We have had a covering of snow here in central Indiana for two weeks or more, but have missed the huge storms farther north of us. Roads being clear last Sunday morning, we left the apartment early enough to reach Yeddo for the worship hour. We had to use plenty of "Heet" spray to remove the frost from every window and the windshield on "Henry" our trusty Taurus.
But what a winter wonderland with all the frosted trees and snow-covered fields filling the landscape on the way! This caused some "deja vu" discussion between us, since it was the day after our 61st wedding anniversary of December 18, 1949. What a contrast in weather! I graduated from Moody Bible Institute on the 16th and we all hurried back home for the BIG DAY. A former student friend was asked to be my Best Man and stayed all night at my home in Wallace ... I don't think I slept a wink because Carl snored fiercely, but who could sleep, anyway? Since we had made Calvary Baptist Church in Crawfordsville our sending church for planned service in Germany, the wedding was held there early in the afternoon with our elderly pastor Brother Barney Antrobus officiating. The small block church building was packed, and our friend from Lodi, Paul Ray Jr., sang "Saviour, Like A Shepherd Lead Us" as Margaret Starns (Tague) supported Mary K. as Matron of Honor and Carl held me up! No digital or video cameras were present, only a local photographer made the official picture of this earth-shaking event for posterity, but we had the family and the congregation as witnesses, too. They were all invited to the Jackson home in the country west of Wallace for the Reception and quite a line of cars drove through ... no, not snow... balmy, foggy, wet roads for the festivities. Quite a change from 61 years later. However, we must add ... after a short honeymoon in Lafayette, IN (don't laugh, 50 miles was a long drive in those days and student jobs didn't prepare us for a Caribbean cruise!), we started married life in a little tenant house provided by Dad and Mom Jackson on their farm. Then it got COLD and SNOWED, but we survived with a pot-bellied coal stove, plenty of blankets and lots of SNUGGLIN' until we left for another session of training, this time at Grand Rapids Baptist Bible Institute and Seminary. And there we encountered lots more snow and cold and the pre-mission-field experience of living in a 1-bedroom apartment. Then and now we find the Bible to be "right on" -- "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall the one will lift up his fellow ...Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?" - Ecclesiastes 4:9-11.
