“He had a joy I’d never seen in him before.”

One of the hardest things Mike Welsh ever had to do was deliver the eulogy at his father’s funeral. He was comforted by the presence of people who had loved his dad — the staff and residents of MorningStar Mission, where Bob Welsh had lived and worked for the last eight years of his life.

“I had to tell his story the best way I could,” Mike says. “He cared about people. He had a big heart. And he was funny.” For many years, those qualities were overshadowed by Bob’s alcoholism. Over time, he lost his marriage, his job, his driver’s license and his home. But he never lost the love of his only son.

When Bob hit rock bottom at 60, Mike didn’t bail him out. He brought him to MorningStar Mission. “Now there was a chance for him to be sober,” Mike says. “Eventually, he apologized to me for the drinking and everything, and we slowly built our relationship back. Now, my dad was there for me. And he never asked for anything.”

Bob had a talent for organization. That and his “big heart” made him a natural to work at the Mission’s front desk, welcoming guests and getting them registered, and coordinating pickups and deliveries. “He was the main guy everybody would go to,” Mike says. “It was the perfect job for him. He stopped thinking about himself and started thinking about others. He had a joy I’d never seen in him before.”

One day, Mike visited his dad at the home he lived in on campus. “I’d never seen him so happy,” he recalls. “I noticed there were boxes, like he hadn’t finished unpacking. He always had stuff in boxes. I looked up and saw the picture of Jesus on his wall, and I thought, ‘He’s never going to be fully home until he’s with You.’”

Bob went home to Jesus just days later.

God answered my prayer for my dad to find peace and happiness.

Mike tells us. “It was great to be proud of my dad, to know he hadn’t wasted his life. He had just turned 68, and I’d had the best eight years of my life with him. I’m so grateful.”