Fourth of July Forty Years Ago

Independence Day in England

                Forty years ago, I celebrated Independence Day in England. Categorically, it was a “quasi-celebration.” The English did not ignite fireworks on July 4^th. The day passed with no recognition. I remember thinking I don’t think singing “The Star-Spangled Banner?” would be well-received.

                How did a second-year elementary school teacher end up in England during the summer of 1980? Jimmie Lady, a former pastor of Ralston Baptist Church, and his wife, Lyneeta, invited me to accompany the two of them along with their two preschool daughters, Christa and Janna, on a pastoral exchange in Bicester, England, at Calvary Southern Baptist Church. We stayed in a 150-year-old police station converted into a pastor’s home located in Bicester, an Oxfordshire town, nestled in the Cotswolds close to Warwick Castle, Blenheim Palace, and Stratford-on-Avon. This invitation was an Anglophile’s dream.

                My trip with them afforded us an opportunity to visit the London Metropolitan Tabernacle, once pastored by Charles Haddon Spurgeon dubbed the Prince of Preachers. We met a genuine knight at Warwick Castle. In a drenching rain, we toured Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill and then traveled a short distance to Churchill’s understated, but serene burial place in the church’s cemetery in the village of Bladon.

                Another highlight with Jim, Lyneeta and four-year-old Christa and two-year-old Janna was getting tickets to a Shakespeare play in Stratford-on-Avon, the hometown of William Shakespeare. Those two precious little girls were wonderful during the entire performance. Even then we had glimpses of how successful the two would be in life.

Lyneeta holding Janna with Christa on
the grounds of Warwick Castle. Later
Lyneeta, the girls and I toured the majestic
 St. Paul's Cathedral together after
navigating the "Tube" schedule, its
map, and making each train successfully!

                What fun Jim had driving the British car through the English countryside to the hover port at Dover, where he drove it onto the hovercraft! (The Chunnel was only a dream on a drawing board then.) After crossing the English Channel, Jim motored us through France to our destination in Interlaken, Switzerland for the Summer Assembly of the European Baptist Convention. 

Passing became a bit more challenging when Jim began driving the French autoroutes since he was positioned on the right side of the car but driving on the right side of the road! He would ask me, sitting on the left side of the back seat, if it was clear to pass. Since the traffic was moving briskly, if no car was in his passing lane, I would yell, “Go!” Jim would gun it and more than once let Lyneeta know he was just “keeping up with the traffic.”

Jim after blessing the food at a fellowship time

after church. Pam O'Keefe, our Cockney-born 

host, holding Janna. Pam, trained as a child,

by her father to be a pickpocket on London 

streets., was gloriously changed when she heard

the Good News of Jesus and received Him,

resulting in a dramatic change in her life.

             Even though we had a delightful time, as I reread my journal, I found it sprinkled with numerous opportunities to share Jesus with hurting, dad and broken people, young people lacking focus, grieving individuals or people who had never heard what the Bible says about Jesus. Jim preached many times. He and Lyneeta met and ministered to the church members, primarily U.S. airmen and their families based in England. Jim shared what Jesus said about “being born again” from John 3 with a vicar when he was invited to tea. Jim was authorized by the Ponca City Rotary Club to exchange a banner with the London Rotary Club. He and Merrell Rozell, one of the leaders in North Sea offshore drilling for the Conoco Company, attended the luncheon where Jim had a brief opportunity to speak to the London Rotarians, just as when he exchanged banners with the Oxford Rotary Club. Merrell and his wife, Mary, graciously hosted us in their London home.

The Front of the Card given by Jim Lady that
Mother covered with plastic and carries in her
Bible. Below is the inside concise
explanation of salvation.

Jim and Lyneeta ministered at Ralston Baptist Church fostering the spiritual growth of the church body as Jim preached, and they taught and lived the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even though Jim died in 2013, Christa and Janna continue, along with their mother, to faithfully serve the Lord sharing the truths of God’s Word that Jim loved so much.

           Mother carries in her Bible a card given her by Jim when he pastored Northeast Baptist Church in Ponca City. She says it conveys so succinctly what salvation means.
           As we celebrate Independence Day this week, how important to embrace the truth that Jesus declared us free from the curse of sin. Yet His followers recognize the deeper their relationship with Him becomes, the less personal independence one tries to clutch. We become increasingly more dependent on His Holy Spirit for direction and power to obey, resulting in a peace that passes understanding and a heart at rest.

Working From Home

As the phrase “working from home” has been bantered about during the COVID-19 era, I reflected on my grandfathers and my father on this Father’s Day. Both grandfathers work predominantly from home as farmers most of their lives. My preschool days found my father farming, enabling him to be at or near home during my early years until, as he would say, "took up carpentering."

Both grandfathers worked a variety of jobs prior to marrying my grandmothers. Grandpa Gates served as an assistant to his relative who installed lighting in Fairfax, Oklahoma. He also worked on the construction of the Gunnison Tunnel in Colorado. To read the blog posting of his early jobs, go to: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2014/02/early-jobs-of-edmund-gates-sr.html

My maternal grandpa, Calvin Callcayah Smith, used his carpentry skills in the lead mines in Picher, Oklahoma, not far from his rural home in the Cherokee Nation built on his father's original land allotment. Grandpa served as a medic based in St. Paul, Minnesota, during World War I. After his father’s death, he transplanted to Osage County and began building wooden oil derricks during the oil boom of the 1920s. Here are links to previously-written blog posts: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2018/02/almost-one-hundred-years-ago-flu-was.html and https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/01/did-warmest-january-in-oklahoma-during.html

Following his marriage to Grandma, Edmund Gates, Sr., my paternal grandfather, worked on his less-than-100-acre farm on the Arkansas River. Grandpa worked and planted his farm ground with a team of horses or preferably - mules. In fact, in his 70s and 80s, he had a great desire for a team of mules, a wish my grandma vetoed.

Not only did Grandpa Gates work from home, but Grandma, Mamie Tripp Gates, often worked right beside him unless they had a hired hand and until my father, the oldest son who lived out of infancy, could work alongside his father. Again, I am indebted to Brenda Gates for the photo of Grandpa and Grandma below. 

Grandpa began clearing trees in 1917 when he bought the farm in the northwest area of the Bend. My father found himself on the other end of a crosscut saw when he “goofed off” at school. To read more about it, click on this link: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/04/maybe-it-was-spring-fever.html

            Calvin Callcayah Smith, my maternal grandfather, worked from home also as a farmer. Even after my mother's birth, Grandma, Gladys Rainey Smith, labored right next to Grandpa in the fields whether raising field corn, wheat, kafir corn (sorghum grain), cotton and oats. As a baby, my mother accompanied them in the field. Here is an account based on a previous blog that told about this:

      Grandma was a working mother. Grandpa drove the team of horses while Grandma rode the cultivator. Before Grandma left for the field, she always put on her meal of pork to cook. That took care of lunch preparation.

      Childcare for my mother, Bernyce, was imperative. Grandpa “repurposed” a little seat for my mother as a toddler to ride on the cultivator. It had been taken from another implement. What resourceful parents she had!

     The same cultivator was stolen and later located around Skiatook. My grandparents could easily identify it. Even though the thieves cut off Mother’s little custom-made seat, they could not disguise where Grandpa had originally attached it.

To read the blog from which the above came, go to: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/04/when-grandpa-and-grandma-got-parrot.html 

My own father farmed cotton and cared for his herd of cattle for the first few years of my life. I liked his working on the farm because, if possible, I accompanied him. He and Grandpa allowed me to ride to town with them if they were buying cattle feed or picking up chicken shale or getting a part for a farm implement. I even hung around as they built the barn, chicken houses, put in the yard fence, and cleaned out chicken houses. When he and Grandpa Calvin constructed the barn in 1961, on the farm Mother and Dad purchased – where Mother and I continue to live, I spent each day on site with them. I persisted in playing with the kittens in the hay for hours – until one afternoon, Dad noticed my eyes were almost swollen shut due to my allergic reaction. He headed me back to the house. Even though I could hardly see, I arrived at the house successfully. As a little five-year-old, once I got to the back door of the house, I thought Whew! I made it!"

As I recall my father and grandfathers on this Father’s Day, I am thankful they were willing to work hard to provide for their families. I am thankful my grandfathers recognized the value of their wives. All three men celebrated the power of commitment since each of them marked over fifty years of marriage. They were men who held to the principles and commandments of the Bible and conveyed them to their children.
Here is God’s formula for fathers to teach their children from Deuteronomy 4:9

You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well. 

The Blonde Mystery Solved

The anniversary of my father's 101st birthday will be June 15. The power of an old photograph prompted this blog post.

            Angie, my sister, was born when I was five years old. Other than her newborn photos, all of Angie’s photos reveal a little blonde. I recall Dad wondering where her blonde hair originated. 

Angie with her golden locks in an
early school portrait

            Dad and Mother had dark hair. Both grandfathers had dark hair. My maternal grandma’s hair was dark auburn in color. Dad commented often, ‘Pop said Mom had “dishwater blonde” hair.’ Of course, I only knew Grandma Gates with beautiful white hair.

            In relation to the "blonde question," I took my teasing too far when Angie and I were about ages four and nine. Even though I knew full well she was my biological sister, I cast doubt on that by saying, “But look at Mom and Dad’s hair color. You are the only one with light hair.” She was savvy, even as a preschooler, and “wrote off” my behavior to sisterly silliness and teasing.

            Until about a summer ago, the mystery of Angie's blonde hair remained unsolved. Brenda Gates, my cousin, delivered to me a couple of boxes of photos. I pulled a photo out and was perplexed. The photo showed Grandma Mamie Gates with two little ones. Grandma held the baby and a serious looking, little blonde boy stood next to her. I flipped the photo over to see scrawled in pencil, Mamie, Freddie and Edmund.

Mamie Tripp Gates, Freddie Gates, and
Edmund Gates, Jr., my father

        What a family revelation! Dad had never seen the photo. Otherwise, he would have declared, “I was a towheaded kid. That's where Angie got her blonde hair.”

            Now after decades, the mystery has been solved. Angie inherited the trait for blondeness from Dad even though as an adult his hair bordered on black in color until it turned silvery gray.

            As we approach the 101^st year marking Dad’s birth, there is an irony that the blonde mystery baffled Dad all his life. As that thought rolled around in my head, I thought of one mystery that Dad discovered in his late twenties and found it changed his life.

            The Apostle Paul discussed the mystery most important for humans to understand. These powerful verses to the Colossian believers addressed concerns about false teaching discounting the deity of Jesus wrapped in the human body born to Mary and placed in the manger in Bethlehem.

            In chapter 1, verses 26-27, Paul wrote, The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

            Paul indicates for ages, generation after generation, most did not understand God’s mystery. But then over 2000 years ago, the mystery came to earth in the bodily form of Jesus Christ. Though He lived a perfect life on earth, He was condemned to a gruesome death. Only in God’s overarching plan did the mystery unfold of the sacrificial death of the Son of God which alone would give humans hope. The basic truth that cracked the mystery wide open was Jesus residing in those who received Him. His presence, the Holy Spirit, daily would reveal the hope of living today and the hope of eternal glory.

As I think about the life Dad lived before Angie and me, he allowed God to live through him to be a giving, generous husband, and provider for our family. Dad always pinpointed the year of his salvation as 1945. Grandma Gladys Smith wrote December 11, 1945, as the date Dad discovered and embraced the mystery of Jesus. A mystery almost too good to believe, but how greatly our family was impacted by Christ living in Dad, giving him the hope to live each day. It is our prayer that we move through life depending on the same power of Jesus living through us, bringing glory to God and honoring the legacy of a godly man, husband and father.

Finding the Devil's Shoelaces in the Bend

Learning About Devil’s Shoelaces

Every week I learn something new. One of my mother's favorite proverbs has been You're never to old to learn. This week proved to allow learning about a new pasture plant.

While clearing small saplings from the pasture, I felt a botanical grab on my boot and jeans. Looking to the ground, I glimpsed a plant I had never seen. In my successful attempt to pull my boot free, the plant came out of the ground. After loading the mystery vegetation sample into the back of the vintage pickup that Dad last used, I snapped a couple of photos. (One of the photos also shows thistles I had pulled.)

Once back at the house, my research began. Soon I spotted information about a vine-like plant with a spiky pink flower and an immature berry resembling an unripe raspberry. (I have experience with unripened raspberries. Grandma Gladys Rainey Smith had a lovely, fenced-in, well-kept area with a strawberry bed, staked blackberry bushes as well as raspberry bushes. Grandma referred to the two type berries as tame blackberries and raspberries. She usually commented as we picked raspberries that my paternal grandpa, Edmund Gates, Sr,, loved raspberries so much that he often said, “If you eat raspberries, you’ll live forever!” Angie and I never seemed to mind picking from Grandma’s berry garden.) The leaves on the mystery plant resembled the leaves on a mimosa tree and could almost magically close. Many descriptions referred to the ball-shaped flower as beautiful. The links below have more detailed information about the plant I found.

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/sensitive-briar - Missouri’s Department of Conservation

https://pbase.com/richarda/image/50020706 - Interesting Photos of Oklahoma Wildflowers

                The names of the newly identified plant ranged from Catclaw, Sensitive Briar to Devil’s Shoestrings or Devil Shoelaces. The last two monikers attached to the viney, prickly, snaring plant brought scripture to mind.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the worldly-wise, gullible Corinthian believers. He expressed concern that just as the devil deceived Eve, so might the diabolical enemy of God and His followers inflict his wicked deception on the unsuspecting Corinthians. Here are Paul’s words from II Corinthians 11:3

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

            As I thought about the simplicity mentioned by Paul, I recalled teaching students in Sunday School and team teaching a Sunday evening class with Sharon Stewart that our pastor, Jon Ogle, named Kids for Christ. The Three B’s was a mnemonic to remember three unshakable truths or nonnegotiable tenets of our faith.        
            The first B stands for BIBLE, the inerrant, inspired Word of God, and the sole basis for our beliefs.  Mike Brock, our pastor, quotes frequently this powerful reminder from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the revered pastor of  the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. Spurgeon recognized the preeminence of the Bible over all other good literature when he said, Live in the Bible and visit other good books.
            The second B represents the BIRTH, more specifically, the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus. Jesus is fully God and fully human. This is the only way He could be our redeemer. 
            The final B reminds of the BLOOD of Jesus. Peter in his first epistle to the scattered saints reiterates that our salvation was not acquired by silver or gold

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 
I Peter 1:19

            Just as the plant aptly named devil’s shoelaces almost tripped me up, so the devil can craftily and stealthily, alter our beliefs or doctrine imperceptibly. Know what the Bible says by reading it every day. Daily invest time in developing an ongoing relationship with the miraculously born Jesus through prayer and meditation on things pointing to Him including music, books and friends that love Him, too. We must share with our loved ones, neighbors, friends, and anyone the Holy Spirit sends across our path that only the sacrificial blood of Jesus can take away our sin and give us new life.

A final note – I love the C.S. Lewis classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe because it clearly illustrates our need and vividly portrays the powerful, yet submissive Aslan, the allegorical representation of Jesus. I challenge anyone who has not read the book, seen the movies, either the animated version or the one with live actors to read or view this compelling tale. Compare Jesus with Aslan as you read or view.