Until It's Time to Say Goodbye

Good Morning Everyone,

Today's message is not  your typical message. Today is a day for me to share my heart with you. Tomorrow it will be eight years since my loving stepdad went home to be with Jesus. My friends knew him as a very mild-mannered guy who smiled and loved to cook and was as supportive to me as the children who came from his loins. Neighbors knew him as a man who would smile and say hello. And if you asked him for help, he would give it without so much as a thought. There was a surprise. He had worked for a well known company in our area for nearly 30years. He had been in multiple divisions throughout his career so he met many people. We didn't know how much he was respected there til it was time to say goodbye. Many of his fellow co-workers, supervisors, etc came to pay their respects. It was then that I realized he made an impact to more than just his family. He made an impact for being a nice guy who liked to laugh and smile but wasn't afraid to say what he needed to when he needed to. He was a man who showed the love of Jesus by how he treated others. It was on the job that he collapsed and lay in a coma for a week. I had a moment this week which is normal. Because as I was getting on the train line that he used to drive, I remember how I couldn't ride that line for the first six months after he passed without shedding tears.  If he saw me on the platform he would call my name. There were times when I rode one of the trains he operated and would hear his voice on the intercom. So I was grateful for taking a job in another city so I didn't have to be reminded. But it also occurred to me that he was once a business owner. He knew the value of not only working for someone else but for working for himself. He had done so much in his life. But making a positive impact on myself and others through love was one of the greatest gifts he gave and the best memory I will ever have of him. I'm still learning from him even after his passing.

I miss him very much. And as I write this with tears, I will say that losing a parent, the pain never goes away, it just gets a little easier with time. I am so grateful that God allowed me to see the impact he made on others. Sometimes you just don't know until it's time to say goodbye.