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July - Sept. 2010
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The Motor Home Deal
By Cliff Popkey
He was right on both accounts. I had seven hundred
sixty dollars. The gas for the trip was going to cost us at least four hundred
dollars and the rest of the money was for the camp ground costs and food. If we
couldn’t drive the motor home back home, I had no idea how we would get there
on a holiday weekend. He then caught me off guard again and said I didn’t have
to say anything my face said it all. To pay him back I was to help someone in
need when the time came.
Back at the motor home,
Clint managed to get it running again after a short struggle and suggested that
when I returned home to get a new carburetor as soon as possible. I asked how
much I owed him and he looked at me as if I’d asked if he was Mars or
something.
He just turned away and walked back to his truck and started packing up his tools.
Louis then shook my hand and gave me his phone number and said to call, from anywhere at anytime, if we needed more help this weekend. When I asked why Clint wouldn’t take any money, Louis smiled and said he owes a few favors and he then walked away and got in his car with his wife and drove off. As we drove away, my wife shared with me that Louis’s wife’s name was Evelyn, the same as her mother’s name had been. Louis was my wife’s father’s name. She also shared that that they had two daughters as well. The oldest was Sarah and the youngest was Amy, just the opposite of our daughter’s names. Louis’s wife’s sisters name was Marsha same as my wife’s and Louis’s brother was named Cliff same as mine. That was just way too weird for words.
The remainder of the trip to South Carolina went off without a hitch. The motor home ran great and the weather was good and we had a great time. On Sunday morning we saw a bill board advertisement for a Sunday church service featuring a disabled Vietnam vet at the Charlotte Coliseum. The preacher was going to speak on the man’s role in the family and what a real man was. My wife had been bugging me to start attending church as she felt it would be good for me to get involved with one of their men’s groups and develop friends my own age, that I didn’t supervise at work. So when I realized that the next exit was the one for the coliseum I pulled off.
I had never seen a church service this packed before. Many of the churches I had been too always had seat left over and lots of room to park. At the coliseum the parking lot was packed except for one last spot not too far from the doors for a motor home and the attendant quickly directed us to it. Inside the there were so many people that we were lucky to find seats on the third level when most people arriving about the same time were forced to stand.
The story the preacher told was about his conversion to Christ and how had occurred when he wounded in Vietnam. It was a truly tragic story told from a truly humorous point of view. The whole crowd found itself laughing at what have normally caused them to break into tears. The preacher explained that he had to view it all as humorously as he could other wise he’d have had to kill himself years ago because even thought it had been almost twenty five years since he had been wounded the pain and the complications still made living difficult and very painful.
He just turned away and walked back to his truck and started packing up his tools.
Louis then shook my hand and gave me his phone number and said to call, from anywhere at anytime, if we needed more help this weekend. When I asked why Clint wouldn’t take any money, Louis smiled and said he owes a few favors and he then walked away and got in his car with his wife and drove off. As we drove away, my wife shared with me that Louis’s wife’s name was Evelyn, the same as her mother’s name had been. Louis was my wife’s father’s name. She also shared that that they had two daughters as well. The oldest was Sarah and the youngest was Amy, just the opposite of our daughter’s names. Louis’s wife’s sisters name was Marsha same as my wife’s and Louis’s brother was named Cliff same as mine. That was just way too weird for words.
The remainder of the trip to South Carolina went off without a hitch. The motor home ran great and the weather was good and we had a great time. On Sunday morning we saw a bill board advertisement for a Sunday church service featuring a disabled Vietnam vet at the Charlotte Coliseum. The preacher was going to speak on the man’s role in the family and what a real man was. My wife had been bugging me to start attending church as she felt it would be good for me to get involved with one of their men’s groups and develop friends my own age, that I didn’t supervise at work. So when I realized that the next exit was the one for the coliseum I pulled off.
I had never seen a church service this packed before. Many of the churches I had been too always had seat left over and lots of room to park. At the coliseum the parking lot was packed except for one last spot not too far from the doors for a motor home and the attendant quickly directed us to it. Inside the there were so many people that we were lucky to find seats on the third level when most people arriving about the same time were forced to stand.
The story the preacher told was about his conversion to Christ and how had occurred when he wounded in Vietnam. It was a truly tragic story told from a truly humorous point of view. The whole crowd found itself laughing at what have normally caused them to break into tears. The preacher explained that he had to view it all as humorously as he could other wise he’d have had to kill himself years ago because even thought it had been almost twenty five years since he had been wounded the pain and the complications still made living difficult and very painful.
His story moved me like no story I have ever read
or heard before or since. So when he called for men who wanted to commit their
lives to Jesus to come forward. I was truly moved but I was also in third level
balcony and the crowd would have made the trip down to the main floor quite
difficult if not impossible so I stood where I was and watched from a far
wondering why I was so moved today when I had not ever felt this way before.
The preacher finished his
call to Jesus by explaining that only real men talked to God in front of their
families and only real men aren’t afraid to pray out loud in front of their
families. Then he pointed at me, well it felt that way at least, as he pointed
towards the upper balcony in my direction stating, as he seemed to stare
intently at me that God had plans for me and all he asked was that I pray out
loud with my family.
I am not normally a religious person. I think your relationship with God is personal and private. That in order to show you’re a Christian you lead by example not by talking about it. But something about what he said and how he said it got me thinking and got me wondering if God was talking to me. This entire weekend had been strange and we had such bad luck followed every time by such incredible good luck that I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a blessing from God.
I am not normally a religious person. I think your relationship with God is personal and private. That in order to show you’re a Christian you lead by example not by talking about it. But something about what he said and how he said it got me thinking and got me wondering if God was talking to me. This entire weekend had been strange and we had such bad luck followed every time by such incredible good luck that I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a blessing from God.
As we drove north along
I-77 from Charlotte, North Carolina, my wife and i talked about what the
preacher had said and I agreed that once we were back home, we’d look for a
church to belong to. The girls added their two cents about how it had to have a
great kid’s church or they wouldn’t go and my wife knowing I had been putting
off going to church for a very long time, off handedly mentioned that I had
better follow thru this time or she was sure God would get me.
Just as I answered her sarcastically, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” the motor home started to chug.
At first it was just a small chug, a miss now and then, in the spark firing sequence. Then it began chugging harder and harder and the motor homes speed began to drop. Then it went from a chug to an outright shake. Not one of those little shimmers but a 10.0 earthquake shake. Dishes began flying out of the cupboards. Boxes began falling about the interior and I was panic stricken.
Just as I answered her sarcastically, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” the motor home started to chug.
At first it was just a small chug, a miss now and then, in the spark firing sequence. Then it began chugging harder and harder and the motor homes speed began to drop. Then it went from a chug to an outright shake. Not one of those little shimmers but a 10.0 earthquake shake. Dishes began flying out of the cupboards. Boxes began falling about the interior and I was panic stricken.