“May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.”
Psalm 25:21
Psalm 25:21
A large amount of money was missing. Men from headquarters descended on my father’s insurance agency, going through files and financial records with a fine-tooth comb.
My father was a well-known and well-respected businessman. I remember him gathering our family and explaining that an employee who had recently left his office had apparently embezzled a large amount of money which should have gone to headquarters. The good name he had worked hard to earn was in jeopardy.
The officials determined my father was not to blame, but he committed to pay the entire sum owed to the head office himself. He eventually tracked down his former employee. In his gentle way he allowed her to gradually pay him back what she had stolen. Though he never received all the money, he also never pressed charges. My father knew he was innocent. He knew his reputation for integrity and uprightness would protect him and God would vindicate him.
My father raised us with that deep commitment to never bring shame to our name or to the name of our Lord. He was vindicated of all wrong-doing.
God was faithful. When he died my father was remembered by a former pastor as “a man of clear, strong convictions… gentleness, humility and above all a lavish love for God.” He was vindicated not only because the evidence pointed toward his innocence, but because the men he worked for knew him and what he stood for.
If you were accused of wrongdoing, what protection would you have to help prove your innocence? God told Samuel that while man looks on outward things, He looks on the heart.
Determine today to live your life in such a way that you are known and recognized for your integrity and upright character. Place your hope in the God, who alone can vindicate you. Live to honor His name.
This week marks the sixteenth anniversary of my father’s death. He was killed by lightning under a clear blue sky while fly fishing on the San Juan River in Northern New Mexico .
I love you Daddy!
© Copyright, August 26, 2011, by Norma Gail Thurston Holtman. All rights reserved. Use only with express permission of the author.
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