Remembering

Today is the 23th Anniversary of my father's passing. He is in the presence of the LORD.
This blog is a re post from my Xanga site  Sunday 7 Oct 2007
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It was 11 days before my father's death. The day was on September 27, 1989. He was in the hospital doing some test and was needing surgery. I stayed with him during the daytime.

On that day, my Dad was laying in his bed. I heard him talking out loud with his eyes closed. After listening to him, I realized he was talking to someone. But Who? He told this person that he was dying. Then he started to talk about some cows.

My Dad was calm about what he was saying. He had no fear in the tone of his voice. At first I thought that my Dad was talking in his sleep. So I tried to wake him up.

As I was in the process of walking up by my Dad's bedside, he suddenly opened his eyes. He was looking over my shoulder and said this phrase twice. "Look at all my people". He had the most joyful expression on his face.

By this time, I was in total tears. I was sobbing. I knew what he meant. I went in to the bathroom to compose myself. I had a very hard cry.

I looked in the mirror that myself. My eyes were blood shot red. I decided to call my sister, Freda and told her what our father said. She came out. I was ready to go home. My head hard so badly. I cried off and on. The thought of my father dying.

In my early 20's, I would watch a lot of TV unexplained mystery shows. There was one show that dealt with death and the after life. What I heard my Dad was saying, match up with what I heard from the shows. Reality hit me hard like a ton of bricks.

I believe that my Dad did see in the spirit world. The "people" who he said that he saw, his people who have gone on. My Dad also ask me if I saw birds flying above his head. I did not see anything. He said that he did. Yes, I believed him.

From that moment on I begin to speak to God in times of need.

My siblings were trying to tell me that our father was not dying. They told me that he was talking out of his head. That he was going to be alright. For years, we have heard the medical reports and the doctors tell us that our father was dying.

Even our Dad said sense that he was dying too. Well, this time, I believed that was the case. I heard it from my father. I was not saved during this time in my life. But, I talk to God a lot.

I got home from the hospital on the day my Dad said that he was dying, I laid on my back on the sofa. I had a pillow over my face. My head was pounding. I ask God, if my Dad was dying, prepare us for his death.

There had been a number of times when our Dad was at the point-of-death. Here is one story that I heard. There was a time when he was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Some thing happened on the way to the hospital. The paramedic said out loud. He's not breathing. My Dad spoke up and said "Yes, I am breathing."

My Dad had been sick for about 11 years. In 1979, doctors did not know how long our Dad would live. There were times in the hospital that the doctors were amazed how he lived so long. [Our father was on oxygen. There was some time when he worked in a foundry.]

During that week in 1989, it took me a while to get the courage to go back to the hospital. I did go. My Dad would talk to me and ask me if I saw the people out the window on the roof. I would say no. But he said that they were there but were gone. I went along with him.

Then came Friday morning. It was the day that my Dad was going to be taken to another place for recovery. When I got to his room, he asked me, with a joyful voice and a smile on his face, if he was going HOME! I shook my head no and give him a note that read he was going to another place.

I recall that the transfer from the hospital to the other place for his recovery. This was the very first time that I rode in an ambulance. It seemed strange. It was a long ride there. But we made it to the other place.

My Dad didn't like this place. He had trouble breathing and was uncomfortable there. At one time two nurses came into his room. They keep coming back and forth in to the room. My Dad did something that I never seen him do.

My Dad got so angry. He yelled at the top of his lungs at the two nurses. WILL YOU GET OUT OF HERE?? Yeah, I took off too. I went over by the window and started to cry. My Dad called for me to sit down in the chair next to his bed.

He did something that he never done before. As I look back on this he was praying to God. He ask me for my hand. As I sat down , I give him my left hand.

He took both of his hands one on top and the other under my hand. He had his eyes closed so I put my hand down. I was crying. After my father had finished praying, he told me to call "Lu", my mother and tell her not worry.

I did not call my mother. I did not want to worry her more. I tried to stay calm as I was there with my father. It was about the 3 PM hour that when this happened. I was reading and was thinking of our family history.

As the time went by, one of my brothers and his children came to relieve me. I was there a long time. When I left, our father was sleeping. The children were there with a pumpkin. I looked at my father as I left the room.

We went to get some chicken at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I tried to release the stress that I was under. Through out the evening, I felt better. Our mother and other siblings went to see our father. Our mother came back about 9:30 PM.

I did not get to sleep that night till about 10:30 PM or so. My mind was on my father. Then the strangest thing happened to me that morning. Before I heard the news, I knew that I knew. I woke up out of a sound sleep.

I saw a ball of bluish white light come from my closet. And I said with a voice of concern, "O, MY GOD!!" I think that I went back to sleep. The next thing I heard was the phone ringing. I got the news from my sister, Mary. She was the one who answered the phone a little bit after 3 AM.

As my sister was telling me that our Dad did not make it, I felt something leave me. Something physically left my shoulders. I felt relieved from what I saw in my father's suffering. As we made the phone calls to tell other members of the family, they started to come over.

In my heart, I knew where my father was. I remember going outside that on October 7th morning without a worry. I looked up into the dark clear sky. Looking toward the southeast sky to the Heavens. I just kept looking at the stars. I smiled and thank God. My father is with Jesus.

On that day it was one of our nephew's birthday. He turned 2. Yeah, we had a birthday party for Marcus. [We were help raising Marcus. His mother died 35 days after his birth. I was praying back during that time in my life as well.]
Ever since my father's death, I begin a quest to find out some things. I have been searching for my family history. I began even a deeper search for some things about the Bible.

Eventually my quest for the Bible drew me closer to God. I began to read the Bible more and more I made discoveries of radio "religious" talk show and T.V. Programs. Jesus came in my life on the night of September 17, 1993. He introduce Himself to me. He became my Lord and Savior.

NOW, I have an Heavenly Father. I thought after my earthly father passed away, I thought that I could never celebrate Father's Day because I did not have a father. But in 1990, the revelation came to me. I have a Heavenly Father, hit me. Fathers Day is special for me. I miss my Dad.
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Special Note to this testimony:
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I wrote a poem about my father's passing. Also one day as I was reading my Bible in January of 1994, something unusual happened to me. I was reading where Isaac was calling one of his sons to his bed side.

I believe that the Spirit of the LORD was speaking to me through this passage. I was trying my best to read this passage, when all of a sudden something came to me.

I believe as I was reading, the thought of my father blessing me 12 hours before his passing. As Isaac blessed his son, my father prayed a blessing over me.

As I got that revelation, I cried like a baby. It took me a while to collect myself. I believe that God wanted me to know that. I felt good after that encounter with God.