Memory Maker

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.

dit-dit-dit-dah!

Some will recognize the Morse code 3 dots and a dash that stands for the letter "V" and is a familiar sound from Beethoven's 5th symphony, I think, but in World War II reminded us that "'V' is for Victory!" The old-time telegrapher spelled out messages in short clicks and long clicks over the wires, but radio-telegraphy technology made it possible to hear the sound of dots and dashes. As a Navy radioman in the war we listened to Morse code broadcasts 24-7 at sea as ships near and far communicated. We were to be alert for any distress signals from ships in trouble and for any messages addressed to our ship. For instance, a possible submarine attack was signalled by "SSSS" over the radio, and, of course, one needing assistance would send out a frantic "SOS"! Because of danger everywhere, radio silence was maintained until absolutely necessary, and so most of us did not get to send messages at sea and often grew "rusty." It takes a very flexible wrist motion to make a really understandable Morse code message on the telegraph key, believe me, but some operators were very accomplished at it and some veterans even used what was called a "bug" telegraph key. As I recall, the "bug" had a side-to-side action instead of the normal up-and-down movement, and so it could really send messages fast, almost like "brrrrrrp, brrrrrp!" When I would listen in to such I was not only amazed at the operator's skill, but also amused when he made a mistake, because he had to stop and correct the error. How did he do that? Well, just like the slow-poke operator with a normal key and wrist motion he simply first spelled out "dit-dit-dit-dit-dit" or "e-e-e-e-e" which, of course, stood for an Error, and then finished his corrected transmission. I've been pondering that solution to mistakes and boo-boos in radio telegraphy and how easy it would be if we could make things right with God or one another by just somehow keying in "e-e-e-e-e" and then everything was okay again! However, it's not that simple. According to God's Word it took the death of His Son on the cross, and our faith in Him, to make possible the forgiveness of sins. Let's be honest, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us. (BUT) if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!" (I John 1:8,9). This does not required any wrist action, but it surely does take some knee action!

The UNcooperative Telephone Company

My hometown of Wallace was blessed with a locally-owned and operated "Cooperative Telephone Company." In the 1930's and early 1940's, of course, the equipment was not high-tech, compared to today, and most of the communication was via "party line," which allowed for the widest distribution of the town news! And every household or business had its own special ring; I think Grimes Store was "2 longs and 1 short" and my Dad the storekeeper answered with a cheery "Jot-em-down Store" (taken from the radio comedy show "Lum and Abner"). And, if you were on a party line, it was not necessary to call central first ... just crank out the appropriate "longs" and "shorts" if the line was free. One summer my teen buddies, Dick Fine and Kenny Davidson, and I somehow got hold of some obsolete old wall phones and planned our own private "tele-com" company, not to compete but to experiment, like boys do! We took the wire from the magneto off one machine, not reckoning on its durability, and strung it on make-shift posts from my upstairs room at least a 100 yards to the Fine residence; then, from there another 100 feet or so across the street to the Davidsons. Believe it or not, when the old wall phones were connected the system worked, and the "Wallace UNcooperative Telephone Company" was born! I use the "UN" prefix because the grand experiment succeeded only a few days at most ... until the next summer storm blew that thin copper wire line all to pieces! Now there is a lesson for us in that experience. Our most modern high-tech systems of communication fail, too. But there is one system that never fails ... for the believing soul... and that is PRAYER, actually reaching Heaven on our knees, and with a personal, direct line! And in God's Word we are encouraged: "Let us therefore COME boldly (with confidence in Christ Who died for our sins) to the Throne of Grace (Heaven's 'central'), that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need!" (Hebrews 4:16) And we don't need to worry about the storms of life interfering with or disrupting this connection. In fact, we should call when we are IN a storm!!! Have YOU tried this system, yet?

The Great Lakes Shuffle

As Mamaw/Mary K. and I finished up washing dishes in our small apartment kitchen recently we discussed my tendency to dribble water on the old-hard-to-maintain vinyl tile floor when drying things! I was reminded of how difficult it was to keep a reasonable "shine" on the tile, and that she had just a short time ago found a liquid polish that made the task somewhat easier. Then I suggested that maybe we should try the "Great Lakes Shuffle" as a solution, but, of course, as a landlubber she had never heard of this. Well, this was the U.S. Navy way of keeping barracks floors spotless (?) at the Great Lakes Training Center/Boot Camp north of Chicago during World War II, where I was a "guest" for 8 weeks or so early in 1943. When reporting for duty the "boot" was issued clothing and shoes, but the shoes were then altered by adding a thick layer of black rubber to make drilling more "pleasant"! Now 150 pairs of thus-altered shoes do a

real number on un-varnished wooden floors in the barracks, so what's the simple solution? -- Each evening before taps every recruit was given a piece of steel-wool, then placing it under his shoe he did the "Shuffle," thereby removing the black marks and maintaining the U.S. Navy reputation for cleanliness! After sharing this with Mamaw I thought about the spiritual black marks that we all have made in our relationship with God. You see we don't need a "shuffle" of some kind, like good works or human wisdom, to know and to please the Lord, "But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin!" (I John 1:7) Have YOU tried this solution yet?

The Jungles of Jackson Township in July

Wallace was the "hub" of Jackson Township and had lots of rustic stuff to offer a curious boy. My paternal grandmother, "MaZada" Grimes, lived on the north edge of town and it was a treat for me to hike from there east through the woods and over the hill to (Sugar) Mill Creek. I recall camping out in summer in the woods with a local buddy one rainy, scary night! But another time scouting west out of town along the creek as far as the swinging (foot) bridge my companion played on my young nerves with stories of Indians, even cavemen heard of lurking in that area! After all, not more than 10 years before, the "Scopes Trial" in Tennessee had "proved" the theory of evolution, so that the erosion of sandstone cliffs and gullies along the creek surely took millions of years ... and, what was that???? The roar of some prehistoric creature, maybe? "I'm going home!" Well, my chums and I didn't meet any "missing links" in those explorations, but we did occasionally find some Indian arrowheads, "beads" and even a stone axehead! The "beads," of course, were fossilized plant-stem sections from a by-gone time period and most folks, like many today, believed they were the products of evolution! Not until I came to really know the Lord Jesus and to read His Word, the Bible, did I understand the implications of God's Creation, the Fall of Man and the terrible catastrophe of the worldwide Flood that devastated the earth as recorded in Genesis, chapters 6-8. Yes, those "Indian beads" were survivors of, and testimonies to, the Flood! The Apostle Peter predicted later that "there shall come in the last days scoffers" who would deny the Flood and the certainty of a yet future judgment (II Peter 3:3-9). If it could talk, that little Indian "bead" would agree with him that "the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance." Have YOU?

"Vuvuzela"?

Our granddaughter Rachel Taylor, who teaches in a Christian day school in Memphis, TN, visited with us last weekend and we had a great time together. After attending morning service at Yeddo Baptist Church, we had a buffet dinner at the Old Town Chinese restaurant here in Crawfordsville. And then we watched Brazil defeat Ghana in the World Soccer Cup TV broadcast from South Africa. Our apartment building will never be the same after the victory yells from #54! The Taylors are life-long soccer players and FANS and this year we were tickled to see on their blogspot Rachel's dad Phil and brothers James and David (all missionaries in south Brazil), blowing those infernal plastic "vuvuzela" horns in celebration! Her mom, Mary Ruth, reported that while she was holding our newest great-granddaughter Julianna during the game, every "vuvuzela" blast the baby just about jumped out of her arms! While with us, Rachel helped us nail down a "Facebook" account, as David did with "Skype" and this blogspot over two years ago. The hi-tech savvy of these "kids" astounds us and we are grateful for the help they give us ... except that we often forget the procedures about 2 hours after they leave! Just think ... as a teen I really thought that the little 5-tube Emerson radio that brought in big-band music from New York and Chicago on Saturday nights was the ultimate in modern science! Like the "Waltons," each evening our family was riveted to the radio in the livingroom as we laughed at Jack Benny (sponsored by J-e-l-l-o) and Bob Hope (promoting Pepsodent tooth paste), or even a "Fireside chat" by President Roosevelt. But at the same time we weren't worried by news of "global warming," Gulf oil spills or Iran's nuclear bombs -- just Hirohito and Hitler!!! Some day very soon, we believe, "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God (not a plastic "vuvuzela"); and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord!" - I Thessalonians 4:16,17. We cherish the moments with loved ones and friends now, but we'll sure celebrate then! Are you ready for that event?