Curbing Spring Fever in the Bend

 As we find ourselves surrounded by the glorious season of spring, I always recall how challenging as a teacher it was to "corral" students inside the four walls when perfect weather awaited those winter-weary young people. My grandfather had a constructive solution for this malady.

In the late 1920s, Finis Ewing Rippee and his wife, Elizabeth, arrived in the Big Bend community to teach at the Woodland School (Lester Anson’s home is located where the Woodland School once stood.). Mr. Rippee captured the interest of his students as a creatively innovative teacher. He was one of the first people with a radio in the Bend. On historically momentous occasions, F.E. Rippee brought the radio into the rural school building, introducing the wide-eyed scholars to a world of which they knew nothing.

My father, Edmund
Gates, Jr., as cropped 
from a group
photograph taken at
 the Woodland School
located in the Big Bend.
Notice the hat on
backwards and his 
bare feet.

Even though my father, Edmund Gates, Jr., found Mr. Rippee fascinating as a teacher, when he was around 10 years old, he began loafing instead of studying in school.  Mr. Rippee visited with Edmund, Sr. about the situation. My grandfather, Edmund, Sr. told Mr. Rippee, “Just let me keep him out of school a week to help me clear walnut trees.”

Eighty years later, my father explained the process this way. He and my grandfather dug down around each of the tree stumps about a foot and a half, with both of them using a shovel. This allowed a place wide enough to maneuver a crosscut saw effectively. Then Dad and his father each got on one end of the crosscut saw and began pushing and pulling. Some of the walnut trees had trunks with 10-inch diameters. My father exhibited unparalleled strength for his small size. He was so agile that he could easily climb a tree to get a squirrel (Steve Gates, his nephew, would later categorize Dad as a squirrel on the rafters of a new dwelling. Dad was in his 70s and 80s at that time!). Even with the sturdy physique of my father in his boyhood, he characterized the week out of school as very hard work. I'm sure he collapsed his slim, work-weary body into bed each evening that week. 

When Monday morning rolled around, Dad was the first one in the buggy to go to school. He had learned the value of education on the end of the crosscut saw.

Both my father and Ruby Martin Rice conveyed the respect they had for Mr. Rippee as an educator and a person. They related how he taught them principles for life that made them better people after they graduated from the eighth grade at Woodland School. A teacher who can impart to his students the qualities that make a responsible employee, a reliable parent, a trustworthy spouse, and a dependable neighbor deserves the loftiest of accolades. 

The writer of Hebrews interweaves succinctly our earthly father's correction and the perfect discipline of the Heavenly Father. Children who learn to adhere to boundaries will more readily respond to God's correction. 

For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always right and good for us because it means we will share in His holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening  - it is painful! But afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. Hebrews 12:10-11 (New Living Translation)

When Two Pennies Spoke Loudly

            On a recent warm spring morning I pulled out my short-sleeved t-shirts and rediscovered a tee Angie had given me last year. It reminded me of this blog post I had begun shortly after receiving the t-shirt mentioned in the blog post below. 

           One day last summer, I opened the mailbox to discover a plastic package on top of the mail. My name and address were handprinted. The return address label had such an attractive look.

Return Label on Package

            Upon arriving in the house, I carefully opened the plastic bag, wondering what this could be. I pulled out a t-shirt. Then I remembered my sister mentioning a Pawnee, Oklahoma-specific tee that she thought I would like. She was correct in agreeing that it would have significance to me.

As a child, I loved the movement of the mechanical horse at Ermy’s* in downtown Pawnee. Whenever we went into the unique store so my parents or grandparents could buy overalls, sewing patterns, fabric, boots, or lace, the store spelled F-U-N to a preschooler looking forward to a ride or two.

Front of the T-Shirt Bought By Angie for Me

            A ride on the mechanical horse located in Ermy’s cost only a penny. Usually, my dad or grandpa supervised my rides on the galloping steed. As a little one who craved activity, this charger afforded such fun for me.

One ride stood out as a learning opportunity for a little 2–3-year-old. Dad funded the trotting pony that day. He gave me a couple of pennies to hold in my little hand. I reveled in the shiny little pennies since they ensured more rides. He helped me insert the penny and soon I rode rhythmically on this thoroughbred with my imagination racing me outside the building. Suddenly, the pennies slipped from my hand. In consternation, I watched the pennies fall and roll over the antiquated floor. As my ride ended, I saw a child snatch the pennies I had dropped. To my horror, I overheard these words tumble from the child, “Look what I found!” A woman I guessed to be the little girl’s mother replied, “Did you?” The child nodded.

            Dad helped me off the mechanical horse. He got on my level and made sure with a quiet voice and calm demeanor that I understood what had happened. The child had grabbed something that did not belong to her. He said stealing was wrong and explained the little girl did the wrong thing. He continued to discuss that the little girl who stole my two pennies also didn’t tell the truth. It seemed that was the first day I heard the word lied. I got the message loud and clear because she had lied by telling she had just found those two pennies. I knew she saw those pennies fall from my hand.

            Do children listen to parents and learn important principles? They absolutely do, especially if it is tied to a personal experience or an observable happening. Dad had a knack for teaching life principles this way. Frequently, he quoted a Bible verse to provide a basis for the truth he was teaching.

            I haven’t worn the tee from Angie, my sister, yet but every time I wear it, I will recall how Dad used the mechanical horse fiasco to teach me the value of the penny many decades ago. Even more importantly, he instructed me in the integrity of honesty and truthfulness.

            Lord, give me eyes to see and take every opportunity You give to impart truth from Your Word. I know Your Word is everlasting just like each person I meet. Give me Your wisdom and boldness from Your Holy Spirit to invest in both of these – Your Word and people.

 *Cheatham’s stocked groceries, books, some toys, paper dolls, and 1,001 other items. The two stores were connected and under the same roof and owned by the same family.

 

Encouragement from the Little Wild Violet

         Recently I walked from the bunk feeders up the slope near Mother’s “Big Pond” to check on a cow. Once I arrived, I realized I had misidentified the cow from a distance. Since it wasn’t the cow I was in seeking, I trudged on thinking The cow of interest must the one farther north in the pasture. Alas, as I approached the second cow, I recognized I was mistaken again. Finally, based on color, I knew the cow I sought was farther northwest near the large ravine dubbed The Bear’s Den by my father long ago. I quickly assessed her and headed back.

        I turned quickly back to the house. To minimized anxiety for Mother, I  wrote the time for her to expect me back from checking and feeding cattle. I glanced down at my work watch that I usually strap on my wrist but in my haste had forgotten it. I hadn’t calculated in Mother’s timetable the additional time of the hike to check the cow.

        My speed walking began with an awareness of the possible hazards of perambulating too fast in a pasture. I remembered a few times my knees took the brunt of a fall when moving too quickly over unlevel terrain. In my memory of a fall several years ago, I uttered this prayer midfall, “Lord, heal me. Let me walk back to the house. Keep me out of the ER!” I finished the prayer as I got up off the ground.

        As I approached the shed near the bunk feeders, the rocky ground necessitated that I walked at a slower gait and stick to the cow path as I looked carefully where my feet were going. What a wonderful surprise came to my eyes!

        There at my feet was a lone wild violet. I had spotted little wild violets in previous years and in a couple of different locations. The little purplish flowers appear in our area between March and May.

        As I took a moment to look at it, I immediately thanked our gracious Creator for placing it on my path for that moment when I was a bit stressed.

        The pretty little bloom caused me realize if God created it and allowed me to see it at that very moment, He was reminding me of His care for Mother, the cow, me and all that concerned me.

        During this welcomed stress relief, I was reminded of His Word and it was what I needed to hear in David’s Psalm 138's last verse, The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

        Then in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul while in a Roman prison to write a companion verse to Psalm 138:8 in his letter to the new Philippian believers* found in Philippians 1:6, Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. As we daily read God's Word, we can rest that He will use His powerful Word as He works in us.  May we rely confidently on the assurance of His completion of His work in our lives until we meet Christ.

       

*Lydia was one of the young converts in the fledgling church at Philippi of whom Acts 16:14 records, The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. The Philippian group of believers had no building but met by the city’s riverside for prayer. What is the backstory on this woman? After the Lord opened her heart to Paul’s teaching, she invited Paul and Silas to stay in her home while ministering in Philippi. How did a woman in the days of the early church have a lucrative business to afford such an ample home and household to host Paul and Silas for an extended time? Lydia was a seller of purple, a product craved by the wealthy and elite of the day. They desired the  color of the little wild violet that God allowed on my path. Don’t we serve an awesome, good God?

Memories of an Eclipse

 My grandmother’s fascination with solar eclipses stemmed from her experience early in her life.  I never asked Grandma, Gladys Vivian Rainey Smith, a specific date. History indicated one of the more noteworthy solar eclipses in Oklahoma occurred on June 8, 1918.  The site, timeanddate.com, recorded the total eclipse was visible from around 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with its maximum effect being at 6:30 p.m.

My maternal grandma, Gladys Vivian
Rainey, about a year before the
total eclipse of June 8, 1918

Map of the Path of the Total Solar Eclipse on
June 8, 1918 - taken from NationalEclipse.com

       Grandma told of how in the brilliance of the day the landscape became as if it was dusk. The sounds of a summer night began to be heard all around her. Her mother’s hens went into the chicken house and automatically climbed onto the roosts as if preparing for nightfall.

       Grandma’s eclipse experience in her late teens often came to her mind when we read Matthew 27:45-46:

Then from midday until three o’clock darkness spread over the whole countryside,

 and then Jesus cried with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why did you forsake me?” (Phillips)

And then we compared the companion section in the Gospel of Mark and this passage in Luke 23:44-45:

By this time it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the thick veil hanging in the Temple was torn apart. (The Living Translation)

       Grandma explained that when Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself, God could not look on our sin that He bore in His body on the cross. (II Corinthians 5:21) She articulated that the death of Jesus coincided with the end of the darkness upon the area around Jerusalem. She often turned to one of her favorite chapters in Isaiah and read Isaiah 53:12:

Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,

And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

Because He poured out His soul unto death,

And was numbered with the transgressors.

For He bore the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors.

       These memories of the past will be in my mind, on April 8, if weather permits my viewing the effects of the solar eclipse. I’ll be thinking of Grandma’s excitement over this unusual natural phenomenon over 105 years ago.

Thank You, Jesus, that You endured the darkest day in all the history of the world with all the horrendous sins of ours weighing on You during Your most excruciating pain so we could experience the peace of being forgiven and the gift of Your  enabling power to live purposefully every day.