I’m going to tell
you about the worst time my family ever faced, and what we have done to
overcome in the midst of adversity. I’m
writing this now, because I feel the time has finally come for me to tell our
story. It is my desire to lift Jesus up
throughout this telling, and not to take any of the credit or glory for how we
as a family responded to this tragic event in our lives, because I realize
there is nothing we could have done within ourselves to get to the place we are
today. Without the help of our Father
God, we would never have made it.
It is my hope and
prayer you will find something in this story which will relate to where you are
in life, and in my sharing you will be able to take something away from this
which will encourage you to continue to follow God even through the midst of
trials, despair and tragedy. And if you
are not a follower of Jesus Christ, then my prayer for you is that you will be
by the end of this tale. So let’s get
right to it, shall we?
The day was like
any other day in the Felts household; I got up early while the rest of my
family was still in their rooms sleeping, drank my coffee, spent some time in
my Bible and on the internet and then got ready to go open the business my wife
and I owned in town.
Like I said, just
a typical day with one exception, on this night Cheryl and I were to begin
facilitating a new marriage class at our church. Through the years, we had both worked in
various aspects of children’s ministry at our church, serving almost every time
the doors were open, with our children right there beside us helping. It was a family affair, and something I will
cherish all my days.
But our time in
the children’s ministry had come to a close, I was now leading the men’s
ministry and Cheryl was helping in various other capacities, but we both felt a
desire to help people in our church in their marriages and families. I remember the two of us talking about what
was to come, and how excited we both were to begin this new endeavor.
Cheryl and I ran
a local family shoe store, and had done so for many years. At this particular season in our life we were
the only two employees, so I would open the store each day, while Cheryl would
come in later in the day to help me. Our
kids were thirteen, fifteen and seventeen at the time, and we homeschooled each
of them, so Cheryl would get their schoolwork started before coming to the
store.
Like I said, this
day was unlike any other we had experienced.
It was the same old typical things in the Felts household; Micah, April
and Noah pestering each other while Cheryl worked at getting them focused on
school. There was laughter and chaos all
at the same time, just your typical family dynamic.
Around one o’clock
Cheryl showed up at the shoe store, and I left to go home for lunch. Micah had already left for his part time job
at QuikTrip, a local convenience store by the time I got there. I believe April was in the living room
watching Sponge Bob Squarepants on the TV while Noah was doing his thing in his
bedroom.
I ate lunch, and
then told the kids to do something nice for their mother and clean up the
living room before she got home to pick them up later. Of course I was met with the same typical
response usually received from teenagers; moaning, groaning and
complaining. To this day, I regret the
fact of yelling at Noah to just stop complaining and do what I asked. I did tell the kids I loved them as I left,
and for them to be ready to go at six o’clock.
So many things
were going on during that afternoon, and I’ve often wondered and questioned God
about them. To this day I still have no
answers to some of my questions, but as a great minister told me once,
sometimes after you’ve asked God your questions, you just have to put them on
the back burner and wait for the answers to come.
On a side note
here, I want to say my children know their dad loves them. I say it often, and have worked diligently to
make sure there is no doubt in their minds about this. Even when I was forced to discipline my kids,
it always ended with me telling them I loved them. This is something which is so important for
kids to know, and we as fathers must be sure we do this.
With that being
said, I’d like to speak to the dads out there for just a moment. You have an extremely important role to play
in your children’s lives. You are the
example of God to them; what they see you do, will translate over to how they relate
to their Spiritual Father. It is a heavy
responsibility for sure, but one you can and must bear.
And dads, this doesn’t
mean you have to be perfect, because none of us are. What we must be is be quick to forgive, and
even quicker to repent. Our kids don’t
need to see us as perfect; they need to see us as real. And real men make mistakes; they just don’t
run from them. Real men own up to their
mistakes, and make it right by those they’ve wronged. So don’t beat yourself up when you make a
mistake, just make it right, and use it as a learning experience for both you
and your family.
Cheryl and I
continued to work that afternoon, and as the time approached for us to leave to
go to the church, she left early to purchase the snacks we planned on serving our
class. In between customers, I looked
over the material once more in preparation, excitement building in my heart for
the lives we were going to touch. Yet at
that very moment unknown to me, evil was in my home, preparing to tear the very
fabric of my family’s lives in an effort to destroy us.
Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!
