His father had all kinds of
issues given the fact that he
was orphaned in a strange

land at age thirteen and de-
parted the scene when his
son was just seventeen, but,

by the grace of God, perhaps
given his background, he en-
couraged his son to be all that

he could be and do all that he
could do in whatever field he
chose except that his father

did have a bit of a bias toward
the ministry and, low and be-
hold, his son became a minister

and got his doctorate and taught
for a bit in seminary as well as
having had a wonderful vocation

as a pastor, campus minister,
hospice chaplain and interim
minister over forty-five years.

All things considered, that en-
couragement, early on, meant
all the world to a seventeen-

year-old kid who had been
lost without his father but
grateful for everything his

dad did for him in those
few, short and in some
sense sad but glad years.