Father Knows Best (Ken Ellis)

Lord willing, I am in Can Tho, Vietnam.. For the next 27 days, my writing platform will be manned (or womaned) by friends and relatives. Tonight's entry is from my very good friend, Ken Ellis, of Wichita, Kansas. Prayers for my work, please!

Some of you may remember a mid 1950’s TV show called Father Knows Best starring Robert Young and Jane Wyatt. They had their ups and downs like all families; but in the end, the family medicine that the Dad spooned out always seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for the problems of the day.  However, fatherly advice is not always something that is welcomed or followed. There have been times in my life when I could have saved a lot of time and money if God had just picked up the phone, called me, and told me what to do in a given situation. But would I have followed His advice?

Before our family returned from the Middle East in 1989, I had a job interview in Atlanta with a company for a position that had my name written all over it.  When I didn’t receive an offer, we returned to the U. S. and settled in Atlanta convinced this decision was best for our family. After six months of unemployment, I received an offer in Houston, a city that I remember saying years earlier I would “never” move to.   Little did I know when we moved here in 1990 that within the next year my sister-in-law would suddenly die and leave behind a husband and three young children that needed help; or that within two years my mom, who lived in central Texas, would die of a stroke; or that soon after that my dad would be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and become completely debilitated over the next five years before he passed away.  Yet, God knew all of these things were going to happen and that our family needed to be in Houston where we could assist other family members during times of distress. And that perfect job in Atlanta that I had interviewed for? The company later declared bankruptcy proving once more that our heavenly Father always Knows what’s Best for His children.  

Jeremiah 10:23 “I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.”  

Applicable quote of the day:

Why would anyone walk through life satisfied with the light from the candle of their own understanding when, by reaching out to our Heavenly Father, they could experience the bright sun of spiritual knowledge that would expand their minds with wisdom and fill their souls with joy?
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
God bless, Steve Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com