A Life of Impact

By Deborah Shisler

This book is meant to be an encouragement to others. For the reader to see that they can have a real relationship with God the Father, a relationship that is full of love, companionship, and growth. People see God as this far off, disengaged, and indifferent deity that sees human beings as a nuisance when it is quite the opposite. God created each and every individual to be unique and God created each person with a desire to have a loving relationship with each person. God also created humans with free will, which means each person has the choice to either love God or not to. Deborah uses real life stories to illustrate this love that God the Father has for His adopted children. That God is a loving Father, just like her earthly father, Bob Shisler. This book is also a dedication to not just Deborah's father, but to the lives of those Bob Shisler has touched over the course of his life. As a teacher, as a coach, and as a godly man, Bob Shisler has made an impact on many people. This book is meant to him for that impact, as well as the impact he has made on his children. This book is also meant to make an impact on its readers, just as Bob has made an impact on countless people. Just as Bob Shisler continues to influence others in a positive way, this book is meant to positively influence its readers in the love of God the Father.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781643495781

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A Life of Impact

Deborah Shisler

Copyright © 2018 by Deborah Shisler

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

To my earthly father, Bob Shisler, to whom I am forever grateful to for being the best father I could be blessed to have, and love so very much. I also dedicate this book to my heavenly Father, the Lord God Almighty, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, to whom I give all glory and honor that this book produces.

Acknowledgments

Mom, thank you for your support in me for writing this book for Dad. Thank you for all the wonderful conversations and times we have had all through the years, some of which I was able to use for this book. Thank you for being the awesome mom that you are, and I am so blessed to have you as my mother. Finally, thank you for the chapter you have contributed to this book. I love you so very much!

Marcus, thank you for being the greatest brother I could have ever asked for. Thank you for your support in this project. Thank you for your insights and thank you for the chapter you’ve written for this book.

Eric Dall, Chris Seyler, Roy Chancellor, Charlotte Culliver, and Jake Johnson, thank you for your testimonies and contributions to this book. I really appreciate your words, and I’m sure they mean a lot to my dad.

Raimie, Barbara, and the editing team at Christian Faith Publishing, thank you for all your encouragement, support, and assistance in making this book a reality.

Preface

While this book could be considered to be a biography, it is much more than that. This book tells a lot of stories about the life of Bob Shisler, but these stories have been written to express and show what a great example he is as a godly coach, teacher, husband, and, most emphatically, father. I have been blessed to be the daughter of two magnificent people in my parents. Each day, I cannot help but thank the Lord for three things: 1) both of my parents are alive and well; 2) my parents are still happily married, since 1985; and 3) I have a very close and healthy relationship with both of them. In this era, I see so many broken relationships between daughters (and sons) and their fathers, and it breaks my heart while making me grateful for the blessed relationship I do have with Dad. The father-offspring relationship is a special one, and I feel great sadness for those that do not treat it as such. This is one of the numerous reasons I have written this book.

One reason I have felt compelled to write this book is simply because I love my dad so much, and I wish to honor him in this way. I could never fully express my gratitude for all that he has taught me, for all the support and encouragement he has given me my whole life, and for the love he has shown me as a father. Another reason extends from the previous notion in that my dad has provided a wonderful example of how loving, caring, and so much more our heavenly Father is.

The stories I tell in this book are meant to illustrate how my relationship with my dad parallels my relationship with my heavenly Father. I know that a lot of girls do not experience an earthly father’s love the way that God the Father desires for them, and I hope that in reading this, it would be encouraging to know that our heavenly Father is a wonderful and loving father beyond what our earthly fathers provide. It is also my hope that some fathers will read this book, learn from my father’s example, and want to be the best father, coach, teacher, and/or godly man that they can be for God and their families.

Finally, I wrote this book because my dad is one of those individuals that has had such an impact on so many people in his life, and not just me. I have included brief testimonies in the second half of this book from individuals that he has impacted as a teacher, a coach, a role model, and as a godly man. I have also included two chapters written from the perspectives of my brother and my mother to illustrate the impact my dad has made on the lives of others within our family. I hope and pray that this book can impact its readers and be a blessing, just as my dad, Bob Shisler, has made an impact on many lives throughout the course of his life; and how much of a great example of a godly man he has been to me.

1

The Meaning of Being a [Good] Father

That no matter what happens, you can just go to your father and he’ll make everything okay?

"You’re right. You should be able to go to your father,

and he should be able to make it okay."

—Ray and Frank Barone, Everybody Loves Raymond

Our heavenly Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear, and doubt. He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He’s sufficient for all of our needs.

—Charles Stanley

Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

—Luke 12:6–7

Quality time my dad spent with me, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Eugene, Oregon: my dad’s hometown and home of the great Hayward Field (Tracktown, USA).

Father. Papa. Dada. Daddy. For my entire life I have always called my father simply Dad. Let me ask you a couple of questions. First, what emotions, thoughts, and memories come to you when you hear/read the word Father ? For each person, the responses vary based on their experiences with their earthly fathers. For some they have happy, treasured, proud responses; but for others, the responses are that of torture, sadness, and brokenness with some responses in between.

Here is the second question: what do you think about when you hear/read of our heavenly Father? Fear? Joy? Awe? And has your experience with your earthly father affected the way you perceive our heavenly Father? I would be willing to bet that a lot of people view our heavenly Father in a certain perspective based on their experiences with their earthly father.

I admit that, for the most part, I have used my experiences with my earthly father to help my understanding and perception of what our heavenly Father is like. Thankfully, my dad has provided me with countless examples of how loving, compassionate, strong, firm, and so many other ways our heavenly Father is to us, His adopted children. Let me also put it out there that while I love and admire my dad greatly, I also know that he is human, and therefore, not perfect. So even though the stories that will be told in this book are positive ones, there have been plenty of cases in which my dad could have handled the situation better, but I have learned from those as well.

*****

The name father carries a lot of weight, and rightly so. I have yet to have the privilege of being a mother (another word that rightly carries a lot of weight), but I certainly know that everything that comes with being a parent is unique, wonderful, and difficult. Plenty of people get excited and happy when they hear that they are going to be parents, but there are also many people who get scared when they receive the news.

The responsibility of being a father is greatly undermined, overlooked, and underestimated in our society, and it shows up in many forms. I do not like the idea of boring people with statistics, especially being a math person, so I’ll let you do the researching on stats if you feel so inclined. Children of all ages need a father or, at the very least, a father figure for an innumerable amount of reasons. Not only do children need fathers, but they need men—men that will lead them, guide them, and set a good example for them.

There is something special about children being excited to see and be with their dads, even if it’s only once a week. To a lot of children, their dad is their greatest hero, even with their flaws (in the Marvel Movie, Antman, little Cassie sees her dad through her innocent hero-worship eyes). Children want to be just like their dad, so they say things and do things that they hear and see that their dad does. It is amazing how observant children are.

While the father can be the hero to their kids, it is also just as important for fathers to be there just for discipline and to teach them when they are led astray. Just look at the Israelites in the Old Testament; there were many times when the Israelites complained and turned away from God. God disciplined them a lot, but He showed them mercy as well. It is a fine line for a parent to know when to be harsh