There are so many moments in life
that just make us chuckle. After five years in one city there were several. Not
all were laugh out loud funny, maybe peculiar is a better word. Some just
taught me important lessons.
We loved having Lois Rose live
with us. As the three of us would work in the kitchen doing the dishes it
seemed that many things reminded Lois and I of a line from a hymn or chorus. So
— we sang the line and all laughed. This was very regular.
Rod was two when we were
entertaining some friends for dinner and the lady, a former school teacher,
began to talk to him in a very child like way. He turned to his mother and
said, “What did she say?” Rod spoke clearly from the very beginning.
We were at church for a baptismal
service and as usual were sitting near the back so Rod would have a place for
his imaginary pet bull. Strange I know, but if anyone sat next to him, he had a
fit. It was just easier to leave an empty spot next to him than have him
scream, “You’re sitting on my bull.” Why couldn’t he just have an imaginary
friend instead of a bull. When Carl Tracie entered the water, Rod took notice.
The Tracies were also adoptive parents and our best friends so he knew them
well. As Pastor Bolt put Carl under the water Rod yelled, “He’s drowning uncle
Carl.”
Early in our ministry we went to
the home of another young couple for a gathering of young married couples. In a
crowded family room we listened to the host use his wife as the butt of nearly
all his jokes. She was clearly embarrassed and most likely very hurt. We
determined that would never happen in our marriage in public or private. We
would not use one another as a punch line and I don’t think we ever did.
There was an older woman who was
always at Wednesday night prayer meetings and used the same phrase every week
and it struck us funny. “Touch his tongue with the live goals from thine
alter.” We would chuckle with the image of campfire ember bring placed on
Pastor Boldt’s tongue.
I loved the total emotional
control Pastor Boldt had in public and what a fireball he was in prayer. He
prayed a lot like King David: save me, destroy my enemies. He taught me to pray
my heart not the words that would please others. I still consider him to be the
most tactful man I ever worked with.
Larry Clark confronted me on my
lack of emphasizing evangelism and especially helping the teens with school
friendships. He was right. I was embarrassed.
Dorothy Hildebrandt jumped all
over me for redoing some of her artwork we had put together for an upcoming
zone rally. Most of what she did was more than acceptable and she was using her
gift. Exactly what I was trying to achieve, but I wanted one piece to look
better. She was right. I was contradicting my own philosophy of “let the kids
do it.” I never took a job away from someone else again.
When we moved into the house on
Preston and finished painting and everyone left we thought Rod had gotten
awfully quiet. We found in him in the newly painted master bedroom painting the
wall with a black permanent marker. He was trying to help. He didn’t succeed. I
repainted the wall the next day.
I admit it, my office could always
be cleaner. I’m a stacker. That annoys the neat freaks. When I can’t find
something, I clean up. Mostly I just hate filing. Leaving Saskatoon did not end
the jokes. You should see my desk now – maybe you should. That way you will
know I haven’t changed in that area.
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