I Samuel 15:34-16:13 – The 3rd Sunday after Pentecost – for Sunday, June 14. 2015
“The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long are you going to grieve over Saul? I have rejected him as King of Israel.†(I Samuel 16:1)

I wonder, in what became her last days, how much Mom worried about my relationship with Dad.
Sometimes, I detected hints of hurt in her bright eyes.
Every once in a while, her voice seemed tinged with sadness.
On occasions, quietly, she’d add, “You know your father loved you.â€
My father, during most of his life, seemed an effusive, outgoing man. Dad could just as easily start a conversation with a stranger in a parking lot as he could talk with friends during the after-church coffee hour. He sold life insurance. He was successful, winning awards and—by all accounts—his professional peers admired him. You don’t accomplish what he did in sales without being friendly, a good listener, and able to say the right thing at the right time. Really, who wants life insurance? Anyone with a growing family or thriving business “should†buy insurance, but who readily volunteers to part with hard-earned pennies for something he or she hopes is never needed!
But why did Dad so rarely say he loved me? Continue reading →