Stories from Grandma

I usually visit my maternal grandma in the nursing home on Monday nights before I play volleyball. Usually I hear the latest nursing home "news/gossip" and the aches and pains report, but this week my grandma told me about her history of jobs and I so appreciated hearing her experiences.

My grandma told me about a state spelling contest she won in high school. Seventy years later, she still remembers being on that stage and even the dress she wore. After high school, my grandma went to Mankato Commercial College to study Accounting. My grandpa was at Northwestern which was only a Junior College at the time, working his way through by sweeping the floors of Zwemer hall and playing on the basketball team. He often tells of how he'd go visit grandma in Mankato and although there were two movies theaters (one sold 3-cent tickets and one sold 5-cent tickets) he claims he never saw the inside of the 5-cent theater because they were so frugal. Grandma entered more contests in college, traveling to Minneapolis to compete in a typing test that she lost because she could only type 100 words a minute, and a calculation test that she won, adding 25 4-digit figures in a minute.

A job opening came up in Mankato at a Real Estate/Insurance firm, and even though she had 6 weeks to go in her Accounting courses, the college presented her the job. She was grateful for a good job that she didn't even have to apply for and said the two partners and their wives were so good to her. They took her to their lake cabin on weekends and gave her a nice set of real leather luggage when she got married. She lamented that she brought the luggage on a furlough trip one time and some soldiers used it as a card table, marring it with cigarette burns all the way around it. She still has this luggage, 60+ years later.

After being stationed in Boise, ID for a short time, my grandma moved to San Francisco when grandpa's Air Force unit was mobilized in WWII.  She was the accountant for four doctors in a building downtown and had to ride the cable car to work. When she received a telegram stating that her husband was Missing In Action, she moved back to Iowa to be near family and wait to hear any news. She finally found out that grandpa's plane had been shot down and he had parachuted into enemy territory.  While he was a Prisoner of War, she took a job in a packing plant in Sioux City, doing daily audits of the amount of meat they were processing. After her husband was liberated after 1 year and 1 day in POW camps, he came back home to Hull and began working the family trucking business with her dad.  Once grandpa took over Vander Kooi Freight, grandma did the bookwork for their business.  I remember playing in their office downstairs, typing gibberish on the old-fashioned typewriter while sitting at the big metal desk.

I cherish stories like these from my grandma and hope to record more about her 88 years of experiences.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming up this week and it made me think about the little odd things that I am thankful for. I have set a goal to send 10 emails by the end of the month telling someone about something small they did that I am thankful for. If you feel inclined to join in, please go ahead and comment here.

Tonight I sent an email to Bidwell Presbyterian Church in Chico, CA. I went to services there when I was a student on exchange at Chico State. I am thankful for the presence they have at that University and in that Community. I never got involved in their programs, ministries, or even remember talking to a single person there, but I remember being so thankful that there was a church where I could go and worship the same God I had worshipped back in Iowa and feel like part of a family of Christ, even when I was so far away from my family and friends.

Other odd/small things I am thankful for:

• The dents on my piano from the light that always tipped over. It makes me thankful for the piano lessons my parents sacrificed time and money for to give me a valuable gift.
• The crack in my rear fender on my car. It reminds me that when I skidded on ice and into the ditch 4 years ago, this is the only injury I have to show for it.
• The bread machine we got for a wedding gift (and the recipe book that came with it). You can't beat the smell of fresh baked bread and a hot slice of parmesan-pepper bread with egg and ham on it makes my commute so much better in the morning
• Co-workers who aren't afraid to be silly and fun. Random turkey gobbles, pilgrim hats, holde-digging bets, and gingerbread houses make the 40 hours a week we spend together so much more bearable, oops, I meant enjoyable.

October 31: Revelation 13-22

Praise God, I made it!  The whole New Testament in one month...with 39 minutes to spare, it looks like.  With a combination of listening to audio CD's, reading my own Bible, reading the study notes and doing research online, I was able to gain a better overall understanding of what the books of the New Testament are about while digging deeper into a few issues that I found thought-provoking.  

I hope whatever track you chose for the month has blessed you and that the habit of spending time in God's word daily will not fade now that the month is over. I am very glad I stuck with this challenge, even when it would have been easier to quit, and I am thankful for those of you who stuck with me and encouraged me along the way.

Reading the New Testament has given me a greater appreciation for the true gift of Life that Jesus offers. I have become more aware of my own shortcomings and more thankful of God's forgiveness for the same. I learned about the life of the apostles, both while Jesus walked with them and after his resurrection, and admire the passion and dedication they had for growing the church. So many lessons to be learned...something new each day (for the rest of my life!)

It's been a month of learning and growth for me and the final challenge from the October Bible Challenge that I want to leave you with is the invitation of the Spirit found in the final chapter of the New Testament:

"Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." ~Revelation 22: 17b

October 30: Revelation 1-11

Revelation has always been a book that intimidated me. It seems so mysterious and hard to understand, but sometimes I think that it would be scarier if we DID understand everything it means. It's hard for many people to just accept that we aren't going to be able to figure out everything--we can't know exactly when Jesus will return, how the tribulation will affect the world, or what the end of time will actually be like.

Fortunately, there are truths found in Revelation that are not inaccessible or hidden in symbols or obscure language.  We can clearly see God's holiness, his power, and that He will ultimately defeat evil. I think God purposely doesn't give us all the details about how everything will play out because He knows that with our human limitations, we would be completely overwhelmed by a full view of the supernatural realities.  He protects us by "hiding" some things from us. I think this also encourages us to have faith in Him instead of trusting in what we know.

October 29: 1,2,3 John

I'm sure you've all had that assignment in school where you have to look up your name and find out what it means. Depending on your sources, my name means "from the court", "courtly", "courteous", or "snub-nosed". (I'm sure you can pick out my least favorite meaning.) 

A few years back I also read a book of baby names that listed a corresponding Bible verse for each name. The verse for Courtney was 1 John 4:16. That always stuck in my head because my birthday is 4/16!  To further add to the coincidence, when I got a new license plate for my car five years ago, the 3 numbers randomly assigned were 416. 

So, from today's reading, I'd like to share "my" verse with you.

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." ~1 John 4:16

The rest of this paragraph is equally as meaningful to me:

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." ~1 John 4:17-20

October 28: James, 1-2 Peter

I'm a calendar person. I have a very nice planner at work where I write down all the activities for the month, day by day. Along with choir practice, church suppers, and school activities I write down the mundane "events" too-- what days I will go to the fitness center, what day I'll go grocery shopping, when I need to clean or do laundry.  If something comes up and derails my schedule, I sometimes get very upset. I realized this was becoming a problem when I would get upset if someone invited me out for supper and I felt like it was "ruining" my plans to work out or clean.  I also like to look ahead to the coming months and record Christmas parties, weekend trips, and show choir competitions-months in advance. So, it struck a bit of a nerve as I read these verses today.

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." ~James 4:13-15

I am definitely guilty of "boasting about tomorrow" which James warns against. I like to know the plan (if not create it) and stick to the plan and not let anything derail THE PLAN. But I need reminders that it is only MY plan, not God's. His plans are often very different. 

I definitely need reminders that God is in control, that HIS plans trump mine, and I need to live for him today instead of spending today planning for tomorrow.

October 27: Hebrews

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." ~Hebrews 13:8

We live in world that is constantly changing. As I see the headline today "Stock market hits 5-year low", I thought back on how much has changed in my life in the past five years.

In the past five years, I've graduated from college, moved twice, gotten married, had 2 different jobs, bought a house, got a dog, been blessed with a niece and a new brother-in-law, watched gas prices soar and then drop, watched my retirement fund grow and then drop, and the list goes on and on.

I can honestly say I am not the same person I was five years ago. In a lot of ways, that's probably a good thing, but the fact is that all of us change, for better or worse, everyday--maybe every hour! It's hard when our friends change, when our family changes, and when our circumstances change. Change is not easy! But amid all the chaos and challenges we face, isn't it a blessing to have one constant stronghold? Jesus Christ, who doesn't change. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

I take great comfort in the fact that the same Savior who walked with the apostles also walked with my grandparents. The same Jesus who was there for me when I struggled as a teen is also there for me as an adult. He'll be there for me for the rest of my earthly life, and will be the object of my praise in my eternal life. The same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.