{"id":51530,"date":"1999-04-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1999-04-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/value-of-good-name\/"},"modified":"1999-04-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1999-04-01T00:00:00","slug":"value-of-good-name","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/value-of-good-name\/","title":{"rendered":"The Value of a Good Name"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book, I Almost Missed the Sunset<\/em>, Bill Gaither writes:<\/p>\n\n

Gloria and I had been married a couple of years. We were teaching school in Alexandria, Indiana, where I had grown up, and we wanted a piece of land where we could build a house. I noticed the parcel south of town where cattle grazed, and I learned it belonged to a 92-year-old retired banker named Mr. Yule. He owned a lot of land in the area, and the word was he would sell none of it. He gave the same speech to everyone who inquired: "I promised the farmers they could use it for their cattle."<\/p>\n\n

Gloria and I visited him at the bank. Although he was retired, he spent a couple of hours each morning in his office. He looked at us over the top of his bifocals.<\/p>\n\n

I introduced myself and told him we were interested in a piece of his land. "Not selling," he said pleasantly. "Promised it to a farmer for grazing."<\/p>\n\n

"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."<\/p>\n\n

He pursed his lips and stared at me. "What'd you say your name was?"<\/p>\n\n

"Gaither. Bill Gaither."<\/p>\n\n

"Hmmm. Any relation to Grover Gaither?"<\/p>\n\n

"Yes, Sir. He was my granddad."<\/p>\n\n

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'd you say you wanted?"<\/p>\n\n

I told him again.<\/p>\n\n

"Let me do some thinking on it, then come back and see me."<\/p>\n\n

I came back within the week, and Mr. Yule told me he had had the property appraised. I held my breath. "How does $3,800 sound? Would that be okay?"<\/p>\n\n

If that was per acre, I would have to come up with nearly $60,000! "$3,800?" I repeated.<\/p>\n\n

"Yup. Fifteen acres for $3,800."<\/p>\n\n

I knew it had to be worth at least three times that. I readily accepted.<\/p>\n\n

Nearly three decades later, my son and I strolled that beautiful, lush property that had once been pasture land. "Benjy," I said, "you've had this wonderful place to grow up through nothing that you've done, but because of the good name of a great-granddad you never met."<\/p>\n\n

"A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold" (Proverbs 22:1).<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[306,310],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[4164,4513,4800,4807,5295],"tax_ctp_topics":[378,382,384,392,403],"class_list":["post-51530","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-honesty","tax_ctp_tags-name","tax_ctp_tags-remembrance","tax_ctp_tags-reputation","tax_ctp_tags-workers"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nThe Value of a Good Name - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/value-of-good-name\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Value of a Good Name - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book, I Almost Missed the Sunset, Bill Gaither writes: Gloria and I had been married a couple of years. 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