Search
Topics
Home  ·  Feedback  ·  Recommend Site  ·  Search  ·  Stories Archive  ·  Surveys  ·  Topics  
A CHURCH, A CHAIR, A BOY AND A PRAYER
Posted on Sunday, April 15 @ 18:35:57 CDT by van

News and Views There comes a time in life when one is moved to reflect upon major events in his or her life as old friends, relatives, family members “cash in their chips” and depart the game of life. As the days, months and years come and go, the hectic responsibilities of life take the greater majority of a persons time to give much thought to details of a full Christian life being lived.  When the Lord has given a person four score and more years of life, each remaining day becomes more precious.  And so it is, as I take time to reflect on a most important event in my own life.  How, where and when I became fully aware of the price my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ paid for my sins, past, present and future as well as those of each and every one of us and of His assurance of life everlasting guaranteed through Faith in the Grace of The Man born in Bethlehem.


It was during the “war years” when a young boy, then a bit more than six years of age came to know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. This writing is, in part, a tribute to all the Sunday School and Vacation Bible School teachers who tell and teach “the old, old story of Jesus and His Glory” In my case, her name is now known only to God, but the role she played in my life is as part of me as the blood in my veins.  In short, I can not say it was on that day and at that time and in the place I “found God”, because he wasn’t lost.  Rather, that a young boy “found out” about God” in a way, at a time and in a place I will always remember.

With loving parents, I lived at 1635 East Fourth Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  A very modest dwelling but one filled with a measure of love not nearly enough children today are fortunate enough to experience.  A few years later, my one and only sister was born and the four of us shared the three room side of a duplex which might still be standing. We were poor, but didn’t know it, because all of our family friends were in similar circumstances.  While we didn’t have much, we had something in our lives which provided hope as well as happiness, we had the love of one another and that of God Almighty..

Down the street and around the corner, about a city block away and well within walking distance was a church at the corner of third and Trenton streets, it was then a United Brethren Church. On important dates, my family attended services at church, but since my Dad worked long hours, Sundays were essentially the only time my parents had alone.  More often than not, I went with my pal from across the street, Tommy, to Sunday School, Church and, in the summer months, Vacation Bible School.  I’ll mention Tommy later as this story unfolds in greater detail, but for now, walking to “church” and to Jefferson Elementary School were part of the bonding process of two guys whose fathers worked at Continental Oil Company as truck drivers..

It was during a Vacation Bible School session, a volunteer teacher had each of the young people attending her class, to kneel down, in front of a folding chair, fold our hands and ask Jesus to “Come live in our hearts.”  We all knew the “Christmas Story” and also the “Easter Story” in the rather simple terms understandable by young children but the full impact of the significance of those events to each of us personally, really had not theretofore made a lot of sense.. We had learned John 3:16, but the full meaning was a bit beyond the grasp of little children....until that day, at that time, in that way and in that place, each of us had our own epiphany.  It was at the UB Church at third and Trenton streets, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, kneeling at a folding chair, asking Jesus Christ to come and live in my heart I came to know and fully understand what many years later I referred to as “Everlasting Life Assurance” and how it became the center of my life as a man, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a businessman and additionally as leader of men in the military.  Thanks be to God!.

A couple of months ago, while trolling the internet, I asked Google about the church mentioned above.  It is now referred to as The Church Studio.  You can see a picture of that place which later became the “Historic Recording Studio of Leon Russell” and one that played a significant role in American Music History. The story of how that structure sat empty for years after Russell’s death, how it was purchased by Teresa Knox, how it became a National Landmark and what is in store for the future of that special place can be found by logging onto The Church Studio on Facebook.  But like another Tulsa Central High School graduate many years before me - Paul Harvey would say at the close of his broadcasts, “And now you know, The Rest of The Story.”

One evening Ms. Knox was lamenting on the internet, how she could only find about the “church” as far back as the 1950s.  After sending her an email and letting her know I could fill in the blanks back to the early 1940, she call and we had a long and enjoyable telephone conversation.  I learned that Teresa and her associates were going to spend millions of dollars in turning The Church Studio into a “world class’ recording facility. In jest, I told her that, as a young boy I learned and sang many of our favorite hymns in that building and how ironic it would be if I could ever win the Lottery and afford to come back to that place and record some of those good old hymns while I still had a reasonably good voice. After laughing about winning the Lottery and putting the recording event in my “bucket list” Teresa made a statement to me which did something to me which seldom happens....she caught me speechless.  She told me that my sharing the history of that building with her that she now owns so far back in history, “made her day” and that when the recording studio was finished, I could come down and do recordings at no expense.  While I would never hold that sweet lady to her offer, if it still is open when the time comes, this old gaffer who grew up around the corner from that historic place as a little boy, will at least return for the dedication of its new life in music.  Something to dream about!  Thank you Teresa, and Thanks be to God for The Church, The Chair - from A Boy whose Prayer was most certainly answered.

Associated Topics

Religion

Sorry, Comments are not available for this article.
VansOpinion
· Home
· Feedback
· Recommend Site
· Search
· Stories Archive
· Surveys
· Topics
· About Van
· Van's Links
· Downloads

Search



Old Articles
Thursday, June 18
· PASTORS GET LITTLE SUPPORT FROM THE LUTHERAN CHURCH MISSOURI SYNOD
Friday, November 28
· PROCLAMATIONS OF THANKSGIVING BY PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Sunday, May 11
· IT'S A GOOD TIME TO SAY, "I LOVE YOU MOM"
Saturday, January 26
· ONE NATION UNDER GOD - LAUS DEO
Saturday, December 29
· KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's AND 70's
Saturday, December 15
· A MIDDLE EAST IMPERATIVE
Friday, December 14
· A DAY WITHOUT AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT
Wednesday, December 12
· THE SECRET SERVICE VIEWS OF PAST PRESIDENTS
Friday, November 23
· NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD
Sunday, September 09
· GOD DOES INDEED ANSWERS PRAYER
Monday, July 16
· CONSCIENCE AND THE CRAFT
· JESUS NEVER SAID "STOP AT THE LODGE ROOM DOOR"
Monday, April 23
· NEVER BRING PLANTS INTO THE HOUSE
Saturday, March 31
· WILL LINCOLN AREA LUTHERANS BECOME APRIL FOOLED
Thursday, June 01
· REV. RUSSELL SOMMERFELD SHOULD STEP DOWN
Thursday, March 30
· KATHY TAYLOR WILL BE THE NEXT MAYOR OF TULSA
Wednesday, March 29
· MORAL POVERTY COST BLACKS IN NEW ORLEANS
Friday, December 23
· HAVE A SAFE AND MERRY CHRISTMAS
Sunday, November 20
· IT'S A GOOD TIME FOR ME TO BE THANKFUL
Tuesday, November 01
· OUR POLITICAL PARTIES NEED A FEW WITH MARTIN LUTHER'S SPIRIT
Thursday, October 27
· SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Thursday, October 13
· HELP WANTED - MAYOR OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA
Thursday, October 06
· CONGRESS SHOULD VOTE NO ON A MEGA-REFINERY AT CUSHING, OKLAHOMA
Wednesday, October 05
· WHY I CONTINUE TO WORK TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Monday, September 26
· LINCOLN LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL OFFICIALS COVER-UP SCANDAL
Sunday, September 25
· IT'S NOW TIME TO DO A BIT OF FINGER POINTING
· A LETTER FROM A VERY UPSET MISSISSIPPI DOCTOR
Tuesday, September 20
· RELIGIOUS HUMOR THAT'S NON-DENOMINATIONAL
· COUNCIL SHOULD SAY NO TO ANOTHER MULTI-PLEX
Monday, September 19
· STOP BEATING AROUND THE BUSH

Older Articles



Content copyright © 2018 Van Valkenburg & Associates, Inc.
Admin - Stats

PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2005 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the GPL. PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the license.