Faith and Family

When I was a younger man I used to notice that the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day was short and swift-passing. I even wrote a book about it (Sunset on Summer)…

This week I have been speaking to a sweet group of families all gathered at a beautiful, well-run camp in Wisconsin (Camp Fairwood). We’ve had wonderful meals, long conversations, perfect weather, great recreation, and good singing. I have had the privilege to be the preacher-storyteller all week, two sessions a day.

Early in the week our daughter Heidi and her children were here and we made sweet memories.
Now I’m in my quarters and I’ve been writing this afternoon. When I am alone with the Lord and with my thoughts studying the Bible, meditating, writing–it hits me with a sudden shock. Memorial Day and Labor Day are so very close together, but now I see what I didn’t see before…

The time between Labor Day and Memorial Day also passes as swift as the flight of a bird…
Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom and see life the way you see life.
Aspen lost a tooth and jumped into the pool on her own for the first time this week. Laela laughed when see saw it. Denver smiled she always does. Gunnison turned three already.

Keira is becoming a little lady. Koen is growin’ and becoming a little man.

Waylon rode in a little rodeo the other day and he and Leon have cowboy boots.

Baby “J” had her pictures taken this week walking in a patch of sunflowers. Hannah and Dale beam with joy and pride.

K2 (Kyle Kenneth), Oliver Bruce, and Leland Ralph will join me next week at the camp where their parents met. (Barakel)

Bub’s went to camp in Kentucky and got saved!

Bella makes funny faces on FaceTime and her brother Aiden Redemption went down a big slide with a smile on his face and his hands out like he was an airplane.

Wes came and put in our laundry. He had to sleep in an airport overnight because he “flew” Spirit Airlines. Haley and Dylan missed him. Dylan is having another baby. ?

Lois and I will celebrate 42 years of marriage in just a few weeks.

That is all just in the last week or so….

Teach us to number our days….

Camp Fairwood, Wisconsin
August 6, 2021

At 8:12 this evening, the way I reckon it, the sun will set on summer.

In a beautiful twist of irony, three minutes later a plane from Florida will land in Detroit and two young people will begin their first autumn as a married couple.

I will be there to take them to their new townhouse apartment. A mellow end and a promising beginning.

August 31, 2020
Bittersweet Farm

When I was a boy it seemed that the adult men that I was around spoke in secret code that I couldn’t fully understand. It was like I was listening to someone speak in a foreign language. I understood only bits and pieces here and there.

Mostly I was left with a with a large hole of mystery in my heart about manhood. I would lie awake in my bed at night and try to imagine what they meant by what they said. I wondered if I would ever understand well enough to navigate life.

My father was never that way. On long rides at night he would decode life for me and explain humanity and manhood to me in simple, clear, lucid terms that even a confused young boy could understand.

When we did chores or ran errands he patiently answered my questions without making me feel foolish for asking. Every boy should have a man in his life like that.

James, the brother of Jesus, said something like this: “If you have questions about life ask God. He is very generous with His answers and won’t rebuke you for asking.”

Someone locked the door to Hope’s bedroom. No one could find the key. All the windows were locked. There was no way in. There is a cold air return that opens into her room. Finally we came up with a plan. We took the grates off the cold air return and called our little four-year-old grandson, Koen.

“Koen, buddy, can you crawl through there and open the door.”

Fear on his face. Coxing. Pleading. No luck. He was not ready to crawl into the scary dark hole.

More pleading. More cheap psychology; “Are you a big guy? Are you tough?” No deal.

Finally bald, unadorned bribery. “If you crawl into the hole grandpa will take you to the Dollar Store.”

Koen loves to go to the Dollar Store with gramps and buy junk. It might be his favorite thing to do right after driving the car, driving grandpa’s tractor, and shooting his gun at things.

He immediately shot through the opening and emerged from the door with a heroic grin on his adorable little face. He stood there for a few minutes basking in the adulation due his accomplishment and then said; “I’m getting my coat. We have to go to the Dollar Store”

Keira chimed in saying; “I know just what I want and I only need four dollars.” She knew that if grandpa was going to take her brother to the Dollar Store he would never think of leaving her behind and of course she was right.

Off in the cold winter night we went keeping a sharp eye out for deer. Snow all around. Children in the back seat chattering happily. It was a sleigh ride.

We get to the store. Each child choses a toy. We grab a few other things and check out. I stop dead in my tracks…

“What is wrong with this picture children?” I ask.

They look at me puzzled.

“Do you have a candy bar Keira?”

“Uh, no.”

“Koen,” I ask, “Do you have a candy bar?”

“No,” the little tyke says, searching my eyes for meaning.

“I will just tell you this… we don’t go the Dollar Store with grandpa and leave without a candy bar. That is just not how grandpa rolls. What kind do you like?”

I pick a jumbo peanut butter cup. Keira goes for the Oreos. Koen gramps gum-balls. Grandpa vetos the gumboils. Running out of time he grabs a Mounds Bar.

The lady behind the counter says; “I like KitKat.”

We laugh.

Everybody gets their candy bar and we toss a KitKat to the nice lady who reacts wonderfully as if she just won the lottery and we walk to car feeling like Scrouge on Christmas morning sending the prize turkey to Bob Cratchit.

On the way home I ask; “How do you like your candy bars?”

Keira; “I love mine.”

Koen; “Mine’s kinda mushy.”

Keira; “Here Koen. Have one of mine. If you want you can have another.”

I ask Koen; “Do you like your candy bar.”

He says; “I think it is for grown-ups.”

“Would you buy it again?” I ask.

I swallow the rest of his Mounds bar. I’m very grown up. Keira shares another of her cookies with her little bother.

Soon we are home. They run into the farmhouse announcing their treasures to mom and grandma and aunt Hope.

Tomorrow I will leave early and when I return home they will be gone home to Wisconsin. The house will be neat and quiet and nothing will get broken and the remotes will be easy to find… No one will lock the bedroom door and our hearts will ache to hear their little voices. We will miss their antics and the cute things they say and we will miss wasting money on cheap toys and candy bars at the Dollar Store.

Ken Pierpont
Bittersweet Farm
Summit Township, Michigan
December 31, 2018