A Good Name

In his book, I Almost Missed The Sunset, Bill Gaither told of a time he and his wife sought to buy a piece of property in Alexandria, Indiana, the town where he grew up. They had been married a couple of years and were teaching school in Alexandria. They found a piece of property they liked, but it was owned by a retired local banker who made it a point not to sell any of his land holdings around town. The banker, a Mr. Yule, refused every prospective buyer with the same excuse, "I promised the farmers they could use it for the cows."

Even so , the Gaither’s decided to go and see the banker and ask him if he would sell. Gaither introduced himself and told the banker they were interested in a section of his property. "Not selling" he said pleasantly, "Promised it to a farmer for grazing."

Gaither replied, "I know, but we teach school here and thought maybe you’d be interested in selling it to someone planning to settle in the area."

The banker pursed his lips and stared at Gaither. "What did you say your name was?"

"Gaither, Bill Gaither"

"Hmmm. Any relation to Grover Gaither?"

"Yes, sir. He was my granddad."

Mr. Yule put down his paper and removed his glasses. "Interesting. Grover Gaither was the best worker I ever had on my farm. Full day’s work for a day’s pay, so honest. What did you say you wanted?"

I told him again.

"Let me do some thinking on it, then come back and see me."

Gaither went back a week later and Mr. Yule told him that he had the property appraised and would sell it for 3800 dollars. "3800 dollars?" he repeated. Gaither did the math, 3800 dollars per acre and fifteen acres. He would need almost 60,000 dollars.

"Yup, Fifteen acres for 3800 dollars"

Thirty years later, Gaither was walking across his lush piece of property with his son He said to his son, "Benjy, you’ve had this wonderful place to grow up on through nothing that you’ve done, but because of the good name of a great-granddad you never met."

Like it or not, how one’s family name is perceived by others greatly affects our lives. I can remember my younger brothers coming home from school complaining that their teachers treated them differently after finding out who their older brother was. In his dealings with the nation of Israel, God would not permit the descendants of an illegitimate child to enter into the assembly of the Lord until the tenth generation (Deuteronomy 23:2). The Ammonites or Moabites could not enter into the assembly until the tenth generations, due to the failure of their ancestors to help their distant cousins, the Jews, as they fled Egypt (Deuteronomy 23:3,4). The actions of their ancestors had a great influence upon how they were perceived during their generation.

It is imperative that we realize that foolish mistakes and bad conduct can not only have an effect upon us, but also upon those who come after us. It takes a long time for a family name, tarnished by the irresponsible actions of a family member, to regain what it once had. The wise man penned, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." (Proverbs 22:1, NIV).