The Robertsons: Anything but quacks

I don't have cable TV. We live out in the country where there is no service. I don't have satellite either. Too expensive. Too slow. But I surely do not live in a social vacuum. I know the Robertson family is the cast of A&E's smash hit, Duck Dynasty. I also know they are an international sensation.

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The family's business of making duck hunting calls reaches back to the early 1970's. But from carving those calls out of Louisiana cedar, the company has come a long way. Now, they own the market with not only their calls but their brand.

So, what's their brand? Well, it has something to do with faith, family, and down-home, honest living. There are no pretenses. What you see is what you get. Long beards, unfamiliar names like Si, Jase, and Jep, loyal wives, lots of fun, and plenty of country cooking. It's nice to think that the bazillions of Duck followers really believe this family is for real. No quacks here. It's a reality show, right?

But are they? Pedestals and pressure cookers have a way of bringing out the bad. Boom! Just like that, the famous fall from grace. Consider all the Hollywood types gone a muck. It's hard to hide the real you when push comes to shove.

http://www.aetv.com/duck-dynasty/meet-family/jase-robertson/

It was reported last week that Jase, one of the big-bearded brothers, was escorted out of a swank New York City hotel, the Trump International Hotel. Jase described the incident on LIVE with Kelly and Michael. Apparently, the hotel employee, when asked where the men's room was located, mistook Jase for a homeless man saying, "‘Right this way, sir'" before escorting him to out the door, pointing down the street and quipping, "‘Good luck. Have a good day.’”

Now, Jase is a famous person. Jase has tons of money. Jase is highly recognizable. But did Jase take offense? Did he make a scene and demand the employee's head be handed to him on a silver platter?  Did he pack his bags and storm out, the whole contingent traipsing behind?

No. He simply walked back in, told his wife why he disappeared, and went on to laugh about the incident as "facial profiling." He even credited his escort as being "very nice,” He certainly did not take himself too seriously. Incidentally, he continued to stay at the hotel.

In comparison with those who act badly, I'd like to think that Jase, along with the rest of the family, live the way they do because of their faith. For, you see, there is a direct relationship between faith and works, between what's in the heart and what comes out the mouth.

An ancient Proverb says "The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent" (Proverbs 16:23). But a writer a millennium later wrote likewise: "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of" (Luke 6:45).

Good for Jase. Good for the whole clan. Their dinner time prayers are not a charade. Virtues and values are on display. There is no disparity. They live what they believe. And to be honest, they have it right. Living your faith is way more effective than screaming it.