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One little boy, when asked to explain about Father’s Day, said, “It’s just like Mother’s Day, only you don’t spend as much on the present.”
There are many monumental statements we associate with fathers. Statements that reverberate down through the corridors of time. Statements like: Ask your mother. I was watching that It’s only blood, wipe it off. I’m not lost. I’m taking a short cut. That spider is more afraid of you.
It’s Father’s Day, and the very first national celebration of this day was on June 19, 1924, by proclamation of President Calvin Coolidge (But not finalized until 1972.) But it all came about because of the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd. Sonora was sitting in church in 1909 listening to a Mother’s Day sermon when the idea of Father’s Day first came to mind. Having been raised by her father after her mother’s death, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her for all his parental sacrifices and for being, in her eyes, so courageous, selfless, and loving. Through her efforts Pres. Coolidge designated the 3rd Sunday of June as “Father’s Day.” And our nation has been celebrating it ever since.
The Amazing Providence of God
In the late 1800’s a member of Britain’s Parliament went to Scotland to make a speech. He got off the train in Edinburgh, and then took a carriage south toward his destination. Unfortunately, the carriage became stuck in deep mud. A local farm boy came to the rescue with his team of work horses. In his gratitude, the politician offered a reward, but the boy refused, saying he wanted nothing.
"Well,” persisted the legislator, "Is there anything I can do for you? What would you like to do with yourself when you grow up?"
"I’d like to become a doctor" the young man replied.
The Member of Parliament promised to do what he could, and in fact se¬cured admission to the university for the young man.
During World War 2 more than 50 years later, Winston Churchill lay dan¬gerously ill in Morocco, suffering from pneumonia. A new wonder drug was admin¬istered to him, penicillin, which had been discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming, the Scottish farm boy of so long before. And the politician who had sponsored him to the university? He was Randolph Churchill, the father of Winston.
The providence of God is often dumbfounding to us. We shake our heads in amazement at the fantastic "coincidences" that we see in this world. Many of these things may actually be God working out His divine will right before our eyes. We can never tell how God may choose to execute His plans.
The patriarch Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers, was unjustly cast into prison by his Egyptian slave-owner, then was abandoned by a high official. Finally, he was extracted from prison and elevated to a position of great power in Egypt. When his brothers came to Egypt to buy grain to feed their starving families, Joseph had the power to wreak a terrible vengeance on them. They realized this and begged him for mercy. Joseph pointed out to them that all those things had come about through the providence of God in order to save many lives during the terrible famine.
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to a...
What strikes me about Joseph is that he appears to never lose his sense of who’s he is, God’s, throughout his entire life time. Jim Kane
When I graduated high school, I was like most boys. I knew everything. I was going to get a job and get rich by the end of the year. I was going to be my own man and live life the way I wanted to.
My father was retired from the Air Force. When I got ready to join the Navy, he sat me down and talked to me about how I had to change my attitude so that I could accept being told what to do every minute of every day. When I finally got to boot camp, I still had that chip on my shoulder, and an officer noticed that one of my shirt pocket buttons was not buttoned as I marched to the chow hall.
He had me stand at attention and after calling me every name he could think of, he then told me that I was to keep all buttons buttoned at all times. Then he asked me if I understood.
My oldest brother had been in the service, and before I left home, he told me that regulations might say that I have to answer a question with “Yes, Sir” or “No, Sir” there were no regulations on how I had to say it. So, believing my loving brother, I said, “Yes, Sir” but I said it in a purely smart-aleck tone of voice.
My brother was wrong. Evidently, there is some policy on how you have to say it. I found myself doing push-ups at that man’s c...
