Precious Memories

Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete.

Marcy DeMaree

With another SOWER (Servants on Wheels Ever Ready) assignment on the horizon we departed our little house on the prairie and headed south. South seems like a good place to go in the winter. However this winter has seen freezing temperatures all the way to Mexico. We had twenty below zero at the little house on the prairie.

Loading up all of the dutch ovens and heading south until we found a place to use them outside seemed like a reasonable idea. Our dutch ovens weigh more than our little 19 foot camper. Okay that is not absolutely the truth. They are heavy but we love them and wouldn’t go anywhere without them.

Our first destination was a trip down memory lane. We pulled into the old yard in front of my grandparents ranch in Oklahoma and I really expected to see Granny running out the door to greet us, just as she did for so many years. Some day I’ll see her run from her mansion in heaven to greet me. She did make me feel that she had been watching just for me all day. I felt like the most special little girl in her life.

Camping in their yard was a dream come true. Granny and my Pap-paw were very influential in my life. They gave me a little Bible when I was two and told me to read John as soon as I could read. Granny made sure I went to church and Vacation Bible School. Pap-paw told me the most important decision I would ever make would be to accept Jesus as my personal Savior. He knew firsthand the difference Jesus could make in a life. Pap-paw was a mean alcoholic all of his first 35 years of life. He fought depression and sometimes hopped a freight train back to his old home in Kentucky. Three men at the little Baptist church pictured above, kept inviting Pap-paw to services and he would say no. They didn’t give up and one day he said, “yes”. He went and was saved by the precious blood of Jesus and he never touched another drop of alcohol.

I accepted Jesus too because my Pap-paw said it was a good decision. I have never regretted following his advice. The farmer and I trekked all through the woods on that old ranch just like we cousins used to do when we were kids. I don’t think there was an inch of that place we didn’t cover as kids. An old threshing machine was our pirate ship or our hideout from the bad guys. Oh the imaginations we had.

Love is the greatest gift that one generation can leave to another.

Richard Garnett

Jesus is the greatest gift one generation can show to the next generation. I pray for my grandchildren each day that they would know and follow Jesus as their personal Savior.