THE CHURCH chapter 157

The church was an interesting and attractively well kept small church. There were probably about two hundred and fifty people in regular attendance. The building sat in a “T” formation right next to a hospital. There shared part of their parking lot. The church had very few parking spaces. The education wing was to the left and the sanctuary to the right. The pastor’s office was on the second floor at the top of the stairs.

I don’t think I had an office. I could be wrong but I usually just used an available classroom. I never had a relationship with the pastor. I was never in his office except for board meetings. We never met for anything, not even to get acquainted. He never asked to meet with me and he delayed every attempt I made to set up a time to meet. I just wanted to know his goals and dreams for the church. I assumed he had some. I thought they might even be written down somewhere. I think I was wrong. It was clear that lay people ran the various ministries of the church. Faith had served as their Christian education director but it was a big load for her as a full time elementary school teacher. As far as I could tell, the pastor preached. He may have done some visitation and met with some people, that’s what he said, but I didn’t see that he did much else. I honestly didn’t understand his role.

The church had some past difficulties with pastors and let one go that maybe they should not. This made them somewhat cautious in confronting him. Besides, he was a great storyteller and people seemed to enjoy his preaching. He was humorous. I did not find him inspiring and didn’t really pay that much attention, but I laughed with everyone else. I should have been more focused. I know Della never liked the man. The first time she met him he hugged her and she felt contaminated. She promised that she would never let him touch her again. He tried, but she managed to avoid him every time.

I was at the church so seldom and had to make every moment I was there count so I finally gave up trying to meet with him. I didn’t know what was going on, but the church was running smoothly and I wasn’t real sure why they needed me, but I was glad for the job. Della and I debated how involved we should be and whether to even let ourselves get too close to the people since we would only be there two years. The deeper the commitment the harder it would be to leave, and we were leaving. I had a future commitment. In the end we decided is would not be fair to the church or to ourselves if we held everyone at arms distance. We would only have a ministry is we jumped in with both feet. And that we did! That was a good decision. We established some of the deepest relationships of any place we ever lived.

I spent the first several weeks meeting with the heads of the various ministries attempting to get the pulse of the church. The worst problem I could see was that because of everyone’s busy schedules and commitment to their ministries they just weren’t talking to one another and that created some schedule and cross purpose problems. I set out to establish a Christian education committee to pull them together.

I spent a great deal of time with the Rouses and Stanwoods talking about the church. These two families in particular took us in and cared for us in ways we never expected. They invited Della and I to join them and some other couples in their supper club. We were taken to some of the most wonderful and unique restaurants in the area.

 Our first visit to Disneyland was with the Greater Los Angeles Christian Education Association. Faith had secured tickets for everyone at the church who wanted to go. Disneyland was rented for a party and as most first time visitors we were also in awe. 

BACK TO COLLEGE chapter 156

I drove over to Biola University the day before registration just to get oriented. I wanted to know where everything was and where I should park. I don’t really like surprises. Registration was in the gym. I was registering as a senior. I knew what I had to take to get my BA; I was short in science, history, and something called general liberal arts credit. Even though but I still had register as though I had not preregistered and stand in way too many lines.

I clocked the distance to form home to school to determine if I could ride my bike to school. I hated the thought of Della being home everyday without transportation. I knew she was very nervous about even the thought of driving in this part of the world. but what  if she needed something or there was an emergency? I spend some time driving to the primary places she might need to go just to get her oriented. It was not likely she would explore very much. Her sense of direction was not real strong.

Registration was not as simple as I suspected. It felt like they were purposely complicating things. Biola is a large school very large school and hundreds were registering in the over crowded gym.

I was short two credits in science courses so registered for a two one credit Science workshop classes — one each semester. That turned out to be a presentation class. Each student was to take a topic and make a presentation. I tried to get assigned to an early presentation to get it over with. The rest of the time all I had to do was sit there and listen. First semester I compared chiropractic care with acupuncture. I didn’t have any real experience with acupuncture, but had some with chiropractic. I hoped I hoped I could raise some questions. We got extra points for class discussion. It worked. Second semester I presented a visual and tasting class with soy foods. I really did try to find some of the worst tasting soy food available and at least one tolerable one. Lorraine Stanfield has served a soy based hamburger main dish at one of the many meals at her home. I thought it tasted real good. I assumed carrot and celery juice would be awful. It was.

Don't know what building this is. It may even be new,
but it's in the same style as the others. It was a very large
campus and even bigger now.

I took another class in Greek with the assumption that I really didn’t know anything. I didn’t. It was a general liberal arts class. I wanted to improve my grade. I felt like it would fundamentally be a waste of my time as I was quite sure I would never use it. But if I could pull off a B I would not have to take it in seminary. Naturally I thought it would be easier at the college level.

I took a couple of Christian Education class’s classes, One from Stan Lenard and the other from Dr. Bynum. I enjoyed both these guys I needed some more credits in history and the professor turned me on to that subject. It was all dates and events before this one but he made it come alive.

The final registration step was to pay for the semester. For that we went to the finance office. My hair was a little long in those days. It was just slightly over my ears but not over my collar. My hair was wavy and the longer it got the curlier it became. The staff member I walked up to took one look at me and said he could not register me until I got a haircut. Yes, I was ticked off. His hair was longer than mine. “Why!” “It’s the rules.” ”Why was I not informed of this ridiculous rule before arriving.” At that he handed me a rulebook. Just for the sake of being stubborn I told him I did not want to cut my hair. “I really don’t care what you don’t want to do. You must cut your hair.” I told him that his hair was longer than mine. He rudely informed me that these rules were for students, not faculty and staff. I fumed.

I had a few days to get that done. I would not be permitted to attend classes until I returned for him to approve my hair cut. I felt like an 18 year old and told him so. He didn’t really like me. That was fine. I didn’t really like him.

Very similar style to the one I rode.

I got my haircut, purchased some too expensive books that I did not want to buy and began classes on time. Parking was really a pain at the college. I was having to park too far from my classes for my tastes. I rode my bike to school four days a week and took the car on Tuesdays so I could go on to work at the church that day.

I had made a promise to Della that when I was home, I would be totally at home at least until the kids went to bed. That meant that I did all I could to get my homework done in the library before going home. I had no trouble pulling that off at Biola. I was always home by 3:30 and rarely had homework at night. I also decided I would tackle as much class work as possible right away so I did not get into time pressures that would pull me away from the family. Frankly, I had never accomplished that kind of discipline in the past, but I did it and Della was happy.

FINDING A JOB chapter 155

After Ron was on his way to Vancouver and we were somewhat settled at the house, at least enough to leave for a while. We went exploring. We wanted to know what was around us and we wanted to find a grocery store. We never did find one very close. If it was there we kept missing it.

We found some fast food restaurants nearby and one we had never seen before – Taco Bell. There were no Mexican fast food restaurants in Canada that we knew. We had lunch at Taco Bell and found out we liked Mexican food done their way. We found a Safeway on Lincoln that was not close. More than the food we noticed it was open all night. Never seen that before.

We brought the kids home after lunch and put them down for a nap while we finished putting things away. Bill and Faith clued us in about Knott’ Berry Farm and promised they would take us there for their family chicken dinner. Since it was only three blocks away we walked down there in the afternoon and checked out all the shops outside the amusement area. The kids loved watching them decorate carks and make candy. We could look over the wall and watch people pan for gold. We could have done that every time we visited, but didn’t. We walked through the tunnel under Beach Blvd. and found a merry-go-round and a pond with ducks and playground for kids. We rode the merry-go-round and kept Treasure Island a secret until we could take them there.

That evening we met most of our neighbors. To our left was a little girl about our kid’s age and she had a sister who offered to babysit when we needed one. We used her often. Directly across the street were two little boys. On the other side was a couple whose children were grown and on their own. They both worked at Knott’s. We loved our neighbors.

The next day I began searching for work. While Bill and Faith mentioned they were looking for a Christian education director part-time, I absolutely did not want to work at a church. I wanted to work in some factory or assembly line.

Frankly, I didn’t know what I was talking about. I could never have handled the monotony of repetitive work. It took me more than a week to give that up. Bad back got me rejected every time. The week school began I went to a Kinney’s Shoe store and got a job after explaining my background with the company. I worked for them for one week. After getting my first check I was shocked. I had been the top salesman in my first week and made only a few cents more than the other two salesmen who stood around and barely did anything. I went to talk to the manager and ask if this was right. How can that be, I worked my butt off.

The pay structure had changed since I last worked for the company. When I began, we were paid a base salary, minimum wage, plus commission. Now they were paying minimum wage or commission. Big difference. I was frustrated. There was no way I could support my family on that income.

I kept my mouth shut about my feelings while I looked for something else. I finally relented and went back to Bill and Faith to see if they were still looking for someone part-time. They were and they set up an interview with the elders.

I really did not to do much to get the job as Bill practically sold me to the men. They offered me $150 for 20 hours a week and I asked for $300 and 15 days a week. They agreed. I found it interesting that the pastor never asked any questions. I had no idea who this man was who would be my boss.

I was surprised but pleased that they offered me the job at the Long Beach C&MA Church. It was a start on what we would need each month. After learning their typical church schedule and I put those fifteen hours into two days a week. Sunday and Tuesday. Most of the church activates were on Tuesday night. I set up any appointments I needed to make one right after the other on Tuesdays, had committee meeting either before or after the regular weekly meetings. I ended up going in by 1:00 pm and leaving at 11:00-midnight. Della would always call me and ask me to pick up groceries we needed on my way home. After all, Safeway was open all night and I passed it going home. Going in that late was always a little creepy. The store was nearly empty.

The three hundred from the church and $200 from the boarders would keep us a float, sort of. My parents had recently moved to the tiny town of Superior, Nebraska and had not found a church to attend. There was no Assembly of God church in town. He told me had tithed all his life and wasn’t going to stop now. “I’m going to sent it to you.” That clinched it for us. It would be a no frills lifestyle, but if careful, we could do it. We had no expectation of more.

THE HOUSE chapter 154

When the door opened we were hit with a heat wave. It was stale dry air from a closed up house. “We have got to get some windows open and air this place out,” said our guide. Even before entering we noticed the burnt orange (rust) colored shag carpet. I saw Della roll her eyes. A turn to the left led to a formal dining room and we could see the kitchen and when we did, we nearly lost it. The cupboards were black and doors and drawers were red and turquoise. I thought Della might throw-up. It was a galley kitchen with the electric stove and fridge on the inside wall and the sink under a window facing the neighbors. We opened the kitchen cupboards and a slight shriek came from my wife’s lips and Ron laughed out loud. The inside was completely red. His laugher broke the tension. “Maybe you can paint them.”

“Well, they aren’t the prettiest cupboards, are they,” said our hostess. What an understatement. I doubt I had ever seen anything quite as ugly.

Just right of the living room were two bedrooms and a bathroom between them. Between the kitchen and the bedrooms was a master bedroom with its own bath and a door to the outside with a small patio.

It was a lot to take in. The back yard was completely enclosed. The entire neighborhood was connected at the back by a concrete block wall to enclose the back yards. It wasn’t long before we learned first hand that one could walk the neighborhood on top of those six-foot walls. There was a very small tree outside the kitchen window and Rhonda had climbed the weak flimsy tree and went exploring. The tree would not hold Rod and he just stood and watched. Della did not see her get on the wall but went to see what Rod was looking at. Rhonda was half way down the next-door neighbors backyard. Della knew she should not yell. It might scare her and then she could fall off. “Come back to momma sweetie.” Thankfully she did.

Before our guide left she went over a few things with us. She assumed we might need some extra income and recommended that we rent the mater bedroom suite to a couple of Biola girls. It sounded like a great idea. She could help us with some furniture. She also told us about a fellow married student who worked for Ralph’s Groceries. He gathered all the canned and packaged foods – cut boxes, cans missing their labels, torn bags – repackaged them into banana boxes which he sold to married students for three-dollars a box. She said the boxes have a value average of about $10-$12 each. We would get a call when boxes were available. “Would you like to be part of that program?” Would we! We jumped at the chance. Some savings and income was already coming our way.

Before we left Vancouver we met up with Dr. Victor Oliver who encouraged us to keep a blessing notebook during our time at school just so we could remember how God provided for us. We were to write down everything that came our way as a gift. Also, write down anything done for you and give it a monetary value. What would it cost if you had to pay for it. He told us we would be shocked at what God would do. We were, but I’ll talk about that later,

We had our hostess hook up the telephone before our arrival so we were able to make calls that day. We called Bill and Faith and Tom and Betty to tell both we had arrived. Meanwhile, Ron and I began to move everything in and get beds set up so we would all have a place to sleep that night. Della unpacked of food supplies and set up the kitchen.

We still had the crib and a single bed the kids were sleeping in. We wanted to replace the crib maybe with a bunk bed so there would be room in their shared bedroom. Della gave me a shopping list and Ron and I were about to go looking for a grocery store so we could eat that night and at least the next day. But before we left, our friends showed up and both came with groceries and one of them brought pizza for supper. We would survive a few days at least.

It was late before our night ended. We enjoyed our friends and Ron late into the night. Faith and Betty both had a bigger fit over the kitchen cupboards than we did. We saw it as temporary. “You can always paint.” I suppose.

The next morning I took Ron to the airport for his flight home. We had spent four days together. We were going to miss him and so were the kids. We were so thankful he came with us. His name was our first entry in the “Blessing Book.” For value we simply wrote “immeasurable.” 

ANOTHER MOVE chapter 153

I began to wonder if I ever read anything about the Baptist Missionary from Indonesia. I could not find it in the Vancouver Sun so where did I read about him? I hadn’t touched a book or magazine in over a month. It had to be in the paper.

I didn’t have time to go much further in the search. I just couldn’t figure it out. I simply thank God I found that man. A friend suggested it was simply God. God led me to see what He wanted me to see, to find whom He wanted me to find, to experience what he wanted me to experience. All I know is that Sarah never experienced demonic activity again (or so was reported about a year later).

We were wrapping up our stay in Vancouver. We visited a few friends, packed our things, sold our original living room set. We said goodbye to our kids and a few came back to help us pack the U-Haul van. We rented the truck in Blaine, WA so we would not have to return it to Canada.

The Klassen boys came to help us pack everything. The story I told about moving in to the massive church owned estate about Jim running into the patio door three times actually belongs here. I know Dale laughed (his brother). Wes Drewlo and Ron Hoskyn also helped us pack up. Ron had decided to come with us.

Della did not see how she could drive and managed two little kids. I could have taken Rodney in the truck with me, but it could still have been a problem caring for Rhonda and driving. I had been looking for someone to drive the truck with no success when Ron offered to drive my car so I could drive the truck. That was a godsend. He would follow and I would watch to make sure he followed. If the car needed a stop, they passed me and pulled off when they needed to.

The trip was quite uneventful. We had a couple of overnight stops before reaching southern California. We stopped on the north side of the grapevine to get organized, as we knew we were about to drive into heavy traffic. All was well until we got right into Los Angeles. I was leading in the far right lane assuming any turns we would need to make would be to the right. No so. We needed to stay on I-5 and it veered left right where every freeway in LA merged – or so it felt. Traffic was jammed and as quickly as possible I wedged my way into the far left lane praying that some how Ron would be able to follow, It was bumper to bumper and if we got separated we had made no arrangements to determine how we would connect.

I slowed in the lane to create some space in front of me and then hit the gas to quickly move ahead hoping Ron would figure out what I was doing. As soon as I opened a hole, Ron pulled in right behind me. Whew! God was with us.

We stopped a ways down the road to get something to eat and double-check our maps. This time we figured out how to reconnect if we got separated again. We called the professors wife to tell her where we were and she told us to meet her at the ho0use. She would be waiting with the keys.

We turned off I-5 onto Beach Boulevard, drove past Knott’s Berry Farm (whatever that was – we had never heard of it before), turned right at its south end onto Crescent Avenue for one block then left onto Grand Avenue, another quick left and quicker right onto a parallel road to Jackson Way and drove about midway down where the house was on the left and our hostess was standing on the steps waving at us. This would be our new home for the next two years. The other cars parked in the front and I backed the U-Haul into the driveway.

We all got out, stretched our legs and looked. It thought it was beautiful. There was a two-car garage at the front. The lawn had the strangest grass. It crawled along the ground rather then growing tall. I was told we would have to edge it, but it would not need to be mowed. The kids could hardly way to run and run they did,

We were given a few instructions before the door was opened and we walked in.