Father's Day Edition

Oddly enough I'm pretty sure my dad had no idea what he was doing.

Now, he is a terribly awesome dad in general. I mean, he supported the family. He made sure things happened. He took command when called. He made sure we were safe. He was ready to sacrifice it all for us.

But at the same time there were moments it felt like he was grasping at straws. Like a very short period where he decided for our birthdays we'd spend the evening out with him. It was started while I was in middle school and felt kinda weird, and discontinued after a few years. Or how I never got an official "birds and the bees" talk. I picked up how to tie a tie from a book. Father-isms were few. Not at all the classic media portrayal of a father-son relationship.

Instead I learned from his actions. Like how he made sure Mom was taken care of when she got hurt (she broke an ankle once). Or how easy-going he was. How he was willing to chat up random people and learn about their lives. Or the way he could just shrug and let a problem roll off while in the background rapidly fixing it.

Probably the one role that best exemplified this was his work in A/V. One of my childhood memories was playing around in the sound booth during service while my Dad ran sound. Or how we'd get up extra early to setup the sanctuary by running wires and setting up microphones. I was told he was one of the best techs in the church. For special occasions he was usually the one running the system taking meticulous notes during rehearsals of how he wanted to balance the sounds for each song. He was skilled, gifted, and worked diligently making sure everything ran smoothly.

And yet it wasn't a glory job. You only notice the A/V team when things go wrong. He wasn't the head of the A/V teams. If things went badly or I bumped into a switch he'd just swiftly recover and go on instead of blowing up with frustration. He didn't brag; I didn't know how highly prized he was until I was told by others.

I also wasn't forced into anything. Even though other members of the church were curious if I'd eventually succeed him in the sound booth, he just smiled. If I asked about things he would explain, like what feedback was (I may or may not have caused it several times). But I wasn't being forcibly groomed. The way he figured is he'd be open to the possibility but he wouldn't force me to do anything.

This was typical him. Silent infrastructure, a cool head, and providing opportunity without forcing your hand. A classy leader from the background. And although he may not have always known what he was doing, he would never stop trying to do his best.