Back to Eden

     Well, last week Kelly and I found a big box of Ted's sermons.  A real treasure for our family and anyone else who appreciated his preaching.  I sorted through them and found some gems.  I also found some with missing pages, which was very disappointing. However, I may publish them anyway and leave the missing pages to one's imagination.  They are that good.
     In light of the fact that we just celebrated the anniversary of the "moon walk", I decided to publish his sermon about that subject that he preached just before the feat occurred.  The only thing I've changed are some typos and misspellings and the translation of the bible he used.  So I hope you all enjoy, "Back To Eden".

Our moon

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard..."
                                       President John F. Kennedy

Genesis 2:15 and 3:1
"The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.

                                                                        and



The Garden of Eden

"The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made.  One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"


"There is a voice that is shouting across the United States today...
 and it's a voice heard... in echo...in fact...
                                                              literally around the world!

It is a voice raised that can claim the attention of most of mankind... and that voice is telling a story.

It is telling a story of brave men... in shinny suits, mounting silvered rockets... riding on red and blue tongues of flame, to the very edge of earth's pull...

It is telling a story... a story that starts with the roar of a booster engine...
           and ends in the coasting silent ride to a literal long ago and far away...

Already... poets are writing their lines... newspapers have bedded
down their stories of success...

"...one giant step for mankind!"

And like some great church responsive reading, that voice, tells of another portion of a mission completed...
                            and the masses fill in with their "amens", and back and forth they go until splash down.   

I wondered...why? then I thought, "Maybe he is just doing what God meant for man to do when God said the He should subdue the Earth and have dominion over it...

But in all candor, I had to eliminate that...

It would be very hard to convince me that the reason we are spending billions going to the moon is to glorify God...

No, we are not making this trip for Him... nor because we wish to subdue the earth.



Back To Eden!

And I don't think we are doing this great and awesome feat out of idle curiosity...

What I really believe is... man is trying to get back to Eden!

There are few if any that would argue that going to the moon is not fantastic... adventurous...spectacular!  There is no question about that.

There are many adjectives we could use to describe the men, the equipment, and the task that is set before us.

And history like today's crowds gone beserk, will note this day with all the pomp and ceremony due it.

And I shouldn't be surprised if we aren't for now and forever more going to be blessed with a "Moonday,... maybe an eighth day of the week!

But there is another side to this day.  There is another side to this tale told and we should be mindful of it.  A voice is trying to be heard above the crowds that will cheer.  It is a side that pleads for our attention... with the quiet voice of reality.  It is a voice that speaks not of frills and thrills, but a voice of hope, that we are heading back to Eden!

     These are truly challenging times...

     We are living in an age where no matter how adventurous the man, no matter how far his vision, no matter how wistful his dreams, mankind can somehow meet the occasion and do just about exactly what he sets out to do!

     I was wondering... what is it about man that makes him so quick to answer a challenge... what makes him so quick to "rise to the occasion"?  There seems to be literally no limit to what man can do... why is he this way?

     In today's scripture we find Adam and Satan challenging God's Law... a Law that if obeyed, promises harmony, fulfillment, joy and peace, that brings with it a "life more abundant".

     But they chose a different course.  They didn't only break God's Law, they broke themselves upon it, as God had promised... "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die!"

     The life of freedom and fellowship was sold and man's sin resulted in an infectious condition that affected all mankind and finally hung a beautiful Savior on a cross at Calvary.

     A creation was thrown into disharmony and Paradise possessed became truly, Paradise lost.  Not just for Adam, but for all mankind as sin became universal and death became the wage!

     From that time until today, and as they will tomorrow, man has sought and searched for his way back to Eden. 



God's Judgment!

The way does not seem clear... but there is a way...there is a way we can get back to Eden.

     But it is a way whose path leads through God's unshakeable, never changing, rocks of judgment.  It is a way that leads along shear faced cliffs and deep ravines and along dangerous soul claiming ridges.

     One author had declared that we as a people are living off the "fat of the world".

     I think she was closer to real and pointed truth than even she realized.  We are a people living off the fat of the world!  And while we may not be aware of it, we are like Marie Antoinette who when she was parting the Rhelm, while her people starved said, "They have no bread?  Let them eat cake!"
     There is something terribly wrong when we become more concerned with going to the moon, than caring for the people here on earth.

     Eric Frome said, "While people believe in God, they aren't that concerned with Him, or His kingdom."  And I might add, that kind of faith is not a saving belief in God!

     But just to set the record straight, let me say this, I believe science is a wonderful thing, a gift from God, but like a coin, it has two sides and we want to look at both, so we can more certainly know how to spend it or invest it.

     The great danger in science, as in its discoveries, lies in it's misdirection or misuse.  Because  man is by nature sinful and unclean, too many if not most of science's blessings have become curses to the very people they seek to serve.

     Because our morality does not match our intellect, the misuse of science becomes greater than its use.  Not until man's morality catches up with his intellect will mankind through science, be able to solve more problems than it creates.

     That's why I believe that this moon shot, as tremendous as it is, is just another widening step in the gap that lies between man's morality and his intellect.

Back to Eden, mankind's dream...

     There seems to be a feeling in the air that when man steps on the moon, it will prove something,... they haven't said what,... and man can go from there to greater things, bigger things.  He thinks to himself, "Things are going to get better and all mankind will live better and longer and, we're all going to be heading back to Eden!"

     Omar Bradley said, "If we are going to save ourselves from the instruments of our own intellect, we had better soon get ourselves under control and begin making the world safe for living."

     "If we are going to save ourselves..." therein lies the trouble!
I am sometimes amazed at the foolishness of some of our leaders.  Mankind will not, nor cannot save themselves!

"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods... knowing good and evil."

     The devil trapped Eve with that line of thought.   Mankind just is not able to withstand the devil without God, neither then or now!  Added to this, mankind is no longer concerned with doing what is right... he is  now more concerned with getting along and adjusting to the wrong!

     But God, who made the moon and is never changing, is concerned with what is right and His voice that echos down through the centuries says that the way back to Eden leads through the cross of Christ!

"I am the way, the truth and the life..."

"The Ways of God, And The Real War On Women "

     Psalm 103:7 says that God "made known His ways unto Moses, His doings to the children of Israel."  One version of the bible translates this word "ways" as "character".  In other words God revealed to Moses who He was.  Have you ever heard or used the phrase... "Oh that just his/her way."? When we hear that we understand that to mean, "Oh that's just the way he/she is."
     The person that utters that statement about another knows that person well.  They are saying, "I know this person and I can assure you that his/her action just reflects or reveals who they are."  That's what the bible is saying here.  It is teaching us that we mere mortals can know the God of the universe.  He wants us to know Him and "how He is".  He will during our lifetimes reveal Himself to us, if we really want to know Him.
     I'm 76 years old and I just last week was made aware again of this "way" of His.  It's always so exciting to find out something "new" about someone you love... especially God!  So naturally I thought about it over and over and naturally I couldn't wait to write about it.
     Another verse from the psalms that I've clung to over the years of wanting and needing God's help and provision in my life, has been Psalm 138.  It too talks about "how God is".   Listen to it from the Living Translation starting with verse 5.

"Yes, they (every king of the earth) will sing about the Lord's ways ...though the Lord is great, He cares for the humble, but He keeps His distance from the proud!  Though I am surrounded by troubles, You will protect me from the anger

of my enemies.  You reach out Your hand, and the power of Your right hand saves me. The Lord will work out His plans for my life for Your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.  Don't abandon me, for You made me."

    See how much we learn about "who He is" in this Psalm?  But He has more "ways" then is revealed here.  He wants to live with us every day and show us more and more of His unfathomable character.  He wants us to know Him.  How great it that?  God wants little me to know Him!  And not just know Him from reading the bible, but know Him from experience of living with Him every day and looking for His hand in our lives.  Today I want to illustrate this with a story.

Me and my parents at the farm. I was 14 or 15.

    When I was a little girl, my family took an annual summer vacation to my Grandpa and Grandma Stanley's farm. (See The Haunted Farm)  I loved that place and those people.  There were lots of kids to play with, a large farm to explore, good food and love on every corner from aunts, uncles, cousins, Grandma and Grandpa.  It's one of the greatest memories of my childhood.  We went at various months during the summer and each month held it's own special delight.  June was the beautiful month with flowers in full bloom, the weather not as severe as July and August and lazy days in the shade.  Then there was July... hot, hot July.  This is when we got to go swimming in a muddy pond or a nearby creek.  This is when my Dad would load us up in the car and take us to a movie just to get us out of the hot house and into a cool theater for a while.  July was when a cool dipper of water against the cheek was almost heaven.  Then there was August,... harvest time.  I know that's early for you northerners but for Texas, it's August.  Grandpa was making syrup at the mill, my uncle was selling watermelons by the truck loads to nearby farmer's markets (and we were eating the leftovers).  The women were sitting all day on the back porch preparing food for canning, peas, green beans, corn, tomatoes, black-eyes peas, okra, squash, and I was grabbing a salt shaker and running to the garden to glean all of the missed ones for myself.  August was wonderful!  At night before we went to bed, all of the kids, maybe six, eight, or ten of us, depending on how many families gathered there for the harvest, would line up on the big front porch and Grandma would come around with a towel over her shoulder and a wash pan of water and wash each of our feet.  She would say, "Your not going to bed between my clean sheets with those feet!"  It was a great time for us because as she reached each child she would ask about our day and it would be our "turn" to talk to Grandma.  But there was one other thing that happened in August that was significant to me.  August was the time when Grandma washed and dried her quilts. 
     Grandma had probably close to twenty, brightly colored quilts that she and others had made over a lifetime.  Since there was no central heating in that old farm house, quilts in the winter time were a precious commodity.  Every year they had to be washed and hung out to dry so they would be clean and ready for the coming winter.  She would wash them, fold them and stack them in the corner of one of the bedrooms where they would be waiting for some family member to use when the wind started to blow.  I used to love to go to that stack and stand there and look at the different patterns, ask questions about their names and what they meant because each quilt tells a different tale and then listen to an aunt tell the story of each patch of cloth.  They would say, "That's the dress I wore to the prom." or "That's Aunt Kat's dress she made for the such n such." or "That's the baby dress Mama made for Katy when she was one year old."  They all told a story.  I'd literally spend hours there if I could get someone to sit there and talk to me about the stack of quilts.  Not to mention, they were soft and smelled heavenly!  While they hung on my Grandma's clothes line they would absorb the sunshine and the smells of the earth and a hundred different kinds of flowers.  For me it was a trip into all the senses of the farm.
     When my Grandmother died, I was all grown up and overseas with my husband and children.  When I heard about her death I grieved, of course, because I loved her and she loved me but the one thing I thought of that belonged to her that I would have liked to have had, was one of her quilts.  Of course I was in no position to ask for anything.  She had daughters and granddaughters who lived close by, who would divide up her worldly goods, such as they were.  But the quilts meant so much to me and I longed to have one.
     Last year I took a trip to east Texas where I attended the funeral of one of the aunts.  I then went to visit the last of the sisters left on that side of the family.  While we were talking and reminiscing about our times on the farm as children, she said, "I have a room that's full of  Mama and Daddy's stuff.  Would you like to go through it?  There are some interesting things there."
     "I'd love to go through it!" I said.
     So we went into the room filled with old stuff, some of it I recognized and some of it I didn't.  Everything smelled a little musty but even that was a pleasant smell to me.  I looked at the old dishes, some old kitchen tools, an old family bible and a few nick-nacks they had owned, ran my hand over them and tried to remember if I'd seen them before.  Then my aunt said, "Would you like to take something home with you?  You can have anything you like.  I realize you flew down here and there's probably not much here you can take back but your welcome to anything you'd like."
     I said, "Yes, I'd love to have something of my Grandma and Grandpa to show my kids." I looked around again for something I recognized from my childhood.  Then she added, "How about the old bible?  It's full of family history and I know you love history."
     "That would be great." I said, and started leafing through the old pages.  (She told me a story about this bible which will probably appear in another blog.  It's too long to tell in this one.)
     Finally we started to leave the room with me clutching my treasure and wondering how I was going to get the large, fragile old book home in my luggage.  She turned to me and said, "Oh, and there's one other thing you might be interested in.  I have a couple of Mama's old quilts left.  Would you like to see them?"

Grandma Stanley's quilt

     My heart literally skipped a beat.  Grandma's quilts... did she say Grandma's quilts!  Before I could ask the question she was pulling me into another room where there was a large storage closet.  She said, "They are up there on the top shelf."  The two of us old women were trying our best to drag out the quilts from a shelf that was at least three feet over our heads and she said, "Hold on.  I'll go get my son to get it."
     In a short time she had the quilts down and spread out so I could see them and she said, "Take your pick!"
     I was stunned.  They were very old and faded but still in pretty good condition.  She was talking the whole time I stood there trying, to absorb the fulfillment of this dream.  She said, "Mama made these of recycled family clothing, stitched them by hand and stuffed them with cotton from Daddy's cotton fields."
     "I know."  I said, unable to say more because I had a lump in my throat.  She had no idea how much it meant to me and I really couldn't explain it to her at this time.  I ended up putting the bible and the quilt in my luggage that I took home with me and mailing all my clothes that I'd brought to Texas.  "The clothes are replaceable, the bible and the quilt are not."  I explained to my friend, Mary Jo Reed, who was helping me with it.
     Now I tell you this story to illustrate something about the "ways of God".  My aunt didn't know what the quilt meant to me, but my God knew.  He knew the heart of that little girl in 1948 and the desires of the heart of that young woman, when she heard of her Grandma's death, and the heart of the old gal sitting in that room in 2014, and it was His "way" to want to please her.  Just like we want to give something to our children at Christmas that will bring a smile to their faces and delight their hearts, God wants to do the same thing for His children.
     I learned all over again, how God is my Father, who wants to make me happy.  I do a terrible thing when I ignore, or don't recognize His daily goodness to me.  It must grieve Him when I mummer and complain.
    God is good to His children... that's just "who He is"!
    Now one more thing about quilts, they also give us the history of American women...
strong, stalwart, female warriors who settled this country, nurtured families, and passed on a wealth of character and common sense that we still profit from to this day.  Below is a poem that illustrates these sisters from the pass, who we'd be well to remember and imitate.  It reminds me of my Grandmother and my aunts so I'm including it so you'll know them better.

MY OLD QUILTING FRAMES

If my old quilting frames could talk

What tales they'd have to tell.

Of things they heard, while women worked

Or stopped to rest a spell.

For they'd hear of training children

And ornery husbands, too.

Of how to mend young Willie's pants.

 Of peach preserves to do.

 Sometimes the neighbor's ear must burn

 While needles jabbed that quilt.

But mostly kindly things were said

And happy friendships built.

Of all these things my quilting frames

Ne're breathed a single word

But, kept in strictest confidence

The tales they overheard.

...Author Unknown...

     The fact that we don't hold these women up as examples for our daughters to admire, is the real "war on women".

Note: The week after I wrote this blog, another friend came out to do some repairs for me. Before he left I asked if he'd put up my quilt rack on my wall so I could display my Grandma's quilt.  He graciously did this for me and it made me very happy, again.

This is how it looks on my wall now with family pictures perched above it.

copyright(c)lauragehrke2014

"Let Them Eat Cake"

     In 1966 our family returned to Spain for a second tour of duty.  We were excited about returning.  It was familiar country to us, having been there from 1960 to 1962, and there was much of Spain that we loved.

Santa Clara Base Housing
 

     Shortly after our arrival we were assigned to a base housing unit.  Now in the Air Force when you move into base housing, it's quite different from moving into a civilian apartment.  In civilian rentals, along with the first months rent, you pay deposits which are refundable when you move out.  In the Air Force the housing office instructs you to save up your first months rent because after you have been there a month, you will owe for two months. At that time Ted was a lowly Staff Sergeant with a wife and three children and we lived from payday to payday on a very tight budget.  It had already been an expensive move with trips home to visit both of our families before we left the states, so there wasn't anything extra in our meager budget.
     We moved into our new home and dutifully stuck the rent money into the base Credit Union, in reserve for next month's double rent.  Little did we know that our budget along with our new
commitment to trust God with our lives, was about to be tested and stretched to the limit.
     Several days after the move our car broke down.  Ted car-pooled every day to Moron Air Force Base.  He made arrangements with the other guys in the pool to pay someone to drive for him until we could afford to get the car fixed.  Those arrangements were fine with the guys, however, following closely on the heels of this mishap was another.  One of the other riders began to have car trouble.  Ted announced one night at supper, "We're going to have to take a portion of our rent money out of the Credit Union and get the car fixed.  Maybe we can make it up in the next pay check."
     Of course the next paycheck was the small one, reserved for groceries and gasoline with very little left over.  We reluctantly took out our reserve money and fixed the car.  In the meantime, I went to work on a bare-bones grocery list that hopefully, would stretch out over the month.  I bought extra flour, a small can of coffee, dried beans, a large box of powdered milk, and a large jug of syrup for pancakes.  I stocked up on pasta and canned tomatoes which could be spiced up and pass for spaghetti sauce.  (If you add chunks of polish sausage to this you have a complete meal.)  I succeeded in cutting the grocery bill significantly and planned to stretch what I had as far as possible.  We filled the car with gasoline and oil and deposited the remainder back into the "rent reserve".  Then we hunkered down to pray and wait to see how it would all come out.  We agreed not to complain or tell anyone outside our family and we agreed also, not to borrow money.  We wanted to see the Lord provide for out needs.  Ted did save out $10.00 in cash for emergencies like taking his turn to pay for the coffee on the way to work.
     We sailed along well for the first week and started the second with trepidation.  Our supplies seemed to be dwindling faster than we had anticipated.  The gasoline was half gone by Tuesday of the second week and we were out of bread, milk and margarine.  I mixed a pitcher of powdered milk and made biscuits with oil every day.  The kids took peanut butter and jelly on biscuits in their school lunches and several times we had oatmeal and biscuits for supper.
     By the middle of that week Ted said, "I have a quarter tank of gasoline left,...I bought it with the reserve coffee money and I have to drive to work on Friday.  I think were going to have to borrow money from someone because we still have a week to go."
     Everyone was silent  and I could tell that the children were disappointed.  One of them said, "But that's not the way God provides, is it?  When we ask Him to help us He doesn't want us to borrow money, does He?"
     Ted and I looked at each other, each hoping that the other would answer the question.  Finally after a moment of silence I remembered an illustration that fit the situation.

Cat peeking in the kitchen window!

     I said, "Let me tell you a story.  There's an old cat that lives around here.  Someone moved away and abandoned her.  She makes the rounds every morning to all the units.  She jumps up onto the kitchen window sills and meows incessantly until someone either throws water on her or gives her a morsel of food."
     "Do you feed her, Mom?" came the question.
     "Yes, I always give her something...leftover cereal, bread or milk.  I've even seen her eat beans, peas and plain old, cold spaghetti...and you know what...she's fat!"  The kids smiled, pleased to hear it, and waited for me to continue.
     "Well, this morning I crumpled up a biscuit and poured milk over it for her, petted her while she ate, and listened to her grateful purring.  This started me thinking...if this abandoned old cat can survive on people's generosity, which is pitiful compared to God's, how much more should we be able to flourish on His?"
      "Yes!" shouted the kids in chorus.
     Ted shot me a withering glance but smiled and said,  "Well you guys can meow if you want to, but I'm going to pray and wait on the Lord!"  I called him a hypocrite under my breath but after that there was no more talk of borrowing money and payday was a week away, with most of it already promised to go for the rent.
     By Friday we were down to spaghetti and spiced up tomato topping.  The flour was almost gone and had to be reserved for pancakes.  Ted had driven to Moron and put two of his emergency dollars in the gas tank and returned home on fumes.  When he got home the car was on empty.  We had oatmeal for super but no one went to bed hungry.
     The next morning was Saturday.  Everyone slept late but me.  I awoke at 6:00 a.m. staring into space and wondering, Lord, what am I going to feed them today?  I laid there for sometime taking survey of what we had in the cupboard, then I heard the door bell ring.  I grabbed my robe and rushed downstairs.  When I opened the door there stood Judy Harrison, one of the ladies in our Baptist Fellowship. She was holding a cookie sheet in each hand, covered with aluminum foil.
     "Hi!" she said with a bright smile and a demeanor that said that arriving on our doorstep at 6:30 on a Saturday morning was nothing out of the ordinary. "You're probably going to think I'm crazy, but I made your kids some cupcakes."
     I was stunned.  Finally I managed to say, "Come on in".
     She came in and laid the trays on the dinning room table then she uncovered them to reveal four dozen brightly frosted cup cakes.  "Thank you!" I said, "...but why?"
     "I have a niece named Kelly and today is her birthday and I miss her terribly.  Yesterday I was feeling so homesick for her and thinking about her all day, so I decided to bake her a birthday cake so Jerry and I could eat it and celebrate her birthday.  As usual I overdid it and instead of mixing up one cake mix I whipped up two and ended up with five dozen cupcakes.  The two of us will never be able to eat that many so I said, "Lord, what am I going to do with all of these cupcakes?"  Immediately, your family came into my mind because you have a daughter named Kelly also, so I decided to bring them to your kids."
     "Well thank you so much!" I said again.  "I'm sure we'll get rid of them for you."

Cupcakes galore!

     She started for the door, "I have to run.  Just bring the cookie sheets to church with you tomorrow."
     I was standing at the table pinching off bits of frosting when Ted and the children appeared.  I spread my arm over the trays of cupcakes and said dramatically, "Let them eat cake!"
     We had cupcakes for breakfast with hot chocolate made with powdered milk, cocoa and sugar,  oatmeal and cupcakes for lunch, then pancakes made without egg for supper with (you guessed it) cupcakes for dessert.  That night as we went to bed Ted said, "I'm sick of sugar!"
     "...but are you hungry?" I asked.
    "I don't think I'll ever want to eat again!" he replied.
     The next day,...Sunday, Ted put his last dollar in the gas tank and we went to church.  By then I was craving coffee like a junkie, so I prayed, Lord, please let them have coffee at Sunday School.  I was about to learn the many creative ways God has of answering prayer.  There was no coffee at Sunday School but after the Sunday School hour, Major Miller, our superintendent, announced to the teachers that we were having a planning meeting in the elementary school gym that afternoon at 2:00.
     After church and a lunch of red beans and...cupcakes.  I put the kids and Ted to bed for naps and drove to the school.
     When I entered the gym the smell of coffee filed my nose.  There was a thirty-six cup percolator sitting on a table across the room and I had to stop myself from running to it.  I deliberately stopped to greet the Major and another teacher before I went and poured myself a cup of coffee.
     No one else showed up for the meeting so it was very short.  At the end of it I went back to the pot and refiled my cup.  There was a plate of cookies sitting next to it, which held no appeal to me, the "queen of cupcakes", but I filed my pockets for the kids, then excused myself and started for the parking lot.  Before I reached the car, I heard the Major calling my name so I stopped and turned around.
     "Laura, would you like to take this coffee home?  I hate to pour it down the drain and you were the only one who drank any of it."
     "Sure!" I said.
     He came out with the coffee pot and put it on the floor of my car.  Tucked under his arm were the cookies in a sack.  "Here, you may as well take these too. My wife is on a diet and she told me not to bring them home."
     When Ted got up from his nap I was pouring coffee into jars and pitchers and storing it in the refrigerator.  I asked "Would you like a cup of coffee and a cookie?"
     "You'd think the Lord would have more of a sense of...well, nutrition, wouldn't you? Or at least variety..." he added.
     "Oh, I don't know, maybe He has some poor dentist out there that needs the work." I answered.
     Before the evening service one of the kids asked, "What are we having for supper tonight?"
     "I don't know." I said.  "Whatever the Lord provides but more than likely it will be cupcakes, cookies, and coffee."
     They looked at each other with curled lips and said something like "Oh boy!" One of them added, "I think I'll just fast and pray!"  To our surprise even the kids were full of sugar.
     Following the evening service, Louie Frobachino, a G.I. from Brooklyn and a real rabble rouser, called out to the congregation..."Hey, everybody! Let's go over to the Gehrke's and sing around the piano for a while!"
     As we moved toward the door Ted leaned close and said, "There goes your coffee!"
     "I just hope they don't mind drinking it with powdered milk." I replied.
     We rushed home and I poured the coffee back into the percolator and plugged it in.  While I was still in the kitchen the first couple to arrive brought in a can of powdered chocolate milk mix.  Then another couple came in with a tray full of tuna sandwiches cut in quarters.  Someone else threw a bag of potato chips on the counter.  I was putting cookies and cupcakes on a plate and fighting Ted and the kids away from the tuna sandwiches, when a lady came in and said, "Can you use some extra coffee?"  She handed me a three pound can of coffee.  I turned my eyes heavenward and prayed silently, Turn off the coffee, Lord!
     The following morning Ted said, "Wednesday is payday and I have to drive that morning.  If the Lord doesn't provide gasoline before then, I'm going to have to ask one of the other guys to drive for me."
     "OK." I replied and looked heavenward again and added..."Meow!"
     About 10:00, Tuesday morning there was a knock on my door.  When I answered it, I was surprised to see Linda Reed on my doorstep.  She and her husband, David also attended the fellowship.  She was expecting their first baby and due any day.  They lived in downtown Seville and hadn't yet bought a car so they took cabs and buses everywhere.
     "What are you doing here?" I asked.  "Are you in labor?"
     "No, I'm not in labor." she said.  "I came in a taxi and I have a proposition for you."
      She came in and explained.  "David told me to go to the commissary and buy enough groceries so he wouldn't have to shop when I have the baby, so I thought that if you would loan me your car I could do my shopping and take the groceries home.  I wouldn't have to take a cab and have him wait with the meter running while I made two or three trips up to my apartment with all those groceries."
     "Linda, I'd love to loan you my car but there's just barely enough gas to get to the base and I'm broke." I said.
     "No problem." she replied.  "I intended to put gas in it anyway."
     "All right." I answered.  "Come back and get me before you go home and I'll help you unload the groceries, then I can bring the car back home."
     She left and returned a couple of hours later with the back seat filled with groceries and she had filled the gas tank.
     "You didn't have to fill the tank." I protested, weakly.
     "It was the least I could do." she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.  I drove home later thanking the Lord for Linda's generous heart and a full tank of gasoline.
     Ted got home about five-thirty and came into the kitchen where I was whipping up the latest dish of "manna".
     He leaned against the cabinet with his arms crossed and a look on his face and twinkle in his eye that said, Brace yourself, I'm up to something!
     "You'd better put on a little extra, were having company for dinner."
     I gasped, felt the blood drain from my face and practically screamed..."What?"
     Seeing my panic he quickly went on to explain, "I invited David and Linda Reed to eat with us tonight.  They are kinda scared about the arrival of their baby.  They don't have a car and they live downtown.  David's a little worried about Linda going into labor in the middle of the night and him not being able to make himself understood to a taxi driver.  I just felt like they needed encouragement, so I invited them to dinner.  They'll be here in about an hour.
     "Ted!" I screamed again.  "We're having rubbery pancakes made without eggs, with no margarine to put on them.  They'll just be tasteless, flat things with syrup poured over them.  I don't even know if I can get the kids to eat them any more!  What were you thinking?"
     "Calm down. They're Texans! They'll eat anything." He dismissed me with his Yankee nose stuck up in the air.
     I yelled after him, "I'm a Texan too, but what we're about to pass off as pancakes we couldn't even get a self respecting Texas hog to eat!"
     Notwithstanding, they arrived promptly within the hour.  I had the table set with the syrup poured into a pitcher and some jelly ladled prettily into a small dish with a spoon. A glass of ice water sat by each plate with a cup for coffee by the adults.  A heaping platter of rubbery pancakes were keeping warm in the oven.  Everyone took their seats at the table and I brought out "dinner".
     "I hope your guys like pancakes!" said Ted and I shot him a look that should have fried him.
     "I love pancakes!" said David, "but can I have a glass of milk with mine?"
     "Do you mind if it's powered milk?" I asked nonchalantly.
     "Uh...never mind.  I'll just drink water."
     We passed around the platter of pancakes and Linda asked, "Do you have any butter?"
     "No, I'm sorry, we're out of it." I stammered.
     David put his fork down and looked at Ted. "Ted, you folks are out of food, aren't you?"
     Everyone was silent for a moment as we sat and waited for Ted to answer. I'm sure our faces were red a we looked at him.
     "Well, I guess "the cat's out of the bag" so to speak." he said.
     For some reason that was the funniest thing we'd heard in two weeks, or perhaps we were all a little hysterical.  We all started laughing. Joel laughed so hard he fell off his chair and I think I was laughing and crying at the same time.  I was embarrassed, relieved and still a little angry with Ted.
     Then Ted started at the beginning and told them the whole story of how we had been praying and trusting the Lord for food and gasoline for over two weeks, how we had saved up our double rent then had to spend it on the car.  He told them my story about the cat, Judy's cupcakes, Major Miller's coffee and cookies,  and Linda's full tank of gasoline.  They were sympathetic, amazed and amused at the same time.  But when it was all over, something even more amazing happened.  During the conversation someone got the idea to have them move in with us until the baby was born.  They would bring their clothes and their supply of groceries and be close to the base hospital with a car at their disposal.  It was a perfect plan and one we began to execute immediately.
     That evening after they were all moved in David said, "Who wants a ham sandwich before they go to bed?"  Amid cheers, Linda and I went to the kitchen to make sandwiches.
     She carried the untouched tray of pancakes from the dinning room to the kitchen and asked, "Do you want me to throw these away?"
     I looked at them for a moment and said, "No, I think I know a cat who will appreciate them for breakfast in the morning."




copyright(c)lauragehrke2014

Robert Burns, We May Not Be...

     Just for fun, I decided this week to post some Gehrke poetry. As most writers do, from time to time we tried our hand at it. Nothing expresses the core of the soul like a good poem.           
     As a family of writers, we have over the years all written poetry and as the mother of this brood, I have collected it and saved it. Like mothers of children who are artists, who has their refrigerator door decorated with crayon drawings, mine was much of the time, covered with poetry. This first posting comes from Joel, our oldest son.  He was a teenager when he wrote them. I hope you enjoy it.

MY SECRET PRAISE

I know, O Lord, that You can see,

My medium of praise to Thee;

This quiet Realm of Poetry.

Lord, I would magnify Thy name,

In magnitude of trumpet same,

 Through whisper worshipping now to Thee,

In this...the realm of poetry.

The mighty choir does sing of Thee,

That mankind by Thy blood is free;

I softly write my thanks to Thee

In solitude,...in Poetry.



Autumn Reflection

Green summer leaves of yesterday,

The winter breeze blows away.

Before the elements they dance,

In celebration of their chance,

To live their lives in greenly glow,

Their nutrients in earth to sow.

Much like the leaf God makes a man;

To glow in His warm, sunlit Hand,

To find His wisdom, riches, grace,

To share these with the human race.

Upon going through an old bread box filled with pictures...

To The Faces

There have been many, many, faces,

...many faces,

...laughing,

...chatting,...

weathered faces, in my life,

and now I see not faces,

but kaleidoscope impressions of the people,

...places,

...traces,

of those I've known,

...but know, no more.

After a high school track meet...

The Race...or Reflections In Sweat

I think I'm learning how to learn a lesson in this life.

I work, I strive, and sometimes bleed a little.

I cry for excellence and right within myself.

I labor 'gainst a brother soul whose final fate rests on my failure...

And only one of us succeeds?...

                                Not so!

For now it's clear...

The question isn't how you looked while breaking through the line...

but rather,

Did you give it your all on the backstretch?

The Price

Miles I'm alone on the dusty road

with rhythmic, labored breath;...

 

not pain, but pulsating life within.

Run!

Train through the prolonged pain of practice

and then...

The Race...to try the soul's true grain.

The Turkey

The turkey worked alone amid the taunts

with goal filled eyes,

Decided...

 It was worth it.

In daily course he ran,

despite the blast,

the gauntlet bark of little dogs,...

and found a haven in the Road.

The little dogs all starved, from lack of

..character.

The ancient turkey died with Eagle Heart!

On the ever changing Michigan seasons....

FAREWELL!

In the summer of seventy six,

I excellence pursued,...

and in the evening summer's light,

I chased the sun...

...I almost overtook it!...

While early warm September faded,

and dying sunlight through leaves shone, jaded,...

...my spirit knew no fences!...

I sailed, nay flew, along the road,...

and when the final evening waned,...

...when summer died last night,...

I chased the ling'ring eventide,

into the azure autumn light.

Cyclic Panorama

Too soon the Crescent Lady came

To interrupt the sun's warm ray

She spread her shroud across the sky

and smiled a shining silver sigh.

The gold-haired man is growing old;

His countenance will soon be cold,

To west horizon he will go,

pursued by wind and wintry snow.

Green summer leaves 'tween earth and sky,

soon will yellow, fall and die...

and lie in a despondent pile.

I see the cycle, and I smile.  

The Autumn Song

Tomorrow marks the birth of August;

Summer's peak is gone.

The days still linger hot,...but yet,

While sleeping in the night, 'twas crisp!...'twas clear!

...the Song,...The Autumn Song...

The cricket chorus called out in the night,

the secret song yet hidden from the light.

The message clear withal,...

of the passing of the summer, and the advent 

of the fall. 

MYSTERY

I cannot help but wonder, tho',

How many secret, swirling, sunsets

Draped the arctic edges of the earth,

Unknown to man,...unseen, save by

Some, solitary seal?

 SURRENDER

 Sittin' at my desk



Watchin' the first snow,

 

It seems like every year

Around November twenty first,

I mourn the warmth of June,...

and curse the cold!

Then the white, winter, windblown virgin of the north,

Freezes my contentions and quiets my soul with a

Cold but peaceful resignation to the Polar wind.

....brrr...Where's my coat?

I Helped a Friend

I saw a spider hanging from the ceiling

on a skinny little web...

A tiny, brown, fellow hanging by his courage

on a string, hitched to the sky.



 

Infinity above, no turning back, but just a 





little at a time, he tried to reach his goal

I watched this fellow creature striving, not to die,

...reached out my hand, and placed him on the floor.

...I haven't seen him since.

 

 

 

copyright(c)lauragehrke2014