Daily Butter (6/19/11)

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (Father’s Day 2011)

Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12 HCSB)

A good name is to be chosen over great wealth;
   favor is better than silver and gold. (Proverbs 22:1 HCSB)

Rather than quote a verse from the Read passage in Ephesians from today’s ODB, I chose the original commandment referenced and a verse that applies to my answer to the question Dave asked at the end of today’s ODB: “What can you do for your dad today to show him the kind of honor the Bible talks about?”  I currently live hundreds of miles away from Jentes Road and the family farm where my father grew up, so I do not run into many “I know/knew your father/uncle/grandfather” type of reminders of my family heritage. The Jentes family has for generations now been known as believers in Christ both in word and in deed. That heritage is of great importance to my father and the command to honor him does not include limitations on age or distance. One way of honoring my father is to embrace my responsibility to establish that family heritage in this locale for my son. I am learning how much easier that is said than done.

More directly, in his Father’s Day card I wrote a handwritten letter (a dying, but very personal form of communication). I wanted him to know that as a father now myself, I understand better the sacrifices which he made for us (my mother, brother, and I). While I haven’t always seen it and have at times totally misunderstood it, I am tremendously grateful for that heritage of faith and example of love he has given me. As he is now getting into his seventies, I wanted to make sure he knows I “came around” before he is called home.