A Fathers Day Declaration

“I WILL NOT RUN”

My great grandfather was an angry man, he abused his family
He passed along that heritage, through the roots of our family tree
His children turned against him, and they drove him from his home
Never knowing where he ended up, or if he died alone

My grandfather was an honest man, he tried to live what’s right
But somewhere in the darkness, he fell without a fight
He took his sons, and dignity, and threw them in his truck
And he drove off in the shadows tryin’ to break his string of luck

I will not run, I will not run
By God’s grace, I’ll stand and face
Each new day as it comes
I will not run, I will not run
The family curse has been reversed
The healing has begun
And I will not run

My father was a godly man, of that there is no doubt
He told me once when he was young, he tried taking the wrong way out
But his love for God, and mom, and me, was stronger than his fear
So Jesus Christ was honored through the life dad lived down here

I will not run, I will not run, by God’s grace
I’ll stand and face, each new day as it comes
I will not run, I will not run
The family curse has been reversed
Now there’s a blessing for my son
For I will not run

(By: W. Berry / See & Say Songs, BMI)

I sang that song at church on "Fathers Day" Sunday for several years. I stopped singing it because I felt the Holy Ghost saying I should lay it aside for a while. However its been stirring around in my spirit the last several weeks so perhaps the time has come for it to be repristinated.

I'm told that the more personal a blog can be the better (more interesting) it is for the reader. I don't know if I can get any more personal than opening up some of my family history to you. So, here goes...

The first verse above is about my great grandfather on my dad's side of the family. The story that my grandmother told to me works itself out like this:

He was a farmer in the South sometime during the first half of the 1800's or thereabouts. He began his family (my family) by kidnapping a young Cherokee maiden. He somehow managed to elude the young warriors from her tribe that tried to track him down intent on killing him, and rescuing her. They were married (?) and during their life together had 8-10 children. As the children grew up he became more and more violent -- especially toward his wife (my great grandmother). One day he beat her and knocked her to the ground. She was pregnant at the time. He picked up a stick of firewood and in his rage he yelled out that he was "gonna beat that baby out of you."! His sons by then were apparently old enough and strong enough and angry enough to have reached their breaking point. They came to their mothers defense and chased him off at gun point and told him that if they ever saw him again they would shot him. A sorry state of affairs to be sure. After that dreadful event took place no one in the family ever saw or heard from him again. So the subject matter of that opening verse is a painfully sad (but true) story.

The second verse takes place a generation later and involves my grandfather on my mothers side. If you thought verse one was intense then consider this:

My mother was given to an uncle to raise when she was only three. She grew up thinking that her father had simply deserted her after her mother died believing he was not able to care for her. He had two sons that were approaching their teen years so trying to raise a baby girl without a wife seemed out of the question. My mom was well into her 40's before the real story came out. It reads like this:

Her dad married a women who had been widowed twice before. Both her husbands had died under "mysterious circumstances". The gossip was that she had killed them both but there wasn't enough proof to build a case on. However, while my mom was still a baby her mother apparently tried on several occasions to kill my grandfather (her husband, my mothers father). Whatever had transpired created a fearful situation that prompted my grandfather to run away in the middle of the night frightened for his life and that of his two sons. He left my mother with his brother and just disappeared. This was all revealed to my mother in a letter which he'd written to her before his death. He'd made both his boys vow not to contact my mom (their sister) until he passed away.

One afternoon I watched my mother open the mail box and begin to read "the letter" as she walked back up to the house. She didn't make it -- she collapsed in the front yard. I ran to try and find out what was wrong. I learned this story sitting there with her as she wept for what seemed like hours having discovered that she had two elder brothers and that her father (whom she'd never seen or heard from) had just passed away. It was a shattering experience for our family.

All this family history business had a deeply profound impact on me personally. Both these stories forced me to question things about my life, and the lives of others. Marriage covenant, birthing and raising children, honesty, responsibility, compassion (for others), respect, love and the fallen nature of humankind (SIN). Trying to learn how to process all that became a pretty heavy burden to bear. As it turned out, these events were all part of God's plan to begin imparting a desire into my heart in matters of "generational connections" (see Rom.8:28).

"He planted a witness in Jacob, set his Word firmly in Israel, then commanded our parents to teach it to their children so the next generation would know, and all the generations to come — know the truth and tell the stories so their children can trust in God, never forget the works of God but keep his commands to the letter'. (Ps.78:5-7 / The Message Bible)

The last verse is not as dramatic as the first two, but for me it is much more personal since it deals directly with my father.

I grew up in a great home with godly parents. They were wonderful to me. I don't know how my life with them could have been better -- blessed as I was. My dad had a solid understanding of how to be the head of our home and to provide, cover, and love his wife, and his only child - me. Nonetheless he told me something one day that relates directly to the stories you've just read. One day when I was still a baby the pressure of a new family, livelihood issues, and (I imagine) some generalized fear took hold on him. And, on his way to work one morning he decided to just drive away and never look back. Keep in mind that he knew the first story about his grandfather, the kidnapping, and the abuse. But, he didn't know anything about the other story involving my mom's childhood and the situation with her father. That all came out years later as I said. As it turned out the Holy Ghost got my dad's attention that morning in the car and before he got too many miles away he made a decision to face life as it had been given him. So, he turned around, drove back to Nashville, and went to work. He lived that way for another 40 years or so. In the year I turned 40, he turned 68 and went home to be in the eternal Presence of God.

After my father passed away these three stories all came together as a song. The inspiration for it came from a book I was reading by Gordan Dalby entitled, "Fathers & Sons". In it Dalby commented on something he'd discovered in his ministry to men across the country. He always ask in his seminars for the men who were present to stand up and state the names of the men who had proceeded them generationally in their families. During his years of ministry he discovered just how quickly our culture was losing touch with it's roots. Few men could go back passed two generations before them. That all prompted me to write the song and it prompts me even today to say this:

{I am Richard Wayne Berry; the son of William Lee Berry; the son of Rufus Henry Berry; the son of John Lee Berry....who was driven away from his family for acts of an ungodly nature}

My father broke the cycle of iniquity when he turned his car around that morning so many years ago. After several years of personal struggle and running away in my own life I came to terms with how I should try to live before my Lord. By God's grace and under His mercy I am still standing my ground for the sake of His kingdom. Now my son, Jesse Aaron Berry has the chance to add his story to mine and our forefathers.

I’ve shared this song lyric and these background stories with you in order to make the following observation. The Biblical meaning of the word “salvation” is much broader than the receiving of forgiveness for our sins and being assured of our promised reward(s) in heaven when we die. In Scripture salvation has as much to do with “deliverance” in this world as it does our hope in the afterlife. The word “deliverance” carries the meaning of…

Aid / Victory / Health (physically or spiritually) / Welfare / Liberty / and Rescue (physically or morally)

The salvation (deliverance) of the Lord has been at work in my life since before I was born (Ps.139:13-16). It has worked a cleansing purification in my temporal bloodline by transfusing it with the pure and holy sacrificial (atoning) blood of the Lamb, Christ Jesus, my Lord, and Savior. Not only has my family history been cleaned up, my life in the present (the now) is still being purified daily. And, my eternal future has already been perfected ---- before the days of my destiny have even come to be (Ps.31:14-16).

This is all a mystery. It is also a divine gift from my heavenly Father (Ja.1:17). And that gives me all the reason I need to testify to His goodness here "in the land of the living” (Ps.116:5-9). This testimony is a declaration of His deliverance from a “generation curse”. Blessed be the name of the Lord!







Copyright Secured: See & Say (Songs & Such), BMI