by Pastor Linda Skinner
I have so many fond memories of my dad, Earl Boyce. He was a very interesting guy. Dad was born in 1899, in a little border town in North Dakota. He was the youngest of 11 children and he was born to Canadian citizens in the United States. They actually thought they were living in Canada, but in the 1900 census it was discovered that the area they lived in was US territory and not Canadian. So, I guess he had dual citizenship. I loved to hear his stories of growing up in the wheat fields of Manitoba. He often commented about the changes he saw in his lifetime. When we landed the first astronauts on the moon, he was fixed to the TV watching everything. He said, “I was born in horse and buggy time and am watching a man walk on the moon.”
Dad had a sense of humor and some strange philosophies that none of us quite understood. He often said things like “we have two winters and summer ahead of us.” We were never sure what he really meant by that, but we’d all laugh. Dad was an excellent mechanic and I remember as a little girl crawling under cars with him while he changed a transmission and I handed him his tools. He was the auto surgeon and I was his nurse. He was the one who also dug my brand-new red tennis shoes out the manure pile to keep me from crying. I got my love for dogs from my dad. He always had one of our dogs at his side whether he was working on a car or feeding the livestock. I miss my dad (he’s been gone almost 38 years now).
It’s Father’s Day this weekend and I realize that not everyone has had a loving earthly father. I feel very blessed to have had a dad that I could learn from and look up to. How wonderful, however, it is that we all have a heavenly Father who is forgiving, compassionate and loves us unconditionally. This weekend I have the joy of sharing about our Father from Psalm 103. Of course, we’ll have lots of fun with “Hats for Brats” Sunday – Pastor David will have Bratwurst for the guys and at each service the man with the goofiest or most spectacular hat will win a prize. If I can find it, I might wear my dad’s favorite hat for this service. Look forward to seeing you.
Blessings on your day,
Pastor Linda