My Veteran -- My Daddy

Could there be a more wonderful month to have Veterans Day than November? The month we reflect and Praise God for all our Blessings, Thankful for our Freedoms, Our Country!  

I can certainly bundle up most of mine into this one person, well besides Jesus Christ.  That would be My Daddy, Douglas Eugene Downing.

He was a part of the Greatest Generation WWII.  He got in just at the end.  So most of the stories from him were of his training here in the states.  He was on a plane with his backpack on ready to be dropped in the jungles when the call was made to stop the plane, the war was over.  However, his brother was a paratrouper dropped behind enemy lines in Germany and brother in law went from the beaches of Normandy all the way to the end and both went without really any injury.  God's protection over our family was real.  

My Daddy did not surrender his life to the Lord until after that.  He met and married my mother and they both accepted Christ.  He ran from the call to Ministry and as he says "God beat him up a little until he surrendered."  My Dad and Mother taught me not only the Bible but in their daily lives what it means to follow God and how to live Godly lives. 

He was and is a walking, talking, living example of Jesus.  I have seen him go through experiences in life that have amazed me and he never complained, never said one word, and neither did my mother.  Kindness exudes from him constantly. A love that would fill any room.  But he will always stand on the side of right and that right will never ever contradict the word of God. 

At 93, with some dementia, one thing never fails, his love for Christ! About 30 years ago or more I wrote a poem entitled "My Father's Eyes" about my Daddy and one thing that is for sure and for certain, there is never a doubt when I look at my Daddy even now and days when there may be a little blank look from him I may not see my Daddy's eyes but I definitely see My Father's Eyes. You know why? Because that same Father lived in my Daddy my whole life and occupied that body and even in these days, it is those same eyes I have seem my whole life.  Eyes full of compassion, love, truth, kindness, joy, peace, patience, goodness and faithfulness.

Thank you Douglas Eugene Downing, for being a Soldier in the US Army Airforce and in the Lord's Army!  You are my soldier and my hero! I love you!