June 20,1979 will always be a day I will never forget...but a day I so deeply wish God would take from my memory.It was on this day James Arthur Melton was killed in an automobile accident. You see, this was my daddy and I was only 13 years old with two younger sisters...Kelly 10 and Kathy 5. A young family with high school sweet hearts for parents. Now our lives would never be the same!
We never know why God allows tragedy in a family. I wouldn't be who I am today if that fateful night hadn't happened. I know this...God took what evil meant to destroy and He made something good!
Here we are 30 years later...my mom remarried,I married a year after my mom and have 9 kids, Kelly a nurse... is married and has two boys, Kathy a teacher turned missionary... is married with two girls and two boys. What a legacy my dad has left on this earth...even though he lived such a short life.
Memories have faded over the years and photographs are all I have to remind me of a time that passed so quickly. What I didn't understand at 13.... I now see more of the hand of God on my life than I did 30 years ago. He knew it all and walked with me every step of the way and even carried me through the toughest times. That fateful day, God became a father to me in a more real way than I had ever known.
Today would have been my dad's birthday. He would have been 64...but my memory of him at 34 has him frozen in time. So much has been missed,but so much more has been gained. Oh how I hope I see him again one day. I'm not really sure of his relationship with the Lord. Did he surrender his life to the God of god's? I hope I never have doubt of where I'm going when I die. You just never know when that time will be. I'm sure my dad had no idea that the night he left to go play baseball...his life would end in a matter of seconds. Would he have lived his life differently? Would he have loved more? Given more? I hope and pray I get a chance to ask him. What he has given me is the realization to make sure I'm walking humbly with my God. I never want to get to that final moment and say...what if I only...!
Psalm 68:5 (New International Version)
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
Karen
