Taking Change By The Hand

We live in a world where life occasionally throws us a curve ball. How we react and handle those situations determines whether we succeed or fail. 

 Winston Churchill said we can either take change by the hand or assuredly it will take us by the throat.

There are times when we get stuck and no matter how hard we try we can't get out on our own. We have two choices. We can either sit in our rut and not be productive or we can find someone or something stronger than us to help us out.

We are most comfortable when things are familiar, solid, grounded, and what we're used to.

However once in a while we get uprooted, tilted, and moved to a new situation.

True friends see each other out of admiration, not obligation. 

Jason is making a change. He has been our Christian Grade School administrator and is moving to northwest Iowa to take a position there. Some friends loaded up the 4-wheelers and had a farewell trip to Missouri overnight.

 Isaiah is literally taking change by the hand. He and his bride Emily were married and bought themselves a house between Oskaloosa and Eddyville.

My parents have been taking change by the hand together for 60 years. Ten days after they were married Dad went overseas for 14 months. In those 60 years together they moved at least 8 times. They raised 6 children including a handicap child. They opened their home and hearts to 25 foster children. They also opened their home and cared for at least 3 older widows.

Last Sunday afternoon we celebrated with a coffeetime. It was fun for us grown kids to hear stories about our parents from their friends.

 When I was just a kid I looked forward to going to my Mom's parents house because they had a TV and we didn't. I asked Uncle Charlie last Sunday how it was that my grandparents with a simple life and frugal means had a television in the 1950s. Well Grandpa ran an auto repair shop on the south end of Pella and his 4 sons were mechanics. They even tried selling Hudson cars for awhile. Later when Grandpa retired all 4 boys were mechanics at White Way Auto, a Chevrolet dealer in Pella 50 years ago.

Anyhow, back to my television story. One day an out of state family who was moving came through Pella and their car broke down. Grandpa fixed their car and since they had no money they asked Grandpa if he would take their television as payment. Grandpa was willing to take change by the hand.

Below Brad is planting soybeans for a widow named Lois. Lois has taken change by the hand for the last 92 years. When she was 10 her mother died and 11 months later her father died. She told me she had to grow up fast. She accepted the Lord when she was 15 and got a license to preach in the Methodist Church in 1938. She and her husband raised 4 children and had 30 foster children in their home over the years. She worked for a trailer hitch company and her husband ran a repair shop in Eddyville.

Lois's husband died in 1985. She told me she got rid of her cattle about 5 years ago but still has 4 tractors. She preaches every Sunday in a little church south of Eddyville. She is a Hospice chaplain in 3 counties and still does dozens of funerals. She said some of her most rewarding experiences have been telling people about God's love for them and helping them make a decision to serve the Lord. Taking that change by the hand has eternal consequences.

"Lord, grant me the grace to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Reinhold Niebuhr