Journey with us in this month of June as we step inside Elisabeth’s childhood home in Germantown, NJ, as she describes her remarkable and godly father, Philip Howard Jr., in her book “The Shaping of a Christian Family
It appears that men like my father were a rare breed even back in Timothy’s time. They still are. Those who seek the kingdom of God are characterized by the opposites of the above list. They are unselfish. indifferent to wealth, simple of speech, humble. That describes my father. They do not discard what their parents taught them. They are grateful, reverent, men of normal human affections, self-controlled, lovers of God. Their life affirms their profession of faith. That sounds to me like Philip E, Howard Jr. Dr. Frank Gaebelein, headmaster of Stony Brook School and later editor of Christianity Today, says in his introduction to my father’s book New Every Morning,
Philip Howard, who was my friend for many years, was an unusually disciplined Christian. Although
in these essays, as in his other writings, he was careful to refer to himself only indirectly, there shines through their pages the transparent personality of a man of intellect and cultivation whose life was genuinely God-centered through Jesus Christ.
I have no recollection of any specific word my father spoke when I was very small, but I have a vivid sense of his comforting and sometimes awesome presence. Daddy was either at home or not at home, and the difference was very great. Sometimes I waited in the vestibule, peeping through the mail slot to see him come home from the office, up the porch steps, always dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt, and conservative tie, always carrying a briefcase. When he opened the door, I hugged his knees. . .
Continued next week
**Excerpt originally published in The Shaping of a Christian Family, page 54