Dads Are Special

Here we are, the day after Father’s Day 2020, and having perused Facebook comments about fathers, I’ve been pondering the two fathers in my life that have sculpted whatever good is in me.

My earthly father (Col. Donald E Farr) brought me partway, demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, lacking only the self-control to take care of his body such that he left this life with a heart attack at 56 years young when I was 21. Mom was 51 when he died and she never dated after he died, saying that “No-one could replace your daddy“, for the next 30 years. Mom had it right!

How Dad managed to model such care, love, and so many golden truths and leave the legacy of what a good husband, father, community, and business leader is to such an unteachable son can only be the work of God.

Like most stories I read yesterday on Facebook about fathers, pictures of our dads are rare, because they were usually behind the camera, but those we do have are precious to us all. The one above taken and retrieved from a 16mm film clip during WWII is Colonel Farr with my sister and “little colonel” and the other is of Dad through the years.  I miss him more each year, not less, and I carry the names “Farr” and “Jesus-Follower” with honor, and I hope with a little dignity.

As I recall, Dad didn’t talk about his faith in God, he just lived it and saw to it that his children were brought up in the church learning about God and Jesus in Sunday-school and church membership class. I don’t recall much about grandpa, because he died when I was three, but some of the writings of grandma reveal a deep faith that must have led to what I saw in my earthly father. Sadly, he died before I had enough maturity to grasp such things.

My Heavenly Father picked up the unfinished task when Dad died five years later and Jesus has walked me through great seasons of growth and desire to be like Him, teaching me when I have been teachable to study to understand what holiness is and could be in me.

I rest in the promise of Philippians 1:6: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” It’s quite obvious to all who know me, and even to myself that I have a long way to go, and at 75 time is slipping quickly away.