Ed and John and a Happy Father's Day to all those with Fathers...

I am still down for the count with a horrible bug. But feel well enough to sit and write again...yay! This is not the first incarnation of this post...sadly the first couple made no sense as they were written under the fog of a fever ridden me! So here goes one last attempt!

Today I help my kids celebrate their daddy. And he so deserves it! But as somebodies child, I sure miss my own daddy, the original tough guy...Eddie Brennan.

I remember a father's day a million years ago, when I was 17. Our friend's son was being commissioned into the Marine Corp. My parents were at the party for father's day/commissioning. I was a waitress at Friendly's at the time and used my break time to attend the party. I hugged and kissed and congratulate everyone there that needed to be, except my old man. I was not speaking to him and would not for about a year or so. I don't even remember what he did, but I remember being done with him and after all, at 17, I knew I was better then him so it was the right thing to do...thought the somewhat cocky child I was. I had no idea that honoring my dad meant that I honor him no matter if he was honorable or not. Under the heading of growing in the Lord and His word.

Dad and I had such a love/hate relationship it's almost hard to understand. But let me make this clear: I adored him and I know he adored me. I so miss hearing: "I loves ya' Mair."

It is because of Ed's love for me that accepting the love of my Abba was not so hard to do. My dad didn't have that kind of love growing up. His own father had signed the kids over to the orphanage or allowed them into foster care during the depression and the War. Hard to imagine a Heavenly Father that never, ever turns His back on you when your earthly father does just that.

In the end, I am blessed to be known as Eddie Brennan's kid. He was funnier then I will ever be, more generous and way more tough then any of today's wanna be tough guys. I have the gift of knowing that man's love...and even if he did throw a vacuum cleaner at me once, the truth is he was just trying to get me clean up my act...the hammer? He was just trying to get me to nail down my priorities...the hedge clippers? Just cutting me down to size....the iron? Just trying to get me to straighten out my act of course!

Dad was somewhat convinced that there was no way he could ever be forgiven for all that he had done. He once told me that he had broken every single commandment. Sigh...not something anyone wants to learn about there daddy. I told him at the time that God's word does not say: "For God so loved the world, He sent His only begotten Son that non might perish...except that Eddie Brennan, because well, he was really bad." No, there is forgiveness for anyone who seeks it in the name of Jesus.

They say kids get their image of who God is by who their dad is...it took years for me to get rid of the image of God stealing typewriters off of a tractor trailer onto a cloud. Yes, Dad was a moving man/thief...I got to share that image with him once. I also got to remind him that there was a thief on the cross next to Jesus, one that we know is in Glory with Jesus right now. If he could be there, so could Ed.

So while I want with everything in me to know that I will see Daddy in Glory, the truth is, I just don't know. I have a funny image of when I die, getting to where I am going and first seeing my dad...the first thing I will ask is: "Okay, did I go up or down?" LOL!

But I do have that blessed assurance of where I am going...so if I do see Dad again, I will hug his neck like no one's business! I have hope that Dad meant it when he prayed with me at the end of his life.

...and today, I miss him. Today, I will help our kids celebrate their Daddy, John. John has everything about my dad that was good...John has his own list of bads, just none of my dad's list. I may be able to trace my good marriage to my own dad and my dating rules: never, ever date a bar tender was among them.

So God bless our Daddy's...the good ones, the lousy ones, and most of all the redeemed ones. And if your Daddy is gone, rest assure, you have One, in Glory and He loves you unto death. Abba. He is the great I Am. If you call on Him, if you have that relationship with His Son, You are a Kings Kid and with that, the privilege of being called His own.

Happy Father's day all.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYHT-TF4KO4