Celebrate Father’s Day with Joni as she reflects on some sweet memories of her late father. If you want to bring the Good News to others living with a disability, volunteer at a Joni and Friends Family Retreat today! Sign up at joniradio.org.
SHAUNA: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Well, Joni, I know we’re celebrating a very special holiday this weekend.
JONI: Oh, we are and it’s Father’s Day! And over the years, I’ve shared with our listeners stories about my dad, and some of my favorites are stories about daddy when I was in the hospital right after the 1967 diving accident in which I broke my neck. I could always tell when daddy was arriving for a visit. You see, my father back then was 67 years old back then and he could only walk, using two Canadian crutches [he suffered knee injuries when he was younger because of wrestling]. And so, by the time I was injured, daddy hobbled around on crutches because of severe arthritis. He used them to push aside chairs or boxes; he would use one of his crutches to point at something or ring a doorbell. And on a good day, he could hit a ball tossed to him by a grandkid. Around the farm we could always tell when my father was out on the tractor cutting hay in the field – his crutches would be leaning against the barn door.
So, when I was in the hospital, I missed all of that. But late in the afternoon, I would hear the familiar “click-click-click-click” of his crutches echoing up the corridor. And I would think, oh boy, daddy’s here! More than anyone else in the family, I felt he understood – he could truly empathize with my pain and my paralysis. His visits were always a blessing. He’d share stories, tell jokes, offer up memories. When he came to visit me, my dad always brought good news. News about what was happening on the farm, news about how many bales of hay we gleaned from cutting the fields, what our beloved barn cat we called Charlie was up to, or what was going on with the horses. But that’s not the only kind of good news he brought.
He brought good words from God’s Word. Bible promises of hope and encouragement. And to this day, the click-click sound that crutches make on tiled floor is for me, the most beautiful sound. Daddy would lean on the guardrail of my hospital bed and tell me that “the good Lord [that’s how we used to say it],” the good Lord is taking care of you Joni. I loved the way he said “Lord” like his mother who was Scots Irish. Looking back now, my father’s visits to the hospital – the click-clicking of his crutches coming up the corridor, his smile, his stories, his assurance that God had not abandoned me, or left me, that there was purpose to my broken neck – all of it was a picture of Isaiah 52, announcing: “How beautiful… are the feet of those who bring good news” – especially if those feet can only walk with crutches!
I guess my father [who by the way, passed away many years ago]; my dad and I have that in common. He could not walk anywhere without his crutches, and I cannot go anywhere without my wheelchair. But when it comes to announcing good news? The good news of Jesus? Oh, it’s something my daddy did well, and I love to share that same good news. And to people who struggle, feeling hopeless, without purpose; the good news of Christ that my father brought to me, and now that I bring to others; that’s beautiful. And I hope that when others hear my wheelchair – I hope they think of it as a beautiful sound.
SHAUNA: And friend when you’re celebrating Father’s Day with your family this Sunday; may you be like those “who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, and proclaim salvation.” We pray that you have a great Father’s Day celebration, honoring the men in your life who have brought good news to you. Thanks for listening today on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope.
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