Water Misadventures (2)

Our worst experience with water didn’t come from street flooding, however.  One Wednesday night we loaded the dishwasher, and headed out to church.  I had some tasks to take care of and remained at the building for several minutes, but Elliott went on home.  In a few minutes he called to tell us that the kitchen and the family room were flooded.  A valve in the dishwasher failed to close, and we had a flooded house.

We eventually got it cleaned up and had the valve repaired.  The repairman told us, “Don’t ever start dishes or a load of laundry and leave the house.”   “Don’t even go to bed with the washing machine or the dishwasher running.  We’ve pretty much observed that rule ever since then. 

WATER MISADVENTURES (1)

Prior to leaving Kansas City, I bought a 1969 Buick, which served us reasonably well, but the old blue sedan had a personality.  For one thing, the driver’s door got where it wouldn’t open.  The driver had to get out of the car on the passenger side, which was something of a nuisance.

But that wasn’t the worst of it.  The location of the distributor made it highly susceptible to engine failure in the midst of rain.  Houston was blessed or cursed with a lot of rain. The city is pretty close to sea level and pretty flat.  It does not have adequate drainage, and street flooding in a common thing.

We lived a block and a half from the church building.  On one occasion, we walked to the building for something and left Jim at the house by himself.  Jim was probably in the second or third grade at the time.   Elliott had gone to a youth activity, and we had the two younger children with us.  A sudden deluge rendered Bonhomme, the street on which the church building was located, totally impassable.  The water was probably waist deep in front of the building.  

Of course there were probably moccasins in the water, and who knows what else.   Besides that it was dark.  There have been times that people have gone down Bonhomme in boats following a rain.  I didn’t see any boats that day, but you could have floated one.  We called Jim at the house and told him to sit tight.  We would have to wait until the water went down before we could go home.

It took about a couple of hours.  Elliott came in on the church bus. By then the water had receded enough to let the bus through.    On that particular night, we finally waded water about knee deep to go across the street and walk home.  We trusted the Lord to keep the moccasins away.

But back to the old blue Buick.  More than once it stalled in the middle of a busy street.  Most people tried to keep going through the flooded streets, but a few like me ended up with drowned out engines.  I eventually learned how to deal with this.  I would roll up my pants leg, get out of the car, raise the hood, seat myself on the fender, take the distributor cap off, and dry it out completely.  Usually the car would start, and I would be able to get home.  More than once I got the carpets wet in the car, and there would be an accompanying smell for days to come.  That kind of thing just seemed to be par for the course in Houston.

Vacation Church Experience - Hot Springs

During our Houston years we took a vacation trip to Hot Springs.  We now had a family ranging in age from kindergarten to high school.  So how do you keep a brood like that entertained on a vacation?  Hot Springs turned out to be a pretty nice trip for us.  This was another one of those trips when “Nannie” (Ann’s mother) went with us.  That was guaranteed to liven up any journey.

We left Houston on a Saturday night.  Our plan was to spend the night in Texarkana, and then arrive in Hot Springs on Sunday morning in time to attend church.  

We wanted to get up about 7 the next morning to make sure we could make it to Hot Springs in time for church on Sunday.  We stayed at Motel 6 in Texarkana (seven us in one room).   We weren’t staying in five star hotels when we traveled.  Motel 6 promised “a clean comfortable room, and we’ll leave the light on for you.”   That’s what we got. 

There was no telephone in the room, and there was no way to arrange for a wakeup call.  Mother (which is what I called, Nannie) said, “Don’t worry about it.  I’ll wake up.”  I said, “Well get me up about 6 and we’ll go to breakfast.” 

The next thing I knew she was saying, “Norman, it’s 6.” I got up, showered and shaved.  She and Ann began dressing for church, but we let the kids sleep for awhile.  She said, “Oh, I looked at my watch wrong. It’s 4, not 6.”   I thought, “Well, we’re already dressed.  We’ll go ahead and have breakfast.”   We came back and got the kids up around 5 or so, made them dress and loaded them into the car.   I think we probably stopped and picked up some doughnuts at 7-11.  Then we headed out to Hot Springs.

We arrived in Hot Springs well in advance of any anticipated worship hour.  I had an address, but when I drove there, I saw a sign informing me that the church had built a new building.  The sign directed me to the new address.  It was across town, but we got there well in advance of the Bible class time.

I may have mentioned this before, but the kids always hated going to Bible classes on vacation.  In variably the teachers would find out they were PK’s. They would be expected  to know everything from the identity of Abraham’s father to the exact location of all the stops Paul made on this third missionary journey.  It wasn’t their favorite experience.  But I made sure they were there.   We even showed up on Wednesday night wherever we might be traveling. I thought I was setting a good example for them that they would carry into adulthood.

A few years ago, I got a birthday card from one of my children.  The message went something like this, “Dad, we’ve forgiven you for dragging us into all those Wednesday night services in strange places when we were traveling.”  So much for the example theory.

We eventually found the location of the church we had planned to attend, and we attended the worship service that morning, which was all right except for the fact that the song leader seemed to be a Church of Christ version of a Marine Corps Drill Instructor.  

At the conclusion of the service, he announced, “You WILL return at 6 o’clock this evening.”   The way he put it, there was no option.  If you drove to some place like Arkadelphia to see your sick aunt on Sunday afternoon, you’d better make dead sure that you got back before 6.  Maybe the guy wasn’t all that rigid, but he sure came across that way, and the kids picked up on it.  They had fun with it in the car.

The Lord’s Work and Church Work Aren’t Always the Same

During our Houston years, Gary started to school, so we didn’t have a pre-schooler in our family any more.  Jim and Ruby were both baptized during our time in Houston.  Our household was a beehive of activity, but I was also being forced to look at some major changes in the way I viewed ministry and my relationship to family.  I usually spent one or two nights a week calling on service visitors and others who had displayed an interested in the church.   

I recall one particular evening when I was all ready to go out calling, I realized we had a number of issues at home that needed attention.  Gary needed help with his bath.  He was at that age when he needed to be prodded to take one.  Jim and Ruby both needed homework help.  The house needed attention.  I don’t recall Elliott having any major issues that night, but he was the only one.  Ann was sick and desperately needed to get to bed.

It would have been the easiest thing in the world to get in the car and go visit somebody else.  I got to the front door, turned the door knob and then closed it again.  I took off my tie and jacket.  In those days preachers still dressed up when they went calling.

I immediately went to the bathroom and started drawing Gary’s bath water.   I recall that time, because it represented a fundamental change in my view of “church work.”  I decided the Lord wasn’t calling me to neglect my family for the sake of the work of the church.  I think it was the right decision, and I have tried to act that way ever since.

An Adolescent in the Home

Elliott was approaching his teen years when we arrived in Houston.  He took an enormous growth spurt.  We couldn’t keep up with his clothing needs.  At one point he had one pair of blue jeans that had to be washed every day.  By the time we left Houston he had shot up to 6’4” in height and was skinny as a rail.  He started to school at Sharpstown Junior High, and went through his first year of high school at Sharpstown High. 

He played tuba in the band, and became involved in student activities.  On one occasion he put together a slide presentation on the Battle of Gettysburg, and was allowed to make a trip to Austin to meet the governor.  I went along as a chaperone.  Another brilliant young man from the church also qualified for the trip.   When we met the governor I noticed the other boy didn’t shake the governor’s hand.  I asked “Why?”  He said, “Oh, I’m not that much impressed with a state governor.”   I had the impression that the president might be high enough up on his list, but I couldn’t be sure.

As a Christian teenager, Elliott was on fire for the Lord.  He actually took the lead in getting people from our congregation to attend the first Tulsa workshop.  He talked me into going as a sponsor, and we eventually made four trips to Tulsa.  He was a bus worker in the bus ministry, but his greatest contribution came in the puppet ministry.  

At that point in his life Elliott was somewhat shy, but when he got behind a puppet stage his personality bloomed.  He had a puppet named “Cool Luke.”  The two personalities pretty much merged.  In time he was no longer a shy kid. He eventually became quite adept at theater, and it can probably be traced to the puppet days.  At least it helped him conquer stage fright.

Our Marital Crisis

Houston was a pivotal time in our lives because we passed through our marital crisis while we lived there.  That story has been documented elsewhere, and I’ll not revisit it here, except to say that because of those circumstances Houston represented an emotional high and low of my lifetime.  It was probably not the low for Ann.  I think that occurred in Kansas City, but it really didn’t come home to me until the Houston years.

I will say something about the “high” insofar as I am concerned.  I was forced to take a careful look at myself.  That meant going over everything in my life – life history, relationships, my relationship to God, what I believed, and my mission in life.   I asked myself some scary questions during that time, but I think I came out of it a better man.  I can say that because of this event in our lives, my faith is my own, now one that has been handed to me.  Some folks may think that’s good.  Others may think it’s bad.  To me it is an enormous relief to know that my primary concern involves how I relate to God, and to my family.  I don’t feel the need live up to the expectations of others, although I do want to treat others – even those who don’t come out exactly where I do – with respect.