**Warning, this post will be about my dad. So, don’t cry Mom or Big Sister! I don’t want this blog to be filled with questions of porque? with back car windows filled with pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe. So, I promise there won’t be many more sappy posts. Ok, I can’t promise there won’t be anymore sappy posts, but I can promise there won’t be any sad posts. End Warning**

Since today is December 19th, my dad’s birthday, and  I’m munching on  a delicious piece of  (unfortunately store bought) red velvet cake, I just couldn’t help but think of Dad. And decided that today would be the best day to introduce a reoccurring series on the blog. I have entitled it From the Desk of Dad, but don’t hold me to that. I have a very short attention span, so the title of this series will more than likely change.

Remember my 31 Days of Treasures series?  If you are too lazy to click the link, it was a 31 day series that ended up being a 16 day series where I jibber jabbered on about all the vintage stuff I’ve been hoarding collecting  the past few years, and it also included a few treasures of the heart. I meant to share this one during that series, but then life happened.

This is one of my most precious and favorite treasures, my fathers Bible.

The Lord called my dad home on November 30th, 2003, it was a Sunday evening, I don’t really remember the exact time he passed from this side of heaven to the other. The watch I had worn since high school had stopped, but frankly I really didn’t care what time it was, or that my favorite Tweetie Bird watch was broken.  I just knew that my father was finally in the presence of our Savior. I will never forget the sharp pain I felt that night, or the persistent ache that came afterward. That pain, was not mine alone, the rest of my family also missed him, and we still do. But as believers in Christ we can rejoice in the fact that we will see my dad again, and be able to rejoice in the presence of the Lord, just like Dad did, that fateful night in November.

  Since his passing, over the years, I’ve begun to really appreciate my father and what he did in this life. The impacts he had on those around him, the leadership he demonstrated in our family, the witness he was to this world of Christ’s love for humankind. You see,  Dad was a preacher, he was a follower of Christ first and foremost, but he felt called to full time ministry as a pastor and missionary. And so, he followed the call, he pastored churches in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, but the Lord had a place for him as a missionary to the Navajo people in New Mexico. It is New Mexico where Dad spent most of his ministry, and where my mother is still serving.

On my 30th birthday this past April, my mom blessed me with the gift of my dad’s last preaching Bible. He had gone through a few Bible’s during his time as a preacher and missionary, my sister and brother were given those Bible’s that had particular meaning to them. (We like having study Bibles, church Bibles, and if your a preacher then a preaching Bible. But don’t misunderstand, all Bibles are sacred, because they are the Word of the Lord.) The Bible that I wanted, the one that I held dear, was his last preaching Bible. The one he’d used during my childhood and adolescence.

Amongst the pages of this Bible are several of Dad’s sermon outlines, some are handwritten, some were typed on an old typewriter, others were scrawled on scrapes of paper here and there as the Lord spoke to my dad.   The Bible is a cherished possession, not only because it’s the Word of my Savior, but also because it holds much of who my dad was on this earth. These sermon outlines, do not paint the entire picture of who Dad was, but they do remind me of what Dad represented, and what I hope to represent to this world.

*Don’t cry Mom!*

I’ll be sharing bits and pieces of these sermons, the scriptures, and some anecdotes from these cherished outlines. I won’t put myself on a time line for this, as I apparently have blog ADD. But occasionally you will find, a post here and there about a favorite sermon, or one that has recently spoken to me.  I hope that you will join me on this journey through the Good Word, and I hope that the Lord will speak to you as He has for me, through these sermons preached and unpreached.