Chapter 13: A Light On My Path

Page 26

My father contracted scarlet fever as a child. As a result of the

disease, he suffered from grand mal seizures all the days that I knew him. Those seizures manifested themselves in epilepsy like attacks and for the longest time I wondered if I would have any or for that matter have troubles with MS. In spite of the physical attacks on my mother and father’s earthly

bodies, my memories are only filled with the love my mother and father gave to me. I do not remember hearing any statements of how much either suffered. Reflecting back, I realize how much pain they both suffered in life. In those days, it was common knowledge to just grin and bear what you

cannot change. To make the most of the life you have regardless of the pain and suffering you are confronted with. Hey, stuff like medical insurance didn’t even exist in the late 1950’s. Think about that. Do you rely upon medical insurance to keep you on this earth? You should rely upon God.

By year one, I was baptized as a baby in a Lutheran church. Even though the Lutheran community believes this helps to provide eternal life, I can tell you that all it does is sprinkle water on babies. It is true that support for the sprinkled baptism of an adult can be found in the Bible. However,

Baptism through full body immersion after the age of accountability is the preferred method. The age of accountability is generally thought of as age 12 when a young person is able to discern the consequences of their adult decisions. Jackie and I were re-baptized by full immersion as older adults.

After my baby baptism, the next significant spiritual thing I remember was attending Ascension Catholic School in north Minneapolis during kindergarten back in 1952. I’ve often wondered if I made some kind of promise or deal with God at a young age and then forgot about it? I can’t

remember much about the experience other than walking back and forth to school. However, I do believe it was the first time I was made aware of God from someone outside of my family. Certainly, if my Catholic teachers had anything to say about it, I learned something about God at the early age of

six. My birthday in January got me off to school at the age of six. Jackie’s December birthday got her off to school at the age of four. It was God’s timing, as He knew we were predestined for marriage as young adults. His timing put us in the same high school class. I guess I’ll have to stop

grousing about getting a late start to school on that basis alone.