We should start our celebration of Father’s Day by remembering our Father in Heaven. Unlike some earthly fathers, God is good. As the song says, “He is good all the time.” I had a wonderful father. He was kind and had a wonderful West Texas style sense of humor. He loved a joke and was always ready with one of his own. Most of my stories about Uncle Nathan came from him and my many uncles.

Uncle Pat was a politician. Quite successful in politics, he served in the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate for many years. Uncle Sam said they knew he was going to be a politician when they found him sitting on a cactus crying, too lazy to get up.

Uncle Sam was a rancher. For many years he managed the Conway Ranch near Westbrook, Texas. He too got into politics and served as school superintendent and was elected County Judge. After his first case to try he was asked to charge the jury. Not quite sure what he was supposed to do, he pronounced in his most judicial voice, ”Well, it ain’t been much of a case so I suspect fifty cents apiece should cover it.”

Uncle Jesse loved to laugh. He was the oldest of the nine children in the J. C. B. Bullock family. He had a deep, rolling laugh that came from way down in the tummy. He loved to laugh at himself. One of the editors of the Ft. Worth Star Telegram, he found himself frequently in humorous situations. Like the time he followed a young woman into the ladies restroom while carrying on a conversation that had begun in the elevator.

I never knew my grandfather, He died just a few months after I was born. I do know a lot about him. He was born during the American Civil War. In 1867,after his mother died, my great grandfather loaded seven kids in a wagon and headed for Texas. I have great respect for him? We traveled several times across the continent with seven kids in a station wagon with no McDonalds -- and Sherman said war was hell.

“Well,” you may be reasonably asking, “what does all this have to do with Father’s Day 2006?” That is a good question and I am working hard to get an answer for you. . .. I guess the point I am making is that we are who we are and what we are because of the influences of our fathers and forefathers on our lives,

That is one reason we need a Father’s Day--to remind us of those influences and to give honor to the good while we protect ourselves from repeating the bad influences that sometimes mark our relationships with our fathers. At the same time we are to give all honor and praise to our Heavenly Father. God is good all the time.