In memory of my earthly father...he had gone home to Abba Daddy

On the evening of Friday April 7, 2006 I received a call at around 09:45 PM and I noticed that it was from my eldest brother James. Because I was attending the Friday evening bible study, my mobile phone was on silent mode so as not to disturb the preaching and so, as soon as service was over, I rushed out to return his call (James normally does not call me unless it is something important).

And I had the shock when he announced to me, "dad is gone". Initially I did not understand his statement and so asked him what he meant by that as I thought he had gone missing (lost) a number of occasions when he wandered out of his home on 'outings' of his own and due to his dimentia could not remember where he was or even who he was and we had to make a special laminated card with his personal particulars and my brother's home telephone number to wear around his neck so that they could identify him should anyone find him. So my first thought was that it was another one of those episodes. But when James repeated himself and added that dad had passed away that reality set in.

When we arrived at James' apartment, we saw an area that had the phone cordon and a number of officers were carrying out investigations. My father fell out of the service balcony of the 6th floor apartment onto the edge of the carpark. There are two balconies in James' apartment and one of them (the one in the living room) plus all the windows in the house were enclosed with metal grills but the one in his master bedroom did not have those grills because he would normally lock his room door should he or my sister-in-law not be at home. That evening he came home after his usual jog around the estate at around 7PM and headed for the showers.

After his shower he sat down for his dinner and had not locked his room door since he was home. While he was having his dinner, he heard some rushing of leaves and a thud sound but paid no notice of it thinking that it was just windy. He did not realized that his two golden retrievers were whining unnaturally at that moment as dad was very fond of the two pets. What we later pieced together was that dad was napping when James came out of his shower and headed for his dinner but he woke up soon after and wanted to go to the toilet. Thinking that James' room (which is next to the toilet) was the washroom, he stepped in and with the glass sliding door of the balcony wide opened, he saw people walking along the road below and decided to join them for a walk. He climbed over the ledge (quite low in comparison with the other balcony) and plunged six storeys down.

Our Abba Daddy is so merciful that even when he fell, dad did not suffer. I believe He took dad right into His arms midway down. Dad was wearing a white T-shirt and white shorts (his sleeping garments) and the spot where he landed was a miracle in itself. At the edge of the carpark there were some scrubs and these probably broke his fall as he was found lying facing skyward right next to the bushes and his head was only 2cm away from the concrete of the drains lining the edge of the carpark. The police reported later that they examined the bushes and did not find any broken branches or even leaves broken off from the scrubs - now how can one explain what happened except that it was the hand of Abba Daddy!

His clothes were spotlessly clean - there were no chlorofil or blood stains - and there were no external injuries and he had a very sweet peace on his face. Even the Investigating Officer from the Clementi Neighborhood Police Centre commented, "usually cases of people falling from highrise building would be rather gory but your dad's case is an exception. I have never seen a cleaner corpse than this". I can only conclude that it was by the grace of Abba Daddy that He preserved dad's physical body even in his death as a testimony to His goodness and mercy towards him. Dad lying on the ground facing towards Heaven and with a peaceful disposition about him was a statement to us that Abba Daddy's hand of grace had taken dad home and that was very comforting to the family.

And it became a rallying point for all his friends who came to pay their last respect at his memorial services - that dad had indeed gone home to be with Abba Daddy and they too were comforted and encouraged. Indeed, I can almost hear my father uttering the words that the Apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy in 2Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." All praise and glory to Abba Daddy!