Let me share with you my letter sent to my three sons today... Father's Day:
Ron, Tim and Mike,
Thank you so much for your good wishes
and expressions of love! I love you and each of your respective wives and my wonderful grandkids... and am proud of each of you. I would love to be with you all
on this special day… but it wasn’t destined to be.
Instead I fully enjoyed a wonderful
weekend with some of my spiritual children. I am too old to beget new
babies, but not too old to beget new spiritual children… and I have to tell you
that some of the testimonies that these youth are bringing to me are
exhilarating indeed!
Marlene, 21 years old,
wrote me her story today. She was 17 and in high school when during the
same month your Mom passed away, her grandfather died and then her grandmother weeks
later. She had been living a typical wild teen-age life, but their death
threw her into despair. On Friday, December 3, 2010 Dan Carnival, Pastor Osvaldo’s son, that you will remember had accompanied his Dad to Mom’s funeral in October of that same
year, and who had befriended Marlene in high school, invited her to a leadership meeting where I was preaching that night.
She now points back to that date for the
beginning of a totally new life. She gives the credit to Mom and to
me. Mom, of course, was already with Jesus. She says that that
night I told the story of Mom’s last days. She says that if I had
preached anything else probably nothing would have touched her. But Mom’s
story made the difference for Marlene… since she was still in deep depression from the loss
of her beloved grandparents. Now with a brand new life, she plans to go on to seminary and prepare
for mission work in a foreign country. She is taking a trip to Haiti soon
along with a ministry team. That's Marlene.
Carla also wrote me today with an
encouraging testimony. She is from Chile. Her parents are pastors
and she is preparing for ministry in IBRP where I met her last year. I
had just completed preaching for a chapel service to the student body.
After a time prayer with the students, everyone else had left me to pick up my stuff and load it
into my car. But Carla stayed to help me
pick up my gear and offered to carry my accordion to the car. I told her,
“That thing is really heavy and the car is parked a long ways away. Here,
carry something lighter.” But she insisted. At the car she told me
how the Lord had touched her in the chapel service and she had a deep desire to
serve me in some way. Now a year later, I was hoping to see Carla again. I was not disappointed. She was the first to greet me... with a hug and this time I captured her picture. She still was wanting to serve me hand and foot… any way she
could. That's Carla.
Here is Ana Lin, 26, who just
received her degree as a medical doctor and is doing her residency in a
hospital in Buenos Aires. She heard me speak briefly as she stood among
an estimated 90,000 youth last year in River Stadium. She tells me that
she burst into tears that day. She later searched and found me on Facebook and by
email she adopted me as her "father". She discovered that I, in my many travels, often
could not get a WIFI connection. She purchased a portable USB port modem for me and
insists on paying the bill to keep it going even though I begged her to let me
pay it. That's Ana.
Numerous young men have told me similar
stories, but these three girls have written their stories to me… and are among many other youth, both men and women that continually bless me with their expressions of love and appreciation.
Somehow,
at this stage on my life, I do not feel threatened by accepting and expressing
love for these youth. I know… and they know that we have no interest other
than to be a blessing to one another.
So here I am far away from "home" having a happy Father’s Day.
Love,
Dad
