Have A Great Father’s Day Sunday

Several years ago a very wealthy man in Texas invited a well known pastor, George W. Truett, to have dinner at his home. After the meal the host led Dr. Truett to a place where they could get a good view of the surrounding area.

Pointing out the oil wells across the landscape he bragged, “Twenty-five years ago I had nothing. Now as far as you can see it is all mine.” Looking in the opposite direction at the large fields of grain he said, “They are mine.” Then pointing towards the west at the beautiful forest he exclaimed, “That too is all mine.” Turning east towards large herds of cattle he boasted, “They are all mine.”

At this point the Texan paused expecting Dr. Truett to compliment him on his great success. Instead, Dr. Truett placed one hand on the man’s shoulder and pointed towards heaven with the other and said, “How much do you have in that direction?” The rich man hung his head and confessed, “You know, I have never really thought about that.”

Another story is told about a man who came home late one night from work to find his five year old son waiting on him. “Daddy, can I ask you a question?” the lad said. “What is it?” the father asked. “How much money do you make an hour?” the son asked. “I make $20 an hour,” the father replied. The little boy thought for a moment then asked, “Daddy, can I have nine dollars?” “Don’t be ridiculous,” the father replied. “I have a lot of work to finish so stop bothering me.”

Later the father began thinking about his son’s request. “I have decided you can have the nine dollars,” he told his son. “Oh, thank you,” the boy replied as he opened his piggy bank and began counting his money. When the father saw all the dollar bills his son had saved he began to get angry. “Look at all the money you already have,” he said. “What on earth are you going to buy?” The boy added his father’s nine dollars to the pile and offered the bills to his dad and said, “Daddy may I buy an hour of your time?”

Before you begin to make assumptions let me make myself clear. There is nothing wrong with doing well in life and becoming wealthy. There is nothing wrong with working hard to make a living for your family. However, somewhere along the line fathers must find some quality time to spend with their children and often that is difficult to do.

We fathers need to remember that God owns everything anyway. The rich Texan who was attempting to influence Dr. Truett heard what he needed to hear. Those who own land, cattle, forest, cotton fields, large houses, nice cars, good businesses or what ever need to remember that God has graciously provided these things to us.

Over the years our company has always told our associates that the order of importance in their lives should be God, family and then their jobs. Most definitely it is difficult to do sometimes because the newspaper business can be very demanding of your time.

The late General Douglas MacArthur made the following statement once about being a father. “By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build. A father only builds and never destroys.”

You guys out there who are lucky enough to be fathers have a great day Sunday, and those of you whose fathers are still alive let them know how much “dad” means to you. Have a great Father’s Day Sunday!