My Childhood

Our family of origin – the family we grow up in – shaped our values, set our moral compass, nurtured us mentally and emotionally and provided for our basic needs.  Recently, I have been asked by several to talk about my childhood.  I dedicate this blog to all baby boomers. 

One asked, “Pastor, what good things do you remember about your growing up years.”  I was intrigued by the question, because often it’s all too easy to remember the bad and minimize the good.

Actually, I appreciated the question because it forced me to take a trip down memory lane beginning in 1961 and pull out those memories that still feed into the “collective me.”  I would like to share several highlights:

1.     My first day of kindergarten was traumatic for me and I remember crying.  I also wet my pants! Mrs. Baber knelt down beside me and told me what a good, strong boy I was and protected my dignity.  Her kind, supportive words literally paved the way for a successful educational career at Jefferson Area Local Schools.  I fell in love with school that very day!

2.     I’m the middle of seven children and though my dad was a harsh disciplinarian and at times unreasonable in his punitive approach, I still remember that a sense of security pervaded our home.  I never heard the word “divorce” used by either parent.  Whatever difficulties existed would not be grounds for a broken home.  How I thank God for this!

3.     Raising seven children during the 1960’s was no easy task, financially speaking.  However, all seven of us were provided for beautifully.  We were well-dressed, well-fed and lived in a comfortable home.  Although when I drive past my boyhood home, I wonder how nine of us lived in that “not so big” house! 

4.     Time and finances were a commodity, but my parents still did their best to give us “extras.”  Little League baseball, school plays and clubs, Falcon football and basketball, 4-H, church activities, camp etc. served to develop us socially and highlighted our individual strengths. 

5.     Extended family was important to my parents.  They felt it important that we grow up alongside a large brood of cousins, aunts and uncles!  Thanksgiving and Christmas found us enjoying meals and fun with extended family members.  My parents went overboard at Christmas, making sure that each of us kids had a boatload of gifts.  I know their sacrifice was great.  Summers provided fun opportunities for us to gather on the Loomis side for annual reunions and get-togethers, where my dad and his brothers played Country Music while we cousins played in the yard.

6.     I was blessed with grandparents, who cherished all of us kids. Summers meant several week-long visits to the Chandler farm in Pierpont.  Grandma and Grandpa Chandler were special, loving people, who gave all of us individualized attention.  I remember both of them sitting in straight-back chairs on the front porch, telling us stories from their early years in Tennessee.  Their stories held us captive. Warm summer breezes and crickets serenaded us!  Grandma and Grandpa Loomis frequently visited our home, bringing a different kind of influence.  I recall their love for pinochle and card playing in general.  As young children, Grandma Loomis would let us sit on her lap.  She was love personified!

7.     Perhaps like most baby boomers we had a black and white television, an antenna, rabbit ears and on particularly windy nights aluminum foil on the end of those rabbit ears to enhance reception.  We picked up three Cleveland stations – CBS, NBC and ABC.  Summer viewing was not as crowded as those long winter nights that kept us indoors, wrapped in blankets and arguing about who was going to get up and change the channel or re-adjust the rabbit ears!

8.     Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, The Roadrunner, The Flintstones, Deputy Dawg, Top Cat, Johnny Quest (do you remember his dog, Bandit?) and other cartoons made Saturday mornings a special part of the week.  My favorite memory is my dad laughing so hard at Wile E. Coyote’s antics that he almost fell out of his recliner.  After school viewing included “Dark Shadows” followed by “The Big Valley.”  Vampires and cowboys topped off our late afternoon enjoyment.  Then Chet Huntley and David Brinkley brought the national news, followed by Clevelander Dorothy Fuldheim, truly a news legend. I remember being almost afraid of her!

9.     Most of us boys wore short hair and buzz haircuts were the norm.  Dad, our barber, would say, “You boys are looking pretty shaggy.  Who wants to be the first to go?”  I hated being the first because that meant I warmed up the cold clippers for my brothers.  They sent terrible chills down my spine! And besides, I hated having to miss “Daniel Boone” on TV!

10.  My parents always raised huge gardens for fall canning. Mom often let me help her during late nights, and I fondly remember drifting off to sleep hearing the “pop, pop, pop” of lids.  Yields from our gardens also allowed my parents to sell vegetables at the Youngstown Farmer’s Market.  The first days of school found us all with new clothes!  Dad, on the other hand, raised Holsteins and hogs for late fall slaughtering.  That was one trip to the barn that always intrigued me.  Basement shelves lined with canned goods and two freezers full of meat, always insured plenty to eat during the long winters.

11.  Birthdays were always celebrated in our home.  Mom always baked a cake and let us blow out the candles. Ice cream, a gift, and family members singing, “Happy Birthday…” always followed.  My most memorable birthday celebration was captured on camera with me sitting behind my birthday cake with a black eye.  This was my brother Jeff’s contribution!

As you know, many memories of childhood fade into oblivion after our adult decades push them aside for still further downloads.  But I enjoyed pulling up a few recollections from ages 5-16.  What are some of your favorite memories from yesteryear?   

  

Your Worth

How much are you worth?

The worth or value of something depends on how much one is willing to pay.  Money talks!  The parable of the Lost Sheep in Matthew 18:12-14, demonstrates the value God places upon the individual:

“What do you think?  If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?  If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.  So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”

The shepherd left the ninety-nine to save the “one.”  He laid his life on the line to find one stray.  That’s what Jesus did for us!  It seems incongruous that God would invest in the safety of one lamb, unless that lamb is us!

Do you remember the story of the washed-up starfish? 

A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference to that one!”

This story beautifully summarizes the essence of the Gospel!  Jesus died for the world and the one!

Chemists tell us the human body in terms of chemicals is valued at six dollars and some change.  Life insurance companies say we’re worth more dead than alive!  The prostitute believes her worth is found in her ability to satisfy lust.  The gambler finds his worth in winning. Many people find fulfillment in what they do.  Their job determines their worth.  That’s why some retirees lose their sense of worth and die before their time. 

Athletes often feel undervalued when sidelined by age and declining abilities.  Once loud, cheering crowds now turn their applaud toward newer, active heroes.  In this case, statistics determine worth!

Real worth slides into oblivion when we play the comparison game.  Don’t compare yourself to others in terms of looks, finances, career, gifts, callings and abilities.  You alone bring worth to the table of life and God uniquely values you.  He created you in His image to experience fullness of life. 

If you fall short in any area, don’t minimize your failures.  Maximize your potential!  The tragedy of misguided worth is that it promotes extremes.  Some undervalue themselves.  They are the “let’s eat worms and die” crowd.   Others over value themselves.  Romans 12:3 says, “For the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, so as to have sound judgment…”

Good self-worth is invaluable as you walk toward your destiny.  Remember, God went out of His way to seek you out and bring you to salvation.  On another occasion Jesus assured a man short in stature of his unique value when he said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that (one) which was lost” (Luke 19:10). That means you!