Running With My Dad

Well, I didn't actually run run with my dad. I was running with him figuratively as I thought about him and prayed for him. Lately, I have had a sensitive heart to the things to which I feel I'm not being faithful. Besides my poor efforts to witness for Jesus, I have also been lacking the caring and watchful eye a daughter should have for her elderly father. So, I called him today and made plans to get together with him for dinner.

Since I knew I was going to be seeing him, I thought about the things we could discuss over our dinner as I ran my 4 mile course. This kept my mind quite occupied and before I realized it I had already ran up one of the more difficult hills. That worked out nicely!

My running route takes me by a home for the elderly and on occasion I will see what I am guessing to be an adult child pushing their elderly parent in a wheeled chair along the sidewalk. Often I think that the day will come when my father is no longer here and thus need to redeem the time with him before that day comes. There are a couple of verses in 1 Timothy Chapter 5 that God has brought to my attention on many occasions. Verse 4 says, "if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them (the children or grandchildren) first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family, and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God." And verse 16 says, "If any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, let her assist them, and let not the church be burdened, so that it may assist those who are widows indeed."

At this point, my dad is far from being dependent, but he is in his 70's and I must be sensitive to that fact, plus the fact that he lives by himself and could use the company. So, my run with my dad was good. I truly looked forward to spending the evening with him.

Our dinner was lots of fun and to all of our surprise, a carnival just happened to be near the restaurant. So my dad, three of my children and I were off to the carnival. As we walked toward the ticket booth, my dad reached into his pockets and gave me some money to pay for a couple of rides for each kid. I didn't want to take it, but I could tell it pleased him so to be able to do this. He said, "I just don't get to do this kind of thing that often." I took the money, bought the tickets and watched my dad watch his grandkids ride the rides at the carnival. You should have seen how he smiled as he watched them. It was indeed a grand ol' time!

When I went running with him earlier, I had no idea we'd be spending our time together at a carnival. You just never know what one day will bring! Maybe, when I am old and sitting at home by myself a lot, one of my kids will call me up and we'll find ourselves at the end of the day watching children ride the rides at a carnival. And if that day ever comes, my wallet will be out of my purse in no time at all, following the example of my own dad. And I'm sure I'll be smiling just has largely as he was.