A Flawed Legacy - 28

I caught a ride back to Charleston and discovered that I had been the subject of my friends' prayers. Her mother was ill and they had hoped I might take charge of the property while they were gone and it was OK with me.  There were a couple of "hangers on" and we decided to tackle some of the junk that had been collected along the way.  Many of  the pieces of furniture were not designed for a Mission and we seemed to have an over abundance of china and silverware.  So, we decided on a yard sale and one of the fellows had friends on the local newspaper.  We went to them and talked them into running a feature story on the "opportunities" we had to offer.

Saturday morning at 6:30, we had people knocking on the store windows asking if were open.  Some had read the story and we began to realize the "shoppers" were talking among themselves about the need we were providing.  As it turned out, Charleston was high on the list of transient "snow birds" who headed South in the winter.  We were not only selling much of the stuff we had, but we had placed a can on one of the tables so that we might receive donations from those not interested in buying.

That was Friday and by Saturday, we were almost sold out, but we were surprised to meet a "band" of sorts who were just passing through and offered to provide a concert that evening - if they could sleep in our loft.  Of course.  They were pretty good and we were surprised - again, to have people from the yard sale dropping in to hear the music.  We discovered that many of them came from the neighborhood in which we were located.  Someone suggested we have "church" in the morning.

Out of the blue. someone came up with a poster announcing the services and we had a fair sized crowd, many of them sitting on the floor because we had sold all of our chairs.  The band started playing early and everyone was in a good mood.  I had been "elected" to offer a sermon and it was easy in this kind of atmosphere.  The title, "Look around, Jesus is passing through."  It caught on and while I stumbled a lot looking up scriptures in my Bible, no one seemed to care.  When one of the band members started to cry as I had mentioned the prayers of our fathers and mothers as we leave home, I offered an "altar" call and two others came forward as well.

All I could think of was the advice my Grandfather had offered so many years ago, "God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform, He plants His footsteps in the sand and rides upon the storm" Then, there were tear in my eyes,

The band moved on the next day, my two main helpers had found jobs through one of the neighbors who had stopped to see what was going on.  We seemed to be in "business".  Then, the police came by and citing us for not have the proper local licenses.  That was no problem.  We had raised over $400 and I went to court to pay any fine and obtain a license.  When I went to the counter to pay what we owed, I learned that the Judge had set aside his order and paid for our license out of his own pocket.

I called my friends and they were delighted to hear our news and let me know they were heading back in the next couple of days along with a contractor who had agreed to paint the store front and fix many of the problems we had overlooked.  I was amazed by all that had happened and called my moving van operator to see if there was work to do.  He happened to be on his way and I would be leaving as soon as the real operators had returned.   The experience left me with an attitude of gratefulness to have seen what God can do when He has, even a little help.

A Flawed Legacy - 27

I spent a week with Blake and Eleanor, the first and last times we would ever be that close.  Of course, I was raised with my grandparents and Blake was like a big brother to me, although we were never too close.  I will never forget the first day I met Eleanor.  They were about to get married (January 10),one of the coldest nights I will ever remember) and they dropped by on Sunday, December 7, 1941 - the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Blake offered to get me back on the road, but first he wanted to show me what Yale - our previous home) looked like.  It had hardly changed, we did stop and see a friend and then, Mina Armstrong, my grade school teacher).  Of course, we went by the farm which had really changed and down some side roads I could recall.  Finally, we wound up near Capac where the highway headed for Inlay City, and a main highway headed for Detroit.  Blake seemed to think I had a lot of courage, hiking around America as he saw it.

My first ride suggested a highway that I did not know about, one that went around Detroit rather than through it and took me far enough to get on his recommended route.  Only thing, it passed by a prison and when a guy stopped, he made sure I wasn't an escaped convict he had just heard about.  He was headed for a town in Ohio that I forget its name for good reason.  He drove into the heart of the city and as I was trying catch a ride, the police stopped and made me show my identification, before telling me I could not hitch hike in the city.  I said OK, walked a dozen or so blocks and stuck out my thumb.  That was a poor decision as the cop came back and told me - at first, he was going to take me to jail for breaking the law.  Instead, he took me to the outskirts of town - far away from any traffic, and let me out.  I'll bet I was there for an hour before I saw one car and that was a local., who turned off a block from where I was standing.  The sun went down and I began to wonder what I could do.  Fortunately, a big Lincoln pulled up, asking where I was headed and told him Columbus - as that was the only city I could think of in that direction.

Turns out he was a nice guy, an ex-USAF pilot and when I told him I had used to "boy-sit" (not baby sit) for Colonel Paul Tibbets at Eglin AFB, he told me that they were friends.  (Tibbets was the pilot on the Enola Gay that dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima in Japan.  Now he was in business at the airport in Columbus)  With that info, he suggested I stay at his house that night and he would rake me to see the Colonel the next day.  He had a small mansion and had me sleep in their pool house for the night.  I had just got into bed and I heard someone dive into the pool.  I peeked out and saw a woman - in the nude, in the water.  Good idea, I made sure the door was locked, the curtains pulled and I got into bed and went to sleep.

He called me about 7AM and had me come to the house where he had prepared breakfast and we left a few minutes later.  He dropped me off at Tibbets' office, wished me luck and drove off.  I discovered the Colonel was flying in later, learned the boys I knew were all in school and I found some magazines to read while I waited.  A hour or so later my "benefactor" came back, we learned that Tibbetts was going to be much later and said he would take me to the bus stop where I could get a bus going to Charlotte, NC, which had been my original goal.  With that, he gave me a ticket envelope with a bus ticket for Charlotte and a $50 bill - the second one I had received along the way.  We parted ways as he told me, the next time I was coming through Columbus to call him and gave me his business card.  I discovered he was an official in the local city government.

I was in Charlotte by 4PM and found the YMCA where I got a room and went downstairs to get a cold drink and met a moving van driver looking for a "lumper" to help him the next day.  I was his man and he met me at 6:30 the next morning.  It was an easy job and he asked if I would like to ride with him on future jobs.  Yes, sir.  The next day, I discovered a Labor office and was sent to Coca Cola for the day and wound up lifting cases of 32 ounce filled bottles off the line and onto a pallet and I began to think I could not do that for eight hours.  I started to ask the supervisor when he told me they were shutting down that line and sent me over to a "testing" area where they were testing drinks.  All I had to do was start up a line as directed and stack cases of 12 ounce product on special pallets.  That would be my job for the next six weeks.

My moving van driver came by to pick me up for a couple of weekend jobs where we loaded up on Saturday mornings until we were done and I got two days pay.  I opened a bank account to take care of the money I was earning.

Meanwhile, I was studying my Bible on the evenings and was getting used to talking about what I was learning from my studies, all the while going to church, whichever was the closest one, wherever I happened to be.

I had no work scheduled one week, so I got a bus ticket and went to Charleston, SC, where I had always wanted to visit and found it to be expensive until a Police office told me about a Mission just outside of the city.  I found it and discovered some new friends, a couple who had started it in an old house with a half dozen potential bedrooms, so I stayed with them and spent my days looking for people who could help us fill the bedrooms with cots and places to hang clothes.  By the end of the week, we had discovered a lot of help.  Charleston has many significant families, wealthy people willing to help us get the Mission underway.  I had a call from my van driver and would spend the next two weeks travelling with him.  

Further along the road

After a week or so, I felt well enough to continue my journey and my Uncle offered to take me to a spot where it would be easier to catch a ride.  On the way, we would pass through Yale, our home town, and stopped to chat with friends - including my grade school teacher.  It was good to have a chance to tell her how much her considerations of me as a student and friend had meant to me over the years.  Of course, we had to pass the old home stead, now changed dramatically from those earlier years.  It was good just to chat with the man who has always been my boyhood idol and I could tell as he stopped to let me out, he was really concerned about me.

My goal was Charlotte, NC - for some reason, long forgotten.  It was a beautiful day  and I had no problem catching rides, even passing an area where someone has escaped from prison and the driver and I laughed as the radio warned everybody to beware of picking up hitch hikers.  I was in Hinkley, OH, by early afternoon, a spot I will never forget.  A policeman stopped me, asking where I was from and where I was heading to.  Then, he came back, referring to my Texas drivers license and informing me there was a better place to try hitch hiking.  He took me out to a road where he let me out.  It took only a few minutes to realize that this road was just an old country road and I would probably be there for hours looking for anyone who would even think about picking up a hitch hiker.  The sun had set before a big Lincoln flashed his lights when he saw me and stopped.  "How far are you going?" he asked  and when I told him about my experience, he told me, "I'm headed for Columbus, OH, and I can get you on a main road again."

He had been in the Air Force so it wasn't long before we were getting along very well and as we got near to where he would let me out, he suggested he had a big house with lots of bedrooms and offered me a place to spend the night.  It turned out to be a bunk in the pool house, next to a huge swimming pool and it didn't take me long to fall asleep.  I woke up the sound of someone in the pool and peeking through the blinds, there she was, a beautiful lady and she was naked.  I went to the door and looked around to the other side of the house and saw there was a road leading away from the property.  I was thinking about bits and pieces of our conversation on the way South and really did not want to get involved.  I quietly walked out of the house and was on my way to the road.  It was about an hour's long walk to the main highway, but I was pleased to be on my way again.

Two or three more rides and I was in a little town along the Ohio River.  I stopped to get a meal and asked about the possibilities of work in that area.  "Like barges?" was the first answer I received and was told about the barges that take oil to the Mississippi river or thereabouts.  Sounded good to me so I crossed over to the other side and applied for a job.  The fellow who interviewed me said it might take a week or so before any openings might come up and I told him that I would need some work to do until then.  It just so happened he was the Pastor of a local church and told me he could keep me busy for a week at least.  It turned out to be three weeks and a bed in the loft that was part of my wages.  He and his wife turned out to be the nicest people I had ever met and we spent our evenings, studying the Bible.
A barge opening never did come up, so when I finished the work I had started, I was on my way again.

The next stop was Charleston, WVa, one of the dirtiest towns I have ever been in, but I located the Mission my new friends had told me about and the next day I was "hired" as the interim Director.  It so happened the fellow who had been there had family problems in Ohio to take care of and I agreed to "run" the place until he got back.  There were very few men coming to the Mission and no women, so I really had nothing to do in the day time.  Wandering around the city, I started to call on the churches as I passed by and discovered that very few of the Pastors knew anything about the Mission.  What became very interesting to me was the fact that when I got to speak with a Pastor, I came away with a donation, on two occasions, it was a hundred dollar bill.  When "Jim" the permanent Director came back, he was astounded by the fact "we" now had over $500 in the bank.  He wanted me to stay on, but the place was too dirty and dismal for me, I needed to get some country air to breathe.

I was on my way to Beckley, WVa, on one of the craziest rides over some of the crookedest roads I had ever taken.  For a few minutes I was scared that the driver might have evil intentions.  I don't know how far it was, but it seemed like it was hundred miles, but looking at a map it probably wasn't fifty miles. All of a sudden, he stopped in front of a Drive In movie theater and asked me if I wanted to see the show.  "No," I replied and told him I had to get on down the road.  It was getting dark and difficult to get a ride because most people were going to the theater.  I was standing in front of a house where there were two big cars parked on the lawn and a car pulled into the driveway.  A fellow got out and came over to ask me if I had seen anyone looking at the cars.  I had not, so he told me he and his family were going out of town and would not be back for a week and drove off.  When I was not getting a ride and it was dark, I checked to see if the car doors were open.  They were and I realized I had a comfortable place to sleep that night and locked the doors to be safe.

The next day, a fellow stopped and as we talked along the way, I learned he was an Elder in a church we would being stopping in to visit and he invited me to come along.  It turned out to be a vacated old Methodist church and they were thinking of opening it under a new name.  To make a longer story short, I stayed around to help them.  There was a cot in the former Pastor's study so I had a place to sleep and money to pay for the paint and materials to patch up places where it was needed.  Within a couple of weeks, we had it looking nice and some women made padded cushions to help with the hardwood seats.  They decided to bring in an elderly evangelist to open the church and he came, although it was obvious, he had health problems.  Sunday's services, morning and evening, were well attended and we had a high school principal interested in bringing a bus load of students on Tuesday evening.  We lost our evangelist after Monday evening as his voice gave way and his wife insisted that they go home.  It was fascinating watching the leaders try to entice others to replace them and kidding, I told them if bad turned to worse, they could always use me.  I had preached sermons in Texas after training for what was known as "lay" preaching.  A country church had used me when their Pastor was ill and I had a number of nice compliments.  When they couldn't find anyone else, they decided to "try" me.  We had a full church that night and I titled my sermon, "Sir, we would see Jesus" referring to the note I found on the pulpit of my first sermon.  I had a well prepared sermon then, based on the lessons we had learned, but my preparation went out the window when I realized the importance of that note.

I was raised in the church and for years, I had wondered why the sermons were always aimed at the adults.  Now, I started answering questions that I had wanted my Pastor to answer in those days.  It included the years when I strayed from the truth, had suffered as a result, and now, I firmly believed in what the Bible had to say.  Three young women answered the "call" but I was surrounded by many of the others, questioning what I had said.  The "local" folks were amazed by their interests.

As it turned out, I was in the pulpit for the rest of the week and actually, was offered tuition at a nearby Bible college, up until they discovered that I was not only divorced but separated from the Mother of my children.  But they did give me a substantial sum from the collections and an older couple who came with the youngsters gave me the keys and title to an older car they owned but were not using.

Now, I had a way to get to Charlotte without using my thumb.