The Crooked Stick

By Marcie Aiken

Fast paced true life story covering great-grandparents to great-grand-children and the effects of one generation to the next generation. Life's challenges, joys, disappointments and thrills are all realized. Men and women of all ages have been able to relate to these impressions and experiences as a baby born on the floor to a praying mother develops into a grandmother that has found God sufficient. Laugh and cry as the real life intimate situations of a preacher's family unfold. Experience the positive and negative reactions as relationships and demands accumulate. "There is something for everyone", in this "reality book".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453593585

Marcie Aiken

Marcie Aiken is a mother of three children and great- grandmother of two children. She has lived life to its fullest and without a lot of regrets, although with many mistakes. Born to a large Mennonite family in Pennsylvania and reared in South Carolina she has been married for forty eight years to a Baptist pastor and has attempted to live by the leadership of God's Word. Her life experiences have been director of Building Blocks Day Care Center, Sunday School teacher, nursing home and home health nurse. She has found books to be helpful and a great joy in her life. She has found herself in the school of "life long learning" and this is her first attempt to share her observations and experiences. She has a spirit of adventure and finds every day a special gift.

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Copyright © 2010 by Marcie Aiken.

Library of Congress Control Number:  2010915121

ISBN: Hardcover    978-1-4535-9357-8

ISBN: Softcover      978-1-4535-9356-1

ISBN: Ebook           978-1-4535-9358-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

All scripture taken from the Authorized King James Bible.

Cover Photo by Amy Sisson

Cover Design by Scott Metzger

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

87636

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Meditations

A Godly Heritage

My Maternal Grandparents Influenced Me

Shoofly Pie

My Paternal Grandparents Influenced Me

The Eshlemans

Dressing Chickens

My Mother Influenced Me

Get-Togethers

A Home in Old Age

Hot-Pink Hubcaps

Pink Shortie Pajamas

The Love Capsules

Myself

She Was a Wonderful Woman

Moonlight Madness

Lord, Give Me Grace!

Our Newfound Blackness

The Iris Sacrifice

My Dad Influenced Me

A Desire to Minister

Digging a Swimming Pool

A Smelly Time

This Old House

Shhhhh . . .

Do It Yourself!

God Meets Needs

A Neighborhood Fire

My Grand Entrance

Saved by Grace Eternally

Claiming Promises

A Big Step

A Quiet, Shy, Soft-Spoken Little Girl

A People Watcher

God Honors Faith

Excommunicated Again

The Proverbial Camel in the Tent

Walk the Chalk

Like a Sponge

Mom and Ted are in the Well

Outdoors and Woodsy

Serving Others

Employment: Selling Cards

Tabernacle Baptist Church Influenced Me

No Accident with God

A March Offering

Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine!

A Love for Music

Borrowed Brains

In Training for Reigning

Going His Way

My Husband Influenced Me

The Girl I’m Going to Marry!

My Husband’s Family Influenced Our Lives

Pure Southern Tradition

Determined to Appear

Hog for Baby Clothes

Soul-Saving Revival

Yeah! Both Boxes

You Put Up with Me Well!

Influence of Years At Tennessee Temple Schools

Potatoes, Pinto Beans, Fatback

A New Job

Rooster and the Hen

Turnip Greens and Red Beets

A Car We Never Drove

Influenced by Our First Ministry

A House Full of Boys and a Baby on the Way

Trusting God for the Answers

My Firstborn Son Influenced My Life

When Does the Fun Start?

Before Hyperactivity

Loved Too Much!

Our First Home

Mowers, Hammers, Screwdrivers

Sex??? Education

The Use of Gasoline

Pray about Everything

Our Only Daughter Influenced Our Lives

Grace and Elsie

What Love Looks Like!

Our Last Born Influenced Our Lives

Waiting for a Spanking

Another Child is Born

Quiet and Content

A Driver’s License

The Puttiest Thing I Ever Seed!

Busy Schedules & Books Influenced My Life

My Piano Lessons

Internalizing the Hurt!

Too Busy!

The Sifting Process

A Hunger for God!

Hurts, Pains, Disappointments, and Conflicts

Depression Influenced My Life

Stop the World and Let Me Off!

Lied Upon!

Searching for Answers

Biblical Mind Control

Just As I Am

Protective Shields

His Workmanship

Family, Home, and Swing Set

Living in Virginia Influenced My Life

The First Pastorate

Bother Us, Please!

Our Country Home

Sleepless in Bassett

A Good Marriage

Child Care, Anyone?

Melanie’s Room

Superman

A Battle of Wills!

Mom at School!

Child Care Influenced My Life

No Trespassing!

Grace for Today!

A Cow in the House!

Grandma!

Money for Spending

Seeds, Caterpillars, and Woolly Worms

To Smoke or Not to Smoke!

Regrets!

Clean Me Up, Lord!

The Drill Sergeant

Divorce?

A Day Care Center

Cleaning House

Curriculum

A Mission Field

I Can’t Even Get Sick!

A Real Job

My Little Country Church

We’re Not Keeping Score

David’s Rebellion & Marriage Influenced Our Lives

Seventeen and On His Own

His First Home

His First Marriage

His First Baby

Chopped Liver

The Lonely Puppy

Expensive Liability

The Gift of Tears!

A Loving Granddaughter

A Daughter-in-Law

An Empty Nest Influenced Our Lives

Any Objections?

Supper Time

Entertainers

Nobody Lives Like That Anymore!

Precious Godly People Influenced My Life

A Little Dip!

Blueberries!

Missionaries to Africa

A Jewel

Commitment!

Today is a Present!

All Things are Sacred!

Good Stuff

Nurse’s Training

Peace at Home

Nursing Career Influenced My Life

Thinking Deeply

What is Right about Sex?

Making a Change

Nursing Home Ministry

Third Shift

Folks with a Past

Personal Care

Dying

My Private Place

People I Met

Part of God’s Family

A Little Crazy Helps!

I Like Praising the Lord!

Be Prayer Warriors

Tabernacle Again Influences My Life

I Shall Not Be Moved

Deer Hunting

Seek Ye First

A Treasure in Earthen Vessels

Be Patient

A Lovely Home

A Help to Others

A Healing Process

Problems are Necessary

God Loves You Too Much

Luxury and Adventure

Mission Trips Influenced My Life

Indonesia

Grandchildren Influenced Our Lives

How Great Thou Art

Full Commitment

His Divorce is Final

Think on These Things!

My Service to God Influenced My Life

Book of Books

Enlarged Horizons

Home Health Nursing Influenced My Life

Alan

Relativism or Truth

Anna

A Foreign Language

Guardrails of Life

Life Is Worship

Life Is Service

David’s Failed Marriage Influenced Our Lives

The Regulator

Graduation

God’s Preventative Grace

God, Our Manufacturer

A Second Wedding

A Worry Box—My Observations

Messy or Clean

Comfortable Living

Positive Influence

Overwhelming Challenges

Sufficient for the Day

FOREWORD

It is indeed an honor to be asked to write a foreword for this wonderful book. Our ministry prints tens of thousands of books each year, and I believe that this book is one that will be kept in the libraries of our homes to be read over and over again.

Within the pages of this book, Mrs. Aiken has openly shared her heart as only someone who has the great assurance of salvation and the love of her Lord could. It is obvious that she has written with honesty and caring, wanting only to share the life she has lived with the prayer that she might be a blessing to others and not to be hurtful or unkind.

It was easy to relate to many of the instances in her life that she played out in these pages. By associating her life as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, pastor’s wife, teacher, nurse, and so many other titles that she has carried over her many years, the reader finds that many of those personal instances that you thought could only happen to you were actually something that she faced as well.

With an unselfishness that many find it hard to proclaim (including myself), she lets us know that through all that is happening in her life, she has her Heavenly Father to lean on, believing by faith that he is the one guiding her life.

Every pastor, pastor’s wife, and layman will do themselves an eternal favor to read this book. Mrs. Aiken presents her life as an open book within these pages. I trust you will be blessed as I have been by her work. A book that will keep you mesmerized as she shares her heart!

Linda K. Holton

INTRODUCTION

Dr. Harold B. Sightler, late founder and pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, said, God can take a crooked stick and draw a straight line. The story about my life is a story about imperfect people with a perfect God. It would be a shame to have a trial and not learn from it. It would be selfish not to share a sweet blessing. Many people are struggling with issues that I have faced. Life presents challenges and joys to all of us. I pray that I can help you by sharing my heart and life. I will praise the Lord if your life could be better or easier because of something I might say. I stand in awe that God may use me.

There is a multitude of books on every subject written today. My life has become richer because others took the time to write. All of us have a story to tell. I want my story to be of the grace of my perfect, patient, forgiving God that has not given up on me.

Romans 8:28 states, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Philippians 2:13 states, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Life has blessings and problems. God helping me I want to honor him through them all.

I thank my husband for his support and encouragement in this project. Not being a writer but only a child of God, I hope to share his grace. Thanks to Dr. Richard Hughes for his part in typing and correction. Appreciation is extended to my friend Mary Martin for proof reading and giving me the encouragement to publish my manuscript. I owe a special thanks to the patience and expertise of Linda Holton and the other staff at Faith Baptist Publications who worked diligently to make my thoughts readable. Thanks to those that are part of my life: my parents, children, grandchildren, and friends.

It is not my intention to hurt anyone, so please forgive any slight or unkind statement made in the telling of my life story. In several instances, I have changed a name to protect someone.

I have been an avid reader and may quote others, not being aware of borrowing their thoughts. All the information and ideas to help in living my life, I have begged, borrowed, and absorbed. Thanks for the abundance of good authors that have been my companions without their knowledge of my existence.

My complete story is not told, so I wait to see what God may do with and in my life in the future.

Thank you, reader, for choosing to give me a few hours of your time to allow me to share my thoughts and life with you. I hope they won’t seem wasted, and you will be blessed.

Marcie Aiken

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When I am old and gray (and I will probably be someday)

I want to remember when I was young,

When I had lots of friends and lots of fun.

But I’ll thank God ’til my dying day,

The Lord Jesus keeps me in the narrow way.

Before each date in prayer I plead,

Lord Jesus, help me to be faithful to Thee.

Some of the guys don’t understand.

You see they don’t know Jesus is so precious to me.

They soon decide Thelma Witmer is no fun,

And our dates together number only one.

There are guys who are good and kind;

But they can’t win this heart of mine.

I can give them the love I’d give to a brother,

But my heart’s very best God has saved for another.

When I am prepared by God for life’s treasures,

I know it will be to him a pleasure

To give me a pal who will love me for life;

And the Lord Jesus will help me be a kind, loving wife.

                                       by Thelma Witmer Eshleman

(My mother as a young lady concerned about getting married)

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Many people play a part in the development of a child. Looking back at all the influences of my life, I recognize how very much I have been blessed. Children are learning, observing, making judgments and choices even before they can express themselves. I am really thankful for the people that have played a part in my life. The child has a responsibility to make correct choices. I was given a wonderful foundation. My parents taught me to respect God’s Word from my birth. That respect made me desire to make wise choices.

I have a godly heritage, which I hold in high regard. What I was given through my parents and God’s Word is God’s gift to me. What I have done with the opportunities they opened to me is my gift to God. No one lives to himself; no one dies to himself. Our lives affect others in ways that we can never know. Money and material things could equip me for a time; lasting spiritual lessons, such as I have received through the influence of my parents and others, have not only given me a wonderful relationship with my precious Lord in this life, they have equipped me for eternity.

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Shoofly Pie

The grandparents I inherited from my mother were as involved in our lives as any grandparents living six hundred miles away from us could be. Most of us children spent at least one summer with them. We would go to visit them as a family several times a year. I think my grandparents may have been as glad when we left as they were when we came. We seven children were a rowdy bunch. As our family multiplied and we physically grew, one car became too small for all of us to ride six hundred miles, particularly if you threw in a hot summer day and a car without air conditioning. Yuck!

My parents began to travel at night so that we would sleep and that peace would reign. Once, they rented a U-Haul trailer. They placed a mattress in it then they deposited some of us children to ride in it. That would raise some eyebrows and bring about some consternation by police today. Back then the first concern was survival, not safety. In fact, safety was just taken for granted.

My grandmother had a big, old-fashioned attic in which I loved to spend time. Everything that she did not want to use presently was stored in that fascinating, musty, top floor of their farmhouse. The attic was forbidden territory, but I took every opportunity to investigate all the treasures hidden away on their third floor. Oops! My secret is out. I blame my love for thrift stores, antique shops, and rummage sales on that restriction!

Above the kitchen table hung a winding strip of flypaper. It was covered with a sticky, sweet substance that attracted flies. When they landed on the paper, they stayed stuck to it. The flypaper protected the food from those intruders. Can you imagine eating at a table where a bunch of dead flies hung stuck just within your eyesight? Another Pennsylvanian idea to keep the edible food edible was shoofly pie made of molasses. It was sweet to attract the flies away from the other food. It tasted good, too. Mom made it for us to eat, and we loved it; but that was not the original intent of that pie. Window screens were a recent invention. Flies are in abundance around a farm where cows live. I wonder if there are as many flies now as there were back then.

Shoofly Pie

Bottom part:

1 cup dark mild molasses

1 egg beaten

3/4 cup boiling water

1/2 teaspoon soda

Top part:

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons shortening

1/2 cup brown sugar

Pastry for 1 crust (9-inch)

Dissolve soda in hot water; add molasses and beaten egg.

Combine sugar and flour, and rub in shortening to make crumbs.

Pour 1/3 of the liquid into an unbaked crust.

Add 1/3 of the crumb mixture.

Continue alternate layers, putting crumbs on top.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes.

My grandpa Witmer would take a five-gallon bucket of ice cream out of the freezer and set it in the center of the kitchen table. He would give us each a spoon, and we would eat ice cream together out of that one bucket. We would share a special bond, with lightheartedness, during those times; after which, he would put the ice cream back into the freezer and the spoons into the sink. Cleanup was completed, and our stomachs were full. Our love for our granddad was real. We were content and emotionally secure. It never occurred to us that this was not a sanitary practice. Our physical constitutions never suffered in the least.

Grandpa Witmer was a special man, who was not particularly concerned about anyone else’s opinion of his life. Everyone loved him. He lived responsibly, made friends easily, and enjoyed life to its fullest. He was the type of man who was at peace with himself and with the world. He did care deeply about his family. I am told that when my parents took four of his grandchildren and loaded them on a remodeled school bus to relocate in Greenville, South Carolina, he was so upset that he went to the barn and did not tell them good-bye. He was known for going out onto the front porch of his farmhouse in the early morning and calling out as though lots of people were there. Good morning, world! he would shout. When my parents moved away, it was not a good morning for him. He was not a man who fit into a mold prescribed by anyone. Once, when visiting our home, he and a friend caught a bus on an impulse. They went to Florida while their two wives wondered where in the world their men had gone!

Grandpa Witmer hired a man that was mentally challenged to help on the farm. As a child, I felt like my grandmother did not treat this farm helper with much respect. She showed him minimal kindness. I always felt a little sorry for him. My grandmother Witmer always seemed a little snappy, and my mother would speak of how Grandma slapped at my granddad if he tried to kiss her. Mom said she determined that she would always treat her own husband with more respect and that she would encourage his caresses. She did always let my dad know she enjoyed his attention and love. My mother favored her dad and said when she was a child and her mom got after her, that her dad would say, Come to me, Nan, I will protect you.

Grandpa would take one child to spend the day with him and to help him with the chores. He always said, When you have one child, you have the whole child. But if you have two children, then you only have half a child. He felt he could do more for and with one child at a time. I cannot remember him ever being impatient with any of us. I remember going to the Green Dragon, which was a huge, combined farmer’s market and flea market. I had the delight of watching cow auctions with my grandpa. I remember this one particular time when Grandpa took a calf away from its mother to take it to the auction. The mother cow followed the trailer that contained her calf as far as she could, and she bawled all the way. I felt sad for the cow and the calf. To take a baby from its mother did not seem right to me. We become hardened to the ways of life as we mature.

We loved to go to the Green Dragon. I was fascinated by the flea market—its thrift stores and craft stores. After being at the cow auction with my grandpa, I would spend the rest of the day with Grandma. She would buy me an orange drink. I would always get sick and throw it up. I am not sure what caused me to throw up that drink. Maybe it was the heat of the day. I did not have a weak stomach; yet I could not stomach that good drink.

I do not know if the Mennonites have as many church services as Baptists hold (we Baptists always have some kind of meeting to attend) or if my grandparents just did not go to all of their church services. I do know that my grandparents went to Sunday school and the Sunday morning church service. They did not go to a Sunday night service or revivals, etc. I do remember going to bible school there. I remember the Kool-Aid and the cookies, and I remember playing drop-the-handkerchief-type games. I do not remember ever seeing them read their bibles or praying, except after a meal. They did act morally respectable. At times, they discussed Christian truths.

In the evenings, after the farmwork was done, these grandparents would play checkers with us on the long, front porch of their home. At mealtime, Grandma would send us out on that porch to pump water from the old well. Its pump had to be primed every time water was wanted. A church nearby would play chimes through the bell tower about six o’clock every summer evening. The train would blow its whistle as it passed the big pasture, and we would think all was well in the world. We enjoyed the cows; the hiding places we made in the hay; our explorations of the silo; our journeys down into the cool, damp cellar, where they stored fruit and potatoes; and we enjoyed playing with the baby chickens. Everything we knew about farm life, we learned at my grandma and grandpa Witmer’s home.

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The Eshlemans

The grandparents I inherited from my dad farmed when my dad was a child. My grandmother grew up as a Zimmerman. The Zimmermans involved themselves in several business ventures and became financially blessed. Grandmother’s motto was, A place for everything, and everything in its place. She would get upset if the children did not place every bowl and every dish back where it belonged when they washed the dishes after a meal. She made sure every child kept his or her own room immaculate. Everything was always in order in her home. One day she was on a roof, helping unroll tar paper for a roofing job on a building of the farm. She was moving backward as she unrolled the paper. The roof came to an end before the roll, but she kept unrolling. She went right off the end of the roof! I hope she didn’t fall far!

My granddad Eshleman had breathing problems when he was a young husband. He was told it would be helpful to move near the ocean. They moved to New Jersey, where my dad spent several years growing up. A doctor in New Jersey told my granddad that he had a growth in his nose which needed to be removed. Once it was removed, he was able to breathe well and his health improved. There was no Mennonite church in their area of New Jersey, and my dad’s parents attended a Nazarene church there. My dad committed his life to God. He was saved while going to that Nazarene church. His family moved back to Pennsylvania when they were discouraged from becoming members of that Nazarene church by their Mennonite elders.

Granddad struggled with farming and its economics. Apparently, he was never highly successful financially. The Mennonites did not use tobacco, but it was one product they raised that gave a good financial return. My granddad bought a farm and was told he would never pay for it unless he raised tobacco. The farm was eventually paid in full, and his family does not recall him ever raising tobacco. It would seem a breach of values to believe it is wrong to personally use tobacco and yet raise it and sell it to other people for their consumption. The Eshleman family had clearer convictions than that, but it did demand sacrifice and commitment. My granddad eventually went to work in a factory. He was blinded by an accident on his job.

I only remember Granddad as a blind man, living in a city environment with a two-story house. They lived on the first floor and rented the second floor. There was also a garage apartment which they rented. My parents would visit them, but we never spent as much time there as we spent at my grandma and grandpa Witmers. My mother said she could not sleep at their home because of their clocks. They had a cuckoo clock that kept diligent vigil during the night, as well as a mantle clock that chimed throughout the night. We children never