Meet My Dad...

This is Dad... others refer to him as Bud, Uncle Bud, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa, Pastor, Preacher, or Rev.  His given name is Darell Harris.  I am Jan, the youngest one of three daughters that are blessed to call him Dad.  

Today, you will find Dad, at age 91, often in his recliner at my middle sister's home, watching baseball or FOX News on TV, eating popcorn, reading his Bible or a book.  Occasionally you'll find him taking a phone call from family or friends. This is a stage of life that is new to him and each of us girls.  It presents some tough adjustments and challenges for all of us, especially for him and for Sue and her husband who are his primary care-givers.  

Before coming to this rocking-chair stage, Dad has lived a full life.  He was born and raised in rural Potter County, Pennsylvania, and as he shared in his book, came full-circle to retire in his boyhood home in Oswayo.  The journey has taken him into Germany with the army, marriage, the oil fields, welding, fatherhood, and ultimately into full-time Christian ministry. 

His hobbies over the years have been reading, hunting, dogs, and driving and riding horses.  Let's not forget his love of storytelling. With a receptive audience, he can tell entertaining stories for hours!  Sometimes he has gotten so tickled over a story, the tears stream down his face as he struggles to get to the conclusion (those memories make me smile!😂).

No one would probably nominate him for canonization to sainthood because he, like all of us, has feet of clay and is not perfect.  As a father, he has been a strict authoritarian with a quick spouting temper, but I have never doubted that he loved and wanted the best for each of us.  I have countless memories of him, kneeling next to Mom at the sofa in prayer with tears streaming down his face in sincere intercession for their daughters and parishioners.  

As we grew up, he and Mom practiced Deuteronomy 6:5-9. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up." Did they get it right all the time, every time? No, but they got it right enough times to bring it home to our hearts. The most important thing my parents did was to share Jesus Christ with me and show me how to trust and obey Him. I am literally, eternally grateful!

--Jan