Letter to my dad on Father's Day

Happy Father's Day dad...

God has blessed me with you. I know I could write all this privately on a card. However, I want the world to know what makes you an awesome dad. I want the world to know what walking with Jesus in marriage, as a father, and pastor looks like.

Here are a few qualities that make you awesome:

You love Jesus with all your heart.

Your walk with Jesus is real. What a privilege it was to have grown up in a home where we saw the Gospel lived out every day.

Mom is truly the love of your life. You truly live out your Biblical responsibility as husband. From the depth of your heart, you love mom. She is secure in your love and has never worried about your mind or your heart.

Our family always felt secure with you leading us. You protected us spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, and you provided everything we needed. This security was based on your relationship with God. It is also a reflection of your great character.

You are a man of tremendous faith and trust in the Lord. We saw your faith lived out so much that as children, we trusted you. As I reflect back, I can truly say that our trust in you was based on your trust in God.

You believed in us.

You encouraged us to pursue our wildest dreams.

You led us to believe that through Christ, all things are possible.

You are a man of God's Word. You spent daily personal time with God in His Word. You studied God's Word diligently to prepare sermons and Bible Studies. You trained leaders, began meetings, counseled people, encouraged, did hospital visits with God's Word as your foundation.

You are a man of prayer. I saw this in all facets of your life--at home and at church. You prayed as though your whole life depended on it, like you were truly communicating with God, and that you believed God heard you.

To this day, the reason Julie and I make sure you know our prayer concerns is because we know you will pray. I saw it as a child. People called you with a concern and immediately you and mom would pray. The list can go on and on but I think you understand our position.

You are a man of discipline. You modeled discipline for me in all areas of my life. From getting up early, to making sure every task is finished to the best of my abilities. 

You are humble, gentle, and kind.

You practice what you preach.

You truly love the people you serve. As a pastor, you did not just go through the motions. Your agenda was to obey Jesus and raise people up to know Jesus and grow in Him.

Early in ministry, when church growth was my idol and numbers formed my security, my heart was always brought back to the way you and mom served Jesus and people at both Waianae Baptist and Pukalani Baptist.

You had a deep and genuine love for the people you served that I did not have. You and mom would make soup for the sick, visit their homes and pray with them. I remember you and mom being so broken for people and how I heard you two pray for them with brokenness.

You are a great example of what it means to be a pastor. You base everything you do on God's Word. You are a man of prayer. You have the Great Commission in mind in all you do. You empower people and help them to grow. You care for people and truly love them. 

You take your responsibility as pastor very seriously because it is not a job to you--it is a calling from God. You point people to Jesus and you have helped so many people grow in Christ. In fact, there are many people who once sat under your leadership who are now serving Jesus in Hawaii and around the world.

You stand by your convictions. I have seen you suffer and go through hard times because God's conviction was the only conviction that mattered and you were not going to turn toward any other way.

You are man of character and itegrity. This all comes from the Holy Spirit working in and through you.  

You are a good leader. You encouraged, empowered, and equipped people. You always pointed people to Jesus. One of the best qualities I gained from you is knowing how to lead behind the scenes. In the end, leadership is not about us getting the credit. It is about Jesus being high & lifted up.

You knew how to balance raising up young leaders and new Christians while caring for the elderly and people in need. You were never the most dynamic speaker but people always responded to you. Even young people loved you. People followed

you because you always gave people something to believe in.

There are many other qualities that you exemplified throughout my life.   

As children, we take our parents for granted and think that the road that led them to wherever they are in life was easy and that we could do better. Today, I realize the road you took is one that I could never emulate. However, your whole life leaves me with the greatest example to follow. You are an incredible man and an awesome dad.

Thank you for being my dad, for pointing me to Jesus, and showing me how to grow in Christ.

I love you. Happy Father's Day.

In Christ,
James