Today I loaded up my lawnmower. My wife and I drove about an hour to my mom and dad's house. Their grass was in need of being mowed and my dad has not been able to mow it for quite awhile. I mowed the front yard, both side yards, and was in the process of mowing the back yard when I saw mom and dad come out of the house across the deck and begin the slow and long process of coming down the porch steps.
My dad has always mowed his yard and been very proud of his nicely manicured lawn. He would spend almost every hour of every day outside either sitting in his swing, just piddling around the yard, or perhaps in his pavilion polishing the granite countertops or hanging something new that he had found on the wall.
Today dad came out because he wanted to go out and just look at his pavilion. This was only the second time he had made it into his backyard and his pavilion since Thanksgiving some four months ago.
As I mowed the yard I watched my dad slowly make his way just to the edge of the pavilion stand there for just a couple of minutes looking and then he turned and he made his way back to the house. As I watched him go step by step across the brick sidewalk that he and I lay just a few years ago I began to cry. Dad is just a mere shell of the man he once was. It was hard seeing that he needed to hold onto mom as he walked back to the house. Today he struggled with putting thoughts together and forming the words to speak.
My dad, Ed Matlock, is one of the godliest men I know. I can’t say that my dad was the kind of father that I saw reading the Bible nightly or even on his knees praying daily, but what I saw was a man that loves God, serves Him, and praises Him. My dad taught me many lessons of faith growing up. One of the first ones was serving. My dad was a active deacon for 54 years, and he believed that if the doors needed to be unlocked and things set up then we would be the family to do that. If the doors needed to be unlocked well then they needed to be locked as well and so we would stay and clean and lock the doors after everyone had left.
Hebrews 10:25 says for us not to forsake the assembling of one another. This is another lesson that my dad taught me was to meet with my fellow Christians whenever there was a meeting going on whether it was a Sunday morning or night then you needed to be there. If there was one on Wednesday we should be at that one as well, and if someone was doing something in the church they needed support of their brothers and sisters and we should be there to support them as well.
Another area of faith that my dad taught me was giving. He felt if you had something you weren’t using anymore you needed to find someone to give it to who could use it or if you felt you needed a newer version someone could still use the older one and you needed to give it away. He taught me that as blessed as I am God wants me to give something to someone whether I needed it or not. Not only did he do this with material things I watched him do this with his time as well. He gave of his time when others needed assistance, or just someone to sit with them.
Another area of faith that my dad taught me was in giving the first 10% to the church. This was an area that I watched my dad lead our family in many times. It didn't matter if we were broke dad always honored God with his giving whether we were sitting on top of the world or broke he continued to give his 10% to God and praising Him every step of the way.
I give my parents a lot of the credit for me going into the ministry because of the examples that they were for me growing up. Their teaching me to trust in God, to serve Him, to love others, to give my time, talents, money, and even giving away the material possessions that I may have to someone else in need.
Probably the most important thing that my dad taught me was how to be a godly husband. My dad honors my mother and loves her unconditionally and for this I am so thankful. My dad is not a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination, but he is a man of integrity, of love, generosity, and so much more.
As I watch my dad deteriorate, his eyesight failing, his mind slowing, and his body failing; I find it hard to watch someone you love and respect the way I do my dad. The peace and the joy that I find in all this is in his future. I know when God calls him home he will be sitting at our Savior’s feet.
Dad, I love you.
