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Built With Quality
Stephen Bly
Circa 1996
Name recognition of products is not merely an outcome of our present age. Long before radio and television, even among the cowboys and ranchers of the Old West, there were certain brand names that meant quality.
Quality Western Hats and Boots
John B. Stetson made hats. He made wide-brimmed, high crowned, beaver felt hats like no one else ever had. They were so well made that a man only had to have one Stetson in his lifetime, unless some footpad or sneak thief stole it.
Another man, Joe Justin, settled into an old Spanish fort at the Texas side of the Red River, and began making boots in 1879. Without help from an advertising agency or basketball star endorsers, he managed to gain such a reputation that a pair of Justin’s is still the description of quality boots.
Quality Spurs
Over in El Paso, another Texan began practicing his craft. As a young boy in Childress, P.M. (Pascal Moreland) Kelly listened to the cowboy punchers complain about what was wrong with the bits and spurs they were using. Determined to do better, P.M. Kelly set out with a few tools and his younger sister to make quality bits and spurs. He sold everything he could make directly to the cowboys who lined up to purchase them. Owning a pair of Kelley’s set a man in the highest class of punchers.
Try buying a pair of Kelly bits or spurs today at an auction and you’ll have to get a bank mortgage to cover it. You see, it’s hard to beat a reputation for quality.
Our Quality Building Projects
You and I spend our days building things. Oh, I don’t mean just the shelves in the kitchen or the dollhouse for Suzy or the rebuilt ’55 Chevy convertible. We build a family, a marriage, a relationship, a ministry. But I wonder what kind of reputation we have with our construction?
Is your family the John B. Stetson of your neighborhood? Is your marriage going to last a lifetime like a pair of Justin boots? Are the things you’re doing for the Lord as everlasting as a pair of Kellys? Well, we’ll all find out one day.
The Bible says the day will come the heavenly fire will test the quality of each man’s work (1 Corinthians 3:13). Maybe it’s time to take a more careful look at what we’re building. You know, it’s not too late to take the effort required to make it last for eternity.