Grandparents Day this year was on Sunday, September 9, but Mary K. and I had already been sort of celebrating weeks ahead! In August first we welcomed grandson David Taylor with grand-daughter-in-law Sharon and great-grandchildren Gabriel and Juliana here on furlough from missionary service in Brazil, South America. Besides meeting for burgers nearby we also rendezvoused at Turkey Run State Park for lunch and an outing. Later in August and early this month our daughter Judy blessed us with a visit, including a report and pictures of our grand- and great-grandchildred in Washington State, plus one in Homer, Alaska! We are so thankful to God for our scattered family, and our loved ones' visit brought back memories of visits to my maternal grandparents years ago. I recall good times with Grandpa and Grandma PYLE on their farm southeast of Veedeersburg, IN. I remember all the sights, sounds, smells and even the tastes, too. Eating breakfast cereal drowned in thick, rich, fresh, real cow's cream from their big hand-cranked milk separator, and only a few minutes from the "spigot" was such a treat. But my most vivid memory was of the grain threshing operation. I was, maybe, 6 or 7 years old when Grandpa let me watch from the bed of his Model T Ford truck. The newly-threshed wheat spewed from the big grain-separator machine (noisy and dusty) into the back of the truck, making a sort of "sand-box" experience for my bare feet. The machine was powered by a long leather belt attached to a pulley on a huge steam engine which sounded like the locomotives not far from our home in Danville, IL. It was quite thrilling to watch the horse-drawn wagons come in from the fields filled with sheaves of wheat, and then watch the men "feed" the separator.
Both Grandma and Grandpa were soft-spoken and hospitable, having originated in Kentucky and Tennessee. (Sergeant Alvin York of World War I fame lived in Tennessee and his mother was a Pyle.) We never discussed Bible topics with them as such, but they always had an interest in our ministry in Germany and in our homeland. I was asked to preach one Sunday in their country church nearby. I was so glad I was able to visit them in Grandpa's last illness and to encourage him with Bible passages and prayer. He assured me that he had trusted Christ as his Saviour while in his youth in Kentucky. I do thank the Lord for my grandparents and believe I will see them again in Heaven. In my viewpoint they were true Southern "gentle folks" and I am thankful for such a goodly heritage.
We didn't go to school to be grandparents and we have missed close contact with kids, grand- and great-grandkids, but we love 'em all and pray for them, trusting that each has trusted Christ as Saviour, and that we will be with them again in Heaven. Although we can't leave a tangible inheitance for each of them we want them to be assured that "children are an heritage of the LORD" to us (Psalm 127:3): and that "children's children are the CROWN of old men"! (Proverbs 17:6). We are truly RICH!
