He Was A Good Shit

I don't know any higher words of praise that exist. Considering 45 years ago, that person would not have even had the opportunity of knowing my father had he lived in this town. When my father was 22, he was a strict, let me rephrase that, STIRCT!!!!! baptist. He would not play cards, allow my sisters to wear pants, play secular music, dance, go into a bar, go anyplace that served alcohol, associate with hippies, (they are all homosexual drug addicts) talk to people with tattoos, piercings (ears included, that is for whores) etc....

Yet, throughout the years, listening to the Holy Spirit, my father has done most of those things that he said he would never do as a good christian. The person that told me that my father was a good shit, was Susie, the bar owner's Mom. Even though my father passed on, life goes on. Plus I needed a drink and it was New Years Eve. When Susie ask about us, we told them why we were there, and then she paid him that compliment. Back in the day, my father would have never set foot in a bar, so he never would have met Susie. Or found people that needed to hear what he had to say. He would have kept trying to get them to go to the REVIVAL meeting, to get saved. But he learned to love everyone. He danced with my sister in law at her wedding. Every child there, gawked at that. And smiled at that. We remember the old attitudes.

The reason that this particular compliment is so powerful to me, is that, my father followed the Holy Spirit no matter what. Even when it went against his church taught beliefs. Even when people thought him strange, which was often. It lead him from the paths of strict behavioral patterns that some doctrines require, to the place where everyone was accepted and loved. No matter what. Not lip service, but actual love. He became a servant, not a leader, but a follower, a follower of the Holy Spirit. And in following the Holy Spirit, he became a leader of men.

He was the perfect example to have for a father, husband, and spiritual leader. He practiced what he preached. If he didn't believe it, he didn't teach it, and he would not act on it. When he made mistakes he told people of them, and ask for forgiveness. He became angry, fought with my mother, yelled at his kids, and worried about money. But he showed us how to do those things correctly. When he became angry, he never lost control, and always made a good character point. When he fought with my mother, he never became personal, stuck to the issue, and backed down, even if he thought he was right, if he could see it was really important to my mother. Yelling at us kids, well, we needed yelling at, and spanked too. But always for a reason, and we knew why, and we always deserved it. When he worried about money, he also prayed about money, and showed us God's providence again and again.

He is the man I respect and admire the most. He is the only truly righteous man I have ever known. He was a husband that taught me how to be a good husband. The father that taught me to be a good father. The man, that taught me to be a man. I love him, and will miss him, until I see him again.