Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…
Hebrews 12:1-2
For lunch on June 16, 1971, after a fun morning at preschool VBS, my grandmother fixed me a pimento cheese sandwich to eat in the car on the way to a circus matinee. As we were leaving, the phone rang. My grandmother answered it, speaking in the hushed, serious tones that adults use when discussing bad news in front of children. In my efforts to eavesdrop, I remember freezing in my tracks so quickly that my wooden crutches clattered to the floor. Ending the call, my grandmother said that she and my grandfather would pack and drive me the four hours home as quickly as possible after the circus.
Childishly annoyed that my week at VBS had been cut short, I rode in relative silence with my grandparents. When we arrived home, my mother carefully told me what she had told my grandparents earlier. My father had joined the Cloud of Witnesses after a four-month battle with metastatic melanoma.
It was not until I stood alone in front of Daddy’s casket at the funeral home that I understood. He got sick and the doctor could not fix it. The person that made me feel unconditionally loved and accepted was gone.
But, the God of all hope prevailed. One of the verses we had learned at Bible School, an abbreviated portion of Hebrews 12:1-2, came dancing into my five-year-old mind. I now had my very own personal member of the cloud of witnesses, who would be with me when I faced each surgery; outdid the doctors’ predictions; and savored each academic, pageant, and political victory. He would watch as I married a wonderful man and cheer as I worked to shape policies supporting dignity for Americans with disabilities.
As a quintessential Daddy’s girl, the last 50 years have been bittersweet. My Heavenly Father who loves me unreservedly has provided godly men who have parented me well in Daddy’s stead. Still, I have missed him. His spiritual presence in each milestone of my life, cheering from the Cloud of Witnesses as I live out God’s purpose for me, has been palpable. Still, what a reunion we will have one day in Heaven, a place without goodbyes!
In Christ,
Melissa
