Count it All Joy?! A Father's Day Reflection

There are many times in life when you must "will" yourself to be positive.  I can too easily drift to the negative side before realizing it happened. I have come to know several things that I need: the accountability to friends and reminders and exhortations to be positive, reading God's Word, praying, and listening to music.
As Father's Day approaches, I am a confluence of thankfulness for my Dad and sorrow for his trials at this stage of life. It is difficult to stay positive.
James 1: 2-8 reads, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;  he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Really? Lord, you want me to count it "ALL JOY?" -when each time I talk with my parents, I notice that Dad is mentally "slipping" and Mom remains locked in the never-never land of Alzheimer's? When I see them,  I am shocked at Dad's physical decline since last I saw him? This man who was such a strong, autocratic leader of our family, an avid reader, the eternal winner of Trivial Pursuit, the Pacer who could not sit still, Chairman of the deacons in our Southern Baptist Church (and leader of almost every other committee at some point)? This man who, as a boy in a family of 10 children, made his own way--even throwing newspapers for a nickel a week? This man who served his country during WW2 and the Korean War? This man who, though often stern and stubborn, loves his family and loved to help people? This man who gave me a love for learning and a love for music, who told me I could be anything I "set my mind to!"?
There are people (Christians) who preach that you should not ask, "Why?" Well, pooh! Why? Why? Why? There, I said it!
Oh, I don't expect an answer  but I do find some comfort in God's Word, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33). Praise God that we have hope. As a pastor friend of mine likes to remind us, "We know WHO WINS in the end! The victory is ours through Jesus Christ."
Thank-you, LORD, for Dad. Bless him at this stage in his life. May he know that you are with him and may he have the hope and joy of your love within him.