One of my earliest memories was going to my baby sitter's house next door while my parents went to the hospital to deliver my brother. We are two years apart. Other than family pictures to help me remember things I don;t recall much. I do remember that my sister and her best friend taught me how to walk!! Thanks sis.
OK. So let's start around preschool age, say three or four. I was lucky, or unlucky according to some viewpoints, to have gone to daycare for a year and preschool at the same place the next year. We only lived three blocks away, so my mom would always walk us. I remember meeting new kids and making friends was easy then. The teachers/daycare workers who worked there were sisters. One of them lived across the street from us and my parents were friends with her. I can remember playing outside in the playground and taking naps. Also watching cartoons and of course learning. I believe preschool is when I learned how to tie my shoes. This age was full of learning and growing, but I also remember other things.
We lived next door to a church. Actually it was across the alley to the south of us. My mom would always dress me and my brother up in dress pants, dress shirts and shoes. Sometimes she would put ties on us. I wore a bow tie most of the time. We usually got new outfits for Easter and Christmas. I grew up in church. Back then we would go to "Sunday School" before the main church service.
I learned most of the basic bible stories then like: David and Goliath, Noah's Ark, Daniel in the lion's den, the story of Zacchaeus and of course Jesus' birth. I think I might do a few posts later about these stories for anyone who is interested. I will try to keep it simple but relevant to the truth.
I enjoyed dressing up for church. My brother always dressed up too, but probably only because i did. I tried to take care where i walked and not step into anything with my dress shoes. Not him, mud puddles look out!! He didn't care about his clothes then, maybe I cared too much. Anyway we looked good!
Often when we came home from church my dad would have lunch ready for us and be watching some old western with John Wayne in it. I don't think I will ever forget those days. He loved westerns and old army movies. He introduced us to "It's A Wonderful Life" and it is still my favorite Christmas movie of all time. My wife and I always have watched it together every Christmas Eve since dating. It is such a good movie.
I remember that my dad loved to cook. He cooked all the time. He could make anything out of nothing. As my brother and I got older we didn't like some of his concoctions though. I did love his roast. It had the best potatoes and carrots. YUMMY!!
I guess I should explain my family setup a little bit before I get too far ahead. I am from a family of five: mom, dad, older sister, me and my little brother. So, I am a middle child. Well, yes and no. According to birth order I am a middle child. But, there are nine years(yes I said 9)between my sister and me. I have first born qualities and middle child alike. I read somewhere that it only takes six years or so for a second child to have the firstborn characteristics. I'm sure I have an edge being the first male child born too. I tend to lean toward the middle child qualities in unique ways and often have first child strengths to back it up.
You my wonder,"Nine years between kids?". Were my parents nuts? I won't answer that here, ha ha. Actually they were married ten years before having my sister and then me nine years later. Two years after me my little brother shows up. Imagine being married twenty-one years before having your third child. Having older parents growing up was a little difficult. It was good most of the time.
When I was about eight years old I can remember my dad trying to quit smoking cigarettes. He had smoked them since before he was old enough to drive. The rumor is that he was driving his dad's log trucks at age five! I don't know if this is true, but I did feel bad for him. He struggle so bad at times and often got very upset. I wanted to help him stop. So, I decided that I would pray for him.
I remembered the story of JOB and how he lost everything, but still wouldn't curse God. The devil, Satan, actually asked God for permission to try to make Job fail and sin against Him. God had so much faith in Job that he told Satan he could do whatever he wanted to him as long as he didn't kill Job. Job lost his family, his friends, his animals, he was deathly sick and still didn't curse God.
One day I remember praying to God. I prayed that He would do anything he could as long as my dad wouldn't die to get him to stop smoking. Well, here is where the story gets a little bumpy. Not long after I had prayed, maybe just a few weeks, my dad had a heart attack! YIKES!! He survived the attack and quit smoking "cold turkey". I was so amazed. I still think that God answered the prayer of an eight year old.
My dad lived another eight years after that before dying at 54. He had some serious health issues. He had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and even was put on oxygen. Before he died, he had around seven heart attacks. Three major ones and the rest were minimal. He was doing a test one time at the hospital when the nurses forced him to stop moving and lay down, claiming he just had another heart attack. He told them he didn't even feel a thing. My dad was a big man. He was obese. He was six foot tall and easily weighed about 280 pounds. His temper, stress and stubbornness was surely a big part of his bad health.
I was 16 when my dad died. He was in the hospital undergoing several tests on his heart to prepare him for a heart transplant. He never got one....at least not on earth.
Like me, my dad also grew up in church. But, my dad chose a different life when he got older. I am not sure when he stopped going to church, but it was before any of us kids were born. My mom always told us that he used to sing in the choir as a boy and it was only a few years ago that I found out his own dad was a pastor. I never met my dad's dad. I heard that what turned my dad off to church was the things he saw at church growing up. He claims to have seen some of the old men actually drinking(alcohol) in the back while the preacher was preaching. Strange thought, he ended up drinking when he got older and when he was diagnosed with diabetes he quit cold turkey to that too.
I'm sure a lot of Christians do bad things. I know I have and do some bad things from time to time. I just wonder why we justify things for ourselves and criticise and judge others? I think if I saw someone having a drink at church at first I would be shocked and think they are rude. But, then I would be glad they had the boldness to go and be in church and hopefully they might hear from God and become free.(I feel a whole other blog post coming on!!)
So to finish off my first installment of "Growing up", I must say that life has its ups and downs for everyone. We are all the same, but uniquely given different trials to face. If you look to Jesus you will find light. If not...then darkness will rule over you. A few days before my dad died, he asked Jesus to save him, or in other words, he gave his life back to Jesus. He trusted Jesus enough to call on His name and be rescued from the wage of sin. In turn, Jesus did give my dad a new heart. When my father died, he met his maker and was welcomed with the open arms of Jesus.
Romans 6:23 says:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. NIV
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