All That Glitters Is Not Gold

“All that glitters is not gold,” how often have we heard these words quoted in regard to ones
assessment of life. Yet how true they have proven to be when we have looked back at times of struggle and uncertainty where we made a unwise decision, based on sparkling glitter and empty promises. They were clouds without water. Like a mirage in a desert always just calling out for us to follow but always just beyond our reach. I have given up looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Instead I have found a source of hope that never falters, a God that never changes, whose promises are true and always given with my best interest in mind. “When I was a young man”, how amazing it is to think that when we get older how the threshold for this statement changes. Young to me now is anyone under forty. But let me specify that the age in which I am referring is about 12 years old. This was a time in my life that I was dreaming about my future. Who was I, what was I, where did I want to be when I grew up as well as what did I want to do. On my list of things I wanted to be, preacher never even made it among the large list of possibilities. You must understand I am the person who invented the word introvert. I did not like people, I did not like crowds and I certainly did not want to stand before a large group of people and talk. There was certainly no glitter in a profession or a calling, as I refer to it now, that served others and was on call at a moment’s notice to respond to the needs of another. To be honest I wanted to make me happy, I wanted to be alone where I was not in a committed relationship. I am not sure what part of the family tree I fell from, but I know I must have been near the bottom when it happened. My adolescent life was mediocre, because I isolated myself. My picture of people and their nature was somewhat tainted. My dad and those around me in my family had a very good level of integrity. My dad was as honest as the day was long and would not tolerate lying or thievery. He was a man whose handshake was his word and you could run to the bank with any promise he made to you. If for instance he told us we were going to be grounded for a week for something we had done, we could rest assured there would be no leniency or early parole. No doubt this parental training greatly influenced me later in life in my view of my heavenly father. I had one younger brother who died at a very early age, Jimmy, and an older brother Rick and then the baby of the family who if anyone received special consideration from the authorities that be in our family it would be her. I am serious when I say this for she is the only person in the known world that has driven the family car through the garage, yes that’s right, in the front door and out the back wall and never received any discipline. Of course I know now having a daughter of my own how justice can we watered down between a dad and is daughter. When I was nineteen something happened to me that changed my life. I became a Christian, I mean a bonified, blood washed sanctified Holy Spirit filled child of God. This event radically changed my view of the world as I knew it. It even changed how I related to people, a card carrying unionized introvert became a people lover almost overnight. It changed the goals I had and what I wanted to do with the years I had here on earth. I traded my new career as a truck driver for a career goal in ministry. I wanted to become a minister of the Gospel. What do you know about that something that was not even up for consideration jumped onto my list and climbed to the top almost overnight. I traded the open road for a classroom and moved up to Minneapolis, St Paul to learn what I needed to know to accomplish my dreams. I have to admit the years that I spent their taught me patience and a level of endurance I had not achieved earlier. I was truly blessed to be able to pay my way through college working for a trucking company at night and attending school during the day. I would like to say it was a breeze, but honestly there were times I thought I should quit college and work with others in missions as an assistant, I was so anxious to be doing what I wanted to do. I would like to get to my point however, I married my wife the summer after I graduated and since she had one more year or college in Madison we moved there. I realized I would have had to spend more time waiting for her, but she was worth the wait, however I was growing more impatient by the day. It was the fall of 1979, Lisa and I were attending a conference in Salt Lake City, when I ran into a man from Delaware; he was overseeing several churches in his area that at present were void of pastoral leadership. He asked if I would consider looking at them. Lisa was nearing graduation and I was willing and ready to jump into any opportunity that might afford itself. So within a very short time I was on a plane flying down to Delaware. I looked at two churches which were open at that time, one in Fredericksburg Maryland and another in Hallwood Virginia. I was so excited about the Church in Hallwood it had a great school and was on the east side of Chesapeke Bay. A very beautiful area but one that was economically impoverished. This opportunity seemed to be a full of bright shiny glitter and I thought certainly this must be my golden opportunity to fulfill a dream that had I waited for all those years. So like the Clampets on the Beverly Hillbillies we loaded up the truck and we moved not to Beverly Hills but a little town called Temperanceville in the state of Virginia. I still laugh at Gods sense of humor. Come on think about it Temperance-ville, for truly God was going to teach me something about people and life that my education and experience had not yet afforded me. From the very first day, everything worked against us. We loved the people but the structure that remained in place by the overseer that had directed us there restrained us from receiving any salary. No money, no food, no rent, no joy. Nothing was as it was presented to us except the work. Our district officials would not get involved and we slowly spent the last of the money we had saved. We were living often times from the charity of those within the church. Hey God I called, this is not what I signed up for, where are you in all of this God? I called out in frustration. Can’t you see I am trying to do your work down here, how about a little help? Heaven was as quiet as the grave. The straw that broke the camel’s back came one day as I was rushing off to the church school to meet with a perspective student and parent when I in my rush backed off the gravel driveway and unto the lawn to find out the leech bed was buried there. Come on who puts a sewage drainage system right next to the driveway. I guess the owners had thought it would be more convenient. However for me it was the day the earth stood still. My rear axle on my old beat up Chevy Monte Carlo was buried in black muck that stunk worse than any pig farm I have ever smelled. Most people who know me would probably swear to the fact that I do not have a temper, and they would be partially true, my temper is like a steam locomotive, it takes a lot of steam to get it moving but once it’s there you better blow the whistle or the boiler is going to burst. I in my nice clean suit looked out from the driver’s seat and saw my rear tire, or as much of the tire as I could see and decided to just put my foot on the accelerator and push it to the floor. Now anyone with common sense would have saw the hopelessness of this idea, but when the boiler blows parts fly everywhere and self control is hard to hold onto. Even though what happened next is considerably funny to those who hear it, rest assured there was not even a hint of humor when it happened. A solid black stream of slimy stinky black waste shot up from the spinning tire and covered every exposed part of my body which was leaning out facing the tire. I was black from the top of my head to my waist, as well as the inside door and the closed window. The smell was no longer coming from the outside but emanated from the inside of my nostrils. What happened next has only happened to me once in my life and I don’t completely understand what happened but my emotions shut down. I was no longer angry, I had no emotion. I was possibly in shock or an emotional coma. I got out of the car and walked to the trailer home in which we lived and uttered the words I give up. I sat on the couch which we then had to throw away, and realized that this chapter in my life had just ended. I had no anger; I did not blame anyone but myself for making a decision solely based on the glittering promises of someone with no integrity. I thought all men operated at the same level of honesty as my dad. O how true, “all that glitters is not gold”. I had tried to make something fit that was not mine to wear. I realized that life is more than just following promises. Life was being led by truth, believing in truth and not walking solely by sight. We were stone broke; Lisa and I decided to move back to Milwaukee but had no idea on how to get there. To make matters worse guess who was pregnant, you got it, how in the world could that happen at this worst possible time. One thing I knew I would not miss was the trailer we had found to live in. At the time we had moved it was all that was available so we took it. I remember how the wind blew the curtains even when the windows were shut. Lisa’s dad and brother flew down and rented us a truck and helped us move. So back to Milwaukee we went, I had received a degree in theology but on the way home I brought my degree in humanity as well as a minor in humility. For the next 3 to 4 months we lived with Lisa’s parents as I struggled to find work. Eventually we both found good jobs and a little home in Greenfield, a suburb of Milwaukee to live. God was gracious and restored what we had lost but also much more. It was within about a year or two that we moved to Two Rivers WI and started a mission church. This move was the opposite of the first, for this time we did not look for glitter but for gold. How truly blessed we were all the years that we stayed in this city. When we left we left a beautiful church and took with us a lot of wonderful memories. Someone once said if God is not in it; don’t spend a minute in it. Don’t invest in glitter, invest in what is true and learn that patience is a virtue that leads to a contented life.