
stronger. He is “tinkering” more in the
garage. While I was on my glorious vacation,
he put up some spotlights in the garden and started to do some bathroom remodeling,
including painting it and rebuilding the shelves. He is looking forward to some vacation time
when the twins are here to attend VBS week at church. He is starting to figure out what he wants to
do when he retires from his job (a time still to be determined). At this point in time we are looking toward a
future - - and that is a beautiful thing!
