Life Lesson 9: Honor Thy Father

Episode 9 May 05, 2021 00:21:09
Life Lesson 9: Honor Thy Father
Lifes Lessons From God's Word in 3D Surround Audio
Life Lesson 9: Honor Thy Father

May 05 2021 | 00:21:09

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Show Notes

Exodus 20:12 says "Honor thy Father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy GOD giveth thee." This podcast focuses on the  life of my father and the tremendous way that he has served as an example as God's ambassador on earth for me and my family. Please join me as I celebrate him for all he has done in service as a man of GOD and a role model for generations to come. Using his life as an example I will show how GOD has used him as a stalwart example of a man who in embraced the principles of a loving father.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 00:00:00 This podcast is a product of Dr. Alfonzo Brown and is brought to you by guiding life ministries.org. That's guiding life ministries.org. If you like what you hear today, please visit our website and subscribe. Speaker 1 00:00:18 Hello, Speaker 0 00:00:19 Love it. You know, sometimes in life you hear about the households in which there was an uncaring parent, an absentee father. I think a lot of the problems that we experienced in our society today are probably related to the fact that many fathers have abdicated their responsibility and do not pursue the training and the upkeep of their children as their way to leave their legacy. On this day, the day of my father's birth, I wanted to honor him. My father represents a true man. Man, who's committed to leaving a legacy of love, of caring and of kindness to his children. He also showed honor and love to his wife, my mother, and it's throughout the days that he's been the head of our household demonstrated a true representation of what a caring, loving, and thoughtful man looks like. Many of the things I haven't been able to accomplish today have been because of him. And I thank him for all he does. I give this dedication to you today. My father with love so beloved. Please listen. As I give this dedication to my amazing dad, Alfonzo Brown, Sr. Speaker 0 00:01:45 Hello, beloved. Thank you. Today happens to be another wonderful and blessed day because it's the day of my father's birth. Now, those of you who know I, when I spoke about my mother and the day of her birth, but I've been blessed to have two parents, and I've been blessed to have a father who was functioned as an excellent role model, both for myself and for my siblings and for my mother, my mother, my father was born in Jamaica and came to this country as an immigrant in search of a better life. At the time that my father arrived here, he didn't have much and to make matters worse. He gave up his life, a successful career as a nurse in Jamaica to come here to try to find a new opportunity for his children. My father exemplifies the characteristics in the Bible describes fathers. We have none, but our ultimate heavenly father to look out for an example of what a true father should demonstrate in his approach to his children, his affairs, and to life. My father has been a blessing in my life and yes, it hasn't been perfect, but he's been perfectly good at what he's trying to accomplish. Speaker 0 00:03:29 Deuteronomy one 31, it says there, you saw how the Lord, your God carried you as a father carries this one all the way you went until you reached this place. Beloved all my life. I've been thankful to happen. And I felt just like the way that the Lord carries us. My father is carrying me. He wasn't a perfect man. Still not is. I'll be the first to admit that to you, but he tries his best. And that is something that should be admired and respected. He didn't grow up with the privilege like I did of having a mom and dad in the household. Actually, the sad part about it was that in the neighborhood that I grew up in, I one day realized that none of my friends actually had a father that lived with them. I was one of the only blessed and fortunate ones to have a dad who worked every day, who came home, kissed my mother and loved his children. Speaker 0 00:04:33 And when you understand my father's background, it might be even more difficult to understand, but even greater to respect and admire him for what he did. You see, my father didn't grow up with the benefit of a father. My grandfather, who I actually never met face to face did not live with my father. And from the majority of my father's life, he didn't take part in his life. My father says that, you know, when he was very young, he went to live with my great-grandmother, his mother, my grandmother had many other children, 13 to be exact of which he's the oldest, but he didn't have the opportunity. And the blessing of growing up with him, there were too many mouths to feed too many commitments. And my grandmother at that time, unfortunately, didn't have the money or the resources to take care of him. I asked him, was he sad at the fact that he couldn't spend his life with his siblings? But he said he found himself in somewhat of a privileged position because he was able to have her undivided attention. And in a sense, he said, she became both his father and his mother. I don't get me wrong. He said, when he could, he would visit his siblings and his mother. But since he didn't have a lot of money in a lot of resources, those types of visits were special. And unfortunately didn't happen frequently. Speaker 0 00:06:13 My father says that he missed the love of his dad. He tries to give me the impression that his father's absence didn't affect him. But I think it did you see all my father's life, he's been strong and tried to portray the role of a strong man who did not let things bother him. But as I've gotten to know him as an adult, I realized that this was his way of coping, coping with the disappointment, probably of not having his father there and missing out on a lot of the things that he gave to me that I took for granted, probably father tells the story of how he learned of his father's prominence in the community. And one day he went to a party that his father was at because he needed money to buy shoes and books for school. His father went into the party and told him to wait outside. Speaker 0 00:07:12 He says that his father then left by a back entrance and never came outside. Eventually someone told him to go home, but when he told them that he was waiting for his dad, that he had longed to party, I don't believe he was supported when he went to school. But because he was a determined and hardworking student, he made a way, he says, my great grandmother took on on jobs, did things. And she always washed his clothes and made sure everything looked just right. He didn't have shoes for most of Israeli life couldn't afford them. He was happy to sleep on a floor if he had the opportunity to, and he often tells us how a cup of tea and a piece of bread, or his daily rations for a meal. Yeah, this did not stop him. He remained determined to be somebody to be something, to make something of himself, to rise up above his poverty and leave a legacy that would bless not only him and his family, but bless all those who came in contact with that drive and determination helped him to pursue his career in school, where he excelled at as academic pursuits. Speaker 0 00:08:31 And also I wasn't aware of this. He was a pretty good sports individual and played what they call football. What we would call soccer. His nickname. Greeks is a Testament to his ability. He also was a very good dancer and he's always had this beautiful, handsome smile. That's my father is a handsome man. I don't say that because I miss son. It's just that I see the beauty, the strength, the true spirit in him at all times. And it leads me and makes me proud of my ancestors that gave birth to him and live through me, not being satisfied with the surroundings. He excelled in school. This boy from the country Hills in Jamaica, and eventually went on to pursue a career in nursing. He passed his examinations and began practicing, but then decided to come to New York for a better opportunity before he did this, though, he met my mother and he says that when they were married, he and his beautiful bride, they couldn't even afford to stay at a hotel. Speaker 0 00:09:41 So they slept on the floor in my uncle's place. But as the Bob Marley song says that they would share the single bread and that, you know, this love that they had together was going to grow. This was love. This was love. This was love. This was love. They were feeling yes. And that love gave rise to a dream and a home leading him to New York city, where he came. And for the first time in his life in a very real way, felt the sting of racism discrimination, but that did not. He didn't let that stop him. He took a job, not as a nurse, but as an orderly cleaning toilets and bathrooms at the Columbia school of physicians and surgeons in New York city, a doctor there, I believe recognized his potential in this hard work and encouraged him to move forward. And I can tell you, my father never gave up his dream. Speaker 0 00:10:44 He worked hard. He eventually worked for con Edison, which is a utility company in New York. One of the largest, it was a computer systems programmer, and he learned and taught others. But when things didn't work out there, he decided to try his own hand at creating his own business and started to deliver network, taught himself how to drive a fairly advanced page and then began delivering packages throughout Manhattan. It was from him at this time that I learned about hard work and self-discipline, I'd get up with them sometimes at four 35 in the morning to go out to Manhattan with them. As we delivered parcels all over the city, he gave me a small portion of the money we would make, which I would rapidly spend, but he imparted me some wisdom and said, don't take your money and wasted on trendy thing. He said that I should save my money, put it aside so that I can pursue greater dreams, dreams of a future dreams of hope, dreams of joy and satisfaction. Speaker 0 00:11:58 My father had a love for education. I'm a doctor today trained at Harvard medical school. Graduated the top of my class in college, graduated from Harvard with honors. I take care of over 200 patients a week and I teach to date. I've trained over a hundred surgeons and I've trained countless user interested in going to medicine, but I, every single bit of what I am today to the beautiful parents that I had, it was my father who told this young boy, which was me. When I told him I had a desire to be a football player. He said, no, you cannot play football. Because if you do that, you are localized to only countries that play football. He said, you should study medicine. It's a universal practice. You can go anywhere in the world with a license and practice medicine and you get to help people. Even when the season is over. I didn't know what a doctor was at that time, but that seed that he planted stuck with me. And it was one of the reasons why I went on to become a doctor later. I never knew this, but as I grew Speaker 2 00:13:02 Up anything that hindered that path, Speaker 0 00:13:05 Things that came into being areas or places I could go that would put me at risk for not achieving that dream. He was silently working in the background, rearranging the aspects of my life. He always made sure we were fed. He demonstrated to us love for a woman. He's been together with my mother for over 55 years. They actually just celebrated their wedding anniversary a few days ago. He shows love for her and continues to show passion with that gleam in his eye. Just like he had. I'm sure when he first met her, I've seen the beauty of a relationship and they've had their ups and downs. At one point, we went through a dark period when he went through, I guess what you would consider a midlife crisis, but I'm proud to say that he came through. It was a constant source of inspiration to me, and also a source of wisdom. Speaker 0 00:14:03 Things that my father told me when I was a teenager, 20 to 30 years later, I realized the wisdom in him, just like the word of God. They've stood time. He told me to take care of myself, take care of my health, take care of others. He always encourages me, tells me that I was placed here for a purpose. And yet through it all, despite all the things that I've done and continue to do all the blessings that I've received, not one day goes by that. I don't thank God for the love that he's given me and to my siblings. You see, my father is a once in a lifetime. And unlike a lot of men who take their pain and put it against their children, their spouses, he never did that. You see his father wasn't in his life. I didn't grow up with him and he never got to see his father. But the beautiful part is that one, my grandfather, his father was about to die in his nineties. My father reconnected with him. And I saw briefly the joy that he had, it was if they had just met for the first time. And they were dancing together, him a little boy with a man he loved. And until the day my grandfather died, my father enjoyed that time that he spent with his father. I think that saved him in a sense, because a part of him came to life. Again. Speaker 0 00:15:39 There's no greater gift that I could have given my phone and to see the joy in his eyes when he met his father and they were able to connect before my grandfather died, I loved my grandfather even more, although I'd never met him because I then saw how much of my father he had helped to create you. See, it was those tough circumstances. Those times without I've led my father to be the man that he was. And he passed his disappointments and frustrations on to us, not as disappointment and frustrations, but as goals, but as a belief in self, he gives everything. He has to make sure that we're taken care of. He loves us with all his heart and like our blessing father, God, he's there for us when we need him just for a call. He's now in that stage of his life, where we try to help him more probably, and he's able to help, but he's always there to provide beautiful year to provide encouragement. Speaker 0 00:16:49 I've seen him take the least that he had and give it away. And I've seen him in sometimes in the depths of despair for all that he's gone through. But the one thing that he never did was give up. He always had hope, not only for himself, but for each of us, I'll never forget the day that I got married. You see, I loved him so much that he was the best man at my wedding. And when he got up to speak, he said that he felt that he'd accomplished a lot in life, but now he had to become John the Baptist and pass the torch on to his child. Speaker 0 00:17:35 I felt that he was a good John, the Baptist and still is, but he was also like Jesus Christ because as a beautiful leader, protector and guidance, he showed me what it is to be a man. And now I live now in the hopes of him who showed gait, courage, and love for his family. By coming to the United States, giving up his entire career and working in, still working to try to put his dreams and goals into the lives of his children. He did all this while maintaining his commitment as a caring and loving soul, who I love to talk to the stand beyond beloved. Just want to let you know that if your father is still in your life in a day, when you know fathers are absent or have abdicated their responsibility, as if God has blessed you to have a father such as mine who cares and loves and takes care of his children who loves his wife saves and is financially responsible. Speaker 0 00:18:52 If God has blessed you to have all these things, then do this, contact your father right now and let him know how much you love him. Also let him know that his legacy will never die because every life you touch, every good thing you do every way in which you shine. Your light will be a demonstration of the principles of love that he has provided. And that will live on through you. Hey dad, your son wants to thank you. We all want to thank you for what you mean. Keep living son, keep being strong. God loves you. And he will keep us. And I call you son because you're God's son. But to me, you're my earthly father. You're a steward of his kindness and a demonstration of the reality. That one day when I meet God, he'll show me that he sent you as the perfect representation of who he is and having, I thank him for you every day. And I thank you for you and all that you've done for me and for us throughout your bless at life. May you live on to have many more my father. Thank you. Speaker 3 00:20:13 Love it. We want to thank you for joining us today. And for listening to this episode of life's lessons in God's word, if you liked this podcast, please visit our [email protected]. That's guiding life ministries, that org. And while you're there, please subscribe to our podcast and listen to our other podcasts on that channel. We provide these podcasts as a way to spread God's loving word for the world. And hopefully in our words, to make this world a better and more beautiful place, reflecting of the love of God until we speak again, next time, thank you for tuning in to love, peace, and made a love of God.

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