I treasure this image for so many reasons:

[1] it is my Dad;

[2] it is my Dad and me;

[3] it is a perfect snapshot of our family and spiritual relationship;

[4] and it is the last image I have of my Dad and me before he died from here.

The date of the picture is 1/23/13. Dad would depart this life [what he always called “this tabernacle of clay”] to be with Christ on 2/10/13—just 18 days later. I was on one of my visits there to be with him, 450 miles away—they lived in Lexington NC, and I in Lexington KY. I treasured all of my visits back ‘home,’ but I knew this one was especially poignant…surely my last visit with him here.

This image is actually a screenshot from a :45 video one of my sisters took of us without our knowing it. That’s one of the reasons it so blurry—it is somewhat moving. The video doesn’t have any audible, distinguishable sound. But you can see Dad’s lips moving and some inaudible, distant, muffled mumbling. But we are doing one of our favorite father-son exercises: we are reciting Scripture to one another and in unison. In this case, it is Psalm 23. I do distinctly remember him getting to the last line, and mustering up some of his last remaining strength, and saying with emphasis: “And I shall dwell in the house of The LORD forever!” And 18 days later he did just that! He took up his eternal residency in the House of The LORD!

See ya’ soon, Dad! And we’ll love it more then than we did back on 1/23/13! And ‘we’ll sing and shout and dance about’ with unrestrained gusto!

PS

If you’re interested in the line ‘we’ll sing and shout and dance about…,’ it’s from the refrain of a song we’d sing ‘back in the country’ in WV. Our Dad pastored Little Sewell Baptist Church outside of Rainelle [Greenbrier Co.] from 1956-66:

The Homecoming Week | Raymond Browning

1 Upon our journey here below we meet with pain and loss;
Sometimes there is a crown of thorns, sometimes the heavy cross.
The dreary road to Calvary, the bitter goad and sting,
But what’s inside those gates of pearl will be worth ev’rything.

Refrain:
When we’re inside the gates of pearl,
We’ll learn a lot of things,
We’ll have a harp that’s made of gold,
Perhaps a thousand strings;
We’ll sing and shout and dance about,
The Lamb will dry our tears;
We’ll have a grand homecoming week,
The first ten thousand years.

2 The shadows now begin to fall, the time is drawing nigh,
When Christ our Lord shall come again like lightning from the sky.
And while we wait and suffer here, praise God, we’ll shout and sing,
For one glimpse thro’h those gates of pearl will be worth ev’rything. [Refrain]

3 The precious blood of God’s own Son has saved and sanctified
A wondrous people for His name and they are called the bride.
Tho’ here neglected and despised, one day the Lord will bring
His chosen ones within the gates, and that’s worth ev’rything. [Refrain]