ENJOYED THE JOURNEY

Dan & Leona - Enjoying the journey

I have enjoyed life's journey.  My journey with my parents, siblings, relatives, youth  and  college friends, followed by my journey with my wife, children, grandchildren and now a great grandchild with another one on the way.  Also my pastoral journey has been most enjoyable, traveling with the host of people that I've met and interacted with over the past sixty years.

You may be asking, "Would I choose to be a pastor if I had to go back some sixty years?"  The answer is a resounding  "YES!"  I don't think that I could have had any other kind of job or profession that would have brought me as much satisfaction, fulfillment and enjoyment. 

Did I get rich?  "No!"  Did I sometimes feel like quitting?   "Yes!"  Was I satisfied with all of my preaching, visiting, counseling, etc?  "No!"  Would I devote more time to my family?  "Yes!"  I am so thankful for my children, Dan, Brian and Sharilyn.  If I could start over again, I would spend more time with them, playing in the backyard, fishing, hiking and just being with them.  Whatever their thoughts were, growing up in a pastor's home, they never complained.  

Family vacation at Disneyland - 1969

We did have some great family vacations, the trips across country, through the prairie provinces and several US states.  We traveled as a family down the US west coast, the western and mid-western states, the east coast as far south as Virginia and as far east in Canada as Ontario and Quebec.  We made many trips to see  my parents, their grandparents, in Chatham, Ontario.  There were also the camping trips, that we enjoyed, with the Boler and Holidaire RV's.  Our favorite spot was Fairmont Hot Springs, near Invermere, BC.  We pulled a couple of RV rentals before purchasing the Boler, our first RV.  We pulled an RV as far east as Minnesota, as far west as Vancouver Island, as far south as California and as far north as Lac La Biche, AB.  We never pulled an RV to Ontario, but traveled by car a few times and saw many different places of interest along the way, Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, The Black Hills, Yellowstone National Park, the birth place of Leona's father in Plankinton, SD, etc. We also had a tour through the Kellogg's plant in Battle Creek, MI, toured the Radio Bible Class headquarters in Grand Rapids, MI and Back To The Bible Broadcast in Lincoln, NE. We also took the children to Disneyland and Sea World twice.  Below are a couple of photos taken on our trips.  On the left is the old geezer at Old Faithful Geyser.  On the right, a photo taken following our tour of the Kellogg's plant.  That fourth young person is Leona's youngest brother, Stan.  We took him with us on our Ontario trip in 1971.

  

The foregoing posts have given you a glimpse of our pastoral and spiritual journey, which has been most enjoyable.  For the last 59 years I've been abundantly blessed to have a wonderful lady, that God planned for me, walk by my side.  She has walked with me through the ups and downs, the good times and the not so good, the encouraging and the discouraging.  Leona has been my unpaid associate pastor.

I'm not saying that I reached the top, by any means.  I did what I did to the best of my ability and God's leading.  However, saying that Leona was my unpaid associate can best be summed up by the statement someone made which says, "Whenever a man reaches the top, a good woman is holding the ladder."  Leona held the ladder for anything good that I ever accomplished.

She was the one that got awakened at night, as I was, and accompanied me to meet with a couple whose son and fiancee had been killed in an auto accident earlier that evening.  She was the one that was with me the Saturday that I had a morning wedding, an afternoon wedding, plus a third wedding at 5:30pm.  She also was the one that went with me that day, between the first and second wedding, when we both shifted our emotions from the beauty and blessings of that first joy filled hour to sorrow and sympathy, praying with a couple who had just received the news that their daughter had committed suicide, only to shift back into the happy mode of two more weddings.  She was the one that was with me when we visited a young mother and father whose newborn survived but a few hours.  Leona was with me at weddings, whether of a young couple or a couple of widowed  seniors, who were "tying the knot" for the second time.  She seldom missed a funeral or memorial service and was there to give a hug and support to the grieving family members.  

She was the one that prepared coffee, goodies and meals for numerous church members, newcomers, and guests in our home.  She also accompanied me in home visits to parishioners, etc.  The total of all of these times together, either in our home or a church member's would number into the thousands.  Leona was the one that sensed that a certain couple were struggling and we needed to visit them.  Soon after, that couple's vocation and direction of life made a complete turn around.  She was the one that often shared an idea for a devotional or sermon that I needed to give.  There is so much more that I could say.  Leona was there for me all the way.  I treasure all those years that she stood with me and encouraged me.  She was the best wife and mother of my children any one could wish for and she made our home a haven of rest.  Oh yes, she also suggested the title for my second book - Jump Start Your Day.  That title was so much better than the one that I had chosen.

We've enjoyed the journey and it's not finished yet