Jan
25
2010
Something to Cheer About
As soon as my dad died on Saturday night I texted my oldest son Gabe telling him that Papa T had passed away. He and my middle son Nathan were at Nathan’s championship basketball game (Nathan’s middle name is Stephan–after my dad). Thirty minutes after Gabe received word and passed it on to Nate during the game, Nate (wearing number 14) made this shot to win the game – and the championship. I was so sorry I missed it. But it was so sweet of God to grant my grieving boys, and my dad’s namesake, something to cheer about.
14 Comments
Fantastic! And your dad got to see it!
Way to go, champ!
Watch out… RDV is going to recruit Nate for the Magic!
How tender our Lord is.
Nate throwing the winning shot there and Isabella getting to have a slumber party the night her grandfather passed away at her GREAT grandfather’s house. God is just so thoughtful and ever so tender even in the smallest details of life.
Dad would have been so proud of Nate and infact, I think you, dear Tullian may have missed the game/shot, but Dad didn;t.
Love you……
Awsome. Thanks for sharing. God is good and always gives us something to cheer about if we will just see it.
That’s awesome Tullian. Tell Nate congrats and I do agree with the person that labeled themselves “Mom.” I do believe your Dad was watching with brand new eyes. Too cool! I’ve heard of many special moments like that after someone’s love on goes Home. After working behind the scenes in sports I know God uses sports as one of His many ways to bring Christians and non-believers alike to get closer to Him. Amen to that!
I’m sorry” Mom ” but intellectually your post doesn’t make a lot of sense . Why would God be so tender to Isabella and Nate but allow thousands of impoverished Haitian children to die in agony under rubble in Haiti ? As a Christian mother and grandparent I need a better understanding of the love and purposes of God to sustain me.
Awesome!! How great was that!! Congratulations to Nate and his team.
Pastor Tullian,
I don’t mean to be presumptuous in offering a writing of mine as a possible comfort to you at this time. But, the writing I am sending did come into my thoughts at the time of my father’s passing and did give some comfort to me.
I have to say that the first 3 lines were not mine, but were from Adlai Stevenson in his eulogy to Pres. Kennedy. Those words, “We will miss him” said 3 times emphasized the personal loss we feel. We know your father is safe and secure in His presence, but there is a time of personal separation for us that requires some grieving and reflection.
You and your family continue to be in our prayers,
Doug Graham
OUR HEROES DON’T DIE EASILY
We will miss him,
we will miss him,
we will miss him.
But, we will always have him;
in our memories,
in our hearts,
and in the ways we are, because of him.
We will always remember him,
we will always love him,
we will ever thank him.
Our heroes don’t die easily.
Dad,
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.
Phil. 1:3
Doug
April, 1995
That was special……and to watch him be so excited! So cute…Love you Tullian and have been praying for each of you. I use to love to see your dad laugh….he made me laugh watching him laugh. He was a wonderful man and I know you will miss him so. Much love…..Your favorite Aunt Jane…..
pastor Tullian
We have won the victory in Jesus. We can all celebrate that fact. I still miss my dad but I have the
knowledge that he is eternally with our father. And can still rejoice in that.
Florence,
“Mom” is Tullian’s Mom, and yes, God permits some to agonize in tragic ways and some to agonize in small ways or not at all. It is one of the mysteries we will never fully understand this side of Heaven. How do we comprehend never mind understand the scope of the devastation the Haitian people are feeling? One of my son’s coworkers lost his wife and 5 children in the quake. What can we say? Nothing suffices. But, we MUST trust God’s plan even when we do not understand it. All serve His purpose but we are not privey to that purpose. Except that His purpose is that all would know Him. That is our Romans 8:28 hope, not that all things are good, but that God is at work through all things and somehow, redemption will come.
just watched that video at least five times. it brought me back so many years and in such a vivid way that it almost made me uncomfortable to have my sister walk into the room (undoubtedly wondering what on earth i was repeatedly viewing on the computer). the video brought me back to boyhood, to my past and a seemingly lost reality of joy. a reality that in spite of hardship, it would be preposterous for me at times to not truly delight in life’s experiences. it seems that this was far easier in my youth, like it was done naturally, at random. and nowadays, it seems near sinful to be joyful in light of all the deep and heavy sorrow apparent in the world, and in light of personal inability to live rightly. i wouldn’t guess that God would have me a flippant and ignorant experience-craved man. but conversely, would He delight in my life if i stopped short of happiness everyday due to the suffering that a majority of the worlds population claims as normal life (and that on top of my status as a screw-up)? i don’t know where to end this trail of thought except to say that stumbling upon this frickin amazing video and your thoughts reminded me to be hopeful, to love life and every part of it including the aspects that make me want to doubt a God and especially His goodness, to be hopeful really hopeful, and to shoot a three pointer sometime really stinking soon.
Tullian,
I have been praying and will continue to pray the our faithful Father will do what only He can do, and fill the empt places and moments with his presence.
Al Mawhinney
I know it’s “just a game” but I’m in tears. I just love how the boys chest-bump afterwards. So thankful they were just “being kids” while the adults were tending to “adult things”. Our hearts are with your family, Tullian, and Kim!