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Poster Children
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Poster Children
“Are there really water falls here?” I asked the attendant at the campground.
“Yes, but they’re hard to see. You have to walk down steep trails.” It was dinnertime and I was starving so the steep trails had to wait. I plugged Happy in, (the new name of my camper van) and set out the folding chair, which Belle promptly jumped into.
Next, I put out my brand new battery operated bubble machine on the end of the picnic table. I set up the camp stove at the other end and began dinner preparations surrounded by bubbles. Outdoors, food and bubbles. It doesn’t get much better than this, I thought as I ate my grilled pork chop, roasted corn, and grilled zucchini and squash, all slightly overdone. It’s important to understand that bubbles don’t flavor food.
While I was cleaning up dinner, two beautiful towheaded children stood fascinated, watching the campsite. “Do you like bubbles?” I asked.
“Yes, and we like dogs too,” the smaller girl announced.
“Well, you’re in luck. I have both. You can play with them if you want.”
Ashley and Holly ran over to play and two women appeared out of nowhere. I don’t blame them for checking me out. The campsite was a strange sight and my face was probably black from burned cornhusks. “That’s Mama and Mi Mi,” the younger one, Ashley, explained. Mi Mi was the grandmother.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Cheryle Touchton. I invited your girls to play. I enjoy children and am far away from my grandson. They’re keeping me company.”
“They’ll do that,” the mother, Amy, laughed. While the girls played with Belle, the adults got to know one another. This family was Baptist, active in church, and talked freely of their love of God. We discussed church, Bible School, Bible study, and raising children in Baptist churches.
“Does your husband go to church?” I asked Amy.
“Absolutely,” she answered.
After hearing about my mission, Amy said, “You have to meet Daddy. He was preacher and now he works for Lifeway.” Lifeway is what we Baptists affectionately call, “The Baptist Bookstore.” They publish the literature for Southern Baptists and have bookstores throughout the country.
“Wow, Lifeway,” I said reverently. “I’d love it if they would carry my book.”
“You should talk to Daddy,” Amy said.
Ashley spoke up and said, “Belle’s face looks just like Roxie’s.”
“Who is Roxie?” I asked, picturing another sister with a very long nose.
“He’s one of Papa Sam’s dogs,” she explained. “He has two Corgies.” Amy, Holly, and Mi Mi agreed with Ashley that Belle’s faced looked similar to Roxie’s. The mother and grandmother left to return to their campsite.
Before long, Dutch and Roxie trotted over, dragging Papa Sam, who didn’t look old enough to be the grandfather of these children. Corgies are Welsh dogs, recognizable by their short legs, long bodies, erect ears, and fox like heads. Both Dutch and Roxie were sable and white, like Belle, and I could indeed see the resemblance in Roxie's and Belle’s faces. I talked with Papa Sam while those two precocious children played with the dogs.
Sam and I both are dog lovers and we hit it off. Dutch, Roxie, and Belle sniffed each other, stuck their noses in the air, and ignored one another. Dutch put on a show by demonstrating his ability to roll over. Belle knows many tricks but much to my consternation, she won’t roll over. “Belle, are you watching this?” I muttered, trying not to be jealous.
“I heard you were a pastor and now work for Lifeway,” I said to Papa Sam. “That’s a big change from pastoring. Do you like this job as much?”
“I do. I was Minister of Education for most of my career and only a pastor for 4 years. By working for Lifeway, I get to educate many churches instead of just one. I enjoy going in and explaining the literature to them and helping them learn how to use it. Most are surprised to find how comprehensive the Lifeway Sunday School curriculum is. When they find out I am a former pastor, sometime they share what is going on in their church and we discuss it. It’s very fulfilling.”
“My daughter is a Director of Children’s Ministry at North Jacksonville Baptist Church. She talks fondly of her Lifeway representative.”
“Each area has someone like me,” he confirmed. “We have territories.”
“Do you have other children?” I asked, jumping to a more personal topic.
“I do. In addition to the daughter you met, I have another daughter as well as a son.”
“Are all of your children in church?”
“My daughters are. My son is still finding his way.”
“I can tell you raised him right by listening to your daughter and granddaughters. He’ll eventually get back in church,” I affirmed. “You know the promise. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he won’t depart from it.” God doesn’t make any promises about the time in the middle, I thought, remembering my oldest son David’s hair raising journey before he returned to God.
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. KJV
About that time, up walked another blond child. “This is my oldest sister, Lauren,” Ashley explained. The girls ran off while Sam and I continued talking for a few minutes.
Sam left to join his family and Belle and I left on a hunt for waterfalls. It was dusk and we walked down curvy wet trails and broken steep steps. As Belle carefully made her way down steps that had no backs and through which she could see the cliffs below, she looked up as if to say, “Have you lost your mind?” Her herding instincts and her fear were at war as she carefully tiptoed down 2-3 steps, looked up, sighed, climbed back up to herd me. I screamed a couple of times when I thought she was too close to the edge and finally realized it wasn’t worth it. We could hear the waterfalls but we never found them. Belle gratefully trotted back up the hill.
I lay in bed that night, praying for the sweet family I had met that afternoon. As I thought about how much they loved God and each other, I realized that they’re poster children for what my book, Pocket Full of Quarters is trying to say. They have spent their life focusing on loving God and are reaping the rewards of it. Their lives are rich with love and purpose.
The next morning, I was reading my Bible when Ashley and Holly road their bikes by. “I want your Papa Sam to have one of my books. When you finish riding your bike, come back and I’ll give you one for him,” I told Ashley.
“OK,” grinned Ashley as she pedaled off. She and Holly were back in under 5 minutes. I pulled out my toys and let each girl chose one. Ashley took a fan that said “Jesus Loves Me” and Holly took a candy bracelet that contained a candy cross. Belle put on a show for them. After all, we had to keep up with Dutch. Belle sat, shook hands, spoke, and chased her tail. I directed as Belle and I sang our 2 songs together. Yes, Belle is a singing dog. Belle also knows how to praise the Lord. I gave them a book to take to Papa Sam. While they were still playing with Belle, up rode the only family member I hadn’t yet met.
“Hi, I’m Mark, the father of those girls. You’ve met everyone else so I thought I’d introduce myself to you,” he said. “I understand you’re a writer.” The girls ran off to give Papa Sam his book and Mark and I talked for few moments before he continued his bike ride.
“Your girls are blessed to live in such a Godly family,” I said. “I meet so many people who haven’t taught their children about God. I’ve enjoyed watching the way everyone seems to care about each other.”
“A Godly family makes all the difference,” he confirmed as he left. I went back to reading my Bible. In a few minutes, Papa Sam walked up.
“Thanks for the book,” he said. “I was just complaining that I didn’t bring anything to read.”
I laughed. “I’ve been giving them away to Christian Stores as a way of introduction. I figured that since you worked for Lifeway, that meant you could have one. I’d love for Lifeway to carry my book so feel free to show it around,” I joked. I felt a little guilty selling to him until I remembered the scripture, “You have not because you ask not.” Am I rationalizing with scripture? I briefly wondered but brushed the thought aside.
James 4:2
Yet ye have not, because ye ask not. KJV
He joked back. “I suppose Lifeway counts as a bookstore. I will pass it on.”
“I realized last night that you and your family are poster children for what my book is about. What I see in your family is what happens when a family focuses on loving God above all else.”
“Thank you,” he said humbly. “We do have a good family. Amy worried us for a little while but she has been on track for years. When she married Mark, he wasn’t a Christian. Amy called one night and said, ‘Daddy, I want you to pray for Mark. God has told me it’s time for him to become a Christian. I’m going to talk to him tonight.’ She called the next morning to tell me that he had accepted Christ. They’ve both been active in church ever since. Mark has turned out to be a good father, a good provider, and a Godly man.”
Ashley ran up to say, “It’s time to go on our hike now.” Maybe those trails aren’t so treacherous in full daylight.
I believe the love this family shares is the result of following Jesus’ greatest commandment:
Mark 12:29-31
“The most important one”, answered Jesus, “Is this. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” NIV
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