The Steps of a Good Man

My siblings and I each had the honor and privilege of speaking a tribute to our father during his memorial service on October 1, 2023. We each shared different things about our dad. And though it was hard to sum up in a few minutes time, this is the tribute that I shared for my portion.

Psalm 37:23-24 (KJV) says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.”

I think anyone who has ever known my dad would describe him as a good man, and it can certainly be said of my dad that his steps were ordered by the Lord. My dad gave his life to God at the age of 16 and was called into ministry at the age of 18. And He didn’t just preach to others, He practiced what He preached. He made no compromises. He wasn’t perfect – no human is. But He did live a life worthy of his calling.

His favorite book of the Bible was the book of John, which comes as no surprise. John described himself as the disciple that Jesus loved, and John spoke a lot about love. And that’s what my dad exemplified throughout his life. He loved God and he loved people. He had this way of making you feel like you were the most special person in the world. I think it’s because he loved God so much, and God’s love flowed through him.

He loved children, especially babies. He loved to smile, laugh, joke, and kid around. He would often give people nicknames. He gave all the grandkids a nickname. He even gave my friends nicknames.

He gave me a nickname too – Chelli Beans, which evolved to Baby Beans since I was the baby of the family. And eventually I was just called Beans. My whole family called me Beans for many years of my life. When new people would come around and hear this, they would always look at me curiously and ask why I was called Beans, and I would explain the whole story.

I recall my dad also saying that I had a turtle nose because of this little crook that hangs down on the end of my nose. He thought it was cute and meant it as a term of affection, but honestly it made me a little self-conscious in my adolescent years. But I would later come around to embrace it, and I have an affection for turtles because of it. Anytime I see a turtle, it always reminds me of my dad. And funny too that my dad’s name is Tim and Timothy Turtle was a moniker attributed to him from time to time, which he didn’t particularly care for. Perhaps because turtles are slow, and he was fast.

I’m not sure if many people know that my dad was a fast runner, but he was. His speed was passed on genetically to some of us kids and many of the grandkids and great-grandkids too. Even into his midlife years, my dad could still run fast and would race the grandkids. With me being the youngest child and Dad’s health issues that had ensued by the time my kids were of racing age, he never had a chance to race them. My son joked that my dad was lucky that he never raced him (implying that he would have outraced his papa), but then my son said on second thought, maybe he was the lucky one because perhaps his papa would have outraced him.

My dad was a hard worker too. For most of his years in ministry, he also worked a separate full-time job in the logging and lumber industry and was the owner and operator of two lumber mills. He worked outdoors in all kinds of weather year-round and always wore long-sleeved shirts, even in the heat of summer. I asked once why he didn’t wear short sleeves in summer, and he said that any wind that blew would cool him down a bit with his sweat-drenched sleeves. He would sweat until his shirts were completely drenched, often requiring multiple changes a day.

He loved being outside, though, among the trees and nature. He could identify all kinds of trees. Once when I was in high school, I had to complete a project where I collected and identified 40 different types of tree leaves. So of course I enlisted the help of the expert – my dad. He was more than happy to help and enjoyed being able to share his love and knowledge of trees with me. When my project was graded, I was surprised that I hadn’t received a 100. My teacher said that a couple of the tree leaves had been incorrectly identified. My dad responded that the teacher didn’t know what he what he was talking about and was ready to call him on the matter. I told Dad it was okay though – I had still received an A+ after all, and I doubted that my teacher would change his mind anyway. I had no idea back then how a school project would become such a special memory later on.

Dad also wasn’t one to complain, though he faced many hardships and trials throughout his life. Even in the last decade-plus of his life, as Parkinson’s took a toll on his body, he never complained. And though his body betrayed him, God never did. Because the last part of the verse from Psalm 37 that I quoted earlier also held true for my dad – he was not cast down; God continued to uphold him. And even when my dad no longer had words to speak, he still praised God with his hands. As can be said through the words of another Psalm (Psalm 73:26), though my dad’s flesh and heart failed, God remained the strength of his heart and his portion forever.

The cross that we picked out for my dad’s wreath sums it up well. The words are composed from titles and lyrics of various old gospel songs which my dad knew and loved, starting with my dad’s favorite, “Amazing Grace.” It says, “I still believe in Amazing Grace, that there is Power in the Blood, that He walks with me, and He talks with me, that because He lives I can face tomorrow. All because of the Old Rugged Cross.”

And “The Old Rugged Cross” is a good one to conclude with. Many of you probably know the chorus which says,

“So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
‘Til my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it someday for a crown”

My dad clung to the old rugged cross to the very end, and now he is receiving his crown. He made a decision to follow God and never looked back, no matter what life threw his way. And he leaves behind a legacy of the highest calling – a legacy of loving God and loving others. A legacy that has impacted the lives of many. A legacy that I am striving to carry on myself. A legacy that will live on for generations to come and echo throughout eternity.