I Hope This Is Not My "Seward's Folly"

William Seward, as secretary of state, in 1867, brokered the deal to acquire Alaska from Russia. His opponents nicknamed his deal to buy the Alaska territory "Seward's Folly." They thought it was the absolute, worst way to spend 7.2 million dollars of Uncle Sam's money. It turned out ok for Mr. Seward. I hope my deal does, too.

The Piano Restoration

                Dad’s release from the rehab center loomed large on the month’s calendar. Mother’s surgery was scheduled for the upcoming week in April of 2012.

                Mother was engineering the preparation for his homecoming. She insisted adamantly that Dad’s bed be placed in the living room. She knew that Dad was a "people person" so he needed to be in the middle of everything to maximize his therapy and hasten his recovery.

                Angie, my sister, and Mother began the transformation of the living room. I stayed with Dad at the rehab that day. I recall that day as I graded the third graders’ papers and used my laptop to record the scores on our district’s online grading program. As I stood up to stretch, I gazed out the hospital window and began thinking of the future of the vintage Story and Clark piano in my parents’ home.

                My maternal grandparents had purchased the piano in the early 1930s, from one of the Ralston churches when several churches joined to form the Ralston Federated Church. Mother, Angie, and I had learned to play on this instrument. As sentimental as I can be, I could hardly bear the thought of the old piano being salvaged. So I did an internet search using its serial number that my sister had given to me.

                My search revealed it had been crafted in 1916, in Chicago, Illinois. I discovered that we had an upright grand piano, which explained its rich tone.  Unfortunately, it had got so horribly out-of-tune that my sister, with a gifted musical ear much like my grandpa, Calvin Callcayah Smith, forbade even one note be sounded on it.

I emailed quickly Bill Miller, one of the foremost piano restorers in Oklahoma. His wife, Kathy, affirmed that it was a high quality piano and worth considering restoration. She affirmed this after seeing some photos I sent to her.

                As Saturday approached, I began lobbying for saving it from destruction, a piece at a time. As Rick, Tyler, and Caleb Rice helped my brother-in-law move the furniture to prepare the living room for Dad, Rick commented that he liked the “distressed-look” of the old piano. My mother characterized it as “ugly.”

The 1916 Upright Grand Piano in 2012.

                During Dad’s stroke recovery, the vintage piano served as a shelf for all of his supplies. I even bought a small keyboard so we could sing each night. Occasionally, I could persuade him to walk back to the redecorated north room where we had placed my small spinet piano. He enjoyed hearing his favorite hymns played.

The recently restored exterior of the 1916 Upright Grand
Piano as of April 2016. For 100 years old, it looks terrific.

                Within hours of  Dad’s death, as the medical supply company picked up the equipment, the living room began being transformed back into what it originally had been. The carpet took a beating as we used the lift and the wheel chair during Dad’s convalescence. Angie insisted that Mother needed the carpet replaced. Angie set the wheels in motion for new carpet since she was purchasing it for Mother.

                What was my role? I had to decide what to do with the “old, ugly, out-of-tune piano.” By this time, I had been retired three years. I thought I could swing financially its restoration. On Halloween morning of 2015, Bill Miller and his assistant picked up the vintage piano. That’s how it began.

                Bill Miller contacted me this week to say the piano's restoration is almost complete. His wife, Kathy, sent photos of the newly refinished 1916 Story and Clark upright grand piano. Within a few days, the new wire strings will be tuned precisely, ready for playing. If it sounds as good as it looks, in no way will it be my "Seward's Folly."

                Restoration is one of God's hallmarks made possible by the gift of Jesus and His death on the cross for our personal redemption. We can be a partner in God's restoration of a person who may have accumulated many years of old, "crusty" behavior or engrained destructive habits. God instantly gives the redeemed person a "new nature," but the external restoration can be inhibited when we refuse to allow the person to change. We hold onto long-ago wrongs done to us by the old "codger" or old "biddy." That would be just as if I had gone into Mr. Miller's workshop and interferred with his work on the vintage piano, saying something like, "This piano is too far gone. It's been this way for years. It just needs to be junked."

                Let's look for "ugly-acting, horribly-sounding" people and instead of "writing them off" as hopeless, pray for them. When we see God at work in a person with "lots of layers," let's try to join Him and at least, be sure to get out of His way.

Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. 

Galatians 6:1-3- The Message

Words Echoing From the Past

When I retired, Sandye Goad asked if I could help her grandson, Brett Graham, with a project of collecting family accounts for a fair project. I was glad to assist Brett since I had enjoyed being his teacher in third grade. I liked this one I prepared for Brett since it was actually based on a card written by the great-grandmother of his grandpa, Dave Goad.

A Glimpse at Your Great-Great-Great Grandmother, Mary Ellen Shaw Goad

The front of Mrs. Goad's card reveals the source of her strength, the Lord.

Brett, sometimes we can get to know our ancestors through their written words, even though we weren't born until after their deaths. The words they write often reveal more about their inner thoughts and souls than we may think.

            Recently, my mother was going through old cards belonging to my grandmother, Gladys Rainey Smith. Mother happened onto a get well card sent in 1956, to my grandmother following her surgery. It had been mailed to her by Mary Ellen Shaw Goad, your great-great-great grandmother.

I have placed the front of the card along with its personal message written by your great-great-great grandmother. Carefully look at her handwriting. Study how she framed her sentences. See if you can hear her sensitivity and caring as you read her words.

I hope this will serve as a meaningful way to get just a slight glimpse into the type of person your great-great-great grandmother was. This may prompt you to ask older family members if they remember her. She died when I was too young to remember her, but as I read her words, it makes me wish I could have met her. I think you will feel the same way.

As I reread this little message written to Brett about the card sent by his great-great-great grandmother to my grandma, these other thoughts came to mind. I framed them in the form of questions.

Will what I have written reflect accurately to those who never knew me, who I really am?

Do texts, emails, and postings by me give a true picture of who I am as a person?

Am I pleased to review my social media or do I cringe at the digital footprint I am leaving behind?

Will my faith in Jesus be evident in what I have written or what I have posted online?

To view a photograph of Mrs.Goad, click on this link to a previous blog:
http://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/05/when-big-bender-kept-man-from-blowing.html

Grand Sir's Baby Girl

This posting is about a happening on the farm  last year. Daily we experience events in our lives when God is exemplifying His truths as a tangible example of what He is like and how He works based on His principles in His Word.

A Little Calf Shall Lead Them

                A yearling bull was being a typical “adolescent” bovine. He had gotten out four times. I had two different neighbors help me get him back in the first two times. The last two times I had gotten him back inside the fence by myself. The determined yearling just charged back through the fence, damaging it on his return. He was going to the weekly livestock auction, but that was the following day. I had to get him into a more secure pasture for the night. A young, black bull and a dark road are not a good combination.

                As I carried my long, self-made “staff” I began walking through the pasture where my parents’ small herd was grazing, using my unique sooking call. Just as dusk was falling, I realized I would have to move the cattle immediately by myself. I began praying, “Lord, help me.”

                To my amazement, a little white calf that was almost three months old was following closely behind me. I was afraid she was going to butt my behind! Glancing back, I glimpsed the entire little herd moving with the tiny, white heifer calf and me. Within a few minutes, all of the cows, yearlings, and calves were in the secure pasture with the gate closed behind them.

                I breathed a prayer of thankfulness for the Lord’s help. It could have been a fiasco. The astonishing fact remained that the little white calf had lead the exit. The phrase from Isaiah 11:6 dealt with the millennial reign of Jesus when it states, “A little child shall lead them.”  The Bible teaches that this will be a time when people on earth will live life as God originally intended humans to live.
                A young child demonstrates love readily and forgives wholeheartedly. No wonder Jesus told us to respond to Him as children.

                Jesus selected a little one to teach his adult listeners on one occasion. He said “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

                What a reminder that we must open our hearts to the realization that we need God to lead us! His way is the best and the only way to eternal peace and life. Jesus said to His followers, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

                Let’s have the tender heart of a child and follow explicitly our Leader and Lord. There is such assurance in following the One who created us and gave Himself for us. Fulfill His desire for daily communication with us as we hear from Him in the Bible. Then we can respond with a heart full of thankfulness as we talk to Him in prayer.

The little white calf just hours after her birth.

Grand Sir's Baby Girl, the name she has been given,
 as she looked a few months ago. She resembles,
 in color, her father, Dad's bull that didn't like fences. 
As Dad would say, "She's the making of a good cow."

The Danger of Self-Absorption In Our World Today

Bob, the orange and white Manx cat, along with his three litter mates, was born on April 9, 2012. He has matured considerably in two years. His development  over the last couple of years inspired this posting.

The Self-Centeredness of Bob

Each morning I awakened and hurried outside to feed the nine-orphaned kittens whose mothers disappeared - thankfully they were old enough to survive on their own. The half-grown tom cat who showed up was eager to eat also. As soon as Bob, the orange and white bobtail kitten, heard me getting the food for the outside cats, he began meowing almost to the point of caterwauling. It is as if he, the privileged cat, was saying, “Get OUR food! Who cares about those outside cats?”

Bob and Tailer (his brother) had so many perks. They were fed the more expensive food recommended by their veterinarian. Each evening, the two came into the house to eat, play, and then off they went to a comfy night’s sleep in their special kitty condo. Yet there was Bob appearing so deprived.

But aren’t so many American believers much like Bob? Our prayer requests vary from getting the largest offer possible for our home that is on the realty market to having safe trips on our next cruise to helping a child get into the university of his or her choice. Seldom are requests for persecuted Christians in the other parts of the world mentioned.

Yet according to statistics, there were more Christians suffering for their faith in the 20^th century than all other centuries combined (christianity.com). In the 21st century, persecution has increased. Frequently in the last few years, the evening news has opened with a story of gruesome beheadings, usually reserved for believers in Jesus who refuse to recant.
One of the most poignant accounts of persecution and martyrdom has been featured in the devotional book, Extreme Devotion (The Voices of the Martyrs, 2001), a devotional book given to me by my sister. Even though many years have passed since I read this account of North Korean mothers and their children, I never hear, sing, or play “More Love to Thee, O Christ” but what I recall the extreme faith and commitment to Jesus by these stalwart believers. To read a blog posting from VOM (The Voices of the Martyrs) on their website about this North Korean account, click below:

http://www.persecutionblog.com/2011/04/more-love-to-christ.html

I can chuckle about remembering what a demanding kitten Bob was. As he reaches his second birthday, I can attest that he has gained some discipline since he will obey the “stay” command even when he knows I am opening his treats pouch. The vocalization of his previous self-centeredness is practically nonexistent in the manx cat.

Oh that those of us in the western world would repent and turn from some of our self-centeredness and focus on the needs of committed Christians who are standing for their faith in dire and dangerous locations! May we lift them in prayer and remain steadfast in speaking against governments and leaders who disregard human rights. As we continue being vocal about these who are standing for Christ even to their death, may we use our power as Americans for good and begin concurrently to reduce our self-centeredness. I think I’ll follow the birthday cat, Bob, in lessening my preoccupation and self-absorption with my own trivialities, seeking instead to retain an awareness of the plight of other endangered believers around the world. 

O Lord, may we have more love toward You, responding in obedience, with repentance of selfish focusing, and a conscious turning in prayer to address the needs of suffering Christians around the world.