The Strangest thing happened when I was flying in a transport plane on the way to Korea when I was in the Army. We came up on a rain storm (in fact flying mostly over it) when we sighted rainbow. Not one but two! And not just a regular rainbow but two circles of rainbow color. Yes, I often wondered what would have happened if we would have taken a detour and flew through the center of those two rainbows. Would there have been a pot of gold there for us to divide up or just a disapointment to bear. Perhaps the Strangest Thing that I experienced in my life was when I was in 3th Grade. I don’t remember what day of the week it was but I do remember that it was 4:30 pm. I was playing at my buddy Timmie’s house. His sister Mary Lou (she was 4 or 5 at the time) was out with us and we were playing catch. Or I should say Mary Lou was playing drop and Timmie and I were trying to pay catch. Timmie threw the ball over my head and after I retrieved it from the street. Timmie’s Mom came out and scolded us (me) for not watching for cars while playing catch. Like most kids, I rolled by eyes and looked to heaven and I saw the strangest thing: Straight up and slightly north were two objects in the sky that I had never seen before. One looked like a cartoon barbell (a rod with a ball on each end) which was rolling end over end in slow motion. Just a short way away from it was an object that looked like a cigar (one of those short fat ones). Both objects were silver in color. I asked Timmie’s Mom what they were and she said that they could be weather ballons as the government used those. Remembering at a later date, I doubted that these were weather balloons as the barbell almost magically stopped rotating and came to a stand still and the cigar came up close to the bar bell and almost touched. Then stood still in the sky. Historically looking back this was about 1947 and all that ‘to do’ about Roswell, NM was current. (Now don’t send me e-mails that I am a science fiction nut as I don’t think that either). After long thought on my ‘floating space objects’, I don’t think that I will have the answer for this ‘Strangest Thing’ in my lifetime and will need to check that out in heaven when …the things that are hidden will be revealed… I have learned one thing from this childhood event though which many people do not quite grasp. I had a choice in my life to become enthralled with my experience and permit that Strangest Thing to engulf every waking moment of my existance OR I could remember it, file it for future reference, and distinguish the things that are of major importance and the things of minor importance. LIKE WHAT? A few would be: God is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. And there is salvation in no one else (Jesus, the Christ). Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit…let each of your regard one another as more important than himself. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. Fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Of minor importance would be: millenial views which will be clarified by God when Christ returns; why someone else get more than I do; and on and on. Just think of it this way. On the day of judgement in the heavenlies. What will God think is the Strangest Thing in your life and mine? Rainbows, cigars, and barbells won’t matter much I’m thinken’. Perhaps the strangest thing would be ‘Why oh why would Jesus love me’?

We talked to topic of ‘getting old’ in our Sunday Morning Class on the topic of Depression (at 9:00 am, Sundays, in the ‘Green Room’ at New Life Christian Fellowship. Visitors welcome. {this was not a paid advertizement}) The question was posed, “What do you do with someone who thinks they are old and they are not?” That started me thinking back through my memories. Saturday mornings was a ‘good time’ for my brothers and me back in the 1940’s. If we were good (a relative term) Mom would give each of the three of us 10 cents for being ‘good’ and we were permitted to travel the three blocks to Jesse Sand’s Grocery Store to buy what 10 cents could buy. I would always request two nickles (buffalo nickles if available) as the two nickles you spent twice and the dime only once; and the dime was smaller also. In that day I would buy a Pepsi (Coke bottle was too small) and a Snickers bar (the big one for a nickle). All together the bill was 10 cents. We would sit on the sidewalk in front of the store and feast on our prizes and then take the pop bottles back in to keep from paying the deposit. Our Saturday morning trips to Jesse’s store was a big step in growing up. There was an age and character to aim for and also responsibility. I forgot to mention that when Mom gave me my 10 cents. It was kept in my hand and not in my pocket. I lost my dime once and had to go without,  that Saturday. I usually squeezed my nickles so tightly that the imprint was on my hand for a while after it was spent. This memory has come to mean something that I have learned quite a few times in my many years of life. The ‘when I grow ups’ changed from year to year: “When I get my drivers liscense”; “When I get a car”; “When I get out on my own”; “When I get a job”; “When we get married and have a family”; (fast forward) “When I retire”. I discovered that we all have a tendancy to look forward to some point in time when we will achieve some imagined thing that will be much better for us. Some milestone that gives blessing of something more than we have. IT DOES NOT EXIST!!! We always want more and what we get, always gets consumed. That’s why the authors of the Bible always point to Christ Jesus as our focal point (Hebrews 12:1,2). When we do this in all faith and return to this with integrity, we can quote the Psalmist in 118:24 and say, ..This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it…  Growing up is not a time or a place or an age. Instead it is the imprint of the one who you follow on your heart. (That imprint doesn’t go away). 

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My brother Ed is a year and one half older than me and in 6th grade I was a head shorter than my brother. Ed had an older model Schwinn bicycle with air cushion ride and all the extra weight required to make it ride like a Cadillac. Who said I was too little to ride the Schwinn, I WAS DOING IT!!! “Ronnie, you aren’t supposed to ride a bike on the foot bridge.” (But I couldn’t stop, let alone think). Carrie Belle was in her 80’s and had no idea that “Beep, Beep” from a 6th grader meant one should dive for cover. {Shorten the story.} Carrie Belle came out of it with a broken hip and a lot of pain. I got four things: the first was my knuckles ground to hamburger from the rail of the bridge (those healed quite well in a short period of time); second, I experienced what guilt, shame, and suffering was all about (I never got a whippin’ though I think that would have given me escape from all the above. I’m sure it probably was the best though); and third, I gained a friend. After recuperating in the hospital for a week and then in our home for a month, Carrie Belle went back to her home. She could not walk well before the broken hip and now it was very difficult. Someone needed to get the coal for her stove, haul water from the outside faucet (none in the house) and keep it unfrozen in the winter; get groceries and …..oh yes, talk. Lots of talk. I volunteered of course. My labor started in 6th grade and lasted until my sophomore year in High School. A lot of memorable events occurred which I did not make connection with: First, the green parrot that owned Carrie Belle was supposed to be around 150 years old died of old age and C.B. had me preform the burial service. A shoe box casket and interment in the ash pile because of the ground being frozen. We prayed, sang a hymn, I said a few words to God, and we cried for a while. Then we talked about heaven. Second was more conversation about Jesus, who he was and what he had done. Third, C.B. was out of the M.E. (Methodist Episcopal) church {It wasn’t like it used to be said C.B.}. ‘Ronnie Lee, you need to get baptized, not just a shower but get underneath the water.’ Never heard of such a thing before. My sophomore year after school I stopped in to check on C.B. She was in bed and could not get up. Told me to get my Mom & Dad and told me again that I was like her own child that she never had. Every time we go to Illinois for a visit I try to stop by her grave for a visit but I know she is with Jesus and can probably see me even while I am typing this blog but I still stop by her grave. OH YES, the fourth thing that I got out of the incident on the bridge is as follows: C.B. planted creative suggestion about ministry in my heart even before I came to a first hand relationship with Christ Jesus and much of my labors have been with older,disabled people in nursing homes and home bound; I further see a life that shines forth the glory of God is not only worth living but also infectious; and last but not least, ‘being big’ is more about being honest and responsible than it is about being taller. Thank you Jesus and thank you Carrie Belle.

I was in 6th grade, 1949; the first part of December and Dad had a serious look on his face when we sat down to talk. I thought, “What did I do wrong?” I couldn’t think of anything, except. No, he wouldn’t know that! I was wrong in my thinking. Dad’s line of thinking was as follows: “Ronnie Lee, you like to work with wood like I do. I want to buy you a Christmas present of a scroll saw; but the saw is expensive. $14.78 with taxes but no shipping as we can pick it up at Montgomery Wards. With that price tag ‘it will be a slim christmas for you Ronnie Lee.” I want it! I want it! I don’t care about other presents! So on Christmas Eve, there it was. Covered with oil and lookin’ good! I used that saw for years and years and years. Almost 50 years in the shop. Not used the previous 5 years. I began to ask myself, “Why are you keeping that saw, you don’t use it?” The saw got promoted to a garage sale where it sold for $3.00. The stand I made for it had already been adapted to become the home of a router which I use as a shaper. And I came away with a new understanding as well as a memory. The guy that bought the scroll saw had a young son at home that he wanted to teach how to do wood working. My son had used the saw as often as he wanted and had learned from it also. Why not a new generation? After all, what is Christmas for? Christ Jesus came to this earth to teach us what love and giving is all about (Philippians 2:3-11). We can at least share that same mind. (Which is much better than worrying about something that you might have done that would displease your father). Have a blessed Christmas.

In the first part of November 1962 my aunt Orva T. passed away. That was two weeks before Sharon and I were married. Some people thought that we would cancel the wedding for a while. Those people didn’t know me or Orva T. Aunt Orva T. was an old maid of 62 years of age when she died and would have rolled over in her grave if we would have done anything else but get married. So, on Saturday, November 24, 1962, Sharon and I got married. Now some would say that is 47 years ago and Sharon isn’t even that old yet. I would say that but we all know that we do not always tell the truth (in fun that is). I do have something that I want to share with you all that is the definite truth though. This truth is something that both Sharon and I have learned over the years and is unchangeable because it is from the Word of God: First, marriage is not just man’s idea but was  by God, had a purpose of companionship, and established functions for the husband (leadership) and the wife (helper) (Genesis 2:18); second, children are to leave, cleave, and establish oneness of relationship with their intended (Genesis 2:24) Yes, children and grandchildren are temporary but are in a permanent relationship as an adult. Third, wives are to be committed to the permanent relationship of marriage (give and live) (Ephesians 522-24) and husbands are to be more than committed, they are to have total commitment (give even to die) (Ephesians 5:25-31); Fourth, God Himself gives us an example to follow in His relationship with Israel in Ezekiel 16:8. He described His marriage to Israel as a covenant relationship. In Christ Jesus that covenant of total commitment was fulfilled by joining Christ and His people in all of what was said above (Ephesians 5:25-31).

Is it a perfect marriage? A marriage made in heaven? Both of us would say no. But we would also say that it is becoming that way. And the hard times are what makes it better not worse. Yes, 47 years and counting on each other.

The Danielson family reunions (Grandma Larson’s family) took place during my elementary and early childhood years. The scene was always the same. None of us three boys wanted to go to Shabbona Park except the one that was trying to make points to go somewhere else later. That boy got to sit in the front seat of the car with Mom & Dad and the others of us sat in the back with arms folded and a scowl on each face. “It’s no fun!” was the by-word. “You get there and you look at the fish in the pond, you look at the shelter which is always too hot, and you look at the river — but you can’t go over there cause its private property to get there, the ball park isn’t even a ball park and has weeds! It’s no fun!!!” Ahhh, those were the days. The only fun-person that was there was Lewis Danielson(my Mom’s double cousin — cousins from two different directions married). Lewis was 92 at last count and knew how to tell a joke. Everyone said that, “When Lewis dies, the reunions will die also.” And that’s exactly what happened! After the big (I mean big) pitch-in dinner occurred we were required to sit in the shade for one hour. Then a magical thing began which is hard to forget even today. Every ablebodied person gathered on the ball field for the big game. Lewis even took a turn at bat before he went to pitch horse-shoes. We played and played and played until it was supper. Then when it was just getting good it was time pile into the car and go home. Even though we were washed off under the outside faucet we were still dirty and smelled, so all three of us boys rode in the back. But we didn’t care. We even sat nexted to each other without a fight. The good thoughts and words about next year were forgotten in a day or two and it wasn’t too long before it was, “Shabbona Park? Not again?”

Some people wonder how a church can actually be successful in gathering a group of people together each LORD’s day with so many different people, so little to keep everyone interested, and I’m sorry to say — so many soiled attitudes. The key, I believe, goes far beyond the above scenario. Our key person (Jesus) had to die before it became interesting and the magical occurance of eternal life came to life through His resurrection. Some things are the same though: the small goup of soiled participants have learned to get along together, those who have been around for a while plan on the next meeting, and we keep our focus on the key person (Jesus) and pray for the magic to occur again and again and again. Of course, the question is not ‘to reunion or to not reunion.’ Instead, it is to trust, with no question.

I should have known that there was something wrong when I heard Dad say, “Ronnie Lee and I are going out to the farm tomorrow and I am going to teach him the two man saw.” I was in eighth grade and really didn’t think anyone could teach me much of anything as ‘I was complete in every way’. Mom & Dad should have known this as I had just completed telling them that at supper. Any way, the next morning we loaded up the two saws into the back of the car and set out on the five mile trek to the Larson family (now the Farmer family) farm. The soil conservation programs that the government sponsored in the latter fifties and early sixties were not enacted as of yet and I grew to label out trips “the Farmer family soil conservation program”. There were 4 or 5 ravines that measured 20 to 30 feet deep on the farm and our goal was to build dams and run offs to keep the top soil from washing away into the Illinois River which was below the bluffs. I should explain: Dad was 240 lbs in his prime and stood 5′ 11″ tall. He worked hard on the rail road all day long and had arms that resembled ‘ham hocks’. (that’s how the people at church labelled him). At that time of my life I was about 5′ 4″ and 120 lbs. Dad explained before we began. “This is a TWO MAN saw. I brought two saws because we are cutting rail road ties that have rocks and dirt in them which dulls the saws. It is important that each person pulls their own weight and shares the work load.” My response was as always, “I can handle it”. The result (do the math.). 120 lbs VS 240 lbs. For the first 10 minutes (no first 2 minutes) I stumbled along and then eased off. The more I eased off the more Dad pulled and pushed. The more I eased off more I had to stretch out to compensate for Dad’s increased push and pull. It was not a pretty sight. My arms being pulled out of their sockets and then being pushed back into socket. After 4 or 5 starts. Dad and I had another talk about working together and the need to develop humility. Of course, I had to ask what humility was and Dad described it as ‘having to eat your pride.’ I learned a lesson that day which I would like to say never needed to be learned again. But it has been learned many times in many different settings. I am thankful to my Dad for the patience that day to introduce me to ‘pride eating.’ It is too bad that ‘pride eating’ is the only way we can get rid of that impossible companion in our lives. Until I learned what God had to say about this I was in TOTAL DESPAIR each occurrence of ‘pride eating’. In 2 Corinthians 3:5, 6 we are told of a new hope and a new life of trusting in Christ.  …not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life…  The moral of the story: Pride eating makes one fat on grief; trusting in Jesus and turning from pride gives us an open door to God, who gives adequacy and life. In Dad’s words: Just pull your own weight Ronnie Lee and when I pull mine we will make a team. (That’s why they call the church the body of Christ). That is only if one is a servant of Christ rather than “being perfect in every way”.

There is a big, old, black, wooden chest in my garage that I don’t know what to do with! It’s a big chest: approximately 3 feet wide, 18 inches tall, and 2 feet deep. It’s old; as I remember it, I first saw the chest when I was 4 or 5 years old. It’s black; painted more than once with a painted emblem on the front with the name “LARSON” on it. And it’s HEAVY!!!  I always wondered what was in that chest. In 1942-43 it was a big mystery to this little guy. The chest was in the coal shed at my Grandma Larson’s house. I always wanted to peek into the chest but most all the time there was a man sitting on it; my uncle Anley Larson. Anley used to work installing high tension wires that carried electricity to new customers in the Dakotas. Uncle Anley was always angry and rarely talked. The only time he would leave the chest was to go downtown to buy a bottle in a brown paper bag that smelled terrible to this little guy. Anley wasn’t well. ‘Something” of the liver; The drinkers disease they called it. They said it was connected to the line of work he did: 100 feet up and around all that electricity, but I kind of doubted that. He just didn’t want to talk and I was too much afraid to do much more than a ‘Hi’,’ How are you.’ When Anley died he left his chest in the coal shed (you cant take it with you is true). I almost forgot about the chest; it was locked and I didn’t know about those things. My aunt Orva T. Larson (another story) asked one day if I wanted to look inside to which I agreed. Guess what was in it???  Old tools. Not the kind that my dad would use, or that I would use when I grew up, but tools that only Uncle Anley has use for. At a point in time the chest and the tools became mine. Most all of the tools fell by the wayside (I am sure Uncle Anley rolled-over in his grave when that occurred). But the chest is still there. The question is: what do you do with something that was so full of mystery and fear that it drives people to do things that will kill them? They know it will kill them, but I guess that they think they can get a little extra time by taking on another mysterious habit on the side. Some words of Jesus come to light in all of this story that I wish I would have known as a little guy and been able to share with Uncle Anley.  “…Truly, truly, I say to you, “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin…” (John 8:34).  My uncle would have said in an earlier time that he is not a slave to anything and he is free to choose what he wishes, just as each of us would say that we are free also from drugs, alcohol, overactive eating habits, gossip, anger & bitterness, (and you could go on and on). It takes a brave person to go to Jesus and have Him take a peek into that big, old, black chest that we guard so faithfully. Just as uncle Anley needed to know that he was a slave to what was in his chest (as well as other things I am sure). Just remember, Jesus is quite accustomed to having people share with Him the deep dark secrets of their lives and knows what to do with them. The Pharisees that Jesus was talking to in the above scripture did not seek answers to their enslavement. But Christ was offering to them everything: forgiveness and a new life. But they were guarding their big, black, chest rather than asking, “what can I do with it?”

I walked out of church a few weeks back and heard it again. The sound of a railroad train in the distance mixed with a hot, sticky day. It took me back to a second grade summer when I was 7 years old. Get the picture. No air conditioner, no fans, (no TV!!!), no breeze. The sound of silence except the train sound and the river barge sound. Let me explain. We lived in the Illinois River valley. At night, the barges would come in with large loads of grain, coal, etc. With a 9 foot draft they were mostly skimming the river bottom and would get ‘hung up’ often which would change the sound from chug—chug, to chuga,chuga,chuga,broom….. The train whistle was a true whistle of a steam locomotive and not the honk, honk,honk..honk you hear on the whistle thruoughs you hear today. Add to that a hot, steamy night and you have, ‘MOM, I’m Hot!!!’ Mom would always (every time) appear like a ghost in the doorway and say, ‘I know, I’m hot too.’ After the third or fourth time I wisely deduced that mom did not create too much of a breeze and it would be better to catch whatever sleep I could get. [Actually, my brother and I found that if we took turns 'flapping our sheets' would create our own air conditioning systems. Not a solution but sufficient enough and give comfort enought to get to sleep]. Looking back on this memory God helped me realize a good spiritual truth from all of this. Last evening I went to sleep in an air conditioned home and needed the warmth of a sheet to be comfortable. No sounds to remember except the memory that Sharon says I snore. All was quiet and we had a good night’s sleep. My memory of a hot, sticky night was gone. But I am called to remember the ghostly figure that shared my problems and in a way encouraged me to ‘grow up’ and learn how to love as God created us to love. In I Corinthians 13, Paul has taught us that love is eternal and that when eternity comes (the perfect ) we will see this truth clearly. It takes a while for a kid to see love and recognize that the acts of love are nothing but a reflection of God’s care for us in this fallen world where love and hatred so often mix. Until a kid learns the intended lesson it is hard to say, ‘I know, I am here with you in the heat. I can not change it, but “lo I am with you always even unto the end of the age”.

In the spring of 1944 a neighbor lady asked my Mom a question that would only be answered yes! ‘Leona, do you want me to take your kids for a while?’ After a very quick YES! The certain question, ‘Where are you going?’ (It was always a concern to me that the Yes came before the where) “There is a launch today and we were going to view it from the other side of the river.’ Let me explain: My home town is in the Illinois River valley and was the host of a World War II shipyard that manufactured LST’s (Landing Ship Transports) during the Second WW. We had seen a few others launch and always from a new view. This one accross the river was new to me, so I wanted to see this one! When we got to the site it was about 1/4 mile away which made us squint to see the little boat on the other shore. Of course, we talked our neighbor lady into taking a closer look. From our new vantage on the other bank of the river we could see quite well. Well enough to see THAT WAS A BIG BOAT!!! At that moment the launch began. The lady began to rush us kids up the bank. The boat began to screech on the skids, It hit the water when I fell down (the first time), a wall of water headed our way that was at least 15 feet tall. Now the best part! A kid, not from our group, had climbed a tree to get a better look and had started down when the water hit our bank of the river. OOPS! all wet and no paddle. Me? after falling a second time, I got up to get one shoe wet from the wash. That incident always reminded me how easy it is to get trapped when one does not keep their eyes on things the way they really are in life and also when we don’t think. First Peter 5:6-11 gives me my focus=..humble yourselves under the mighty had of God…, my thought for the unthinking moment=..the devil prowls..seeking to devour…, my hope for the day=..God cares for you, give him your anxieties, at the proper time you will be exalted…  With that in mind, there are few high water marks that take us by suprise.