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Today my grandpa turns 90.
He is the best man I know – maybe because he reminds me so much of Jesus.
I don’t usually write things like this, not because it’s not important but because I feel so deeply. How could my words ever encapsulate all that Grandpa has meant to me? They can’t.
No words can do justice. I am woefully inadequate, but I would be remiss to say nothing. So please read this feeble attempt and add to it all the feelings of a little girl, who for the past 34 years has been wrapped in the safety of her grandfather’s love.
I can say so many wonderful things about my grandpa – about his leadership, his integrity, his impact for the Kingdom, his humility, his love for the Lord and others, his generosity, and the list goes on and on and on.
I could share his accolades and accomplishments and all the ways He has been used of God to bless others. But grandpa is so much more than how he is seen in the public eye, and he wouldn’t want the limelight, anyway.
My grandpa is a man whose life verse (or one of them at least) is Psalm 115:1 —
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy Name be the glory because of Your love and faithfulness.”
He means it and he lives it.
I’m so immensely proud of my grandpa – for all those big things, but for all the little ones too.
My grandpa is a man of character – who he is in public, is who he is at home. He is loving and kind and strong and brave. He loves Jesus and his family and we know it by his actions. He lives a life of love.
My memories with Grandpa are some of the best I have. Not just the drives to Michigan or the trips to Florida, or even the flights out east or west, though I loved those vacations with my grandparents. It’s not just the moments when I’ve been in awe, sitting in stadiums of thousands, hearing God speak through Grandpa.
It’s all the little moments – holding my hand every day he’d drive me to school, showing up at sports games and band recitals and any event I was in. It’s the game nights and the boat rides and skipping rocks down by the lake — the long conversations, the encouragement and the wisdom he so often shared.
It’s Grandpa showing up on my doorstep with a danish or two, or finding his support tucked in a letter scripted with Truth. It’s seeing him hold my babies and laugh with my kids. It’s the million little ways he loves us well.
Grandpa is dependable and thoughtful and a very safe place.
We’ve shed tears and grieved losses and battled discouragement, but we’ve had so much laughter and so. much. joy.
Other than my grandma, no one else has had as profound an influence on my life as he has.
What a life he has lived! What a heritage he hands down!
Grandpa, you mean the world to me. I love you with my whole heart and thank God every. day. for you. Happiest of birthdays to you, on this your 90th year.
All my love,
erika
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