Yesterday was Father's Day.  Sure, it's a Hallmark holiday, but it's still a good day.  It's a good day to celebrate our fathers and, if we are fathers ourselves, to celebrate that.  
     Although I lost my father many decades ago to a heart attack, I still think about him, almost every day.  So many wonderful memories.  I owe so much to Dad, not just for taking care of me materially, which he did in abundance, but even more for being such a splendid picture of what life could be.  Dad embodied for me life's capacity for love and potential, always encouraging me to consider the nearly endless possibilities of existence.  With Dad behind me, I felt as if I could do anything.  His simple words, "Do your best," still resonate with me today.  He was a father, yes, but he was also a friend, a friend whom I miss every single day.
     I am so thankful to God for Dad, so grateful for the workings of God's loving vision through which he came into the world.  Having Dad in my life testifies amply to the enduring goodness of God.  As Dr. John Hall, head cleric of Westminster Abbey, observed as physicist Stephen Hawking's ashes were interred there last week, "If someone is achieving extraordinary things then I believe God is in that process."
     Precisely.  Dad was extraordinary.  Thanks, God, for Dad, and thanks, Dad, for being my Dad.