My Dad...

 

My Dad at Rachel Cole's wedding... 

My dad turned his back on the LDS church and Christianity when he graduated from high school, left his small, farm town of Fairview, Idaho and went to the University of Idaho in Boise on a boxing scholarship.   

It broke his widowed mother’s heart.   

Dad “sowed some wild oats” as they say. 

Dad joined the army and served in the Korean War for a time and while there he was befriended by an LDS guy who reminded him that he was a child of God. 

Dad went back home, got a mission call at age 25 and served in the Southern states mission traveling and teaching  with Elder Harold B. Lee, then off to BYU where he met and married my mom in 1959.  

Once dad was truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ he never looked back.  

It’s good for me to remember this.  For me to know that my dad had a faith-crisis-journey just like me. Just like so many of us.  

Dad didn’t talk much about his 6 + years away from God,   he really focused on  his God-years instead because they were so much richer filled with more faith, obedience, love and connection.      

I was blessed with a kind, Christ-like  father who enriched our family’s life for decades. He bore testimony of Jesus Christ til his last breath and I love this about him.