Are you trusted by your mate, by your friends and by your children? Are you reliable? Do you fulfill your promises to your children?My dad, "Hook" Rainey, was a man whose quiet, soft-spoken faith and rock-solid integrity won him a good name in our rural community nestled in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri. I learned about that reputation forcefully one year during high school when I began selling magazine subscriptions to raise money for our senior project.
Without delay I made several sales to my numerous aunts and uncles. However, my pace slowed considerably when I began soliciting subscriptions door-to-door. I was discouraged and about to head for home when I tried one more home. I was hurriedly rattling off my canned sales pitch when the old man interrupted me: "Son, what did you say your name was?"
"Dennis Rainey, sir."
"Are you Hook Rainey's son?" he asked with a slight grin.
The old man's etched face immediately brightened when I answered, "Why, yes-he's my dad."
"Well, come on in!" he beamed as he unhooked the screen door and swung it open. He proceeded to buy two magazine subscriptions.
I was no fool, so from then on I always let people know at the outset that I was Hook Rainey's son. I eventually set a record for sales!
For many years afterwards I thought Dennis Rainey had won that magazine sales contest. It wasn't until Dad's death that I realized what had really happened. It was Hook Rainey's character that had given me the victory. Without knowing it, my dad had followed Charles Spurgeon's wise counsel: "Carve your name on the hearts, and not on marble."