Life is full of surprises. I won't get any points or recognition for this obvious statement, but receiving a text message from my mom informing me that my dad is very ill caught me off guard. He had been battling with some infection and his heart since the Friday, and it was now Tuesday evening. My dad and I had already made sure that we greeted each other properly when we had last visited in December 2020 because we had no guarantees that we would see each other on this side of heaven again. He had also told me not to come just for a funeral because that would be necessary.
I had to move quickly if I was to make it in time to see him. There were several administrative actions that had to be made, flight bookings, finances, covid tests etc. I had to ask very nicely for my Covid test to be sped up because of the time constraints. Africa understands relationships very well, and to hinder someone on such an urgent relational matter would be inconceivable, so plans were made; all above board and I had my results within 12 hours. On Friday morning I flew out to Harare and went with my younger sister and brother-in-law to my parents in Chinhoyi by that evening. Over the course of the next four days I was able to have a few conversations with my dad. We reminisced over things that we had done together and I read to him out of Revelation where he had left off. His condition deteriorated fairly rapidly and he slept most of the time. On Tuesday the 7th of June he peacefully made the transition to his eternal home. The next day I jokingly said to someone "The Lord said He is going ahead to prepare a place for us, but I think my dad has gone to help because I can't see that man sitting still." My dad loved working and he has left me with knowledge and some abilities in doing similar things.
So the next time you catch me working on some project, remember that the knowledge I have is probably a "chip off the old block,"
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