Thanks Dad!
Should the Lord delay His coming, on Sunday, June 19, we will observe, celebrate and recognize Father’s Day. I am looking forward to that day. I have been blessed with a great dad and he has never failed to pour into my life. We speak practically every day and after my wife, he has literally become my best friend.
A year or so ago I happened to watch Jerome Bettis’ induction ceremony into professional football’s hall of fame. Ordinarily I would not devote an hour or so to such an event, but he said several things during his speech that stirred me. He gave shared the story of when he was about to leave home and attend the University of Notre Dame. His father sat him down and explained to him that he did not have a great deal of money to give him for school. He went on to say he wasn’t blessed with a great amount of influence or fame he could pass on to his son that would make his transition into collegiate life smoother. He only had one thing with value to pass on to his son – the name Bettis. His father cautioned him that he had worked and devoted his life to making that name stand for something and keeping it respectable, and he’d better not mess it up!
Immediately I made a connection between the Bettis family and how I envision my family today. My father is not the most educated man – but he worked hard to pay my tuition to ensure I received a quality education. My father may not have been the wealthiest man on the block – but he made sure we were well fed, clothed and housed. My father put manhood in me – he taught me how to work and to be productive. He showed me how to love and serve God. He showed me how to love a woman and devote one’s life to her (he and my mother were married for 60 years). When my mother’s health began to fail, I saw him become her chief caregiver. He taught me how to respect a man of God (his pastor) and how to serve him. He showed me what it meant to deny pleasures for yourself and provide for my family.
My wife has said to me more than once that she thanks God for my father because she has benefitted from his training and disciplining me. If there were any laziness in me, my father drove it out. If there were any dishonesty in me, my dad beat it out of me. He demonstrated what manhood was.
However, if he had failed to do any of those things, without question there is one thing my father has handed down to me that I cherish – my name. A few years ago we returned to my home town after being gone for at least two decades. Our family (there were at least twenty of us) went out for breakfast at a local restaurant. After we finished ordering, eating and conversing we asked for the bill. The server told us that a gentleman had paid for all of our meals. We were astonished and began looking around the establishment to identify who it was. After a minute or two, he walked up to our table and identified himself. My father vaguely remembered him, but more importantly, he told us how my father had been so instrumental in his life.
The following day we returned to Greater Mount Olive Church Of God In Christ where Bishop William Haven Bonner serves as founder and pastor (it had been approximately 70 years). When our family walked through the doors, the Sunday School Superintendent stopped the class and the entire church stood and gave our family an applause. The Bishop came out from his office and greeted us. I could give many more examples, but I owe my good name to my father. Proverbs 22:1 says that a good name is more desirable than fine riches.
This Father’s Day I am going to purchase my father a nice gift. This Father’s Day I am going to get down on my knees and thank God for a loving, caring, saved and sanctified father. This Father’s Day I am going to call my dad and thank him for bequeathing unto me a good name!
Happy Father’s Day, dad!
I bless you in the name of the Lord.
Pastor Eddie B Pruitte, Jr.