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Quite the Grip

By Daniel Bishop | September 11, 2022 | Category: Christian, Christian Living
Dad in the Navy 1963
Listen to AI narrated audio version

My dad died on August 25, 2016. 

When the calendar turns to August, I always think about him and it seems like it was yesterday instead of six years ago. He was admitted to the hospital on July 27th and when I got to the hospital to see him, I shook his hand.


“That’s quite the grip you got there,” I told him. 

“So is yours,” he said and smiled. 

I was kind of joking with him because he was very frail. He had lost a lot of weight over the last few months, and he was skin and bones. He really did have a good grip, though. After that, every time I came to visit him for the month he was in the hospital, I would always shake his hand and say he had quite the grip. He would always smile. 

A few days after he was admitted, his condition worsened, and he was put on a ventilator. We gave him a notebook to communicate with us. 

I was at work the day he died. My older brother called me and told me Dad’s nurse said all the family should go to the hospital. Dad wasn’t doing good, and he wrote in his note book he was going to die today. 

I left work and got to the hospital. He was still alert and aware of things. He noticed when I walked in, and I shook his hand and told him he had quite the grip. He smiled. I stepped away from his bed and watched as other family members talked to him. He died a few hours later.

I contemplated the forty-six years I’d been privileged to have him as my dad. The thing I thought about was the spiritual inheritance he left me. He had quite the grip on being a Christian. He was very firm and unwavering in his walk with God. He left my siblings and me with the same firm and unwavering walk with God. 

I’m glad he’s in Heaven and reunited with Mom. I look forward to the day I can see him again and shake his hand. I’ll tell him he’s got quite the grip and I can’t wait to see him smile.

How is your grip on being a Christian? 

No matter how weak it is, God has you in His hands. Ask Him to help you in your weakness.

About Daniel Bishop

Daniel Bishop is an Army veteran and his first book, Place of Refuge, was released in 2020. He and his wife were foster parents and adopted one the children placed in their home. His passion is to write devotions and fictional books about foster care and adoption.

He lives in Knoxville, TN with his wife and teenage daughter who likes to think she’s already an adult. He enjoys woodworking, home theater, drinking coffee, and sometimes eating ice cream for breakfast. Especially if it’s coffee ice cream.

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