Blog post for Father’s Day talk, 2026

Blog post for Father’s Day talk, 2026

For Father’s Day a week ago, I had the opportunity to share the following story with a group of about 50 people at our church.  It has been suggested that I should put it into written form and publish it to my blog for other people to see. So… here goes. let me know your thoughts.

I realize that not all fathers were/are “good fathers.” None of us are perfect. The Bible says in Exodus 20:12 (the 5^th commandment) to honor our father and mother.

Exodus 20:12 (ESV)

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

This does not mean that we have to agree with them, but to be respectful of them because of the position they hold. Much like respecting a President or a Judge because of the office they hold. The promise of a long life is a pretty good incentive as well! Father God is our perfect Father.

Allow me to tell you a story… a Father’s Day story with a little Mother’s Day as well:

As I was growing up, my mom and dad never went to church, other than for weddings and funerals. They were good parents and I loved them dearly. I never doubted that they loved my brother and me as well. Mom always saw to it that my brother and I went to Sunday school. Mom had some Sunday school teaching from when she was a little girl. I believe she wanted my brother and me to learn about Jesus like she did in Sunday school.

In the 1980’s Mom started to attend church. The same little white-frame church, a block and a half from their house, where she attended Sunday school as a little girl. There she rededicated her life to the Lord.  I believe the Holy Spirit used her old Sunday school teaching to draw her back to the Lord!

Just before Mother’s Day, around 1990, Dad asked Mom what she wanted for Mother’s Day. She said, “do you really want to know?” He said “yes, I do.” She said, “will you go to church with me on Mother’s Day?” He said “yes, “and he did, but only that one day.

Forty-Two days later, on Father’s Day, Dad got up early and started getting ready. Mom looked at him and said, “Gene… what are you doing.” Dad said, “I went to church with you on Mother’s Day, will you go with me on Father’s Day?” From that point on they attended church and served the Lord together! Yes… the same little white-frame church where Mom went to Sunday school as a little girl. The Lord is faithful!

The rest of this story centers around my dad. It is Father’s Day after all.

Dad had several health issues through the years. Heart attack, heart bypass, diabetes, gall bladder and others. On our way to one of his many doctor appointments, he said to me, “I sure hope they can figure out what’s wrong with me. I just don’t feel good.”

I took that opportunity to ask him about his relationship with the Lord. (Just to confirm.) I said, “Dad, have you asked the Lord to forgive your sins?” “Yes, I have” he answered emphatically, while raising his fist into the air to accentuate! “Then you don’t have anything to worry about. You’ll be okay.”

Early in 2010, dad fell and broke his pelvis. He was in a care facility for rehab, where I tried to visit him

every day. Remember this: I would walk in, and he would say “MICHAEL!” He would grab my hand and squeeze it. I would respond with “You still have a strong grip.” Or sometimes I would say, “show me that grip,” and he would squeeze my hand. The pelvis healed, and he was home for a very short time, when he fell again and broke a hip!

Long story short… dad had some health setbacks after the broken hip. He wound up in the short-term Hospice area at St. Luke’s hospital. At this point he had stopped communicating. The Hospice nurse kept telling us, “continue talking to him because hearing is the last thing to go.” She said that as time progressed, he would be less and less on the physical side of life and more and more on the spiritual side of life.

We continued talking to him, saying things like: we love you, we are all here, encouraging words as best we could, although no response.

Remember this: At this point I started saying “Dad… when you see Jesus, you have to let me know.”

This went on for quite a few hours and I lost count of the number of times I said it over and over. “Dad… when you see Jesus you have to let me know.” “Dad… when you see Jesus you have to let me know.”

The doctor told me at one point that he was surprised dad was still with us. He asked if dad was waiting for someone or something. He said that sometimes they will hold on if that’s the case.

As I sat by the side of dad’s bed holding his hand, I could powerfully sense activity in the spiritual realm!

I could feel a breeze that gave me goose bumps on my arms. I couldn’t see or hear the spiritual activity, but it was as real as anything I have ever experienced in my life!

At this point a thought occurred to me: How can dad let me know if he has already seen Jesus? Is that what he is waiting for? I instantly knew what to do. I’m sure it was direction from the Holy Spirit.

Do you remember the two things I asked you to remember?

• Squeezing my hand and let me know when you see Jesus!

Still holding on to his hand, I got right up to his ear and loudly said, “Dad… if you have already seen Jesus, squeeze my hand!”

Instantly, and I mean instantly, his fingers curled around my hand, and he squeezed my hand! I believe that was why he was holding on. “How can I convey to my son that I see Jesus?” My cousin who was standing at the foot of his bed said, “That looks like a squeeze to me!”

Shortly after the hand squeeze, the intense activity that I sensed in the spirit ceased. Dad had communicated to me that he was with Jesus!!

I believe at that point dad’s spirit left his body, and he was ushered into his Heavenly reward!

As I mentioned in the beginning of the story, we have a Heavenly Father who is the perfect father for each of us on this Father’s Day! I believe that with all my heart!

I believe there is an unseen spiritual realm!
And I believe there is a Jesus Christ who gives us access to God the Father!  

How do I know? My Dad told me so with a squeeze of my hand from the other side!

 Dad served the Lord here in the physical realm until he was 91 yrs. old, and Mom until she was 96.

I trust that this story gives the two of them the honor they deserve!!!