We sell used books to make a living. Every now and then we sell a book with an interesting story behind it.
We have sold a few used books to really famous people; or, at least they had famous names. Some did seem unmistakable though, like when we sent a book to John D. Rockefeller, IV in West Virginia; or, Paul Tagliabue in New York City.
We have sold books to universities, government agencies, courts and movie studios; one was ordered to be used in a movie. People are often looking for a cherished book as a child, or occasionally, one that their grandparents wrote or illustrated.
Today “Carol” called. In grief, she was on an unusual mission. She wanted to order a book to place in her father’s casket. The book was, My Father Can Fix Anything by Mabel Watts (Whitman, 1965). She shared how her father had read this book to them when they were little. It was a children’s book with sweet pictures, about a father who repaired all the broken things in his child’s little world. The reading of this book so many years ago was such a lasting and tender memory that she wanted to have this book in her father’s coffin with him when he was buried.
My son Clyde III took the order, and my son Nathan packaged it. We shipped it out overnight to her. Needless to say, it was a touching moment for us here; our eyes were getting misty. A father now still and silent; surely to be missed. A family in loss and sorrow; a hole left that could not be easily mended. All parts of the course of this earthly life.
How appropriately was the title of the book, though: My Father Can Fix Anything. Though “Carol’s” father may have fixed many things in her childhood, he could not fix this. How cold and final death seems; but my own heart was encouraged that, indeed, My Father Can Fix Anything.
“Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14).
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)
Our Father can fix anything – even death, the greatest of all man’s problems – the last great enemy of mankind.
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26).
The only way to destroy death is by resurrection!
“The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice” (John 5:28)
The ultimate result is that our Father will fix even death and,
“And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be All in all” (I Corinthians 15:28).
For surely, My Father Can Fix Anything!
The Great Adventure of Faith 