Having gone through more than any man should ever go through and possibly more than I have ever known anyone to endure, he said something to me I have never forgotten. He had been a full-time and now was a weekend warrior Marine. He had been falsely accused of a crime, proven innocent 3 times but his wife ran to another state against court orders. Her state refused to honor the Indiana court order. He spent all he had. Cashed in all he could. All to fight for his girls. One day we were spending some time walking and talking and he said, “Bill, I would live with a barrel around my waist if it meant I had my girls with me.”
He wanted to live a life of integrity. A father’s group told him to take his girls and run. He didn’t. Her lawyer couldn’t believe his story never changed. Truth-tellers don’t have to worry about that. Only liars do (and hers changed a lot).
Integrity is missing today. Corporations. Schools. Organizations. TV preachers. Pastors. Churches. Say what? Yep, those last two hurt to type. Used to be the pastor was the one most respected in the community. Not any more. And can you blame them?
Daniel was a man of integrity. My sermon this week is called Integrity Matters. I’ll be looking at Daniel 6:1-17 this week. I’d appreciate your prayers for dry weather and for our gathering.
The highest compliment I ever received I heard second hand. A friend from church was flying to Washington, and started talking to the woman in the seat next to him. They played the “do you know” game for a while, and it turned out that the one person they had in common was me. She worked for the same company as I did, although we never did any projects or work together. She was not a Christian; the few times we had a conversation we never discussed faith or religion or Christianity. She told my church friend, “He lives out his faith in his work.”
Such a sad, but powerful, story you’ve shared here, Bill. Yes, integrity is in short supply these days, it seems, so when we run across someone who has it, we are surprised.
Praying for you, Jo, her sister, and the sermon!
Blessings!
Talk is cheap but a life lived with integrity, especially in the hard times, speaks volumes.
Preach it, Bill …
Sorry I missed this one.
I echo your sentiments; it’s a crying shame what’s happened to the value of character…