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By Scott Tibbs, Monday, January 10, 2005
When I got married on May 26, 2001, God blessed me with a beautiful, loving wife who has been my rock for over five years now. Along with a wife, comes her family, and I could not have asked for better in-laws than Shannon's parents.
To the right is a picture of my father-in-law, Rob Goings. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in June of 2004. He passed away the morning of January 9, 2005.
I never knew my biological father. He never cared much about contacting me or treating me like a son. When God blessed me with my wife, He also blessed me with something I had never had in the previous 27 years: a father. Rob accepted me into the family with no hesitation.
Rob was (and is) someone I look up to, someone who has been a mentor to me for the last five years, and someone who has been source of support, counsel and advice since I asked his daughter to be my wife in January of 2000. He was fun to be around, and he was someone who I have a lot in common with. He sang at my wedding to his daughter, which remains one of my fondest memories.
Rob was a Believer who loved the Lord. He was a pillar of Good Shepherd United Methodist in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He provided the gift of music to the congregation. He worked hard to help the church, and was always willing to do what was needed to spread God's word in Fort Wayne and elsewhere.
I thank God that while Rob was not comfortable the last few months of his life; he was not in a great deal of pain. Even during the last week, when he was in the hospital and then in hospice, he was not in great pain. Most importantly, I am thankful that he is now in the arms of Jesus and with his Heavenly Father.
Rob Goings was a great man. Had I known Rob apart from courting and then marrying his daughter, I would have (along with hundreds of other people) been proud to call him "friend". But Rob has been much more than that.
He is my Dad.
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