In the twinkle of an eye

It’s beginning to always seem to happen when we are at the cabin. In October I got a phone call that started with, “are you alone and are you sitting down?” I remember where we were driving on the road when that phone call came.

The other night, I was sitting on the couch, keeping warm by the fire when the phone beeped and I saw a note, “just to let you know my father passed away an hour ago.”

Several years ago,  fulfilled something on my bucket list. To go spend time with the people who helped shape my heart about a lot of things when I was younger. I went with them to England as a missionary, lived on the east coast for a year with them, traveled and did concerts, listened to sermon upon sermon and then as the years went by we stopped to see them in Florida and Georgia, kept track of their lives as easy as it is from afar and my bucket list was to spend time with them.  That’s a long run on sentence; it has been a long run-on experience.

Some people enter your lives. Some people you experience. Some people give you challenges. Some people encourage you to move on. Some people remind you why you should stay. God usually puts people in our lives so we are honed; sharpened, rough edges removed and shined up. God can do it without people, but our best times in life are when God puts people in our lives to give us those little learning lessons.

I knew Fred; he was a good friend of my fathers. My father went to Israel with him, traveled to spend time with him, encouraged him in his ministry so when Fred suggested when he as at our house my senior year that I go to England, I was all for it and my dad thought it was a good experience. That opened my eyes to a different kind of world that the farm in the Midwest.

You learned a lot when you were with Fred. He was an incredible scholar. I sat under him in Greek class. I did pass, but  not sure how much I learned. He oozed learning. When he taught you had to listen because he had so much to say that sometimes you got lost in what you should remember… and for once the saying, “it’s all Greek to me” could apply in it’s context.  You learned about loving people who were different than you. I remember walking into a storefront church in Hartford, Conn. and feeling like an Oreo. There were 5 pale skinned people and about 300 dark skinned people. I never felt the pale and dark- I felt other people. And when I had the honor of playing the piano the biggest compliment ever given to me was, “I didn’t know a white girl could play with soul.”  I loved going to worship in Hartford. Of course I loved the Postalia’s. (i have no clue how to spell it). It was an Indian flatbread with a meat pocket in it. We walked up to some hole in the wall, ordered and out they came; wrapped up in a paper towel. They were dripping with grease and one of the best things I have ever eaten.  I loved worship partly because it was in the afternoon. We would walk around and get kids to come to church.  I learned a lot sitting on the front porch with Sister Johnson and when she sat down to play the piano, it talked a language I had never learned growing up.

Fred came to visit my father right before he died. I eavesdropped on a conversation of theirs about the matters of the heart. Listening to men talk about God, life, what changed, why we do what we do and what faith means was something I will never forget.  The last time I saw Fred is also something I will never forget. Waving me from the front porch as I drove away in my boys black jeep, waving, still grunting about the Valentines I had left on the counter. He probably was still grunting about me making us pose for a photo. Photo’s weren’t really Fred’s thing. They were mine. As I grow older, photo’s have become more important to me. Fred didn’t care, but he did play along. Getting him to smile- well that was a different inning of the ballgame he didn’t want to play.  I learned staying with them that my words didn’t need a dictionary when we played Scrabble. Theirs were a bit more complex. I learned that the meal made in love though wasn’t the best tasting, was what fellowship was all about. And then I took them out to eat! Maybe that was the driving force behind Ramen noodles for supper. And, you didn’t tell Fred what to do. I had a feeling you could cook Ramen noodles for three in one pot. No, we had three pots on the stove-top with a package of Ramen noodles in each pot. I learned that as Fred aged his driving didn’t improve and add a cell phone in his hand, I once again learned that praying while riding in the front seat was totally acceptable. Oh and might I add it was during one of the ice storms in Atlanta.  His love for his wife was what kept him calling to see if she was OK. He didn’t seem to think my white knuckles and quick breaths on the other side of the front seat were of any concerns. Fred had everything under control.  When he introduced me to his friends, the ones I just had to meet, there was a bragging I didn’t think I quite deserved but then again, I made time out of my life, to come and be a part of theirs once again. And if you were a friend, you were a lifetime friend. Fred loved his friends…

I learned that snoring would become a comforting sound. That watching TV didn’t mean watching TV but a new place to take a nap.  I listened as he talked with a Jewish Rabbi and discussed in length the latest topic they were discussing. Of course, we only hear Fred’s part of the telephone conversation so it was rather one sided.  I was driven around to meet their friends.  I was bragged about, shown off and loved upon in the way Fred did best. And we talked a lot about God.

And now, he is walking on the streets he longed to see. Plans are changed and this week we will be sharing in a tribute every missionary, child of God and pastor needs to hear while they are alive. They need to hear how much we love, appreciate and are thankful at the input they had in the filling up of our lives with God stuff. About everything Fred did had God stuff somewhere. It might be him asking for forgiveness as he charged around like a bull in a china store, or me asking for clarification when nothing he said made sense and I got my feelings a bit miffed. I learned about repentance from his preaching, how God loves me regardless, nothing matters in life if you don’t love those who are the ‘least of these’.   Will my life change because of one person’s influence? Yes- things I will not do, things I will do. Reasons why I believe, reasons why I should re-evaluate what I think I believe. And mostly, to open the Bible and let it come to life in your heart… oh yes, and treat your friends like they are the most important things on earth.