I wonder … how many New Year’s Resolutions have you already thrown to the wind? By this time – the second or third week in January every year — most people who have begun the year with the best of intentions have already cast those intentions aside and, perhaps with a sigh, have “resolved” that this year will be no different from last year.

These individuals have lost sight of the “newness” of the year and have agreed that they indeed cannot change.

Well, I am living proof that people can change. My bride and I begin this New Year in a new state. Yes, we are still in the state of vertical and breathing. But we are breathing different air. We are breathing Florida air, and, insofar as we are now about a thousand miles distant from southern Ohio, that air is for the most part a lot warmer, and much more pleasant, at least for the present moments, than the chilly air currently pervading the southern Ohio landscape!

Our move has been significant in that we have released ourselves from a myriad of “stuff” – things which we have accumulated through the years and find that we no longer need … yet! But it is also significant in that the editors of the two papers where this article appears on a weekly basis have asked me to continue writing for these editions.

I plan to do that, so long as I am able to do so, and so long as the need exists and people are reading these renditions. I truly am thankful for your support and encouragement through the years of writing this column. My prayer is that this column will continue to encourage and, yes, sometimes, even challenge you to live a godly life, following the principles of God’s Word in the exercise of daily living!

With that in mind, this week I have been challenged on at least two separate occasions to compromise those very principles in dealing with people helping us in the moving process. The first one involved a plumber, who challenged me in telling the truth regarding the faucet in our new home. He told me that, when I called the faucet manufacturer to see about getting a replacement part for the faucet, I should tell them I was the original owner of the home and had purchased the faucet when the house was constructed.

You see, the manufacturer provides a lifetime warranty on all parts for the faucet, but only for the original owner. The plumber realized that he should not tell me to blatantly lie about it, but he was diligent in encouraging me with ways to let them think I was the original owner without saying that I was.

This seems like such a simple issue, does it not? I mean, after all, who would be hurt by my telling the manufacturer that I had been the one who originally purchased the home and this faucet with it?

The problem is indeed simple: I did not originally purchase the home and I did not originally have this faucet installed! A commitment to keep even one of the simplest of the Ten Commandments told me I needed to tell the truth and not follow the plumber’s advice.

That very day, I had just been reading in Genesis 12, where, while they were in Egypt, Abram had told Sarah his wife to tell Pharaoh that she was Abram’s sister. Abram thought that by doing this he would be delivered from any punishment by Pharaoh.

Now, she was not technically lying to Pharaoh, because she was indeed a half-sister. But the impact was the same as an outright lie. Pharaoh was attracted to Sarah, and because she had told him she was Abram’s sister, he thought she was fair game for him.

But God inflicted serious disease on Pharaoh because she was Abram’s wife, and Pharaoh became incensed with Abram for telling him a half-truth. Abram discovered that he would have avoided further anger from Pharaoh, not to mention the blessing from God, had he told the truth from the very beginning.

With that in mind, I determined that I would not intentionally lie to anyone when I ordered the replacement part for the faucet. As I made the telephone call, I silently prayed that the Lord would somehow give me the words to speak should the Customer Service Representative on the phone ask me if I was the original owner.

Sure enough, after getting through a few preliminary questions, the attendant did indeed ask me if I was the original owner of the house. I simply could not tell even a small “white” lie. I responded to her with, “Oh, how I wish I could say yes to that question, but the truth is that I cannot.”

She then asked me if I was the original owner of the faucet when it was installed. I responded with the identical answer as to the first question. I knew then that I was going to have to pay for the part, and it was all right.

The attendant then looked up the part number and told me that she was going to “comp” the part for me on this one occasion. I must have been dumbfounded because she repeated her statement, saying that she would not be doing that again, and I should not expect that to be repeated in the future, but that this time the bill would be absolutely nothing!

I thanked her profusely and let her know that her response was indeed an answer to prayer.

If I may be so blunt, the point of this whole experience is that when we decide to honor God with our lives, our words and our deeds, He will honor us! And if we do, we do not have to live with the guilt that another lie puts on our heart and conscience.

Happy New Year and …

God bless!

Chuck Tabor is a regular columnist for the Times-Gazette and News Journal. He is also the former Pastor of Port William UMC.