PASTOR’S CORNER, Rex Petty, Faith Tabernacle Church, Liberal
While mailing a package at the post office a woman was asked by the mail clerk if her package contained anything liquid, perishable or breakable. She told the clerk she did have something breakable inside the package. She said she was mailing a Bible that contains the Ten Commandments, which everyone knows are breakable.
All of the Ten Commandments are based upon honor which means to “highly value.” The Fifth Commandment is to honor your father and mother, which is a command that is a divinely ordered principle involving authority in our society. This maybe is the commandment that is broken more often in our world than any of the other nine.
Mark Twain once said that when he was 14 years old, his father was so ignorant he could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when he turned 21, he was astonished at how much smarter his father had become in only seven years.
During the months of May and June, we celebrate three holidays when we honor our mothers, our veterans and loved ones who have died, and our fathers. These three special days on our calendars are for Mother’s Day, Memorial Day (Decoration Day to lay flowers, flags and wreaths in the cemetery) and Father’s Day. All three of these most special holidays are within close proximity with the same theme “to honor.”
Actually all the Ten Commandments are about honor. Honoring God first and foremost by loving Him with all of our hearts (Matt 22:37-38). The Bible says a husband is to honor his wife lest his prayers be hindered (I Peter 3:7).
This Father’s Day, there is a wonderful story of a man named Bill Havens, who honored his wife when he was about to leave for Paris in 1924 for the Olympic games in which he was favored to win a gold medal in canoeing. He decided to stay home to be with his wife because she was due to give birth to their first child while he was scheduled in the canoeing event. Nearly everyone was shocked that Bill was going to give up a great opportunity to win a gold medal. Their baby was born Aug. 1, 1924 and they named him Frank.
On that date Bill certainly would have been in Paris, but he said he never regretted his decision to honor his wife and be with her. As Bill and his wife raised their son Frank, he also took a liking to canoeing like his father. In fact, 28 years later, Frank qualified to go to the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland and here Frank won the gold medal in canoeing, the one his father sacrificed. Frank sent a telegram after the race saying, “Dear Dad, Thanks for waiting around for me to be born in 1924. I’m coming home with the gold medal you should have won.” He signed the telegram, “Your loving son, Frank.
Bill Havens wanted his family to know how much he loved them and honored them and that made him a hero to a little boy named Frank and his mother!
