MEMORIES OF OKABOJI

An occasional vacation spot for our family during our years at home was Lake Okaboji about 80 miles from our home. It was quite a resort area with fishing, swimming, and an amusement park. One week each summer there was a missions conference sponsored by the Christian Missionary Alliance and the Omaha Gospel Tabernacle. Dr. R. R. Brown was the pastor during those year. As I think back, there were some significant things that occurred there. I have a distinct picture in my mind of seeing Billy Graham in the beginning of his ministry. I was baptized in the lake early on a Sunday morning with a number of others. I was 12 years old and the water was very cold. It was a special time for me of following the Lord Jesus. I remember another time as a teenager hearing a missionary from Viet Nam speak. She had her husband and children taken away when on the mission field. She had no idea what happened to them. She challenged young people to make their life available to God for His service. I remember going forward with many others making this commitment to the Lord. I looked up as she gave the dedication prayer for those who had come. Her voice was steady but tears were streaming down her face. I recognized in her a deep work of God produced from her suffering. I have fond memories of the fun being at the lake and am grateful for that which impacted me spiritually for the Lord at Okaboji.

THE LORD'S BLESSING

Moses told Israel in Deut. 30:19f, "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey His voice."

After that special time with our family and Dr. Bob Cook, Mom and Dad began considering finding a church that preached the Bible. As I mentioned, they settled on the Meriden Evangelical Free Church nearly 20 miles from home. Now we were attending church 3 times a week instead of once a week 5 miles away. For the first time I saw people bringing their Bibles to church.

Some time after attending this church, Dad was in a prayer meeting one morning with some other men. One of the men told him about a farm that was soon to be sold. The folks looked into it and were able to purchase the land less than a mile from the church. It was a wonderful farm that always produced a good crop. The income from the farm was such a blessing to the folks through their retirement and then to us children after they went home to heaven. We recently sold the land nearly 50 years later. It sold for more than 11 times the price the folks had to pay.

It was very difficult for the folks to leave the family church and then to leave the family farm where my Dad was born. They chose to pursue God even though family would not understand. Proverbs 10:22 "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it." We have been blessed in so many ways for Mom and Dad's obedience to the Lord.

AFTER THAT SPECIAL NIGHT

I have a clear memory of the next day being so happy that I knew I was saved and would one day go to heaven. I can't say that memories of my childhood were all clear, but that is a vivid memory. I remember right where I was when that joy filled my thoughts. I was given a copy of the gospel of John that night. I carried that with me in hip pocket for years. I remember having a strong desire to do something with my new Christian life but lacked help and direction. At the time, we were attending a church that was quite liberal so I didn't find help there. About that time God moved my parents to leave the family church and seek out one that was teaching the Bible. They ended up taking the family to the Evangelical Free Church in Meriden, IA, several towns away from our home. Our family was now under the teaching of the Gospel. Not only were we being fed God's Word, but God blessed our family in special ways for that decision of my parents. I will explain that in a future entry.