This is the second in a series to honor men who have been helpful by their examples.
Paul Larimore was a giant of a man to me. He stood well over six feet and more than 200 pounds, was a respected businessman, served as a civic leader, and commanded the respect of people. He did interesting things and liked to share those interesting things with other people, like airplanes and fishing and radios.
He was my grandfather. My middle name is Paul. My son is named after him. So is my nephew. So is his daughter, my mother (Pauline, in this case). He liked being the patriarch, and I liked it, too.
He was married to the same woman for more than 50 years. Grandma Ruth was the kind of woman who delighted in her family and wanted everyone around her to be happy. She would do her best to make people feel comfortable, welcome and included. The last few of those years Grandma was not well. I was just a boy and don’t remember the details, but she was sick a lot of the time and toward the end I don’t think she knew who I was.
But this giant, masculine man loved his wife, that was obvious because he didn’t try to hide it. He did as much as he could for her, though she couldn’t do anything for him any longer. And he made sure she was in her own home for her last days on this earth.
He died in 1991 and I wish he could have met my children. I think he took particular delight in his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Maybe my Paul’s disabilities would have been hard for him; I wonder about that sometimes.
But he taught me a great many important things. This is one that may be the most important: you love and serve your wife right to the end, no matter the cost. And that example has helped me already, only 21 years into my own delightful marriage.
I know what loyalty looks like; Lord willing, so will my children, and yours.
The Works of God 
Attempting to honor in helpful ways
June 12, 2011 by John Knight
As most of you know or could guess, The Works of God is named primarily because that phrase shows up in John 9, the accounting of Jesus healing the man born blind.
But it also shows up in other places, like Psalm 78:
He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God. . . Psalm 78:5-7a
How do fathers learn how to teach their children to do that? I’ve learned a great deal from other men.
Several weeks ago I had the thought that on Father’s Day it would be nice to honor some of the men who help me do what has been commanded that I do as a father. Then I abandoned it because of all the problems it seemed to create:
God gets the glory! Ok, that seems like a good thing to talk about.
And there it was – I can freely honor by showing how these men have been helpful, and maybe others can learn from their examples.
Over the next seven days, Lord willing, I hope to raise up examples of men who are or have been helpful to me. I have a personal relationship with all of them; no dead authors in this group although two have passed on from this life. And I am very fond of all of them! But I’ll try to keep those affections as secondary to explaining how they have helped.
In doing so, I hope you will be encouraged that God does things like give the gift of people who help us love him more. And I also hope that you will take the time to honor and thank men in your lives who have helped you.
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