Dad – Peter Gowesky

In Faith in Real Life

Turkey, Stuffing, Potato’s, topped off with family and giving thanks

November 28, 2008 3 Comments

Yesterday was a day spent giving thanks by many around our nation. We gathered around tables, booths, or bars, and spent time with others consuming near fatal amounts of turkey, and trimmings. Yesterday was a day set aside by our forefathers as a time to look back and remember all that God has done for us.

The other night I was sitting at our church’s thanksgiving eve service by myself all alone in the back row, feeling bad for myself. I was listening to person after person share how God had healed them and helped them in the last year, and I was having a hard time just thinking about how God chose to take my Dad home and not heal him. I’ll be honest, it was hard. Really hard.

But in the midst of it all, I started to tune out those who were speaking and I began a list in my journal of the things I’m thankful for. Here’s what I am thankful for in 2008…

My wife
My wife
My wife
My Kids
My Family
God providing for all of our needs
For God clearly moving us when we need to be moved, and settling us when we need to settle
For my friends
For God chasing me
For the trials
For my Dad’s Legacy
For my Mom
For my WIFE
For God teaching me and changing me
For Tears
For a great group of people that I get to serve alongside of
For my life

There is so much to be thankful for. It is really easy to be negative though isn’t it? Just to look at the downside… But I’m grateful for so much! What about you? What are you thankful for?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

What a blur…

October 4, 2008 2 Comments

So, I am sitting here thinking and trying to get ready for our fall retreat for our High School Ministry at FBC, and I am just drawing blanks. I feel like I’m not firing on all cylinders. I look back at the course of the last two weeks and realize that it is blurry. There are a few moments that I remember with razor sharp accuracy. However, the minutes and hours have all kind of fuzzed over into one big painful memory. [For those of you who may be jumping in you can read about what I’m talking about, here, here, here, and here. You can click here to see my dad’s testimony.]

Today I got back the video from my dad’s memorial service, and I wanted to share this one video with you. I promise that I won’t inundate you with video’s and other stuff, but this is to special not to share.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_86xX0mPzA]

After watching this over and over again I find it amazing to think about the way that my dad, even when unable to speak, continued to touch people’s lives. So many people take for granted how much their actions speak; how much their lives speak.

What is your life speaking right about now?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Dad’s Testimony

September 28, 2008 5 Comments

This was recorded about a year ago. What an amazing man. I wanted to share this with you all.

~Peter

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR_9mfIb9Gc]

In Faith in Real Life

Well Done Dad… Well Done…

September 23, 2008 20 Comments

The race is over. He finished well. “Well done my good and faithful servant.” Those are the words that my dear dad heard as he entered into spending eternity with our God. Today his fight with Lewy Bodies Disease is over. Today his fight with this body, and the confines of it, are over. Today he is set free!

I wept thinking about how he will be able to walk again. How he will be able to think again. How he will be able to sing and pray again. How he will be able to speak again! I miss him terribly already.

God gave me this scripture passage today while I was sitting in my office lost in thoughts and memories.

“But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain. I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.” Psalm 3:3-5

Thank you to each of you who have helped pray, and ask God to take my dad. He has heard our cries! Praise God.

I have this song running through my head right now…

Blessed Be Your Name In the land that is plentiful, Where Your streams of abundance flow Blessed be Your name Blessed Be Your name, When I’m found in the desert place, Though I walk through the wilderness Blessed Be Your name,

Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name, Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be Your glorious name,

Blessed be Your name When the sun’s shining down on me When the world’s ‘all as it should be’ Blessed be Your name Blessed be Your name On the road marked with suffering Though there’s pain in the offering Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your glorious name Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name, Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be Your glorious name, You give and take away, You give and take away, My heart will choose to say Lord, blessed be Your name…

Dad, I am proud of you. I miss you. I love you. And I want to be just like you.

~Your Son

Services will be held at Waxahachie Bible Church:
Viewing – Thursday 5:00 – 7:00
Memorial – Thursday 7:00
Graveside – Friday 11:00 (City Cemetary)

“In lieu of flowers the family requests that you gift three missionary couples dear to Daddy’s heart. Checks can be made to Waxahachie Bible Church (memo Jeffrey Gowesky Memorial).”

Waxahachie Bible Church
621 Grand Ave.
Waxahachie, TX 75165

Boze Wayne Funeral Home
1826 US Hwy 287 Business West
Waxahachie, TX 75165
972-923-2700

In Faith in Real Life

How have we gotten here?

September 23, 2008 1 Comment

This morning I can’t stop the questions from rolling through my mind… I am tired of all these questions…

How have we gotten here?

Did we really just make arrangements for my dad’s funeral?

Am I really flying to Texas with a suit?

Seriously am I preparing to talk at my Dad’s funeral?

How do I present the gospel and keep from crying?

Why now?

I can’t wait for him to be with Jesus… When God?

Can I truly sing “It is well with my soul”?

God make it well with my soul!?!

How do I keep my patience with people when my fuse is so short?

God please find me faithful as I walk through this valley of shadows.

I write this with a lump in my throat and a pain in my chest. Please keep praying for me and my family. My mom’s name is Sarah, and I have three sisters, Heidi, Heather, and Marcy. We covet your prayers in this time. We know that our dad will spend eternity in heaven worshiping God the creator of heaven and earth, of all the seen and unseen. Yet my heart is selfish. I want my dad back. I want to talk with him and see him. I want to feel his arms embrace me in a hug. One day in eternity we will meet again! What a day that will be…

To keep updated on my dad and all that is going on, visit our caring bridge site.

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

fuzzy blur

September 22, 2008 5 Comments

It’s pretty much a fuzzy blur. Right now, there aren’t a whole lot of words to say. Daddy is still hanging on. I know that my family is praying for my dad and his home going. I also know that there is an extended family of men and women whose lives will never be the same because of my Dad who are also in ceaseless and fervent prayer for my dad. I am amazed. There is a man who is fasting and praying for God to call my dad home soon. THank you to all of my extended family who have been continuing to spend time before the God of this universe on behalf of the entire Gowesky family.

I think that it is a pretty safe bet that we are all hurting in different ways. Phone calls, and text messages are filled with tears, joy, sorrow, sadness, honesty, love and pride. I am so proud of my dad for the life that he has lived. He is an incredible man of God. Faithful to his family, faithful to his God, faithful to the church’s he has served. Never in all of the years that I have had the privalage of being his son have I ever heard him talk negatively about God’s bride, the church. In the midst of some painful situations He always remained positive. One of the last sermons that he ever preached was in the dining room of my grandmothers house in NJ. He read Psalm 16 and he shared with all of us around the table about how God has allowed the lines to fall in pleasant places for him. He also reminded us that God is his inheritance. I will never forget his ability to comfort us even when he was the one suffering. What a man of God. Praise God for my dad’s life.

We continue to pray and cheer him on as He is going home to be with the Lord. Please join me…

Please visit our site for my dad with updates, pictures and such. We truly cherish the messages that our friends and family have been leaving.

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Break the silence

September 21, 2008 5 Comments

For the last 4 years my dad has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. I haven’t talked about this a whole lot here on this blog because it has always been hard for me to talk about. Nothing has changed in that regard. This has been one of the hardest experiences I have ever gone through in my life.

For the last several weeks my dad’s health has been going downhill significantly. This has been the cause of my overall silence here at the saltlick. I guess that I have been pretty clouded and pretty distracted from everything else.

Here is a site that we have put up as a family to keep people posted on my dad’s health. It is difficult and hard for me to begin to process. I have been reading from Ecclesiastes and God has been working in my life. I keep coming back to Ecclesiastes 3 vs 1 and 11. Solomon writes that God has appointed a time for everything and everything is appropriate in its appointed time.

This is a tough pill to swallow. I am still choking on it as it goes down.

I think that I need to leave it at this for today.

I needed to tell you what is going on in my life, why I’ve been silent, and also and more importantly how you can pray for me and my family.

You can pray for my dad that God would welcome him home soon… Please pray for each one of us as we say goodbye and go through the roller coaster of saying goodbye to a father and husband. I love my dad, and I miss him already.

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Father’s Day

June 15, 2008 2 Comments

Happy Father’s Day! This morning we woke up got ready for church and went out to breakfast. We had a great breakfast. Here’s a shot of Grace and I at breakfast this morning. Pancakes were in order for all of us. We had a great day today celebrating father’s day.

We also had a great service today at church. Today we had one service and it was great being together as a large group. We were celebrating three different events. Today was the ingathering day for our Talent Offering, it was also the celebration of the focus on your family covenant day, and of course it was fathers day.

First things first: The ingathering of our talent offering. Applying the principles found in the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30, our church gave out a little over $20k on Palm Sunday. The congregation was told to go and try and invest it, or make more with the seed money that we were given. Today alone we received $76k. How awesome is that? That is great! We are trying to eliminate a $600k debt for our building. So, we are moving forward! This is incredible.

Secondly, a few months ago we as a church went through a six week long campaign focusing on the family. It was called, “Focus on Your Family”. This was a great 6 weeks. Today after much thought and training we were able to acknowledge many families as they made a covenant to help their family grow closer together and closer to God. Praise God for all of those families in our church who have taken this very important step.

Third! Father’s Day!!! Check out this sweet present that my kids gave me today! (well, really that Tiffany made for me!)

I got two canvas’ each one made by one of my children. They are going to hang in my office! I am so excited to hang them. Here’s a close up of each.

Noah’s:

Grace’s:

I grew up watching my Dad love his family, and his wife with all that he has. My Dad has influenced my life is so many great ways. He has taught me how to love people, love God, and love my family. Thanks Dad! I have the greatest memories of my Dad when I was growing up. I remember playing whiffle ball in the driveway, throwing frisbee, bike rides, water rockets, fishing, sailing, working on my car, laughing, talking, and enjoying a good Hot Dog at Jimmy Johns. I can only hope to be half of the man that my Dad is. I am grateful for my Dad. Thanks Dad for being the greatest dad I could ever ask for! I love you.

Tonight a student asked me if it is fun being a dad. What do you think I said? I love being a dad to Noah and Grace. I have huge shoes to fill. I’m gonna keep on trying!

Happy Father’s Day to all you dad’s out there.

~Peter