Friday, October 5, 2012

31 Letters – Letter #4


To:  Daddy
From: Me

On the night that I was born you wrote a poem just for me.  I use to be embarrassed when you would recite the poem in front of company, at church, or in front of my friends.  Now, I know that you did it and do it because you are proud of me.

We don’t always see eye-to-eye on things, but no matter what, at the end of the day I love you anyway.  I only get one daddy and God placed me with you.  I have to admit that I wasn’t a fan of going to church every single Sunday. I use to wish that you had another job like some of my friends/classmates father’s.  Back then I just wanted another day to watch cartoons in my pajamas, but instead we would wake up very early every Sunday to not only make it for church, but also for Sunday school.  Sometimes we would even have a couple of evening programs to attend and then you’d have to stop by to check on the sick and shut-in.  By the time we made it home we were all exhausted.  But after I got a little older I realized that preaching wasn’t just your job, but it was your calling or your assignment.  So, regardless of how many times I hid in mama’s closet or pretended I had a stomach ache, we still have to go to church.  There was no calling in on this job.  You couldn’t “work from home” or adjust your calendar to work every other Sunday and have Friday’s off.  Your job wasn’t just once a week, but every day of the week and sometimes you were on call.
There was no overtime paid for any extra work done outside of “regular business hours”.  Unfortunately, you weren’t compensated for all of your extra work like we see some of the mega church ministers today.  But with all of the things going against you I could tell that preaching was your passion. Preaching was something that you would do for free. 

Now that you’ve retired I feel that you’ve given up a bit. Yeah, you don’t have a church anymore, but the church is wherever God is.  The sanctuary can be your living room. As long as there are souls to be saved then your work is not done. 

So daddy I am encouraging you to find that spark, that sweet point, that motivation that you had when you came to know the Lord over fifty years ago.  Encourage yourself. God is not through with you yet.  People are counting on you.  I am counting on you.  Don’t forget who you are in Christ. 

The church – the body of Christ – is in need of Leaders to step up and help mold our generation.  Daddy, there are people in the world today who are lost.  Our men are more concerned about material things (possessions or the bling bling).  Our women have become products or inventory sitting on store shelves waiting to be purchased.  They have become overly disrespectful towards one another.  While all of this is taking place our children – our babies are dying.  So I am telling you that we need you.  We need you to be that vessel that you were created to be.  We need to go back to the WORD and stretch out your arms to help yet another generation.

I know you can do it!  I believe in you.

Love you daddy,

Christy 



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