Father's Day

Exodus 20:12, " Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." (KJV)

My heart is heavy this morning as I prepare to share some thoughts with you today regarding the celebration of Father's Day. There are at least two children in Charleston, SC who will have a difficult time celebrating Father's Day this year. Their Dad, the pastor of the Emmanuel AME church in Charleston was murdered along with eight others on Wednesday night. Once more in America we have witnessed the effects of evil, violence, hatred, bigotry, prejudice, and the list could go on and on. But in reality we have witnessed the effects of sin and the rebellion against God. We can describe the events in that church on Wednesday night with many words but we have witnessed the actions of sin at its worse. Let us offer a moment of silence in memory of each of these victims as we prepare to celebrate this weekend and realize that these two daughters of the Pastor will not have another opportunity to celebrate with their Dad. Their celebrations will be confined to their memories as well as to their hope of being reunited with Him in eternity at some point in the future. 

Let me ask a few questions. What more will it take in America to awaken our hearts toward God? How much more pain will we have to witness being endured by innocent people before we realize that we have a spiritual deficiency (lack, incompleteness, insufficiency; Dictionary.com) across our land? How did we reach the point that a local church is no longer  a "safe place" to attend? How have we drifted away from the principles of respect, honor, and appreciation for one another? Why has it become so common for people to "take matters into their own hands?" And in many cases the solution that these individuals reaches ends in violence and the destruction and death of an individual or a group of individuals? 

I started this blog with the intention of writing about my father and my father-in-law. I wanted to write about them being men of integrity, men who loved God, and men who loved their families. Each of these men taught me many wonderful attributes that I still practice today. They taught me to work hard. They taught me to treat people right. They taught me to respect my elders. They taught me to respect them and their role in my life. I grew up in the Deep South in Alabama. But they did not teach me hatred! They did not teach me to discriminate against different races! They did not teach me to think that I was superior to anyone but they taught me to respect everyone! They taught me to say "Yes Ma'am and No Ma'am." They taught me to say "Yes Sir and No Sir." And to this day I still use those words many times during the various conversations that I have on a daily basis.

Thank you Wallace Willingham and Marshall Phillips for teaching me how to be a "real" man and for showing me how to be a "real" man.

I offer HONOR to you one more time today!!!

#THANKFUL