Today’s Reading: Luke 9:57-62

My daddy loved a good story! He loved to get caught up in the plot of a movie or a book. In fact, his love for books led him to major in library science. He loved his job at Indiana University, where he was able to do research and work on his PhD surrounded by the books he loved. My sister and I spent hours in the children’s section of the library and would wait there patiently for him to return from his office. We didn’t mind; he had passed on his love for a good story to both of us.

My father was a great storyteller! I have such fond memories of him sitting by my bedside reading a book or making up a story for me and my sister. He made every story come to life and I was always disappointed when he said I would have to wait until tomorrow to hear what came next. He creatively used sounds and fun voices to make his characters come to life.

When he became a grandfather, my girls would bring him a stack of books to read to them. When they were very young, he started a tradition of writing a new Christmas story for the whole family. Before we opened gifts, we would gather around the room in anticipation of this year’s story. It often involved the animals in the manger and it always included a story of redemption and hope.

His favorite stories involved Jesus. When I was a little girl, he gave his heart to Jesus and stopped running from the call he had received as a teenager. He walked away from his dissertation, he walked away from the library he loved so much, and he stopped living for himself. From that day on, he was willing to do whatever God wanted him to do and he was willing to go wherever God said to go. In fact, this was his favorite passage:

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” — Luke 9:57-62

I WILL FOLLOW YOU WHEREVER YOU GO.

One day, my dad was in downtown Peoria for an event at the Civic Center and he walked by Big Al’s, a place respectable people do not enter. To his surprise, God told him to go inside and share the love of Jesus with the women who were searching for the wrong kind of love. He quickly became a pastor to those who did not feel welcome in the church, a counselor to those who had so much hurt in their story, and a father to those who had never known the love and care of their own father. For decades, he shared the love of Jesus with women and their families. He sacrificed so much and risked the opinions of so many in order to obediently sit by the woman at the well and offer her living water.

This morning we will celebrate the life of my father. Many will come with their own experience of my father’s impact on their life, and I will arrive with mine. I will walk down the aisle, this time without him by my side, and honor the life of a man who taught me that there is no joy greater than following Jesus wherever He leads.

My prayer for you this morning is that you will have a new appreciation for the heritage that has been handed down to you, and that you will take a moment to thank those who have strengthened your faith over the years. May you have a heart for God that leads you to pray today, “I will follow you wherever you go.”