My Daddy is 90 and Saturday my family will gather to celebrate him as the last living survivor of his original sweet family. Words cannot describe what all is in my heart. My love, appreciation and respect for him is unspeakable. And this much I know, God loved my family and provided well for all of our needs through his servant Lewis Thompson Knight and everything I am or will ever hope to be is because of him and my mother.
They are not wealthy, famous or powerful. In fact, nothing about them would cause any but their small circle of family and friends to ever know who they are. But I can tell you that were there more like them in this world we would all be better served. They are merely two people who loved God and founded their marriage and their home on His principles. It would see them through multiple trials and tribulations and it would find them worshipped and adored by their children and grandchildren who know they could easily have put themselves first and pursued more of what this world had to offer.
By staying the course, living the example and giving God the glory they represented a whole generation that never believed in making it about themselves. Their lives were not about living the dream, rather they worked hard and tried to give their children a better life than they had.
It is called a life of FAITH, putting God first, others second, and yourself third. It is about running the race and keeping your eyes on the prize - a home in glory with the saints who have gone before patiently awaiting all God's riches as their parents had done for them.
My Dad is a Proverbs 22:6 kind of man.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."
When he was but 19 years old and sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge headed to service in the South Pacific during World War II he told us he thought to himself, "I wonder if I will ever see that bridge again?" He had been making the house payment for his parents before being drafted, working since age 13- a child of The Great Depression.
The Bible says, "Christ learned obedience through the things which he suffered." I know from watching my father take second jobs to buy Christmas presents, carrying his lunch in a brown bag, riding the bus to and from work, and attending college on a GI loan that his was not an easy life. He had a strong work ethic and the sort of character most politicians today know nothing of. My uncle once said, "Life gets very simple when you are poor." Well, I believe that's the secret to success because my grandmother raised five sons who were all wonderful God-fearing fathers, each one making her proud.
I learned from this man to love the Lord, work hard and help others. He could have given me silver and gold but instead he gave me pride, faith and confidence because he gave me God.
Thank you Daddy for being YOU, for never letting anything matter more than your faith and your family - I could not love you anymore or be more grateful to God for my earthly father.
Affectionately, Nancy Jane Knight Billingsley Calvert, your Daddy's girl!
