{"id":1031,"date":"2013-06-16T08:59:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T13:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/?p=1031"},"modified":"2014-02-13T13:33:05","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13T18:33:05","slug":"thanks-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/?p=1031","title":{"rendered":"Thanks, Dad."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DAD'S<\/a><\/p>\n

Today is Father’s Day. \u00a0And it happens to be two days after my father’s birthday, June 14th, ninety-four years ago. \u00a0It has been over twenty years since my Dad passed away. \u00a0But I think of him often. \u00a0I owe him a lot.<\/p>\n

Among the many things Dad tried to show me, I am thankful for three.<\/p>\n

First, his love of family. \u00a0Now that may not sound particularly unique or special. \u00a0People should and do love their family. \u00a0But there was a sacrificial ferocity about Dad’s love for his family that in some ways defies description. \u00a0He would do everything in his earthly power to help his children. \u00a0And he was totally devoted to his wife. \u00a0Indeed I remember sharp lectures on how I should treat my Mom, if not for the fact she was my mother at least out of respect that she was his wife. \u00a0Dad wanted little and gave much. \u00a0His family was everything.<\/p>\n

Second, his passion for truth. \u00a0Dad had this incredible curiosity. \u00a0Moreover, he had an insatiable thirst for getting at the heart of any issue – personal or political. \u00a0In the process, he didn’t mince words. \u00a0Some people found him blunt (including even his children!). \u00a0Call it what you will, Dad brought a refreshing honesty to any conversation. \u00a0He didn’t shy away from the “elephant in the room.” \u00a0In fact, he was the first person most likely to say, “Hey, there’s this big elephant in the room! \u00a0Before we talk about all this other unimportant stuff, let’s talk about what we’re going to do with this big elephant … ” \u00a0He forced hard discussions. \u00a0It wasn’t for the sake of argumentation. It was a desire to get at the heart of an issue. \u00a0And it was his way of showing his love for someone. \u00a0As he told me once, “if you love really love others, you’ll eventually talk about things people may not want to talk about … but should.”<\/p>\n

Finally, his faith. \u00a0Dad was a passionate Christian. \u00a0He would remind me that life is not things. \u00a0Life is not experiences. \u00a0Life is not a random act. \u00a0Life has a purpose and that purpose is to serve He who created us and sacrificed for us. \u00a0If Jesus was just a smart guy and the Bible is just a book, then life is one big crap shoot. \u00a0But if it is all true … then that changes everything!<\/p>\n

Family, truth and faith.<\/p>\n

Thanks, Dad, for showing me how to have a passion for all three.<\/p>\n

Happy Father’s Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is Father’s Day. \u00a0And it happens to be two days after my father’s birthday, June 14th, ninety-four years ago. \u00a0It has been over twenty years since my Dad passed away. \u00a0But I think of him often. \u00a0I owe him a lot. Among the many things Dad tried to show me, I am thankful for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1031"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}