Wednesday, Dec. 01, 2004 - 10:17 a.m.

Second entry- EE

Do you remember that encouraging word of Thomas Fuller's, a chaplain of Oliver Cromwell's time? It's a good passage for a father in all humility and gratitude to tuck away in his memory treasures:

"`Lord, I find the genealogy of my Savior strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations. (1) Rehoboam begat Abijah; that is, a bad father begat a bad son. (2) Abijah begat Asa; that is, a bad father begat a good son. (3) Asa begat Jehoshaphat; that is, a good father a good son. (4) Jehoshaphat begat Joram; that is, a good father a bad son. I see, Lord, from hence that my father's piety cannot be entailed; that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary; that is good news for my son.'"

This is a good thing for parents to remember when comparing children. Another to remember is the account of Eli's children and Samuel's children. Neither man's children followed the Lord, yet we look down upon Eli and brag on Samuel. Parents are surely responsible for much of the fruit a child bears, but in the end, each of us makes our own choice. Just like Tomlinson in Kipling's poem. One by one.

EE's devotional

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