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"