My father is the Vice President of Company Fleets for Crete Carrier Corporation, a trucking company. His duties call for his presence across the country. The funny thing is I more often remember him coming home and being home more than I can ever remember him leaving on a business trip. That's not to say his presence was never missed but it is to say his presence was always present. I am confident that we were in his prayers every morning, noon and night while he was away.
The best part about the business trips was when he brought one of his children with him. I remember going to Graceland with my father during one of his trips to Memphis. I also recall hauling all the Husker football gear down to Oklahoma. My father gave me a football so I could get it signed by all the players and the legendary Coach Osborne. He definitely had the hook up.
Speaking of having the hook up, my father knows EVERYONE! I promise. Instead of six degrees of Kevin Bacon, I'm certain you could do one degree of Kerry Kearl. My father is loved and respected by all of these people. It's nice to know that where ever we go, where ever his kids end up, they always have an automatic guardian in the area. My father's acquaintances care deeply about his family because my father has always shown such care and concern for theirs.
Support and love are second nature to him. He never missed a concert, musical or play. He came to the home basketball and football games just to cheer on his cheerleading daughter. Remarkable, now that I think about it, because my Father is so busy, from callings to work.
Being a VP you may think that he has the better end of the vacations and more flexible time, that's not the case at all. He will work on some holidays just so he can send home his staff to be with their families. What boss do you know that would ever do that?
My father is one of the best examples of how to serve our Heavenly Father and magnify our callings. He has always had demanding callings, but I've never heard him complain. He never grumbled because loves and serves the Lord with ALL his heart and that leaves no room for complaint.
Father is another calling, a divine calling, he has accepted and magnified. I learned the importance of the priesthood in a home from my father. I knew I could always go to him for a blessing and he never let us start the new school year with out a father's blessing. My father was never afraid of asking for a blessing either. Every time we would visit my Grandma and Grandpa Kearl, he would always ask for a Father's Blessing from my Grandfather. Because of that example, I try to do the same, but our most recent visits, I'm affraid I haven't acted on that.
He serves the Lord and honors his priesthood because he is truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My father is the ultimate diamond in the rough. When he was in college he campaigned door to door for a legislative seat with an afro and a pack of cigarettes in his pocket--almost beating the incumbant! Now he is in a different campaign with a bit less hair and a missionary badge on his left pocket that reads President Kearl. The song that described him most in his Dixie High School was "I Fought the Law and the Law Won." Now, the song that most reveres his thoughts and his heart is "O, My Father."
I could list all of the things he did to help his family, all of the fun daddy-daughter dates, all of his outstanding accomplishments and continue siting his most exemplary features, but the most important, most valuable treasure he has ever given me is my individual worth and a divine vision of the woman I can become. Because my father treated me as a daughter of God, I know I am a daughter of God. Because my father fulfilled his roles both temporally and spiritually, I have developed spiritually. I am who I am today because he was not just a dad but a father.
