The Family Altar Audio Devotional - Day 173

Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (Deuteronomy 5:16) 13 I’ve always been a black sheep in my family. And I was always in my church a black sheep. And it’s just recently that I have begin to come into a group of people that love me. And to that group of people, I aim to give my life in service. And I—I love them, and they love me. And all my life, I’ve been in the—a person that wanted somebody to think something of me. Sorry to say, but my family wasn’t religious. My father was just a typical Kentucky boy up here, drank up every penny he had. And I—I hate to say those things, but what is truth is the truth, no matter if it hurts, or whether it doesn’t. If it’s dark, and it’s on me, why, it’s just on me. It’s the truth. And you be truthful and honest with God. God will bless you for it. And although my daddy did drink, and drinking’s what killed him, but no matter what he did, he’s still my daddy. And out there on his grave today, where the white snow lays, he’s still my daddy. And let me tell you young people something, no matter what you ever do, don’t you never disregard or disobey your mother and father. 14 They got such a word today, they say, “The old man and the old woman.” One of these days, when a squeaking casket is going out the door, and they’re going out head first, and you look down to see your mother or dad at the last time you’ll ever see them on this earth, you’ll realize it’s not the “old man and old woman” then. “Honour thy father and mother, which may lengthen the days on the earth the Lord giveth you.” That’s the first commandment with promise: obeying. I seen dad work. We lived in a little cabin up on the Utica Pike, where we moved to from Kentucky to Indiana, right on the River Road. I seen him work in the log woods for seventy-five cents a day to make a living for me, when I was too young, four or five, six years old, till his shirt would sunburn into his back. I’ve seen my mother cut the shirt from his back with a pair of scissors. I don’t care what he done; he’s my daddy. And I love him. 15 He died on my arm, his black, wavy hair laying across my arm, and his little Irish blue eyes looking up at me. Seen a white Angel standing before him; I led him to Christ just before he died. He was my dad, and he had a great respect for me. The last drink he ever taken in his life, he was standing in a little old saloon down there, wasn’t two weeks before he died. He started to… Somebody was treating him. It was during the time of depression; he was broke. They give him some drink, and he started to take it up in his hands, and he started spilling it. He tried to drink it, and it went all over his face. And they started teasing him. Before he took it, he said, “Look, fellows,” said, “I got a boy standing up there in the pulpit. That boy’s right, and I’m wrong.” He said, “Don’t let this reflect on my boy.” Said, “This is the last drop I’ll ever take in all my life.” And it was. 16 So I honor him today as my dad. It’s hard work. I remember when we went to school. I’m firmly against drinking. I remember reading of a man that was borned a hundred miles from me, a hundred years difference, in a little log cabin. His name was Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest men Kentucky ever produced, to my opinion. And Abraham Lincoln, when he got off of the boat down in New Orleans, he seen them auction some colored people off as a slave, a big heavy man. His little, poor little wife and children standing out, crying; breed him, like cattle, to bigger, heavier women to make better slaves. Lincoln, as many of you know in the history, when he folded his hands and smacked them together and said, “That’s wrong. And by the help of God, if it takes my life, I’ll hit it with all I got.” And he did.