My dad and I were best friends. We did everything together. He owned a computer and sound equipment business in Paducah, KY. During the summer, I would spend a lot of time in what we called “the shop.” He taught me most of what I know about computers and sound equipment. My dad and I had another special bond — we sang together.
My dad sang barbershop music for 38 years. He started teaching me to sing when I was a baby. As my mom recalls, I was about 18 months old when dad was warming his voice for a show when I started matching the pitch of his voice. Although I was far too young to remember that, it is neat to think that I was already trying to be like my dad at such an early age. By the time I was seven, dad said he wanted me to sing a song with his quartet. I was ecstatic. Dad and I practiced that one song every time we got the opportunity. Whenever I got on stage, I never grew nervous because my dad was there.
As I grew older, I became the quartet’s tenor. I can remember awakening at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings and practicing my music instead of watching cartoons. My dad would teach me something new, and then I would practice it until I drove both of my parents nuts. When I was 12 years old, dad allowed me to compete with the quartet. Now that was fun. I have to admit, I was quite the ham on stage, and I was comfortable because I was on stage with dad.
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I carry on the tune that he put in me.
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Then my voice started to change. I couldn’t sing tenor anymore. Within a year, I went from singing higher than any soprano in choir to barely being able to sing the high tenor notes. My voice finally adjusted and I started singing the melody line in the quartet. The greatest thing about my voice change was that my voice had become a carbon copy of my dads. I still have the videotape of a contest where my dad and I switched parts at the end of the song and nobody could even tell we switched.
If there is one thing I am proud of, it is that I have my father’s voice, and even though my dad is no longer in this world, I carry on the tune that he put in me. Is it not the same with our Father in Heaven? We are His children, and we need to imitate our Father. There is no reason to get nervous because our Father is always with us. And surely, if there is one thing that we can do as Christians, it is to be the voice of our Father in a world that needs Him so badly and needs to recognize his voice as the voice of love, concern, and salvation.
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2
Imitating the Father