Fifteen Minutes In Royalty
by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)
(Chapter 23 from Dr. Hyle's excellent book, How To Rear Children)
(Skeptics sometimes remark that disciplining a child and rearing him according to the Bible will make him grow up to hate his parents. Let such skeptics read the following article written by David when he was sixteen. The article was not written for a school assignment or because of any compulsion. It was written simply to express the spontaneous feelings of a sixteen-year-old boy who loves his dad. The article is printed just as it was written, with no proofreading, editing, changing of spelling of punctuation. Dr. Jack Hyles)
All alone I stood in the lobby of the church on a cold dark Sunday night. Everyone else had left long ago, yet I remained waiting. My father was the pastor, and was again late because of a conference. Every Sunday night and Wednesday night I remembered I had waited for him.
It was getting later, and the janitors had all gone home. I shared the building with no one.
Discouraged and a bit angry I began to walk alone through the building. I wondered why I should wait so long just for a fifteen-minute ride home.
Walking past a nursery I looked in and saw bed after bed. I began to dream of a day when maybe I would have a little baby of my own. Would there be a church where I would feel safe to leave my child? Here the nurseries were clean and the babysitters dedicated Christians.
Someday I would have my own child, and he would grow. As he grew I would want him to be taught to obey. I walked past the beginner and primary departments. So many little children came there to be told about Jesus and right and wrong. Would my child have the same?
And as my child grew to be a junior, a junior higher, and even a high-schooler, would there be a place like this which stressed discipline and morals - a place which would lead my child toward God's will?
Suddenly I realized what a great place this was, and my father was its pastor. People all over the world looked at our church with envy and respect. Hundreds of preachers came here to be taught how to build similar churches.
Many hour were spent without my father at home. He travels over 10,000 miles a year speaking to thousands of people. Why? Because he wanted to have churches everywhere.
People traveled many miles just to hear my father speak. He was a widely-read author and speaker, a nationwide radio speaker, a world-traveling conference speaker, a leader of pastors, and a great man.
Many people would stay up all night just to be able to talk to him for five minutes. Hundreds of people cherish the day they simply met him and shook his hand. Night and day he works and tries to help people.
Out he walked as I sat in the car alone. He opened the door, and got in. "Hi, doc." he said, "how's school coming?"
Away we drove together, talking about sports, church, school, and anything else that came up.
With Dr. Jack Hyles, my father, next to me I spent fifteen minutes in royalty.
(David never intended for his dad to see the above article and to this day he has not idea that it is being published. His dad discovered the article quite by accident.)
