Thanks to all who have conveyed love and support during our time of loss. The cards, emails, phone calls, and hallway conversations have been very moving.

Tuesday morning I was reflecting on Joshua 24 with a group praying for Bethel. In that chapter, Joshua says, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I used it to think about my dad’s life and his importance in setting a godly example to us.

When my dad died on November 24, he was younger than Joshua (87 vs. 110). But like Joshua, there was a clear commitment that our home would be a place where God was served. A plaque hung in our home growing up—and in the home of dad’s parents—and in our home: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” My grandparents worked hard to pass along faith to my dad. My dad worked hard to pass it along to me and my siblings. We have worked hard to pass it along to our children. We are still working at it.

Saturday, November 28 would have been my parents’ 67th anniversary of the day they eloped to New Hampshire to get married. We gathered instead for my dad’s memorial service. At the service we recalled the history, God’s intervention, and undeserved blessings following the pattern that Joshua used with the people of God in Joshua 24.

Part of the history includes:

• My dad leading my mom to the Lord before they were married. (Nothing like a beautiful woman to make you an evangelist.)
• My dad working in senior management for several companies and organizations including Ford, Oury Engineering, Youth For Christ, ServiceMaster, John Brown University (JBU)
• My mom and dad being incredibly loyal to the churches they were in
• Dad introducing us to Deerfoot Lodge
• Dad insisting on Christian higher education for us
• Strong support for missions

Things we learned from Dad:

• Although dad believed that God was in control, he felt that he had to have everything in order just in case the Lord got distracted!
• Dad was a person who was usually in charge and always in control. People relied on him to get things done—and he did! He was a great problem solver and fixer of things that need fixing—especially organizations! Dad applied those skills to our family, as well. We’re not as easy to fix—but that didn’t stop him from trying! All of us benefited from his wisdom and care. 
• Dad was a hard working person. I think he took delight in “working the young guys under the table.” Many companies and institutions benefited from his work ethic. He didn’t fully retire until he was 82.
• Dad was also a generous person. He was generous with his time, his money, and his abilities. We saw that generosity in his care for missionaries from our earliest memories of our family. As their income became less in retirement, one of the things that pained Dad the most was the need to cut back in support of missionaries. Dad was also generous with us. We have been blessed many times by an unexpected gift—particularly in the years when our income was meager. Dad’s gifts of time and wisdom have been more important than his gift of money. Many churches have been reorganized and “strategized” by dad’s good efforts. In his “old age” he took on hospitals and city planning boards—two bastions of disorganization—at a time when most people had long retired! If only we could have gotten him into the U.S. Congress! 
• He was a principled person. He stood firm in what he believed, even when there was a price to be paid for it. I remember a number of years ago when dad was convinced that he needed to make things right with a business venture gone wrong in the 1950’s. He did what he thought was right even though he was not rolling in cash. People knew dad for his integrity.
• Dad was a faithful person. He was faithful in the sense of being full of faith and in the sense of sticking to his commitments. His faith in the Lord was the bedrock of his life. He never seemed to waiver in his faith even during the most challenging of times. His trust in the Lord has been a comfort and an example to me and many others. His faithfulness to Mom has also been special. It is a great part of our heritage that their marriage has been strong. Dad’s love for her has been obvious and unquestioned. Another part of dad’s faithfulness has been his caution not to speak ill of the people he worked with. In going through hard times at church or at JBU, I knew more from other people than I did from Dad. Dad was incredibly loyal, even to people who were not always loyal to him. 
• Dad was a loving person. There has never been a time in life when I’ve doubted that. Love has been strong in our family and beyond it. Many international students at JBU were blessed by dad’s love. 
• Dad was a friend. It is a significant transition in life when a child becomes a friend of the father. I’m thankful for that. One of the first steps in that process for me was the drive we took from Wheaton to Deerfoot in the Mustang when I was in high school. It was a time when our conversation went beyond the surface. As an adult it grew far beyond that. Dad asked my opinion about things I would not say in public—and he really valued what I thought. I know that many others benefited from his friendship. 
• I learned a great deal about my heavenly Father from having a good earthly father. As Barb and I parent our adult children, we see how much dad must have learned about our Heavenly Father in parenting us as well!

My dad often recalled covenant commitments he had made and called on us to do the same. He tried to live by Joshua 24 and by Matthew 6:33—Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. He encouraged us to do the same. I, James H Barnes III, am thankful for the life of James H Barnes, Jr. who taught me so much about my heavenly father.