Southside Website Sponsors

Many thanks to the ACCL group of Holy Name Church for the generous donation to help fund our website.

Thank you also for the Tribute Gift to sponsor this website in honor of Ray F. Beachy, a man who loved life and family.  His daughter Maureen Magnuson wrote this tribute for his Memorial Service in October 2008 and dedicates this web site to him.

My Dad’s Gift

My dad gave me the gift of a solid foundation of love, truth and faith.  The gift of experiencing a father’s love that made it easy for me to accept the perfect love of my Heavenly Father.

If you picture God as distant, uninterested in your life, ready to zap you if you do something wrong, or with a long list of rules and requirements to earn His love or take the fun out of life, I think your image of Him is distorted and I wish you had grown up in my home with my dad. My dad was involved in our lives.  So I see God that way - close at hand and involved in my life every day.  Psalm 139 says that God is “familiar with all my ways.”  I believe that.

Dad’s love for us and pride in us was unmistakable.  So I believe it when I read in the Bible that my Heavenly Father “takes great delight in me.”

My father was rock solid, trustworthy, kind and protective.  God is described as my rock and my defender, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.  I’ve discovered that my Heavenly Father sent Jesus so that we can have abundant, joyful life. I already knew that from my earthly father.  My childhood was full of body surfing in the ocean, dance lessons, cross country road trips, drive-in theaters, and eating bowls of ice cream together every night. Abundant, good, joyful life.

Even the things about my dad that drove me crazy made it easier for me to understand the nature of God.  It was sometimes mentioned in my hearing that my father was a bit of a know it all.  So it’s easy for me to believe that God is all-knowing.  I can also accept that God is always right, because I learned early on that my dad was always right.   Sad to say, I take after my dad in that area.  Yes, I’m my father’s daughter.  And it’s a wonderful thing to be Ray Beachy’s daughter.  He gave me the gift of love, truth, and faith.  And the confidence to say that I’m the precious daughter of the King of Kings.  And that’s a rock solid foundation.

My Dad would love to know that I am helping at Southside Life Care Center.  It is my prayer that every person who comes through our doors or reads this tribute would feel the love of their Heavenly Father and know that they are precious in His sight.