Cavin Harper
Executive Director

The story is told of Abe Lincoln as a very young man working as a clerk in a country store. One day a woman purchased some dry goods and after totaling the cost of the items, she paid her two dollars, six and quarter cents and left (six and a quarter cents was coinage borrowed from the Spanish currency of the day).

After leaving the store, Abe Lincoln began to wonder if he had actually calculated the woman’s bill correctly. He recalculated only to discover that she should have paid two dollars even.

“I made her pay six and quarter cents too much.” Abe told the store owner much disturbed.

Now, most store clerks and store owners would have dismissed such an amount as a trifle and gone about their business. But not Abe. He was too honest and had too much integrity to not make it right. “The money must be paid back,” he decided.

That would have been easy enough if the woman lived across the street or nearby, but she lived almost three miles away and Abe knew it. That, however, did not change things for young Abe. After the store closed, in the dark, Abe Lincoln walked to the woman’s house, explained what had happened and gave her the six and a quarter cents she had overpaid.

Foolishness? Overreacting? Some would say so – actually most would say so. But to a person of integrity there will be no doubt about what is right. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.”

These were some of the lessons of GrandCamps this summer as we focused on the theme “COWBOY UP! LIVE A LIFE OF INTEGRITY”. Grandparents and grandkids memorized Scripture and learned about integrity as a quality of character that reflects the very nature of God in our lives. Hopefully, many of those who participated in GrandCamp this summer will have left understanding how important integrity is, what it is and how we develop it in Christ, and how wise are those who walk in it.

Grandparents must set the example by their own lifestyle, daily living out of faith and righteousness, and intentional strategies for imparting God truth and leaving a legacy of integrity for future generations.

Our theme verse for each week was from Proverbs 21:21 — “He who pursues righteousness and love will find life, prosperity and honor.” The pursuit of righteousness and love is a life of integrity, and the fruit of such a life will bring honor and blessing to all. It is in dying to self and living in Christ that we find real life, and that life will express itself in integrity and love. He chose us “before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” (Eph. 1:4)

In a day when it is unpopular to speak the truth, and to not compromise that truth, our families need more than even to see the courage of parents and grandparents who are willing to live with integrity. The GrandCamp experience challenges and helps grandparents to live out the truth and righteousness of God so that our grandchildren may see Christ and desire Him more than all the treasures of earth.

So, it’s time to COWBOY UP! and be men and women who can be trusted with much because we prove ourselves trustworthy in little things. Our kids need to see what real integrity is all about because they see the real thing in us.