A Godly Heritage
Publisher@ConservativeTruth.org

Tom Barrett
06/13/2005

A good man went to be with the Lord this week. John Rayburn was a good husband, a good father, and a good friend to me. He was also a good provider. John was not able to leave a huge estate for his children, but he left them something far more valuable. He left them a Godly heritage.

I knew John as a friend and fellow church member for many years before we became business associates. Through many long talks, I was privileged to gain insight into his character. Since we lived just a mile away from each other, I was able to watch how he treated his wife Mary and his children. 

John’s children, Matthew and Sarah, will benefit from the heritage he left them for their whole lives. Today they are very young, and probably do not realize all they have gained from their father. As they mature, they will learn to appreciate the value of the example his life was to them.

Children learn how to live by watching how their parents live. They are hard to fool. If their parents talk one way in church, and live another way at home, the kids will see right though it. John lived his life in such a way that his children received a clear message in these areas…

John lived a Godly life. He wasn’t perfect, but he tried every day to put God in first place in his life. He told me once that he worked hard for the devil before he met Jesus, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life serving the Lord with all his heart. He wasn’t a Sunday Christian. His heritage to his children is that he served the Lord with all his heart and soul every day.

John was a man of the Word. The Bible was very important to him. He studied it every day, and taught it in adult Sunday School classes. He trusted the Word, and went to it for the answers he needed in his life. His heritage to his children is that the Word of God lights the pathways of our lives.

John was a family man. He spoke often of how much he loved his family, and how he loved to spend time with them. He knew that his time with them might be shortened, so he spent extra time with them while he could. Because they got to know him in ways that many families don’t, they adored him. His heritage to his children is that family is more important than anything on this earth.

John was an honorable man. Everyone that did business with him knew that if John Rayburn said he would do something, he would do it. His word meant something, which is unusual in these times. His heritage to his children is that honesty and integrity will gain them the respect of those they meet, and will let them sleep well at night.

John was a generous man. He worked hard every day, and he was in pain much of the time in the last years of his life. But he always took time to help others, and never asked for anything in return. He spent many hours after work and on weekends fixing and repairing the homes of people in his church and others who were less fortunate than him. His heritage to his children is that they should use what God has given them to bless others.

John was a hard worker. He worked hard all his adult life in construction. He started as a carpenter, rose became a foreman, then a superintendent. Before he went to live with the Lord be realized his dream of running his own construction company. His illness sapped his strength, but John rarely missed a day of work. His heritage to his children is that hard work and dedication are Godly values that pay off in this life.

John was a good man, and he was loved. He had the respect of his friends, his fellow church members, and those with whom he did business. But more important, everyone loved John. I loved him like a brother. In the sometimes rough world of construction, even men who did not share his values saw something special in John Rayburn, and they loved and respected him. His heritage to his children is that people watch our lives, and that the way we live determines how we are remembered.

John Rayburn will be missed by his church and his many friends and business associates.

He will be missed most by his family. The children won’t have him in the home to talk to and ask questions of. But they will have the Godly heritage he left them to guide them through their lives.
.

Tom Barrett

Conservative Truth.org