Old picture of Jim w/ a reflection of his son.

In 2004, when I was last in Spain, I saw a picture of my dad that I had never seen. It was taken in the early 90's at a 'retreat' house about an hour and a half away from Madrid, in the province of Guadalajara. The church and youth held activities there throughout the year once in a while. He is sitting in a relaxed pose and someone must have just caught him like that for a moment cause he typically wouldn't just be sitting around. I told my friend Quesada how much I liked that picture. The next day he came to where we were staying with an envelope from a photo lab. He had taken his original and gotten them to make a copy of it to give to me.

We've had it up in our living room for the last few years. I wanted to get a picture of it to get it here on the blog, but was having too much trouble with the reflection of the glass. So "when you have lemons, make lemonade" I decided to try some art into it and get a reflection of father/son. Let me know what you think.

Daddy, how I miss you

Dad died in December, 1994. During July 1996 I penned this song in his honor.

Everybody would like to have a father like I did • who put God first in everything he did • He loved his wife, then loved his kids • would give it all for any of them • That's my dad, the best dad in the world

• Daddy how I miss you •

• It's been so long without your smile •

• So long since you said "well done" •

• So long since you prayed for me to be like Jesus •

• Daddy how I miss you •

He gave his life to do God's work • spent much time preaching the word • Planted seeds and then he saw much fruit • People came to him for advice • He modeled how they should live their lives • Lose your life and gain the whole world

Then one December that fatal day came • without a warning you took him away • this man that God had used for so long • A solid oak uprooted for good • His church and family weakened stood Gods grace has held us in his hand

His last words were spoken to me • In a letter he said "It really is special when we can look at all of life with a sense of confidence that our loving and caring God is truly directing things for our good, because he knows our future"

A day on Wheaton's campus - remembering the events of that fateful day almost 13 years ago when dad died

Recently, Lina and I had agreed that we needed to do something more intentional to spend time together, so on wednesday last week we took the kids to childcare and then asked for the day off at work (had planned ahead of time). In thinking what we should do, we decided to spend the day at Wheaton. I've been on campus with Lina, but never have spent much time talking and sharing with her about my actual memories there. And four impactful years of my life took place here and I want to have her share some of that. We went to chapel (Student Missionary Project stories of summer missions), then lunch @ Saga, then a walk around campus, Billy Graham Center Museum to see Sallman's Head of Christ paintings and then back to the Todd Beamer student center for some coffee @ the Stupe... we also strolled along Pierce chapel and I showed Lina the room where I last saw dad. He had dropped me off for World Christian Fellowship worship practice and had to leave to head back to Spain the next day or so. That was in mid-October 1994, two months before he died. I'd say maybe half of what I shared with Lina revolved around the places and events of the day dad died. We went to Buswell Library where I was studying when the Residence Director told me to go to the Counseling Center to call my family (he knew then - but didn't tell me), then I stopped by the Counseling Center, from where I called my mom. I saw the Dean of Students who I knew in other Student Life roles while in college and she gave me Chuck's contact info. Chuck was the director of the counseling center and he is who told me about my dad after the line was busy on my first call. It was quite special to have had that day to peacefully reminisce with my wife.