A FATHERS' LOVE

 The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and self control.

                           galatians 5:22,23

 

As Peters’ daughter, I was privileged to have had such a loving and devoted Father, but more importantly, I was honoured to witness first hand his joy and love of Christ in this pilgrimage called life. 

Christ meant everything to him and nothing could hide it, whether it was in his morning prayer time with God, writing his blog, preparing a sermon or meeting with those God connected him to. He loved life because Jesus was in it. He would excitedly seize everyday and he lived life abundantly, with his greatest joy being that of walking with Jesus, and I mean this literally (He would do an 8km prayer walk through the house if it was raining – something I really miss).

I know that in my own life, he showed me that there is a real love, joy and peace that can only come from loving  Christ. 

 

As inspirational as he was in life, I found that his journey with cancer to be even more inspiring. Even though he was faced with the prospect of dying  for over 3 years, he never showed fear, but found comfort in Christ in whatever way he was physically able. That was his peace. 

The more he deteriorated physically, the more I saw  the Spirit shine through him. 

Whilst the cancer took away his ability to co-ordinate (thus the blogs stopped) and his ability to read and write, he faithfully continued giving sermons from memory until that was also taken from him. When speech was ultimately taken from him, it was his smile that spoke a thousand words.his whole face would light up. I was blown away by his example of long-suffering. I am sure that if it had been me, I would have been in a permanent temper tantrum, however  dad would resign himself to his circumstances, with only an occasional eye roll of frustration. As for self control, that was a gift. In the age of instant self gratification, I will always respect and admire my dads’ self control.

Peter was faithful until the end and I hope that in his testimony we may be inspired and comforted to know that though we walk through the valley of death, Christ is with us.

 

My dad wasn’t a superhero. He didn’t get through this in his own strength. He got through it because of his love and yearning for Christ. And we know that we can only love Christ because he loved us first.