Thankful Thursday

Editor’s Note:  I know it is no longer Thursday and that my Dad’s Birthday was yesterday.  But if you won’t stress about that, neither will I!

Today is my Dad’s Birthday.  He is now 87 years old and how thankful I am for my Dad!  Eighty-seven years, that is a l-o-n-g time! I look back at the changes that I have had in my life and I am amazed.  I mean my high school years are now referred to as “retro” and  I guess retro is really in!  I find that interesting since I was never “in” in high school but now I am!  So I try to imagine what it is like to look back on the changes that  87 years bring, and all of the experiences and events that have been part of my Dad’s life.  What a lot of living!  Here at the Polo Club I am living among people who are in the same stage of life as my parents.  They have wonderful stories to tell.  They live in circles of affluence that I did not know existed.  They travel and have multiple homes.  They have lived successful and prosperous lives…as the world counts success and prosperity.  But the Bible describes success and prosperity much differently~

Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from you mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

I am beyond blessed to have a Dad who has a life of success and prosperity from God’s point of view.  I know that is rare even among Christian families.  I know too that my Dad is not perfect or without mistakes in his life.  His life is just rooted in God’s Word.  It changed him when he trusted the words in it to save him from his sin and to give him a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  It has changed him each day of his new life, making him to be more and more like Christ.

My Dad has spent many hours of his life reading and studying God’s Word.  Since I was a little girl I have had the example of an open Bible somewhere in our home.  I can remember my Dad reading the “Our Daily Bread” devotional around the breakfast table every morning before he left out the back door for work.  It is still the same today~he reads the Bible, he listens to Bible teaching on the radio, he has his favorite Bible teachers on the t.v., he attends Bible Study Fellowship, he is faithful to God’s House each Sunday taking in the Word. Even after all these years, he always has something new to share that he has discovered!  Once he and my Mom took a Bible class in prophecy.  I don’t know if that got him started or not, but he loves prophecy.  He is always focused on the imminent return of the Lord. 

Just in case you think sitting around reading the Bible is kind of boring, let me remind you my Dad had six kids. He did attend the sporting events and school programs.  There were lots of activities to get to.  He kept a huge garden for a lot of years.  There were picnics and outings to the mountains. He worked hard in road construction and for a number of years he worked a second job.  He taught Sunday School for a lot of years and was active in his church.  The point is, he had a full and busy life, but he chose to make God’s Word a priority in it.  Oh how I need to follow his example!

Success and prosperity have little to do with riches and life accomplishments here on earth.  But it is all about the riches and accomplishments done here on earth for God’s glory.  It is knowing God and seeing things from His point of view, then bringing yourself into alignment with that.  My Dad understood that!  And he has a very successful and prosperous life! 

Here’s Mom and Dad.  They had this photo taken last year for their 60th Wedding Anniversary~

Here is our family from Christmas 2012 when Nathan was home.  Add to this spouses, twelve grandchildren, many of which also have spouses and twelve great-grandchildren, plus at least two more are on the way!  Way to be prosperous Dad!

I love it when I get to observe Grandpa with his grandkids. I snapped this picture as we were breaking up for Christmas Eve this year…a little one on one time with Andrea. My Dad loves his grandkids.  He faithfully prays for them, takes an interest in them and does all he can to support them. I’m pretty sure they all love him just as much!

Here’s a picture of the “Singing Paulino’s” with a little bit of the '”retro” that I mentioned earlier!

So, maybe I should clarify the above picture…Paul is our last name and none of those guys sing…very well.  Marty had long hair because he was growing it out for a fundraiser for his camp, not because he has a little “hippie” left.  Scott does not play the piano…he plays the accordion! And Nate was home from Malaysia and brought all these cool shirts as gifts, so they were trying them on! 

We are all getting together for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate Dad.  But yesterday Mom and Dad came by to pick something up and we went to lunch together.  So here’s a fresh off the press Birthday photo of Dad and I. 

I am so very blessed!