"Now, this won't hurt...!"

The recent health care debate and subsequent passage of the new law brought back memories of doctoring as it once was in Wallace. Dr. H.M. Rusk, a graduate of Northwestern U. and their medical school, had his office in the old bank building on "Main Street" and the bank vault always impressed me as the safest storage place for drugs, even back then. The office smelled like a pharmacy and, since the nearest drugstore was miles away, the doctor supplied patients with just the right prescription out of the office or out of his bag, just like "Doc" on Gunsmoke! His wife Vivian was also his receptionist and nurse, making folks comfortable as possible in the waitingroom or assisting him in the examining room, with no long waiting time or paper work! Doc always made house calls anytime and anywhere he was called, but his wife told how he was sure hard to live with when his patient was terminal. As I recounted earlier, as a 10-12-year-old I went through several health "crises" but the two surgeries stand out. Doc was there at the hospital to stand by me and assist the surgeon. To this day, I don't know how my father paid for all the medical care to our family ... besides borrowed cash, I think Dad would allow Doc and Vivian (as well as plumber, electrician, etc.) to "take it out in trade." Every bill was paid, sooner or later, without credit cards or government assistance! His favorite pastime was hunting with some of the prettiest bird dogs you could imagine, but I don't ever recall his taking a vacation. Now in our senior years Mamaw and I have enjoyed good health care, thanks to many good family doctors, specialists and surgeons, WalMart pharmacy, supplemental insurance AND Medicare with "Part D" Drug program. The Lord has provided the premiums and out-of-the-pocket expenses and we are very grateful to Him. We are very concerned about the new law and changes involved, but, at age 85 we realize that time ahead will continue to be a "bonus". We just don't want our children, grandchildren and great-grand children, etc., to be burdened with a ever-more-expensive healthcare system. So we have prayed and are praying that the best system will finally be adopted. Meantime, we look forward to the time and place when, for Christians, "God will wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away!" - Revelation 21:4.

Sugar Out Of A Tree?

I just read a critical review of the new movie "Avatar" with statistics on its cost and popularity around the world...already grossing over $2 billion at the box office! As I understand it, the film is filled with Hindu teachings... "Avatar" is a blue-skinned bio-tech version of the god Krishna... and a "Tree of Souls" is the center and power source of that demon-inspired civilization! Well, this leads me to reminisce once again on my growing-up years in Wallace, and the blessing of God's unique creation, a TREE. I recall sledding on the farm slopes of my buddy "Pooch" Owens east of town one late winter/early spring. After sliding down the hill and then huffing and puffing back up the hill a feller becomes thirsty, of course! Sorry, no water in sight and who wants to go back home for a drink? But...notice those buckets hanging on those Maple trees all over the place? You guessed it...we slaked our thirst with good ol' delicious sugar water that was being tapped and later taken to the local sugar camp to be boiled down to Maple syrup! By the way, that's a treat in itself, to visit a sugar camp in operation. Now trees do not have any power in themselves, but all the many varieties have been created by God to help sustain His creation and creatures! In the beginning the Tree of Life was intended for the good of Adam and Eve, but their sin excluded them from its enjoyment. In Exodus 15:23-27, when the Children of Israel on the way to Canaan "could not drink of the (bitter) waters of Marah," God instructed Moses to throw a certain TREE into the water "and they were made sweet" (Maple tree?)! Well, human sin has made the waters of our existence bitter, but God in His love, mercy and grace has solved this problem with another TREE, the Cross of Calvary, where the sinless Savior Jesus Christ "His own Self bare our sins in His own body on the TREE"! (I Peter 2:24). We don't worship the tree, but we are saved eternally by believing on the One who hung there in our place, and we can sing: "I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best for a world of lost sinners was slain"!

"Christmas Vacation Is Over, And..."

My Moody Bible Institute roommate Bob would often relate how his older brothers loved to tease him after the holiday break by singing, "Christmas vacation is over...and we can't have no more fun!" As I recall, in my life not every vacation was a FUN time! For example, at 12 years of age I had to undergo an emergency appendectomy at old Lakeview Hospital in Danville, IL, during Christmas break. And since I was just getting over a chest cold and ether (main anesthetic in those days) may have brought on pneumonia, the doctors gave me a "spinal block," rendering my lower limbs paralyzed for a few hours. The procedure (with a monster needle to my lower spine) was uncomfortable, but it was "cool" to be awake during the surgery and hear the doctors talking. It was not so "cool" afterwards to sense the doctors' concern about feeling to return to my legs (it did in a few hours), nor when I had to cough and a nice but hefty nurse (built like a pro wrestler) would hold me down! Strangely, two other boys from Wallace school had the same surgery at the same time, and old buddy "Pooch" actually got to be my hospital roommate! We stayed a week or so in recuperation, and there really was a little FUN then ... especially when we discovered that the glass drinking straws were angled so that we could blow blasts of water onto the large cloth window blind in the room, leaving a spectacular wet blob for a few hours ... creating a new art-form? It was good to get home and back to school, even if we couldn't "have no more FUN" till next vacation. This Christmas (70 years or so later) Mary K. (Mamaw) and I had BLESSED Christmas and New Year celebrations, including the special 60th anniversary as reported in the previous blog. We also heard from our scattered "kids" via internet e-mail and "Skype," and received lots of anniversary and greeting cards. THANKS to loved ones and friends for all the "FUN"! Our New Year's Eve afternoon Bible Class here at Rosedale Court centered on Isaiah 9:6,7 with the two truths of Christ's first coming - "unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given!" We hope you enjoyed the holidays and will keep looking UP in this new year, relying on Him who is called "Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" and who will ultimately rule this world "upon the Throne of David!" HOW? "The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will perform this!"

60 Years With The Right Woman!

I remember the Wallace town wags who occasionally came into Dad's store singing "20 years with the wrong woman," and I would wonder what qualities the right woman was supposed to have! Well, in God's grace He sent me that right woman shortly after discharge from the Navy, but it was another 3 years before we would be married. This December 18 we celebrated 60 years together and we can only praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness to us. We had greetings from loved ones and friends from all over, but our dear Yeddo Baptist Church family honored us on December 20 with a beautiful placque and delicious Anniversary cake during their Christmas Dinner. Then the cake top layer became a treat at our Thursday Bible Class here on Christmas Eve afternoon! It was a treat for us on Christmas Day to enjoy dinner with sister Joan and husband Russell Gooding and their oldest daughter Susan Hesler with husband Sherrill and son Tim. Joan and our younger sister Jean had befriended "Mamaw" Mary K. in school at Wallace and this later set the stage for my courtship with "Mamaw"! I could write a volume on the "right" things about my spouse, but the outstanding attributes are her love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, and her love for me. Proverbs 18:22 puts it this way: "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD." A pastor-friend of mine noted a few years ago that this verse really means "whoso stumbleth over a wife..." and that was it! Well, later after pondering this a good bit, it struck me that a guy really has to be moving in order to stumble! When teen "Mamaw" agreed on the phone for our first date (a Sunday p.m. church revival service) I got moving! Dad's great old 1937 Pontiac set a new speed record west out of Wallace making a cloud of dust down the road to Whitfield Jackson's farm that could be seen for miles. As her Mom used to say, "WHOOPEE-DOODLES!"

Black Friday...Cyber Monday?

What ever happened to Worshipful Sunday? And that after Thanksgiving Thursday! The older I grow the more persuaded I am that "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" - Luke 12:15. I recall Thanksgiving 1945 in the Pacific aboard the transport bringing our troops home from the Phillipines. World War II was over!...we were going HOME!...the Navy chow (even with a printed menu) was not fancy but traditional and I'm sure there were many grateful soldiers and sailors sharing that day...and...believe it or not, the USS President Jackson had a "gee-dunk" counter ... that's "ice cream" for all you landlubbers! Mamaw (Mary K.) and I will celebrate our 60th anniversary on December 18 ... we look back on the faithfulness of God over the years, especially as we served first in Germany. The first year was spent in a simple 2-room apartment in Frankfurt, and the first Christmas with 1-year-old Judy was marked by seeing her awe when lighting our "Adventskranz" candles each Sunday before Christmas. The fuel was rationed, but we kept cozy warm ... and full of solid German Brot! Well, in our retirement from retirement we are back in a small apartment here in Crawfordsville ... we have a lighted Christmas tree on our balcony wall and lighted garland above our balcony door and have already received this year's first greeting card! We'll be sharing the Bible record of our Saviour's birth with folks here in the building in the weeks ahead...and thinking of all our family, friends and coworkers literally around the world ... God grant you each and all a Blessed Christmas ... and..."THANKS be unto God for His unspeakable GIFT!" - II Corinthians 9:15.

"Trick or Treat?"

At this time of year we recall Halloween celebrations of by-gone years. Like a party in the home of the Wilson sisters not far from us on Stroup Street in Danville, IL. Those were Depression days, so "masking" was simple, if at all, and "Trick or Treat" was not yet invented. But, moving to Wallace, IN, in the mid-thirties brought a new understanding of Halloween for my sisters and me. We had a few parties around, some at school or in church youth groups, with bobbing for apples, games, etc. It was the outside action that amazed us former city kids -- like overturning outhouses (sometimes with residents inside); "tick-tacking" houses with ingenious home-made devices; throwing shelled corn on porches after poor souls inside had gone to bed; and soaping windows on houses and cars (worse, using parafin which required razor blade to remove); or (for older ruffians) putting farmers' wagons on top of their barns! My father made a big mistake early on (and who can blame him?) by getting angry with the Halloweeners who heckled him yearly by driving around the street corner by our house in the wee hours with tires and passengers screaming. But the crowning "trick" was piling junk and trash, one time even a billygoat, in front of Dad's store -- almost a declaration of "war" because one corner of the store was also the town Post Office and as such under U.S. government protection! All in all, we kids came to hate the "celebration," but we always thought Dad somehow enjoyed the excitement! No one then, and very few now, seem to connect the religious origin of Halloween to All Saints and All Souls days in Europe, and so it is a time when the occult reigns with witches, goblins, etc. and, of course, "Trick or Treat" encouraged some years ago by UNESCO. God's Word warns us

to avoid "an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer (communicating with the dead)" (Deuteronomy 18:10,11); and that "in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils (demons)!" (I Timothy 4:1). In spite of tough times, we see folks paying big money for costumes, etc., and we wonder if it would make more sense (cents) to just bob for apples!

Gathering in Summer

Believe it or not, summer is past and fall is here! But it has been a great summer for us, especially in visits by our family. Our daughter Mary Ruth and son-in-law Phil Taylor flew home from Brazil, South America, in June to help Phil's mother move to near Des Moines, IA, to live with Phil's sister, Lorene Burma. They picked up their daughter and our grand-daughter Rachel in Memphis, TN, where she teaches in a Christian Day School, to help out, and then Mary Ruth and Rachel drove on to Crawfordsville for a week or so. As Rachel flew back to TN then Phil joined Mary Ruth for two more weeks visiting with us and overnighting with friends Dick and Anna Redenbaugh who live nearby. We enjoyed every minute with the "kids," and they got to see Aunt Joan and Uncle Russ Gooding and cousins in the area, too, even a cookout with cousins Allen and Karen Gooding at their beautiful country home west of Wallace. Of course, we also drove to Turkey Run State Park for lunch at the Inn, a walk to the "Point" above Sugar Creek and an interesting viewing at the Nature Center. Then...we were pleased to welcome daughter Judy from Gig Harbor, WA, at the new Indianapolis international airport early this month and host her for a blessed 2-week stay with us at the "Super80Motel"! Again, we enjoyed talking, praying, shopping and eating with her, and visiting Turkey Run Park and our loved ones in the area. We (and friends in our apartment building) were richly blessed at our Thursday Bible Class by Rachel's flute solo, Mary Ruth's piano specials, Brazilian coffee and Brazil "rainy day cakes," and Phil's sharing God's Word ... also Judy's provision of Cutter's Point coffee direct from Gig Harbor, delicious WA-state fruit candies and a special piano interlude. All were a real blessing and encouragement to us and other residents here. And Uncle Bob and Aunt Jean Larsh treated us to lunch at Bob Evans followed by cousins Sherrill and Susan Hesler providing a hassle-free van trip to the airport to see Judy off. We can see a rapidly-maturing field of corn from our balcony and it reminds us of a verse in Proverbs 10:5 - "He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame." We're not situated now to literally bring in the harvest, but must say that we have certainly gathered many blessings and memories this summer that we will treasure and draw upon in the months ahead! Thanks, "kids," for giving us such joy! Yes, and let us pray that we may see a harvest of souls in our places and around the world!