Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the
world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid. (John 14:27 NKJV)
This evening my grandson Alton Jr and I traveled to the little
church where my father once preached in Terra Ceia. I would go with my father sometimes (It was not
the base church in Ellenton where Daddy had most responsibilities and the town
in which we lived.) I can now see him descending the steps in front of the
little church wearing his navy-blue suit just before we returned to Ellenton
for services there.
Alton stayed in the car while I walked alone to the steps. The
church was dimly illumined by night lighting.
I really had only one question to
ask my father. It was my follow-up to the question he
uttered while on the gurney at Manatee Memorial Hospital just days before he died. My brother Bob and I were gazing down at his face. He kind of smiled at Bob and asked: “When is
Wayne going to get on the ball?”
My
question tonight was my long-formulated response: “Dad, why did you want me to
get on the ball….did you want a trophy son?”
He response set me back: He asked:
“What kind of on-the ball-father did you want me to be?” I admit I was occasionally secretly harsh on
my father when comparing him to the famous Billy Graham, for example--though I cannot
recall my father ever speaking of Graham at all. (Their preaching style as very different,
to say the least.) Then I recalled the
little scene during the early sixties when
Daddy said: “Son, I never want to hear you say that word again [the word being “nigger”]
and then also a small handful of other memories now set in shimmering crystal.
When the curtain descends for me, I hope my children will have
vivid memories of the lagoon swimming hole in Bowling Green Fl near the shores
of the ancient and winding Peace River. I
hope they seem to sense in the wind these words: “That will do. Yes, that will do.”
I guess the biggest compliment will be that in the constant
stir of their busy lives, a flash memory of me appears at all.
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