APRIL 1973
I went to California to study 3 months to be a Storekeeper. Storekeepers took care of the finances of ships and stations. I was good with numbers and Storekeeper's school was the place for me.
I learned from a California hitchhiker that because of a lot of rain the California hills were greener than they had been for years. It was a great introduction to California for me.
The Coast Guard station was several miles out of Peteluma in a very pretty area filled with rolling hills only a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. Peteluma was a cute little city that was so quaint that George Lucas chose Peteluma in which to film American Graffiti.
In 1973 California was still in the 60s. Hippies still remained, San Francisco's Haight Ashbury section was still alive but no longer the dream it once promised. And there were still hippie communes, one of which I will tell you about within the next blog or two.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
California Girlfriend
APRIL 1973
There were 3 places I went to for fellowship in Peteluma. The first was a large Assemblies of God about 30 miles North. Even though I went to that church two weeks I do remember beginning tithing there (on a regular basis). I had been getting progressively convicted (feeling like the Holy Spirit was tugging at me) but was waiting for a worthy work to give my money to. I don't remember what happened, but I do remember that I got very convicted one day about dragging my feet and judging that some "work" deserved my money, while the church I attended wasn't good enough or something like that. From then on I religiously gave my 10% to whatever church I was attending.
After a couple of weeks at the AG I decided to stay closer to home so I went to a small Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Peteluma. The CMA was not a Pentecostal or a Charismatic church, it was a very normal quiet but nice church in downtown Peteluma.
During my first day at church, I noticed a girl with a black eye in the back of the church who kept looking at me. No doubt a small church like this offered little opportunity for dating material. I may have been the only eligible bachelor to have walked through those doors for years... no wonder she kept on looking. I didn't mind it though, she was nice looking and I introduced myself to her and she invited me to have lunch with her and her family. I LOVED her family - mom, dad (who worked on the Golden Gate bridge), little sister, Grandma and Grandpa. I hung out at their house from then until I was stationed elsewhere. I did date her officially, but I loved her family so much that I sometimes felt disappointed leaving her family to go out on our date.
The 3rd place I visited to fellowship was a Jesus' Hippie community. It was a house where Christian hippies lived and fellowshiped. They had a Pentecostal flavor and were young, carefree hippies. On one occasion we all went up North to a river and swung on ropes into the water from a hill on the side. The foliage made the river and its surroundings picturesque.
I found out early on that there was a lady at the CMA church that did not like the Jesus' Hippies and the story I was told from both sides was definitely one for the books... but then that's for my next blog.
There were 3 places I went to for fellowship in Peteluma. The first was a large Assemblies of God about 30 miles North. Even though I went to that church two weeks I do remember beginning tithing there (on a regular basis). I had been getting progressively convicted (feeling like the Holy Spirit was tugging at me) but was waiting for a worthy work to give my money to. I don't remember what happened, but I do remember that I got very convicted one day about dragging my feet and judging that some "work" deserved my money, while the church I attended wasn't good enough or something like that. From then on I religiously gave my 10% to whatever church I was attending.
After a couple of weeks at the AG I decided to stay closer to home so I went to a small Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Peteluma. The CMA was not a Pentecostal or a Charismatic church, it was a very normal quiet but nice church in downtown Peteluma.
During my first day at church, I noticed a girl with a black eye in the back of the church who kept looking at me. No doubt a small church like this offered little opportunity for dating material. I may have been the only eligible bachelor to have walked through those doors for years... no wonder she kept on looking. I didn't mind it though, she was nice looking and I introduced myself to her and she invited me to have lunch with her and her family. I LOVED her family - mom, dad (who worked on the Golden Gate bridge), little sister, Grandma and Grandpa. I hung out at their house from then until I was stationed elsewhere. I did date her officially, but I loved her family so much that I sometimes felt disappointed leaving her family to go out on our date.
The 3rd place I visited to fellowship was a Jesus' Hippie community. It was a house where Christian hippies lived and fellowshiped. They had a Pentecostal flavor and were young, carefree hippies. On one occasion we all went up North to a river and swung on ropes into the water from a hill on the side. The foliage made the river and its surroundings picturesque.
I found out early on that there was a lady at the CMA church that did not like the Jesus' Hippies and the story I was told from both sides was definitely one for the books... but then that's for my next blog.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Witnessing in Peteluma to 2 Hitchhikers
MAY 1973
There are two events I remember in CA that stand out. The first was picking up a hitchhiker on the way into Peteluma at night. When two hitchhikers got into my car I had a very strong feeling that I should ask them if they knew Jesus loved them. Inside I was a wreck. I felt very strongly that it it was a stupid thing to say to perfectly unknown strangers.
When I talked with people about Christ I usually talked with them looking for opportunities in our discussions to talk with them about Christ in ways that interested them (I have to admit that I did hand out these pamphlets called tracts - many of which were pretty bad to say the least - but at least they provided avenues to talk..."What's this?" "Are you one of those people?" etc. Any one of these were great avenues for beginning a good conversation). But until 1973 I had never just gone up to somebody without some sort of something to hand out and said, "Did you know that Jesus loves you?" I was put off, but I couldn't shake it, so I turned to my captives, "Did you know that Jesus loves you?"
Silence was quickly broken as the guy in the back chokingly answered, "Do you know where we're going? ... We're going to get drunk." He told me he was a Christin who had fallen away. He was very close to crying, so I talked with him about resurrendring his life to Christ. His friend, however, was not at all interested, but rather was looking forward to partying for the rest of the night. And that's all I remember from that event.
I do have other memories of talking with people about Christ, but two stand out from the rest. The second stand out memory had to do with a fellow Chrisian from the station which I will tell you all about in my next blog.
There are two events I remember in CA that stand out. The first was picking up a hitchhiker on the way into Peteluma at night. When two hitchhikers got into my car I had a very strong feeling that I should ask them if they knew Jesus loved them. Inside I was a wreck. I felt very strongly that it it was a stupid thing to say to perfectly unknown strangers.
When I talked with people about Christ I usually talked with them looking for opportunities in our discussions to talk with them about Christ in ways that interested them (I have to admit that I did hand out these pamphlets called tracts - many of which were pretty bad to say the least - but at least they provided avenues to talk..."What's this?" "Are you one of those people?" etc. Any one of these were great avenues for beginning a good conversation). But until 1973 I had never just gone up to somebody without some sort of something to hand out and said, "Did you know that Jesus loves you?" I was put off, but I couldn't shake it, so I turned to my captives, "Did you know that Jesus loves you?"
Silence was quickly broken as the guy in the back chokingly answered, "Do you know where we're going? ... We're going to get drunk." He told me he was a Christin who had fallen away. He was very close to crying, so I talked with him about resurrendring his life to Christ. His friend, however, was not at all interested, but rather was looking forward to partying for the rest of the night. And that's all I remember from that event.
I do have other memories of talking with people about Christ, but two stand out from the rest. The second stand out memory had to do with a fellow Chrisian from the station which I will tell you all about in my next blog.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Witnessing in Oakland, CA
MAY 1973
Context:
I made a good friend (I don't remember his name) at the Coast Guard base who was a practicing Pentecostal Christian. Sometime before we became friends I had been reading in the bible that I should be slow to speak (James) and let my words be few (Proverbs), so literally following these books I said as little as possible. No kidding for a month I hardly said anything - try that sometime, it is eye opening. I did talk, but I tried to only when necessary or for edification of others.
The Story:
How I made a friend without saying much is a mystery, but one weekend he invited me to go to his home in Oakland, CA. We visited his AG church on Sunday, and on Saturday we went to a park to talk to people about Christ.
When I went places for the purpose of talking about Christ (witnessing), I usually liked to go it alone as I mentioned in another blog. Going by 2s seems like ganging up on victims, and to be honest, I didn't like the way others usually witnessed, especially if the other needed to be dominant. A big part of talking to people about Christ is listening without judging and defending. Witnessing works well when people (not necessarily their excuses or belief systems) feel respected and treated as equals. I found that Christians all too often failed in this, so I prefered going it alone.
When I came back to my friend after talking to others in the park, I found him in conversation with some guy who kept saying, "But there's something that just keeps me from going back to God." My friend kept saying one thing, then another, but nothing seemed to strike home for the guy.
I had been reading a book called "Love Is Now," which told me I should love myself - rather radical in the early 70s and I found it helpful, so when I saw my friend was getting nowhere I piped up, "You know, it might be that you need to forgive yourself." As soon as the words came out of my mouth I felt a very strong sense not to clarify what he mistakingly heard me say. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "There's these guys that hurt me really bad. I need to forgive them." My friend and I prayed for him as he rededicated his life to Christ.
Those were the few words I said the entire weekend I was with my friend in Oakland, but a week or two later I decided that although I learned how hard it is to tame the tongue; being silent was not the solution, and in fact, it just wasn't fun. So instead, I'd trust the grace of God to cleanse me from the multitude of stupid things that come out of my mouth. For better and for worse, I have not tried since then to keep my mouth quiet.
By the way, is there somebody or some people, or even a church that you have not forgiven? Is there bitterness in your heart? It will keep you from God and it will eat away at your life. Forgiveness is not always easy; it does not always happen overnight, but it is necessary. Learn to say, "I forgive." And if you can't say it, begin a process of working with that goal in mind, because some day when you are able to say, "I forgive," you will find freedom.
Context:
I made a good friend (I don't remember his name) at the Coast Guard base who was a practicing Pentecostal Christian. Sometime before we became friends I had been reading in the bible that I should be slow to speak (James) and let my words be few (Proverbs), so literally following these books I said as little as possible. No kidding for a month I hardly said anything - try that sometime, it is eye opening. I did talk, but I tried to only when necessary or for edification of others.
The Story:
How I made a friend without saying much is a mystery, but one weekend he invited me to go to his home in Oakland, CA. We visited his AG church on Sunday, and on Saturday we went to a park to talk to people about Christ.
When I went places for the purpose of talking about Christ (witnessing), I usually liked to go it alone as I mentioned in another blog. Going by 2s seems like ganging up on victims, and to be honest, I didn't like the way others usually witnessed, especially if the other needed to be dominant. A big part of talking to people about Christ is listening without judging and defending. Witnessing works well when people (not necessarily their excuses or belief systems) feel respected and treated as equals. I found that Christians all too often failed in this, so I prefered going it alone.
When I came back to my friend after talking to others in the park, I found him in conversation with some guy who kept saying, "But there's something that just keeps me from going back to God." My friend kept saying one thing, then another, but nothing seemed to strike home for the guy.
I had been reading a book called "Love Is Now," which told me I should love myself - rather radical in the early 70s and I found it helpful, so when I saw my friend was getting nowhere I piped up, "You know, it might be that you need to forgive yourself." As soon as the words came out of my mouth I felt a very strong sense not to clarify what he mistakingly heard me say. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "There's these guys that hurt me really bad. I need to forgive them." My friend and I prayed for him as he rededicated his life to Christ.
Those were the few words I said the entire weekend I was with my friend in Oakland, but a week or two later I decided that although I learned how hard it is to tame the tongue; being silent was not the solution, and in fact, it just wasn't fun. So instead, I'd trust the grace of God to cleanse me from the multitude of stupid things that come out of my mouth. For better and for worse, I have not tried since then to keep my mouth quiet.
By the way, is there somebody or some people, or even a church that you have not forgiven? Is there bitterness in your heart? It will keep you from God and it will eat away at your life. Forgiveness is not always easy; it does not always happen overnight, but it is necessary. Learn to say, "I forgive." And if you can't say it, begin a process of working with that goal in mind, because some day when you are able to say, "I forgive," you will find freedom.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Zealous Hitchhiker
SEPTEMBER 1973
On one of my many trips from Charleston to Jacksonville I picked up a hitchhiker somewhere outside of Savannah, GA. I was in a bad mood and picked him up out of duty more than any desire to witness or make a new friend. In fact, I think that day I decided I didn't even want to talk about Jesus.
So the guy obviously saw my racing stripe that said "Jesus is the Way" and he saw all the stickers on my car saying "Honk if you love Jesus," and who knows what else they said about Jesus, but I had a bunch on my car. While the guy gets into the car he starts getting all excited, "This is the third car in a row that picked me up with a Christian driver, we're going to have a revival today!"
Turns out the guy was a backslidden Christian and God was definately doing something about that the day he hitchiked. I didn't even want to talk to the guy and here he is getting all excited about getting right with God. I spent the whole ride talking to him about what kind of church he should get involved in. I believe we ended up on some Baptist church he knew about.
I never knew how most people turned out after I left them. I was a hit and run evangelist. All I could do is encourage new believers to get into a Bible teaching church (people usually knew of one and it didn't matter much about denominations), read their Bible regularly, and pray.
By this time in my life I had discovered the need for church, Bible study and prayer. When any of these lacked, the Christian life was difficult, shallow and distant. When I was doing all 3 life in Christ was much more natural.
On one of my many trips from Charleston to Jacksonville I picked up a hitchhiker somewhere outside of Savannah, GA. I was in a bad mood and picked him up out of duty more than any desire to witness or make a new friend. In fact, I think that day I decided I didn't even want to talk about Jesus.
So the guy obviously saw my racing stripe that said "Jesus is the Way" and he saw all the stickers on my car saying "Honk if you love Jesus," and who knows what else they said about Jesus, but I had a bunch on my car. While the guy gets into the car he starts getting all excited, "This is the third car in a row that picked me up with a Christian driver, we're going to have a revival today!"
Turns out the guy was a backslidden Christian and God was definately doing something about that the day he hitchiked. I didn't even want to talk to the guy and here he is getting all excited about getting right with God. I spent the whole ride talking to him about what kind of church he should get involved in. I believe we ended up on some Baptist church he knew about.
I never knew how most people turned out after I left them. I was a hit and run evangelist. All I could do is encourage new believers to get into a Bible teaching church (people usually knew of one and it didn't matter much about denominations), read their Bible regularly, and pray.
By this time in my life I had discovered the need for church, Bible study and prayer. When any of these lacked, the Christian life was difficult, shallow and distant. When I was doing all 3 life in Christ was much more natural.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Dueling Neighbors
MAY 1973
Setup:
1. Mrs. G is a faithful member at the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church with farming property next to her house outside Peteluma.
2. Christian hippies live in a house (a commune) behind her property.
3. The Jesus' hippies home has a right of way travelling smack dab through the middle of the farm land of Mrs. G - it is a driveway to their house.
4. Mrs G hates hippies.
Like I mentioned in another blog, I attended both of these places, so I heard the inside information from both sides. The hippies knew that Mrs. G didn't like them and brought it up a time or two. Even still they did not speak bad about her. They talked about her like she was a quaint harmless lady who had issues with them.
Meanwhile, in town at the CMA church, I heard Mrs. G telling her friends that God had been convicting her about shooting her shotgun at the hippies. I didn't ask.
Setup:
1. Mrs. G is a faithful member at the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church with farming property next to her house outside Peteluma.
2. Christian hippies live in a house (a commune) behind her property.
3. The Jesus' hippies home has a right of way travelling smack dab through the middle of the farm land of Mrs. G - it is a driveway to their house.
4. Mrs G hates hippies.
Like I mentioned in another blog, I attended both of these places, so I heard the inside information from both sides. The hippies knew that Mrs. G didn't like them and brought it up a time or two. Even still they did not speak bad about her. They talked about her like she was a quaint harmless lady who had issues with them.
Meanwhile, in town at the CMA church, I heard Mrs. G telling her friends that God had been convicting her about shooting her shotgun at the hippies. I didn't ask.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Crazy Church
JUNE 1973
I had another friend at the Coast Guard station in Peteluma who was a Christian but not Pentecostal. In other words he didn't believe in or didn't know about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with Speaking in tongues. I felt very strongly that this was an important part of living a victorious life in Christ, so I convinced him to go with me to a Pentecostal church - a small Assemblies of God church where the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was taught.
We walked into a church with about 40 people in it. The Pastor who met us at the front was very nice, so I had great hopes that this would be a good service to help my friend get a deeper walk with Christ.
As we sat down a I noticed that the church was a little odd. First a drooling lady in front got up and turned to a friend, "Hi Gerty." She was unusually strange and repulsive, but I thought to myself that I should not be judgmental, so I pushed away my feelings and waited for the service to begin. We sang a few hymns and then the pastor introduced the guest speaker - a traveling evangelist. My heart sank.
Pentecostal preachers that I knew could easily preach 45 minutes to an hour. And if the "Holy Spirit" was leading them, they could go much longer, but in the case of visiting evangelists, anything could happen and usually did in the few times I saw them, which always seemed to be days I brought guests.
This one spent his entire sermon pacing the stage, yelling, frothing at the mouth, and getting all emotional saying one thing over and over and over for the 30 minutes my friend and I could handle being there: "If you want to be free," he preached, "you have to get know how to praise the Lord." No kidding - that's all he said for one half an hour, for 30 long minutes, 1,800 dragged out seconds of my life; and while he paced the stage back and forth the congregation got louder and louder; and while they got louder and louder my friend and I got more and more uncomfortable; and as we got more and more uncomfortable, the travelling visiting evangelist focused his attention more and more on me and my friend looking right at us as he preached, "If you can't praise the Lord, Satan has bound you and you need to get freed. And you can get freed if you praise the Lord, and raise up your hands and shout, Halleluia; Praise the Lord! Amen! Can I hear an amen? Can I hear an amen? Halleluia! Shout to God! Let's get excited and praise God! So many are bound by Satan, they can't praise the Lord (he looked at my friend and me), but you can be free!" Oh everybody got so into it. There was loud praising and excited response from all the congregation. From the drooling lady to Gerty, they were all swept into his excitement, everybody that is except me and my friend.
Finally, after 30 minutes of nonstop verbal abuse, I turned to my friend and without saying anything, we both got up and started walked out of the church. I had given up all hope that God would meet us there in some sort of blessing for my friend.
I had another friend at the Coast Guard station in Peteluma who was a Christian but not Pentecostal. In other words he didn't believe in or didn't know about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with Speaking in tongues. I felt very strongly that this was an important part of living a victorious life in Christ, so I convinced him to go with me to a Pentecostal church - a small Assemblies of God church where the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was taught.
We walked into a church with about 40 people in it. The Pastor who met us at the front was very nice, so I had great hopes that this would be a good service to help my friend get a deeper walk with Christ.
As we sat down a I noticed that the church was a little odd. First a drooling lady in front got up and turned to a friend, "Hi Gerty." She was unusually strange and repulsive, but I thought to myself that I should not be judgmental, so I pushed away my feelings and waited for the service to begin. We sang a few hymns and then the pastor introduced the guest speaker - a traveling evangelist. My heart sank.
Pentecostal preachers that I knew could easily preach 45 minutes to an hour. And if the "Holy Spirit" was leading them, they could go much longer, but in the case of visiting evangelists, anything could happen and usually did in the few times I saw them, which always seemed to be days I brought guests.
This one spent his entire sermon pacing the stage, yelling, frothing at the mouth, and getting all emotional saying one thing over and over and over for the 30 minutes my friend and I could handle being there: "If you want to be free," he preached, "you have to get know how to praise the Lord." No kidding - that's all he said for one half an hour, for 30 long minutes, 1,800 dragged out seconds of my life; and while he paced the stage back and forth the congregation got louder and louder; and while they got louder and louder my friend and I got more and more uncomfortable; and as we got more and more uncomfortable, the travelling visiting evangelist focused his attention more and more on me and my friend looking right at us as he preached, "If you can't praise the Lord, Satan has bound you and you need to get freed. And you can get freed if you praise the Lord, and raise up your hands and shout, Halleluia; Praise the Lord! Amen! Can I hear an amen? Can I hear an amen? Halleluia! Shout to God! Let's get excited and praise God! So many are bound by Satan, they can't praise the Lord (he looked at my friend and me), but you can be free!" Oh everybody got so into it. There was loud praising and excited response from all the congregation. From the drooling lady to Gerty, they were all swept into his excitement, everybody that is except me and my friend.
Finally, after 30 minutes of nonstop verbal abuse, I turned to my friend and without saying anything, we both got up and started walked out of the church. I had given up all hope that God would meet us there in some sort of blessing for my friend.
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