We got a brief tour of Canby that
evening and again before we left the next morning. Crocus was out and tulips
were pushing through the ground. Spring was arriving early.
Della and I talked about what to
do that night. Frankly, I was not expecting to receive a call until I was
sitting in the conference room. Something about it told me I needed to consider
the ministry. When Ralph called telling me of the invitation I told him that I
could not decide now. We would need time to talk it over and pray. As I had
told my class, “One should always say they would pray about it, even if one
knew they wanted the job. It sounds spiritual.” In this case, I needed to. I
expected to go back home and all would remain as it had been.
On the flight back to the winter
wonderland called Regina, I told Della that it would be impossible for me to
decide till much later in the school year because if we chose to go my heart
and mind would jump there immediately and there was a lot of school year still
before me.
We were given nearly two weeks
before we got our first call from Ralph asking our decision. I tried to explain
the difficulty facing our decision. It was just too early for us. We had not
even gotten to spring break yet. I was trying to push the decision until at
least mid March. The District was not willing to wait that long. They wanted
someone there by summer. Even before we candidated, I was the choice of Ralph
Shellrude and Daryl Dale who was then the National Youth Director. I had no
idea why Daryl had asked me to candidate. I told him that was the
responsibility of the Superintendent and could not consider the invitation
unless it came from the Superintendent. Ralph then called.
It felt like Della and I were
discussing this and weighing the pros and cons nearly every day, at the same
time, the Adrift premiere was fast
approaching and we were in the middle of rehearsals. We would finish that and
turn right around and gear up for youth conference.
Finally we gathered the family
together and included the children in the decision. If we moved, it would clearly
affect them as well as us. Both were enthusiastic and Della and I have moved
that way so every thing was go. I called Ralph and told him we would come, if
we could find housing. I had to be in New York during Spring Break and I asked
that they fly me from New York to Portland for a two-day house search. They
agreed and paid the travel difference.
In the meantime, we began the
process of getting visas for my Canadian family. We were told it would take six
months or more. We would need those visas in four months.
In March, everything in Canby was
in bloom. Canby is the garden center of Oregon and there are nurseries all
around. They hooked me up with a realtor and I was taken to look at houses. I
hated everything I was shown. They were run down worse than our place on
Victoria when we first moved in there. The reason I could not get into anything
I might have liked was that the current interest rate in 1980 was 16%,
Shocking. There was nothing we were going to be able to afford. Even with a
good salary, everything was out of our reach.
I had been in Salem Alliance that
Sunday morning and Canby Alliance that night. Ralph and I sat in front of
Stuart, the local town bum. He stunk and then got up to speak at a sharing time
and made absolutely no sense. The leader thanked him for his comments. When
they went to take the offering they could not find the offering baskets. I was
rolling my eyes. What was wrong with this little church? Did I really want to
expose my family to this?
I said nothing until we got in
Ralph’s car after the service. “If I come, we will attend Salem Alliance.”
Ralph felt like that was not a good image for district personnel. I also told
him there was nothing I could afford anyway because the interest rate was so
high. I apologized and told him that we would not be coming. I needed a good
church and affordable housing.
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