Dearest Daddy Osun,
Few weeks on and it’s still so hard to accept the reality of what is but I cannot pass up the opportunity to pay homage to an amazing soul.
I have seen and heard many of your kind acts:
The families you supported, the numerous academic fees you sponsored, couples you supported, the lives you celebrated, the church events/milestones you consistently helped, the hungry mouths you fed and the many you have fathered.
You were a very hard-working man, diligent, industrious, resourceful and resilient.
You were not given to excuses to settle for less nor did you live a reckless lifestyle.
You loved God passionately in how you knew best and became a rock and a true patriarch.
These testimonies are definitely not far-fetched because I became a witness over the 10+ years of knowing you.
I also see the fruits in the lives your children, in how they nurture those around them and care for the well-being of others, also doing it quietly because wisdom is known of her children.
The apple does not fall far from the tree.
You were there for a lot of people and genuinely blessed with a large heart.
You gave a lot of yourself to many and I only wish or hope many gave a lot more of themselves to you too.
One thing however is certain, that much more will be given to you where you are right now; in the bosom of the Lord.
As the days go by and reality sets in, when I think of you and the bitter-sweet feeling as I put together this tribute,
I recall Matthew 13:12 of how a mustard tree grows to become a tree so large that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches because that is what you became, a tree that quietly grew to become a refuge for many.
We dearly miss you Sir but we find comfort in Revelations 14:13 saying “ Then I heard a voice from heaven saying [a]to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”
Absence in the body is not absence forever.
Thank you for blessing us with your life, your love and your benevolence.
So whilst we will dearly miss you, we look forward to seeing you again in eternity.
All my love,
Joshua