Mel

Dear Extended Family,

My dad lost his leg yesterday - he went in to have some veins replaced - 4 surgeries and 12 hours later, they ended up amputating his leg. It feels so surreal...I drove home to South Dakoa to be with my sisters and mom and now I'm back in Minneapolis. It doesn't feel like I was even there - except there is this deep ache in my heart that is an almost unbearable physical pain.
I saw him, I spoke with him, I told him I loved him... and there he was - with one leg, telling me he loved me too and that I shouldn't have driven all that way just for him.

I can't imagine losing one of my parents - especially my dad. He's the one who taught me how to drive a stick shift, a motorcycle, a snowmobile and a tractor; he taught me how to change the oil and tires, how to replace alternator belts and not to take any shit from anyone - but be nice. : )

He also taught me to have a deep and real faith in a deep and real Jesus. My fathers faith is very simple but his "journey" has been amazing - that is for another time. Just know that he lived through hell, survived and came out on the other side with a deep faith. When he was 35 years old, he became a Christian - he had been a man struggling with alcohol and a really crummy marriage. Something very real told him that Jesus could give him a new start - a new life, a renewed marriage and a relationship with his children that he hadn't known before. He trusted that and asked the creator of the world to forgive him and give him another chance. Jesus said yes - as He always does. My father has passed on this very simple faith to his daughters, and we have married men who share this as well. I'm so thankful! My dad believed that Jesus really does have the power to forgive anything (and Mel had A LOT of forgiveness to be granted) and that with forgiveness comes something beyond this life. My mom told me that if God wanted to take Daddy first - she would be okay with that because she knows that she gets eternity with him. We will all grieve greatly when Mel is gone - but how incredible to have the rest of forever with him.

I've read some of the posts about truth and right and wrong; it seems to me that there is this pervasive belief that there is not absolute "truth". Let me tell you - there is absolute truth and there are absolute lies.

I don't know how long my dad will live on this earth - and I will be so, so, very sad when he dies. I can't imagine my boys growing up without the farm and the farmer...but I know, in my very core that Heaven is where he'll be - waiting for his daughters and son-in-laws and the rest who choose life over lies.

This is my prayer for this Johnston family - that Jesus reveal himself the you. I don't know what that will look like, and it will look different to each of you - but you will know it when it happens. You may ask, "Is this what she was talking about?" and your soul will shout, "YES!". I am commiting myself to praying for you all by name at 8:30 every morning. Be prepared for your life to be changed. Not because I prayed for you, but because the creator of all the world loves you and cares for you and wants you to have a relationship with Him! He loves you more than you love your spouses, your children, your parents - how much would you give to them, how much more will He give to you? I can't wait! Love, Sandy