Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today would have been my Dad's 85th birthday. He went to be with the Lord nearly four years ago, but at times it seems like yesterday. I miss him often, but especially when we put up our Christmas tree. There are two ornaments that bring tears to my eyes when I pull them out of the box. The first is a small pharmacy - you see, my dad was a pharmacist, and he loved his job because he cared for people. In 1994 Silver Star Pharmacy closed forever. That was the year I bought this ornament in order to remember the life we had for 33 years.

The second ornament is a beautiful glass teardrop with gold accents. It is a tradition for us each year to buy ornaments that symbolize our year in one way or another. In November 2003 my Dad found out he had brain cancer. He lived only eight weeks after his diagnosis. Many tears were shed during those weeks where time seemed to pass quickly by. For him time was standing still because he couldn't do the things he loved, but our family knew that God was about to open the doors to eternity and call his name. January 3, 2004, was the date God had chosen before my Dad was born to call him home. That year was the year of tear-filled firsts: my first Father's Day without him, my first birthday without him there to hug me, our first Thanksgiving and Christmas without him to lead our family in thanking God for the gift of family. So appropriately this beautiful teardrop ornament is the one I selected to represent 2004. My tears were sad and frequent, but I was not without hope. The Bible brings great comfort with these words from 1 Thessalonians 4:

The Coming of the Lord

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, [4] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.