Honoring Fathers

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12, ESV).

     The fifth of the Ten Commandments and the first with an expressed promise teaches us that we are to honor both our parents.  “Honor” involves love, respect, appreciation, looking up to and accepting the leadership of.  And, of course, parents are to lead lives “worthy of respect.” 

     Did you know that there are some 70 million fathers in the United States?  Many of these are responsible adults and are seeking to rear their children well.  But many, unfortunately, are “absentee fathers” who have abdicated—or never accepted—responsibility for children’s upbringing.

     A little history of Father’s Day shows that Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington suggested a day to honor fathers in 1910.  She wanted to respect the memory of her own father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War Veteran who reared six children, herself and five brothers, as a single parent after the death of his wife and their mother.  She suggested to her pastor that a day be set aside to honor fathers, much as Mother’s Day.  That was done first in Spokane in 1910.  The day was pushed somewhat by President Woodrow Wilson and by President Calvin Coolidge.  It was not until 1966 that President Lyndon Johnson signed a Father’s Day presidential proclamation. Then in 1972 President Richard Nixon made Father’s Day officially the third Sunday in June by proclamation.

     Like Sonora Smart Dodd’s father, my own dear father lost companions to death and reared two “sets” of children after their mother’s death.  He manifested great faith, love, patience, endurance and example, and I am the beneficiary.  I am so grateful for a godly father. 

     Dr. B. B. McKinney, noted hymnologist of the last century, wrote this prayer in his hymn, “God Give Us Christian Homes”:  “God give us Christian homes! /Homes where the father is true and strong,/Homes that are free from the blight of wrong,/Homes that are joyous with love and song,/God give us Christian homes!/God give us Christian homes!”  May his words be our prayer for this Father’s Day!  And Happy Father’s Day—all you wonderful fathers who might read this!  -Ethelene Dyer Jones  06.16.2013

Light for the Journey

Many times in my life God has spoken to me through His Word.  Just when I seemed to need special encouragement and assurance from God, the Spirit led me to certain Bible verses that applied to the very situation I was facing.  Here I will give you three very personal examples.

The date was November 16, 1993.  My husband Grover had already received extensive cardiovascular tests and was in Atlanta Medical Center (formerly Georgia Baptist Hospital) awaiting bypass heart surgery scheduled for the next day.  I had a guest room in the old Georgia Baptist School of Nursing dormitory (the school being then closed out).  The dormitory was on the top floor, but reached from a sort of tunnel passageway  that went from the lower level of the hospital across and to the dormitory.  In 1993 it was a place for family members of patients to board.  Knowing that Grover faced serious surgery the next day, I was naturally concerned.  Settled into the room and ready for bed, I took my Bible to read and pray.  I opened to Psalm 118, the psalm with the recurring refrain:  “O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good because His mercy endureth forever” (Ps. 118:1; see also verses 2, 3, 4, 29).  Then verse 17 seemed to stand out as a special message for the occasion:  “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”  I felt the verse was a promise from God given in anticipation of successful surgery and recovery for Grover from the next day’s heart surgery.  After claiming that promise and praying, I slept well and awoke the next day very early, ready to see Grover before he was taken to surgery and to share with him the verse the Spirit had led me to claim for his health and well being.  The surgery was successful and he made a good recovery from it.

The date was August 28, 2007.  I was in Middle Georgia Medical Center, Macon, Georgia undergoing extensive cardiac tests and awaiting decisions about whether I would have heart surgery.  My daughter was a long distance away on vacation, as was my son.  My granddaughter, Crystal, had taken me to the hospital and was my “family member” standing beside me during this period of stabilization and decisions about surgery.  On August 30, 2007 I had five bypasses heart surgery.  Prior to the surgery, I remembered Psalm 118:17, and going through my mind, too, was all of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd…”  I was unafraid.  I knew that if anything went awry I would go immediately to be with the Lord, but if I survived it would be assurance that God “had not finished with me yet.”  When my daughter and my son returned from the places they were at the time of my admittance to the hospital, I was already through with heart surgery and up and taking those first halting steps to exercise in post-surgery therapy.  “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”

The dates were May 31 through June 6, 2013.  Son Keith was in Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, with too-rapid pulse rate and other electrolyte imbalance symptoms.  Stabilization and tests occurred for several days and on June 3 he had heart catheterization and two stents.  Still there were episodes of too-rapid heartbeat and he was kept for observation and more tests.  On June 5 he had another probe, this time of the veins, and two ablations were performed to mend the areas where the heart’s “electrical” system was out of sync.  The procedure worked, and he was able to return to his home on June 6 after having been “an interesting case,” not the usual heart-attack, diseased arteries and other cardiac ailments with which the specialists deal.  Remembering Psalm 118:17, I read it and claimed its promise.  I read another and also claimed it for Keith’s recovery:  “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!  Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:13-14).

God provides light for the journey.  Search His word and find reassurance…and pray. 

                                                                                                            -Ethelene Dyer Jones  06.09.2013