The Future: Not Ours To See

At the age of fifty-four my daddy died. Years later my friend Gary died at age fifty-four. No one wants to lose a dad, a friend or anyone close to them at any age, but at the young age of fifty-four that is especially true. My mother and my brother depended on my dad for their physical needs. Mike was nineteen, a freshman in college, and he depended on daddy for many things. I was twenty three, had been married for a little over a year, had finished college and was in my first year of teaching and coaching. There were so many things that I needed to learn from my dad at that stage of my life. I depended on his wise counsel.

I can think of one or two reasons why leaving this world and going to Paradise at that age in my dad’s life were best for him, but I know so many more reasons why living to be an old man would have been the better outcome for him. In less than a year of his passing the first of his five granddaughters was born. Susan, his first granddaughter, was born to Sherri and me. He never got to see any of his granddaughters. Oh how he would have loved those little girls. He missed seeing both Mike and me become preachers. He missed being at Mike’s wedding and knowing his wife, Lisa. He missed watching his godly daughter-in-laws minister and support their husbands. He missed being able to help Mike and me in the low times of our pastorates. And of course he missed all of the family gatherings and celebrations which for us were not quite complete because he wasn’t with us. I miss that hearty laugh of his. What a good time we all would have had!

But God had other plans for my dad. Daddy loved God so much. He loved the people in the community where he lived and those in his church. He wanted to sell his grocery store so that as he put it could, “Do more for his Lord.” I don’t have the plans of God written down on my calendar. I don’t always know what is best for me. So how could I possibly know what was best for my dad, my friend Gary or the other good friends of mine who have recently died? I suppose my list of reasons for why it would have been better for daddy to live to be an old man are selfish. So I praise God that his plans are perfect as are all his ways. I’ll have to accept the fact that something about our dad’s death at age fifty-four was best for him, and in some way for those of us who loved him so much.