A Long Obedience......In The Same Direction

I went to a funeral today.

He was the grandfather of a good friend of mine. He was 90 years old. And he lived the New Testament.

He had a long obedience, in the same direction. A direction similar to those of the "greatest generation". An obedience like my father and Rob's father had, and live by.

The funeral was two hours and I could have listened and stayed longer. There was the usual family, including a brother who was 13 years younger, tributes and memories. A devoted husband of over 60 years, a great father who welcomed all his daughters friends, a wonderful grandfather who read books endlesssly to his grandchildren, played games with them and took them fishing, a brother who bought his siblings Christmas gifts during the war when the farming parents could not afford toys, a hard working teacher at Canton College who developed the HVAC program and instructed students who would come to the house for help, a loyal and active church member for decades, a committed and productive community member and finally a friendly nursing home patient. A long obedience, started early.

The pastor gave a wonderful homily on Luke 6, about building on a solid foundation. Both houses could look the same and be built out of the same material but if one was built with no foundation, the river could and would sweep it away when it raged against the houses. Rivers, (some of lifes issues that we all face) are not selective or respective.

And then he said...."they don't grow them like... anymore". Yes, the people in my father's generation were generally moral, honest, full of integrity, law abiding and God fearing. But I believe that this generation, our sons and brothers can and will be great "in the Lord". We're raising men out of a generation like Jeremiah. God was constantly asking Jeremiah to tell the people to amend their ways and turn back from their sins, because He loved them and wanted them to prosper and He wanted it to be well with them. Unfortunately, they only hardened their necks and went backwards, never a good thing wth the Lord.

I'm counting on my son's generation to hearken to the voice of the Lord, raise His standard, follow after those who have faithfully gone before, and become the continuation of "the greatest generation".