Thursday, February 11, 2016

Remembering My Dad, Who Had A Friend In Jesus




















The third of five siblings:















Confirmation Day in the Lutheran Church
(center row, center):















High School Theater (the thief with the South High
School letter and two stars for speed skating):



















With his mother and father at their
home in Minneapolis:



















College graduate in Business
Administration:



















In charge of payroll, married to his
first wife:



















This is how I remember my Dad
during the years when I was
growing up:



















If my Dad were still alive, he
would be 102 years old today.
We had a strained relationship
after my mother died in 1994, but
after my father died in 2003, there was
nothing left of him but light and love.

Just happened to read a quote
this morning The Path of the
Yoga Sutras, by Nicolai Bachman,

"That pure light of awareness resting
within each of us was never born
and will never die; it is perpetual
and eternal."

That reminded me of the George
Harrison lyrics from "Any Road",

"I keep traveling around the bend
There was no beginning, there is no end
It wasn't born and never dies
There are no edges, there is no size"

My Dad was a lifelong Christian
who was not without questions
about what he had been taught
in the Lutheran Church as a boy.
In the last years of his life, he had
the words to "What A Friend We Have In Jesus"
written in calligraphy and framed
so that he could see it on a daily basis.

In his last years, my Dad wrote that he felt sure
that Jesus was not God's son.  He experienced
Jesus as a dear friend and expressed his gratitude
to God as he understood God in this way in the last
months of his life:

"My Daily Prayer to My Almighty God

You are above all of creation.

In it You have created all universes and everything in them.

In it You have created millions of stars and planets, far apart.

In it You have created the greatest physical force in our Universe, the magnificent sun.

In it You have created the planet for us all to live on, the Earth.

In it we have You, the sun, oceans, mountains, caves, rivers, lakes, rain, snowflakes, waterfalls, forests, land, air waves we cannot see, every living creature and the most powerful force of all, Love.

Thank You my Almighty God for everything on our planet, Earth.

I ask You, my Almighty God, to forgive me for any harm I have done.

I ask You, my Almighty God, to forgive anyone who harmed me, whether I knew it or not.

You are above all human beings that You have created.

No one on Earth can be compared to You, my Almighty God.

Amen."

3 comments:

Tara said...

beautiful post. how lucky you are to have these photographs. keep the memories alive! pass the stories down to the next generation. I care more about the family history, the older I get.

Anonymous said...

A beautiful and loving remembrance of your father.

dritanje said...

These are lovely photographs indeed, your Dad looks such a happy and sensitive man