With Father’s Day coming up,
devotionals this week will be all about dads.
Included are some personal accounts from some of our staff. Their thoughts are honest reflections on
fatherhood with the struggles, strengths and weaknesses of real-life dads. Enjoy.
Hear,
O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These
commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on
your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands
and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses
and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Dad died in May of 2007. He had
been struggling with dementia for about a year. Mom could not take care of him
anymore. He died six weeks after he went in the nursing home. My mom said he
didn't want to pay the money to stay in there and decided enough was enough. He
grew up in Thackerville Oklahoma as the son of a rural mail carrier. He helped
out his family working the farm and they would grow everything you could think
of. He also loved playing basketball and going to church. He went and tried out
for Hank Iba, the basketball coach at Oklahoma A&M (Oklahoma State) and was
told he was not quite tall enough. “I was thankful for the tryout” he told me.
After high school Dad went to business college in Fort Worth and became a
salesman working all types of jobs until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. “Men filled the streets to join”, he
told me on many occasions. Dad joined up making the rank of Staff Sargent in
the Army Air Corp. I asked him one time if he was scared to go to war and he
replied “When evil rises up someone has
to beat it back down Eric”. Dad served mostly in the American theatre in
Alaska helping train Russian pilots to fly bombers and was close to being sent
to the pacific before the war ended. He joined up with 4 other friends and only
2 of them returned home. “The real heroes
never came back Eric”, he said. Dad rode the train home from the service to
Oklahoma City and hitchhiked back home calling it one of the best days of his
life. He met my Mom 3 years later on a blind date. She was set to go to work
for the U.S. Consulate office in Egypt but after meeting Dad she told me “I forgot about all that”. My
grandfather did not want any one courting his daughters. After 4 months he
decided he would take care of things concerning their relationship. My
grandmother told my mom if she “was going
to marry that man you better do it soon cause I can’t control your Daddy”.
They went across the state line to Ardmore, Oklahoma and were married. ‘“Sam was not scared” Mom told me. After
a couple of weeks (and my Grandfathers pleading) they went back for a Sunday
lunch and my Grandfather embraced my Dad. After that he became my Grandfathers
favorite, telling Mom he “was a good
catch”.
Dad went to work for the city of
Forth Worth first as the secretary to the mayor and then as a sanitation
supervisor checking that the trucks made their pickups on the west side, north
side and other territories he was assigned to cover. He retired as a 25 year
man. He was known as “Mr Sam” in the
neighborhoods and didn’t see color. “Everyone
should be treated the same Eric”.
Dad raised two sons. He was
especially proud of John Mark Adcock the eldest son. He overcame terrible
obstacles in life from an auto accident and had Dad’s respect for it. He helped
with his recovery and was beaming when he finished college. Dad was proud of me
too. One of the best memories I have of him is when he came to see me lead
music at a camp in Abilene in 1995. A group of about 500 students were doing
the motions of a song we were leading and as I looked out on them there was Dad
in the middle of some kids playing along.
Steady is the word I always use
when I am talking about my Father. He was a man of principle and integrity. He
was out of church for the first ten years of my life but returned to it, becoming
very involved at FBC Weatherford. He helped usher and take up the offering. He
had me in to lead music and speak about student ministry to his Sunday school
class. When the controversy about the “new” worship music was brought up Dad
said “The younger generation needs to
learn the old songs and us older folk need to embrace the new ways”. He was
always willing to listen to me and discuss things. He bought me the guitar I
play, telling me “If you are going to do
music for the Lord I want to help you Eric”. It is my most prized
possession.
Dad was always at work doing
something and used it to teach me this word.....”With all
this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold
back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you
do for him is a waste of time or effort.”
-1st Corinthians 15:58. What
are we working for, working on, and working towards? Is it a lasting thing or
is it temporary? The work of our Master Jesus Christ is ongoing and evolving and
living. It is not something that starts and stops. It’s a lifelong process.
Where are you in this process? Are you in the work of our Master or are you
stuck in the religious activities? Let’s live steady and consistent today in
all we do at home, work, the store and our church. Let go, fight, win!
Submitted by Eric Adcock
