Remembering When - June 30, 2010

by Lola Russell

Father’s Day is over for the year 2010 and I failed to write about it. Where was my mind? For one thing, there was no celebration at my house. Usually we would receive lots of telephone calls and cards in the mail. Most of the cards pertained to fishing, and sometimes, if John were lucky, there would be a gift certificate or a piece of currency with Andrew Jackson’s picture on it.

Last week, I saw an example of a godly father. This man was in his place of business, hard at work, and trying to get things caught up so that he could drive to Natchitoches to fix a flat on his daughter’s car. Some may have had their daughter call a repair man, or put them off and sound a little vexed at the inconvenience. Not so with him. He was smiling and spoke to her so sweetly when she called him to see when he would be getting there.

What this world needs is more caring fathers. Not the ones that have to be taken to court to pay child support, but fathers who are there to lead a morally sound example for their children to follow.

When I am writing all these good traits about my husband, I sometimes fail to mention that he was human and try not to put him on a pedestal. This reminded me of a joke that I will change up a little as I haven’t heard it in a long time.

It seems these two men were sitting in a bar, and they were discussing a candidate that was running for office. The man was naming off all of the good things about this candidate, how he was above reproach, generous, morally sound, not an enemy in the world, etc. The other guy said, “That sounds all good, but I don’t know of but one other man that fit the bill and that is my wife’s first husband.”

That is the way we are and it is good. We remember all the wonderful things about a loved one and forget the others. Isn’t that what Jesus does?