Grandparents "daze"

   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!

Beat the heat!

This summer in Indiana has been one of the hottest with temps around 90 to 100+ for weeks, and the ensuing drought has turned many places into disaster areas...especially for the farmers.  I read that we had similar weather conditions in 1935 or 1936, and this produced "dust-bowl" conditions in some states, leading thousands of folks to move to California...like the
"Okies" from Oklahoma.  I remembere faintly as a little guy living in Danville, IL, just how Stroup Street (where we lived) was paved with bricks and got blistering hot on bare feet.  Only the ice wagon or ice cream truck could alleviate the heat....sorry, no air conditioning and few electric fans in those days!  And I recall, too, after moving to Wallace IN in the summer of 1935 how hot, dry and dusty that area was.  One thunderstorm at Grandma ("MaZadie") Grimes's house where we stayed temporarily resulted in a direct hit by lightning, leaving a nice hole in the wall above the telephone in the diningroom and scared the daylights out of everybody, especially those sleeping on the floor (for comfort) in the nearby livingroom!  In 1937, after Dad took over the general store and Post Office (in the family since the 1880's), we moved to a nice 2-story house "downtown," just a short block away from the business and across the street from the Christian Church.  Summer heat and any ensuing drought were relieved by an occasional thunderstorm, usually at just the right time and bringing a cool breeze afterwards.  Since the streets and roads in that area were not paved then, but gravelled, our Dad tried to water down the dusty corner near the store each day. Sometimes the water evaporated about as soon as he applied it from the outside faucet hooked to the town well!  But inside the store Dad's only source of relief was a huge electrice fan which stood 5 or 6 feet off the floor and roared worse than a modern jet engine.  For the young people, of course, ol' Mill Creek beckoned with the promise of a refreshing dip in several swimming holes as it meadered toward the southwest.  Thngs in the store slowed down in the heat of the day, and I was never happier as a teen helper than when he gave the okay to go over the hill for a swim...and then return for a frozen Snickers candy bar and maybe a cold Coke!  Then, every Tuesday night after dark the town sponsored an outdoors movie on the street just south of the store, and folks either "beat the heat" or forgot about it for a time by leaving their work and watching a cowboy or "shoot-em-up-bang" thriller in the cool of the evening.  My Dad couldn't wait to hear the projectionist announce over his P.A. speaker:
"Gather 'round now, folks, we're gonna start the show!"  And he was totally disappointed when he learned beforehand that a cowboy movie would not to be shown.  He hated the big city gangster films!  By the way, dipping ice cream for the
flood of customers during intermission was where I developed my extraordinay biceps as a teen-ager...ha!  At home we coped with heat mostly with hand-held (funeral home-provided) fans, a few electric fans, simply wiping sweat (!)...and, at night by sleeping on the floor in the downstairs parlor room, hoping that a storm would not blow up and scatter locust tree branches, etc., all over to be picked up the day after!  To close, there is something worse than  a physical drought or extreme thirst...it's a spiritual drought.  The Bible clarifies:  "Thus saith the LORD;  Cursed be the man (person) that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.  For he shall be like the heath in the desert...BLESSED is the man (person) that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when  heat cometh...and shall not be careful in the year of drought..." (Jeremiah 17:5-8).  We recall a speaker saying: "Bless your puckered-up soul!'  Well, we can have relief from a dried-up soul by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior, thereby finding eternal refreshment from the WATER OF LIFE!  Have YOU made that decision yet?  Do so today!

June...moon...spoon...honeymoon?

June is the traditional time for many weddings, and we recall 2 weddings that took place years ago ... without Mary K. and me, but making our existence possible.  I'm referring, of course, to June 4, 1922 (when Bill Grimes Sr. and Jewell Pyle were joined in matrimony) and June 4, 1926 (when Whitfield Jackson and Gladys Carmack tied the knot)!  We think Mom and Dad Grimes were married in the Wallace, IN, area and honeymooned in an unknown (to us) location, while Mom and Dad Jackson were "hitched" near Newport, IN, and had a short honeymoon at the old Lahr Hotel in Lafayette, IN (we are sure of that because we "copied" their getaway when we were married in 1949).  The Grimes's
set up housekeeping in due time in Danville, IL, where Dad worked for the Webster Grocer Company.  (I was born on
Kimball St. in Danville in 1925.)  Then, Mom and Dad Jackson returned to his and her family farms near Newport and they lived with and cared for Gladys' mother, Grandma Carmack, who suffered with crippling arthritis. (Mom/Mary K. was born there in 1928.)  Dad Jackson worked both farms (a few miles apart) until World War II and we sure admire his faithful, hard work through those  Depression years.  As the war came on they were forced to give up the farms, to make way for the goverenment ordinance plant moving in.  After having built a new home there they then, after much hardship, found a farm near Wallace.  Meantime, my folks moved to Wallace in 1935 and that ultimately brought Mom/Mary K. and me together after WWII.  So, although these 2 couples were married on the same date in different places, it was a different year.  Only once did we afterwards get them together for a joint anniversary celebration, at the Grimes home in Wallace!  We know that their lives together were not problem free, but they stuck together in love for many years and provided a great example for us, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!  As Song of Solomon 8:7 expresses it, "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it...!"

Someone was praying

This Memorial Day we watched a World War II documentary that worked some "deja vu" on me.  The story was about four service chaplains who served aboard a troop transport that was torpedoed and sank early in 1943.  After I finished radio school in Alabama in the fall of that year some of us in that class were sent to a "Com Pool" School up in Connecticut not far from New York City.  It was a six weeks course on ship-to-ship communications in convoy duty using walkie-walkie radio, semaphore flags and signal lights..  After "graduation" we were sent to the Armed Guard Center in Brooklyn, NY, to await further assignment to duty aboard merchant and troop transport ships sailing to either the European or Pacific war theaters.  Armed Guard units consisted of gunners manning 3- and 5-inch and 20 millimeter cannons and, of course, providing radio- and signalmen to bolster the merchant crew.  We did not talk much about which ocean which preferred to serve in, but it sure was not the North Atlantic as the German subs were destroying thousands of tons of shi pping with their prowling "wolf packs" of deadly U-boats.  What a relief it was to learn that our group was being divided alphabetically and all in A to K were being shipped to New Orleans for duty in the Pacitic.  This was not a "piece of cake," however, as my first ship was loaded with bombs, other ammunition and war equipment and headed for New Guinea...and traveling alone without escort or convoy!  I knew about the Lord at that time, but did not know Him personally, and I did have loved ones and friends praying for me back home.  We had some scares on that trip and more later, but the Lord kept me and brought me to faith in Him after the war, for which I praise Him,  I was ready for duty, but not ready for eternity until later.  But, after the war in the Pacific ended in August 1945 I completed my three-year enlistment in the Naval Reserve by serving aboard the USAT President Jackson (a converted cruise liner on the pre-war President Line) and helping to return our troops from the Far East.
The accommodations were similar to those aboard the USAT Dorchester that went down with over six hundred men and with only two hundred being rescued, some of those because four selfless chaplains gave them their own life-jackets!  We don't understand how God works in events like this, but we do know that He gave the victory in World War II, and since.  On this special day we are grateful to Him for those who have served and those who have given their lives to keep America strong and free.  Let all who know Christ as Saviour and Lord "pray for all that are in authority...Who will have all men to be saved..." - I Timothy 2:1-6.

"Kaboom!"

Springtime is always an exciting time in Indiana.  We have had a nice spring so far...only one bad tornado warning ...no funnels sighted.  So we've been blessed, among other things to celebrate Mary K.'s 84th birthday, on April 22.  She's still my "teen bride" and I love her, appreciate her more each day.  She was privilege to take training at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, at the Child Evangelism Training Institute in Muskegon, MI, but she received her "PhD" from the "Whitfield&Gladys Jackson Practical Bible Training College"!  Her mother and father, by Biblical example and precept rooted and grounded her in the Christian faith and prepared her for a lifetime of faithful service for the Lord Jesus Christ.  While I was studying at Moody we chose II Corinthians 6:1 as a life verse:  "We then as workers together..." and that summarizes our 65 years of ministry...and we pray it will until the Lord calls us Home in death or the Rapture!  She grew up on the Jackson Farm (early near Newport, IN, and later just west of Wallace, IN) as a "neglected" child having no TV, only parents who loved and guided her, and chores, including care of animals, to build her body and character!  Taking a stand for Christ in her teens, she maintained to her folks that Wallace .had no datable guys. Well, after the evening that I first took her to church and as she was about to go to sleep in her upstairs bedroom her dad climbed up the nearby windmill and whispered loudly in her open window, "there aren't any boys to date in Wallace!"  Her parents were humble and hard-working (Dad served as deacon at Yeddo Baptist Church), but above all they were faithful prayer-warriors.  We always said that God gave Mom first priority to her prayers...it was "dangerous" to share a burden with her!  We'll never forget her funeral...she and Dad were the last to be allowed interment in the government-protected family cemetery near Newport, and at the graveside service (on Mother's Day in 1980) Pastor had just closed with a benediction, when a loud clap of thunder sounded "kaboom!"...just as if the Lord was saying, "AMEN!" to a life well-lived.  On this approaching Mother's Day, I thank God for my life-long partner Mary K., for her mother, for my mother (Mamaw Grimes who went to be with the Lord in 1987), and for our great daughters, grand-daughters and grand-daughters-in-law and for faithful mothers everywhere.  We pray for you, that God will bless and use you in these confusing times to validate the Biblical institution of motherhood.  Maybe your exit from this old world will not be announced with a literal "kaboom!," but be applauded by Heaven, too, as you remember that "Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised!" -- Proverbs 31:1-31(30).

The March of Time

Time seemed to pass so very slowly in my growing-up years. I thought my 16th birthday would never come, as that would make it possible to get a Beginner Driving Permit and in a few months lead to that coveted Driver's License when I could drive Dad's car all alone! TV, of course, was unheard of and we gleaned world and local news through the newspapers and radio...and the loafer's bench at Dad's store or over at Fender's Garage. However, if and when we enjoyed a movie at a theater in Veedersburg or Crawfordsville we would catch up on U.S. and world events by way of "The March Of Time" newsfilm showing. Why, some of those news reports were not more than a week old! Boy, how things have changed...it's old hat nowadays by the time it's reported on the TV evening news. I say all this to confess that "the march of time" has really caught up with me this month. I celebrated my 87th birthday on March 3...and to think I once fretted because #16 seemed never to arrive. But, believe me, time is marching on. In the Bible Job confessed: "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle" (7:6) and "my days are swifter than a post(man)" (9:25). The Apostle Paul advises us to be "redeeming the time (buying up opportunities), because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:16) Looking back, life is like a blur...filled with burdens and blessings. I thank the Lord for His goodness, love and mercy in allowing me to reach age 21 when He relieved me of my burden of sin and gave me the blessing of forgiveness and eternal life. I don't know what the future holds, but as has been said, I know Him Who holds the future. Every day ahead will be a day of grace, because He goes with me and before me, and I just pray to live out my days to the blessing of others and the glory of my Saviour. In case the reader is struggling with the uncertainty of time, you can be sure of eternity with Jesus: "behold, now is the accepted time (to prepare); behold, now is the day of salvation!" (II Corinthians 6:2)

"ummmmm" and "um"

It was late in my Navy career and, as best I can recall, I was home on leave or had been recently discharged from the service. At the invitation of my parents I went across the street from our home to attend the Sunday morning service at the church where I had learned and even served during my adolescent years. It was good to be back and to enjoy the hymn-singing and fellowship with some old friends, just like the "old days" before World War II. But this Sunday service was different. There was special music -- a nice-looking teenager playing a hymn on a marimba, surely the first time I had ever witnessed such an event! She was none other than Mary Kathryne ("Katie") Jackson who was a friend of my younger sisters Joan and Jean. I had met her briefly months before on a short leave and thought she was a good girl to hang out with my kid sisters. But this occasion was markedly different, or I guess I was! She was wearing a nice black dress and really making heavenly music! To myself I could only observe: "ummmmmm!" Nothing happened after the meeting, but some time later (as I recorded in an earlier blog, I think...) I was bored at home on a Sunday evening and asked my Mother if she knew any Christian girl I might take to church, she quickly recommended that I call Katie Jackson and ask her. Well, I did, and she agreed, believe it or not, and since our little home church did not have an evening service that Sunday, I took Katie some 15 miles down to the Waterman Baptist Church at Lodi, IN, where they were holding an evangelistic service, which gave me a little discomfort, praise the Lord! But I was still going"ummmmm"
in my heart to be in her presence ... and still am! You know the rest of the story...like this past December 18 marked 62 years of marriage. Well, I was reading in my old German Bible to start the new year and discovered that, when God was to create a helpmate for Adam in Genesis 2:18, she was to be "um" him for life. The word literally means she was to be "around" him continually as a help "meet" or suitable for him. So, I really think that, when God presented Eve to him
in that first wedding ceremony, he was thinking "um!" and "ummmmmm!"...and for 900 years or so thereafter! That said, we do wish all you lovers, young and old, a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Surely, "Many waters cannot quench love..." - Song of Solomon. 8:7.