Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

John stopped his hammering as he was nailing down floor boards on the second floor of the barn we were building in 1998 and shouted to me downstairs, “Jonathan, I want you to know I enjoyed every inch of this project”. I could not have agreed more. Our project started in an open air shop enclosed on three sides with a wood stove for heat. We had a gas power hoist to lift the huge 12 by 12 oak timbers which we used for posts and beams. The shop set just above a meadow covered with snow, bordered by the Octorara Creek as it wound around the farm against a timbered hill on the opposite side. As I turned in the gravel road to get to this place I felt like I was going back to a time I never knew. Even though swinging that huge hammer working out those mortises with a chisel gave me tennis elbow which lasted 8 months, it made me smile. If I would not have known better I could have been working on Noah’s ark. I even enjoyed our prayers at mealtime. We would all get our lunch boxes, sit down in a circle, take off our hats and pray. It was a long prayer; quiet of course, everyone in their own closet so to speak. After a while John would stump his foot everyone started eating. Yes, John, I agree, I enjoyed every inch of this project.

John retired soon after this project, moved from 9 points in Lancaster county across the river to Airville, York County, to move in the grossdaddy house of his youngest son, Ben, who had a welding shop. It was fun to drop in a couple of times to visit him as he made a new home for himself, his wife, and pet parakeets. Always working, always happy, with his small shop, surrounded by family I felt inspired by John’s authentic happiness.

In the summer of 2001, I heard some people talk about a horrific buggy accident on the Norman Wood Bridge. Someone driving a van went to sleep and crashed into the back of a buggy, throwing the buggy up in the air, then hitting the horse and killing the horse. The father, Ben Ebersol, his infant child and another child were killed. The mother and 3 children were flown to Hershey with various critical injuries. Could this Ben be John’s son? I checked the paper and sure enough John has lost his son.

I waited several weeks after the funeral to visit John. I found him out by the phone going over a lumber list with his supplier for his project. Of course John was surprised to see me as he met me with a warm welcome. “Come inside and meet the family,” he said as he let the way. We first stopped in the welding shop were two young boys with legs in casts were pushing their wheelchairs around the shop watching their uncle manage his work. As we approached they greeted their grandpa with alert eyes and big smiles. I was clearly the outsider as they laughed speaking German. John pushed one wheelchair and I pushed the other across the gravel drive to visit the house. John had already built a wheelchair ramp to help the family into the home. Inside we were met with unexpected happiness and goodwill as 5 or 6 other guest had arrived. When the boys arrived the visitors turned and greeted them warmly, no hugs or kisses, just handshakes and huge smiles, but thoroughly saturated with familial love. I stood back by the door trying to take it all in as I witnessed something very foreign and very wonderful as this healing community cared for their own. Have you met Ben’s widow John turned to me and asked? Quickly, I moved to where she was sitting in her wheel chair and she met me with her radiate smile. The daughter in her wheelchair was sitting among these guests also.

John then invited me through the door which took us to his Grossdaddy home attached. Isn’t it wonderful to be surrounded by family and friends I said as we took seats? “Oh, we couldn't survive without them. It’s been so overwhelming”. John responded with tears in his eyes. We have visitors everyday, meals are provided and the community support has been so unexpected. They held an auction which raised a lot of money. How can I describe what that means to a person to feel cared for? Children are doing really well, John continued, it will take some time for the broken bones to heal but their minds are clear. They know their father and siblings are no longer here but I’m sure they haven’t grasped the reality of that yet.

I asked John if they have had contact with the driver. No not yet….we really want to, we would like to have relationship with him, we know we are having a hard time but we believe he is having a hard time too. We want to talk with him. What would you like to say to the driver I asked. “I want to say we don’t hold anything against him. I remember falling asleep driving my team. It could happen to anyone. We need to accept this experience as an accident which God allowed.” That is truly an expression of the Grace of God in your life, I exclaimed. “Life is too short to hold a grudge”, John responded.

This past year I read the book Amish Grace by Don Kraybill and Herman Bontrager. They tell the story of the Amish families who forgave the killer almost immediately, even showing up in large numbers to stand with the wife of the killer at his graveside as they all grieved their losses together. The testimony of this act has circled the globe. I entertained a visitor from India for a week and he heard this story and wanted to visit Amish Christians. Parents of the students who were killed in a school shooting have come from Russia, as well as parents who have lost children in bombings in Israel came wanting to meet these families. How could they forgive? Is there something about being Amish that helps them? Absolutely not, they respond, it’s a constant struggle, we need to forgive again and again every day; it’s not Amish Grace, its God’s Grace.

I learned most all Amish prayers include the Lord’s Prayer. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”. The Amish teach that God cannot forgive us unless we forgive. To all our Amish brothers and sisters in Christ, Thanks for modeling forgiveness to the world: Authentic Faith.

Love that Tax Code

Love that Tax Code,

Yesterday we just finished pulling our numbers together for the accountant. I actually enjoy this time. It’s a time of reliving the year, thinking about all that has taken place. If we invested for others, shared generously, lived for others it a time of a lot of happiness. If I lived for myself, buying whatever, certainly it is a day of reckoning.

So why did “Joe the plumber” get so much air time during the campaign. He was afraid to go into business because he thought he would make so much money that he could not pay his taxes. It was not just one time but a constant replay of the same story it became obnoxious, especially because it was such a hoax. I wish I could have said to Joe, “Go for it Joe”. You only pay taxes if you make a profit. I wish for you to pay a lot of taxes. Any complaint about paying lots of taxes is really an undercover boast of how prosperous you are. Of course there are ground cover expenses of any business, real estate taxes, payroll taxes, and social security withholding where the employer pays half and I would not want to minimize these expenses, but except for social security, the federal government has nothing to do with those state and local taxes. In fact I feel like all the rules of the game seem to be written for the small businessman. If you have a good year you can reduce income by buying something to enhance your business like a new truck, tractor, or machine. This year your one year write off for new capital investments is over $100,000. So I wish our presidential candidates would have been clear about the issue and said, Go for it Joe, you probably won’t have to pay any income taxes for 10 years even though you’re living well and your net equity grows considerably. After 10 years you probably will start paying taxes but only if you are nicely profitable. Of course there are lots of other costs such as mortgage/rent, capital expenses, interest, labor, materials, bad management, medical expenses, or hard economic times which will determine the success or failure of a business but certainly the Federal Income Tax will not contribute to the failure of any business.

That’s why I love the tax code. It encourages all kinds of great virtues. It encourages buying a home because interest is deductible, it encourages having children, giving to charities, investing because you write off losses and laundry profits through a capital gains tax qualification, and starting a business as I just described. It may sound complicated but all in all I believe it lays out an economic game of fair play.

I suspect this writing sounds a bit strange to many persons because taxes are the whipping boy of all campaigns. Talk show hosts constantly extol the virtues of a flat tax, no deductions. Ron Reagan and Steve Forbes wanted a flat tax in their campaigns. I could not understand why. Then I learned with earnings of $800,000 Reagan only gave $6,000 to charity. Then I understood.

So “Go for it Joe”, work hard and play this economic game. Use the discipline of the tax code to bless someone and in the end all the blessings will come back to you.

I Surrender

I Surrender

And I surrender all to thee Lord all to thee.
And I surrender all to thee all to thee…..

I always liked that song. It was easy to sing and I liked the message of making Jesus Lord of everything we do in life. We have hymns in our book which use similar language. “I surrender all” are the words to a hymn we sang often.

But my Dad never liked that kind of language. He grew up during the age of World War II. Total surrender were the terms demanded of the victors. Millions of people slaughtered, thousands of cities were destroyed. On talk radio today I hear the host proclaim we don’t have victory because we are not willing to crush the enemy. “We need to crush the enemy! We will not have peace until the enemy is crushed.” There is no choice in surrender and no open heart. It is like the child who is forced to sit down by his teacher. He says under his breath, “I may be sitting down but I am still standing up inside”. Indeed, he had surrendered.

Jesus called the disciples and they followed. They really wanted to follow. The wealthy man was asked to sell all he had and he walked away sorrowful because he was a man of great possessions. Surrender was not forced by physical coercion or persuasive salesmanship. One cannot give with a clenched fist, follow with a stubborn spirit, believe with a closed mind or love with a hard heart.

“Surrender”...... maybe there is a reason that word is not in the Bible.

Signs and/or Wonders

Signs and/or Wonders

Sometimes we hear prayers for signs and wonders. Maybe Paul was a bit critical when he said that Jews demand miraculous signs and the Greeks look after wisdom but he preaches Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but to all redeemed it is the power of God. Signs are often referred to as evidence of Christ’s divinity. Signs accompany the people of God, some miraculous, some simply fruit of the spirit.

During the height of the Vietnam War my cousin, Paul Kennel, felt called to Christian service bringing healing to the hurting people of Vietnam. It certainly was not a safe place to be. He asked for a sign and he believed it would come in some form of snowfall. Soon afterward we experienced a strange snowfall in the month of May only two places around the town of Harrisonburg, Va. where he lived and in the town of Mountville, Pa. where his parents lived and nowhere else. He believed this to be his sign. God protected him for eight years in Vietnam during the war.

Peter Dyck, a Canadian, was working in an orphanage around London during the World War II during the time of all the bombing raids. After a while authorities caught up with him wondering why he was not enlisted in the military. He opened the letter calling him to report for duty with a letter opener shaped like a sword. As he sat sitting at his desk thinking about this letter he was fumbling with the letter opener turning it this way and that way. As he held it one way it was a sword, turning it upside down it became a cross. Which was it going to be in his life? He carried the letter opener all his life as for him it became a sign of the cross. His life brought healing and hope to thousands of people.

Someone saw rainbow and saw a promise. Someone saw a sword and saw division. Someone heard a story of a prophet who separated a marriage rendering the ministry of the pastor paralyzed and saw a disabled church. Someone saw a toilet running and running, and saw a gifted life with ears closed going down the drain and cried. Someone saw a bill which wasn’t theirs and saw an opportunity to bless someone in redemptive love. Someone saw a bishop in overalls and saw a life of humble service. So many signs, is it just a "sign" or is it a "wonder"? I suspect it is whatever we do with it. Could a "sign" become a "wonder" of God’s redemptive love lived out among his people. That would please Paul; Christ crucified, the power of God.

"gods" of Mammon

“gods” of mammon

It was March of 1980. I had been teaching for 6 years. I had plenty of distractions during those teaching years, doing a photography business building my house and a house for my parents during summer vacations and weekends. As a result I had fallen behind in accumulating the necessary credit hours necessary to maintain certification. I had a mortgage to pay, a wife, Rhoda, and one year old child to provide for. I was desperate to find an escape route from teaching.

I watched the ads for employment in the Newspaper. Responding to one ad in the newspaper they asked me what kind of car you drive. A 1966 Chevy I told them. Are you the best salesman you ever met was the second question? Blown away by both of these questions clearly I was not the person they were looking for. Then I read an ad for a company called American Farmer. They advertised a sales job for farmers which could possibly pay $35,000 a year. That was income three times higher then I was receiving teaching at our church high school. So I called.

It was snowing the day Mr. Williams drove into our lane in his big white Cadillac. I remember him saying, “Selling this program you soon will be building an addition on your home.” He really looked the part with pressed suit, lots of jewelry and with his German accent he carried sophistication that really impressed this simple farm boy. This is the most promising program to help the American farmer to come along in a long time, he said.

Rhoda could not stand the guy. I think she must have been like Pilate’s wife….”have nothing to do with this man!” Well, I wasn’t interested in building an addition to house but I was hoping I could just pay the mortgage and support our son. I could only think that maybe this is a way for me to escape teaching. The pressure of earning a living soooo made me want to believe everything he said was true. I swallowed his line “hook, line and sinker”. I suspect Rhoda felt like she lost the husband she knew.

At any rate, I took a personal day from teaching to go out and visit the farmers with Mr. Williams. At a little diner on top of the hill above Manheim Auto Auction we had breakfast. He went over the program once more. Farmers sign up for membership costing them $300. This membership gives them the privilege of buying direct from manufacturers or wholesale for almost everything imaginable because of the large buying power which American Farmer has. We then went out to visit the farmers. We visited 4 farmers and each one signed up. I was excited. I could not wait to get started. Evenings and weekends for the next two weeks I signed up 11 persons including my brother David.

A couple of things happened that should have raised red flags in my mind but I seemed to block them out of mind. My Dad drove up to Hershey to look up the address and he could not find the place. He saw a number on the back door of a warehouse with an unmarked flatbed truck but that was it. But then my brother started getting quotes back and discovered “wholesale” was little or no discount at all and then delivery was questionable. I was devastated at that point and quit selling. A guy from my church discovered what they actually were doing. They would get quotes from one dealer in your area then bargain with a dealer from another area for a discount hoping to save the farmer a few dollars. So it wasn’t wholesale at all. American Farmer became an additional middleman. I was deceived and I had sold this product to my friends and deceived them. I felt horrible. It was hard to look at them in the eye on Sunday morning when I met some of them in church.

Interestingly a month later I saw Mr. Williams picture on the front page of the newspaper. Here he was picked up by the police in the same diner he took me to in Manheim. He was apprehended for selling Mercedes Cars which did not exist. He was the classic Con-man. The Car was rented, his house was rented, his life was all a front and he had no money at all. It was reported a year later in the newspaper that American Farmer had declared bankruptcy.

I continued to live with these strong feelings of guilt for my involvement in this deception for 2 more years. Finally, I had enough money to pay all the farmers back the 300 dollars they had invested in the program. Interestingly every last person had tried the program and found it very frustrating and shelved it. Amazingly not one farmer held me accountable for my deception. Everyone had put it behind them….but certainly they remembered. It felt so good to me give them their money back. It was a load I carried for three years.

I learned a lot through this experience. I realized how strongly I wanted to believe something even though there were red flags waving. I realized it is possible to block out certain truths from your mind if it conflicted with what I wanted to believe even though the evidence is really clear that I was wrong. . I realized how easy it is to present material in ways not fully truthful because I so wanted to make a sale. My living depends on it. I learned that the appeal of money is enormously powerful in my life. I learned that I need to listen to the counsel of those around me, namely Rhoda, when there are questions. Indeed, it was her idea that we should at least try to provide photos for a living and see if it could work.

For the past 5 or 6 years I thought often about this experience with American Farmer as I watched the attraction of similar promises of a pot of gold. One day I met a Dad in Virginia whose daughter was involved in a particular business. He knew I knew some people involved in the same business. He came up to me and wondered if someone I knew had his bills paid. Oh come on I said I can’t tell you that. He laughed and said, I know the answer to that. And then laughter turned to tears as he said, Jonathan, I feel like I lost my daughter. I can’t talk to her. It’s all a lie. Nobody involved with this business is buying houses or starting families. I had to agree.

I went to a meeting once. It was full when I got there so I sat down in the hallway beside someone I never met before. He told me they were having a special speaker from Pittsburgh talking. He told me this speaker made $10,000 a month the past 3 months. Feeling a bit skeptical I asked him if he believed him. He told me that he saw the checks. That may sound a bit unusual but then maybe they photocopy their checks as evidence. The speaker went over the percentages program where one receives a percentage of everyone else’s sales in your organization underneath you. He made the “conservative” prediction in 3 years most people should be making in the neighborhood of $75,000. He went on to describe all the fun everyone has at the rallies and then there is Disneyland. The business rents out the entire Park for a million dollars an hour and everyone has the full run of the place. In addition to high income, friends, fun times one can also benefit from wholesale discounts on all the merchandise the business sells off the Internet.

I asked the young man beside me how often he comes to these meetings and he said every Tuesday night and sometimes also on Thursday night. I asked if the speakers went over the same material at each meeting and he said “pretty much so”. I asked if the audience from week to week is pretty much the same and he said "yes, some bring guests with them”. I wondered why they come if they know the speeches by heart and he told me that, “It touches them where they are hurting”.

I got a feeling that this meeting is a lot like Church. It seemed like this meeting was evening out with friends. Everyone was dressed to impress. Income is mutually supportive and money is god. The goal is more and more of it even though when a TV network did their review they claimed that with all the talk about money the average income disbursement to their members is about 140 dollars per person per month. They claimed the only people who really make out are the speakers who are paid honorariums and by selling motivational tapes. The other characteristic at these meetings is a critical spirit condemning other vocations as meaningful employment. My son, hoping to be a teacher, listened to a speaker criticize teaching as a most poorly paid profession and now that his wife has retired from the profession they were really living the life. Another characteristic is cult-like defensive spirit; “us against them” which is built like a protective shield around the band of devotees. It seems like people who were friends before, after they get involved in this business they are no longer close friends. I was told devotees are told to dismiss their parental council as they take on this business plan because they will not understand. An investment broker as a parent gives testimony that they feel their council is not regarded with any respect so business talk is off limits to save a relationship. A third characteristic is the Pep rally motivational atmosphere of the rallies. Devotion is drummed up with chants or slogans with lots of excitement making money kind of a sporting event. One is given achievement banners along the way which symbolizes ones status in the group.

I asked the young man by my side what he does for his day job. Interestingly, he works at a large church as the video guy. I wondered how he can do that and attend all the rallies on weekends. People involved in this business aren’t usually in church on weekends are they? I asked. It depends on your definition of church, he responded. Church is where two or three are gathered together. You can do that anywhere.

I wonder if a business like this could actually be like a church for some; a critical, divisive, separatist, self serving community of peers promising a great hope without reality, excessive expectation with illusive fulfillment. Could an organization like this represent the exact opposite of everything Jesus stands for? I wonder if God would be pleased with a simple honest confession, faith, worship, following Christ where we serve those in need, sit with those rejected, walk in harmony, repentance means we fix what we have broken, money is a tool to bless people for God’s pleasure as we live for others and not ourselves.

Then I remember my own blindness as I was drawn into my American Farmer experience. Lord have mercy on us all.

Club or Church?

Club or Church?

“So which club are you part of?” asked my camera repairman a number of years ago. The question came out of nowhere and I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. I was part of an amateur radio club at the time but he certainly wasn’t interested in that. Oh no he said….I mean church, you might call them churches but I call them clubs! The question hit me broadside, Is that what we are?

I love to hike, bike, canoe, do photography, build stuff, travel, even business groups; all these things are the kinds of things which give birth to clubs, friendship circles of common interest. I’ve tried to participate in a couple of clubs but it never worked out very well, primarily because activities needed to take place on weekends and I needed to be in church. For me Clubs and Church were in constant conflict, as a result I could not participate in Clubs.

Clubs were fun. I enjoyed hanging out with peers, doing fun stuff which was exciting, a chance to improve skills in a particular area which were respected by my peers and I felt respect and affirmation being part of these groups. Along with the fun and social connection there was a cost. There was a high degree of loyalty to the club, people counted on you. Dues need to be paid and responsibilities are handed out and each person needs to deliver. But in exchange you felt this fraternal bond which everyone strives for in life.

So I wonder, do I attend a club on Sunday mornings? One day I took photographs for a Catholic woman. I knew she lived in one town but she told me she played the organ in a town 12 miles away. How could this be? I asked, knowing it was the churches teaching that everyone must attend the parish where they live. Oh, I got permission from the priest she said, they needed help over there, that’s why I’m there.

Two bishops from a prosperous denomination were talking in my camera room the other day about Church growth movements. The discussion included the opening and closing of churches as routine as though they were McDonald franchises. Then a book was mentioned where the author who must be a successful church planter claimed that if Jesus himself would open a church down the street from him, his church would out perform Jesus’ church in attendance by a long shot.

I thought of my little country church. We come from so many different places in our life's journey. Many of us feel very vulnerable in life's stuggle. Is this what Jesus had in mind when he described his banquet as the poor, the blind, the crippled, the lame. Our pastor proclaims our church is not a needy church, indeed it overflows with life giving love. I was brought to this church as a baby, these are my people. This is God’s church I serve. It certainly is not a club.

In this world you will have trouble

In this world you will have trouble.

Vacation time while teaching during the summers of 78 and 79 my Grandpa nursed me through the construction of the house we still live in. We framed it and completed the outside the first summer, over the winter we wired, insulated, and nailed up all the rock lath for plaster. The second summer was spent building the kitchen and trimming out all the windows. Every job was a big job which seemed to take forever. So many times I needed to do and redo work; it was discouraging to this guy who likes everything to be done in a flash. But Grandpa, 78 at the time, would always say, "without a little trouble you don’t have anything".

At 56 I still hear my Grandfather voice saying the same thing. It seems I always have the most trouble at the times in my life when I stretch myself to new responsibilities. As a beginning teacher in 1975, teaching everyday was trouble enough but then this rookie teacher was given the job of monitoring the detention hall. After the senior trip I had to keep 10 senior guys in line for 10 weeks after school. That was trouble.

My first year in the photography business in 1980 I had just started my run on seniors when my flash system which never had given trouble when on the blink. Numerous seniors needed to be reschedule until I could get another system up and running. When I did get another system up and running the light ratios were not right and I had to redo about 20 seniors till I finally got a system which worked. That was trouble.

When I first started the lab in 1983 the chemistry replenishment system was not working as it should. The blacks just were not black enough and I could not understand why. After several months of struggle, adjusting pumps, changing filters on the used printer we purchased we got our prints to look respectable. That was trouble.

In 1990 we were in the midst of adding an addition to our home for studio space I felt the pressure of being overextended as a business. It took a year to complete and costs went beyond what I had anticipated by a considerable amount. That fall I got a letter from an attorney suing us for $10,000 for have 4 4x5 proofs on display in the hallway of our camera room of a person I had photographed. My crime was that I did not permission from his client neither did I compensate her for this privilege. I was devastated. I had no extra money to settle this and I never spoke with anyone so difficult as this attorney. I had no choice but to call an attorney. As it turned out it was turned over to our insurance company for business liability who gave him $500 and he took it. For several months it was all I could think about. That was trouble.

In 1995 we took on the responsibility of renting 16 townhouses in Mt. Joy. This is a job where one tends to expect trouble. Surprisingly the first year we really had no calls at all. I couldn't believe it. Since that time we have had the normal maintenance one expects with such an investment but outside of the year 2004-5 when I had to deal with a horrible domestic violence situation and next door a drug trafficker this had been the easiest of jobs. I like my people and I think they like me.

When I was building the barn of my dreams in 1998 I was up on a ladder in the corner of the building. The ladder was not set squarely on the ground and not properly supported by both legs of the ladder at the top. In less time then a split second the ladder twisted and I was on the ground catching my breath and feeling pain in my back. Laying there on my back I wondered how serious my injury was. Rhoda took me in for X-rays which showed a hairline fracture on a vertebrae. They gave me a brace and told me to be careful. It was a month before I started my run on seniors for the summer. This was year I bought a battery powered golf cart to carry my customers around the lot to take photos. It eliminated a lot of steps and took the weight off my back. Today my back is fine, thank the Lord, but for that year I was constantly conscious of weak back. That was trouble.

In 2001 in an effort to be supportive of a friend who taught me how to print my first color photo we purchased the Filmmet color lab in Greenfield Industrial Park the day it was scheduled to close. In the Imaging industry film was rapidly being replaced by digital capture which left the film based equipment obsolete. I saw it a place I could get my feet wet in digital production and also give me a place to develop the film I used in my own business. Little did I know how ill prepared I was to take on an additional company. In the midst of building cabinets, buying equipment, getting work out, the black and white film processor caught an electrical fire and immediately was irreparable. As it turned out again insurance money replaced the processor but it took months to get the new processor here from Italy. While the company is not particularly prosperous it continues to hold its own and the same persons whose jobs were saved in 2001 still work there today. However, had I known the emotional roller coaster and all the trouble this investment carried with it I know I would not have done what I did. That was trouble.

Is trouble to be expected? My experience is not unique. The year my father expanded his barn from 12 milking stalls to 42 stalls in 1960 we got hit with an infestation of mastitis in a lot the cows we just had purchased. I felt sadness for my Dad as he stripped one cow after another treating them and dumping the milk in the gutter. In 1996 I helped our pastor build his house. He is a strong and health minded person. In the midst of building his house he developed a herniated disk. Working just a little became a struggle. He called his house a house of pain. But struggle he did and his house became a nice home.

So I ask myself why do I put myself in these predicaments. Why don't I just enjoy what is. This past year we needed a house for a refugee family our church is sponsoring so we purchased a nice little house in Lancaster. Two weeks ago we had lots of wind and then lots of rain. Rhoda got a call from Hsar Hel, the mother of the family at 7:30, “I need Jonathan”! Then spelled L E A K! I went in and here the water was leaking through the ceiling at 4 spots. I should have gone home and got a ladder but I figured I would get up on the roof after the rain had stopped so we just spread buckets around. I thought I must have an old roof that needed to be replaced. The next day when I returned I never expected to see what I saw. Here the wind had picked up a 12 by 15 foot section of the rubber roof compete with the fiberboard it was glued to, lifted it up and folded it back over the roof. I’m surprised our water leaks were not worse. This is trouble. Once again I hear Grandpa saying, “Yes it’s trouble, but without a little trouble you won’t have anything.”

When a life is a statement of who God is.

How does one make a tribute to person like Rhoda Kennel?

Rhoda was a teacher as long as I can remember. She loved teaching. She could not teach enough. She looked forward to teaching Sunday school after teaching all week long. Even when her mind was injured with some minni strokes she struggled to keep learning. A couple of weeks ago we got new Sunday school books….as usual she took home the teacher’s copy and said on the way home….she can’t wait to read it….Reading the Sunday School lesson was her “Favorite thing.” A couple of weeks ago we were visiting her and we caught her reading a classic novel 2 inches thick. She just loved to learn and loved to teach. In fact she came to this church when she returned from Somalia in the sixties to teach and she taught ever since.

I loved to listen to her teach because she was knew what she was talking about. She prepared intensely. When I would say something I would always look to Rhoda wondering if I said it right…..probably she would qualify something I said but I never felt intimated. You just knew that she got it right.

She had this adventuresome streak…she loved the world and the people of the world. She lived in the Muslim world and the Chinese world and loved it. I think she was completely comfortable and secure with who she was. She didn’t mind being a stripe of a different color. Being so secure about herself made her free to respect and love people wherever. She wasn’t threatened by people being different probably because she felt that way about herself. You just didn’t feel this judgmental spirit from Rhoda. She loved and respected the culture, music, literature from all people even as she loved her own people and music. We all know how she loved traditional music of the church. I remember one time her standing up and saying to the young people, I love the music of the young people. Of course she did….she loved it all.

When she could not travel herself she would travel by reading….she read all sorts of things. For a person who didn’t watch TV, She understood the world in a way few of us do. I remember before Iraq was invaded she said in Sunday school that she believed our country was going to invade Iraq. She said Sadaam would be removed…there would be a power vacuum and Sunni and Shites would erupt into a civil war. Most of us didn’t even know who Sunni and Shites were at that time. Maybe Rhoda should have been President.

She loved Natural world. She loved her garden. She loved flowers. You probably are wondering about this flower. Just three weeks ago we were taking Rhoda home from church and she said sort of matter of factly….There is something really beautiful in my house today. We asked what it was and she said a flower. So we asked if we could see it. She said yes….so we did. Then we learned the story of the flower. Her mother raised this cactus for years…who knows how long but the cactus is older then 20 years. It never bloomed until a few years ago. Now it has bloomed several times in the past 5 years or so but very rarely. The flower only blooms for 1 day. Tomorrow it will be gone. Wow…..I said I must take a photo….so I went home and got my camera and took a photo. I printed it the next day and gave her the picture….I went to look at the flower to see if it was still there but it was already brown. All we have is a wonderful memory of something beautiful….and a picture. So it’s very symbolic. It’s symbolic of Rhoda love for the natural world. It’s symbolic our lives which are here but for a brief time….but a vapor as the Psalm writer says….but we can bloom if even for a day. The flower was also a Gift God gave to Rhoda, who nursed this plant for years, giving her great delight even as she struggled to live with the support of oxygen just before God took her home.

Rhoda loved her family. A most precious memory was Rhoda holding the hands of her father as we gave her a sending blessing to go to China. She cared deeply about her brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews even as a mother. When we sang the song together, “Great is thy faithfulness” Friday, the day before she died, we watched Rhoda with tears as she struggled to sing every last word , “Strength for today and Hope for tomorrow” Great is thy faithfulness”. Afterward with all the energy she had she said, “That’s good song, that’s a good song!” Then immediately she looked at her niece and nephew and asked…Can you sing this song? They nodded in affirmation and she responded as the school teacher she always was; “Wonderful!”. She cared deeply for her family.

Rhoda loved her church. Worship for her was Loving God and Loving the people of God. Being with the people of God was the highest priority in relationship with God. Her Mother was in Church the Sunday before she died. Her Father missed two Sundays while in the hospital and Rhoda came every Sunday before she died. Taking her home from church she always would say it was so good to be at church today.

Rhoda loved Life. She did not satisfy all the goals she had in life. It was really hard for her to return from China because of illness. She hoped to spend years in China but it was not possible. It was not easy to accept being ill. But none of us ever heard Rhoda complain in her suffering. In fact in church we would feel guilty because Rhoda would never ask to be prayed for and sometimes we would forget. Only once did I hear her say she is not afraid of dying but she doesn’t like to be sick. No one can blame her for that. What was impressive were the constant statements of appreciation for all the things she loved around her. In your death Rhoda, you once again were teaching, teaching your most important lesson in life. You taught us how to release life full of gratitude, faith, and Love. You taught us how to die. Thank you for being God’s Gift to Us.

Go my son with my blessing never alone.

Watching Lowell sitting across from the breakfest table from his son Phil, as he prepared to go to Eastern Mennonite University, gave me the same vision Norman Rockwell saw and every parent feels as they say goodbye. Unknown questions, challenges, adventures, we walk by faith and not by sight always trusting. We send our children with great joy to discover new worlds, new relationships, new skills. May every child know they go not alone. "I, the Lord will bless and keep you, and give you peace."