Mr. and Mrs. H . M . “ Mother and Dad” Hillis in a trip to the airport to say “ goodbye” to their missionary sons.
An Open Letter to My Parents on their 52 nd Wedding Anniversary Dear Mother and Dad,
profitable years of my life spent in the Bible Institute. Three weeks later when Dick also decided to go to Biola, you knew that the Lord had done far above all you could have asked or thought. And Dad, I want to thank you for the many hours you spent in preparing itineraries for the “ Crusaders for Christ” and for other Biola gospel teams. Those trips provided blessed experiences for us in learning to walk with God and to serve Him. Your love and prayers followed us through Biola and continued with me as I went to Wheaton College. You both stood at the dock in San Pedro and wiped away tears of thankfulness to God as you watched Dick sail for the great mission field of China. Again and again during the past twenty-five years you have found yourselves at a harbor or an airport waving goodbye to Dick and his family as they left for China, or to me and my family as we departed for India. Each time through tears of joy you have thanked God for the privilege of having missionary sons. While on the field you have held the ropes for us. While at home you have stood shoulder to shoulder with us. In all of this you have grown to love Him more, and we have grown to thank Him more for you. Earth is sweeter because you have been here and Heaven will be sweeter because you will be there . . . all because of Calvary. With lots of love from Harry, Dick and your “ baby boy,” Don H illis
In the goodness of our Heavenly Father, you have lived well beyond your three-score years and ten. You are now celebrating your fifty-second wedding anniversary. Though I am a grown man with a family, yet you will always look upon me as your “ baby boy.” Before my older brother Harry was bom, you dedicated his little life to Jesus. When you knew I was to join the family circle you did the same. But you had no way of knowing that I was afraid to come into the world alone. When, therefore, my twin brother Dick accompanied me, you dedicated us both publicly to Jesus Christ. I was too young to know of the anxious hours you spent in wondering whether the Lord was going to spare us to you. Nor do I remember the long, lonely vigils in which you watched over my bed, fearing that pneumonia might snatch me from you. But the Lord was gracious and answered your prayers. Our grade and high school days were happy days, spent on the farm in Washington. Those were years in which your love one for the other, and for Christ and His Church made deep and lasting impressions upon our hearts. It was at your suggestion, Mother, that I chose to go to Biola rather than another school. Nor will I forget the day I boarded a Greyhound Bus in Seattle, headed for Los Angeles and for two of the most
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TH E K IN G 'S BU SINESS
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