Under the Canopy: Stories of God's All-Encompassing Grace

By Charles E. Cravey

A logger, a farmer’s wife, two church painters, and two funeral directors find their paths merging at the crossroads of life.

A young man learning lessons from the School of Hard Knocks, a man encountering his long-deceased father’s friend while getting a haircut, and Forrest Gump’s question to his mother – “What’s my destiny?” – are all examined in this work. They all tell their stories through the eyes and ears of a seasoned reporter, preacher, and philosopher.

Take a journey through the eye of a needle and witness the pain, anguish, agony, and joys of life through the eyes of someone who has made such a trip and survived to tell his story.

Under the Canopy is a series of short stories, personal events, muses and memories, religion, and philosophy that provides a glimpse into the extraordinary calamities and celebrations of ordinary and mundane lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385010936

Charles E. Cravey

Charles E. Cravey has been an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church for forty years. He has also been a reporter, photographer, local pastor, recording artist/songwriter/singer, and producer. He is the author of several books and has operated his own publishing company for more than thirty years. He is married to Renee Dennis Cravey, and they have two children and two grandchildren. In retirement, he continues to be the interim pastor at Rosemary Baptist Church in Millen, Georgia.

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Copyright © 2023 Charles E. Cravey.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations are taken from King James version of the Bible, public domain.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1091-2 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1092-9 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1093-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023920543

PWestBow Press rev. date: 11/15/2023

To God I owe everything! He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6 KJV).

To my dear wife, Renee, who has found fit to share her life with me for the past fifty-one years! Her teacher’s skills were much needed in editing this book, and she did it willingly. She also chose the title and suggested much-needed changes. She is an asset, which every man should have. She has always been there for me. She gave birth to our two beautiful children, Jonathan and Angela, and they have also been a blessing.

Finally, to all those faithful, loving, and supportive church members I have had the privilege to serve for the past fifty-two years, you have been wonderful, loving, and accepting.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1: Short Stories

A Primal Scream

Prophet of Doom

Quietly in the Night

Repaint, Ye Thinners!

Final Harvest

Familiar Things

Chapter 2: Philosophy and Religion

Under the Canopy

The Meaning of Our Lives

Four Major Things to Live By

Eye of the Beholder

Brush Strokes

Excessive Happiness

Learning the Hardest Lessons

The Song Remembers When

Justification

I Saw God in the Muck and Mire

Sheep and Shepherds

Chapter 3: Personal Thoughts

The Maine Thing

Just Aren’t Enough Rocks!

A Majestic Encounter

The Master’s Cut

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Not Just a Cup of Coffee

Pot-Liquor Hill

Finding Greg Allman’s Grave

The Mighty Hiawassee

One Square at a Time

My Romance with Paper

Grave Number 291

Chapter 4: Muses and Memories

Blackie’s Arrival

Butterfly Kisses

The Legend of Mister Mac

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia

What’s My Destiny?

Through the Eye of a Needle

Carpe Diem

Spiritual Growth in the Bahamas

I Long to See You!

Driving in the Dark

I Just Came for the Barbeque!

Choosing a Life

Chapter 5: Diamonds in the Rough

A Carpenter Saved a Wretch Like Me

The Committee of One!

Diamonds in the Rough

Sacrificial Love

From Seattle with Love

Budget Childcare

Out of the Mouth of Babes

In Closing

Jobs Held by Dr. Cravey

Newspapers and Periodicals in Which Dr. Cravey’s Articles Have Appeared

Other Publications by Dr. Cravey

FOREWORD

Possessing an outstanding intellect and keen wit, Charles Cravey has utilized his superb writing skills in producing this book as a blessing to all who read and benefit from its profound insights. With a faithful, daily commitment to Jesus Christ, Charles has pastored churches effectively through the years and enhanced his talents through music and writing venues of all sorts. Charles is a multitalented brother in Christ who has produced Christian works that have benefitted others across cultures.

With a contagious passion for Jesus Christ, his Lord, Charles has been creatively active in unique ways to proclaim the gospel, visually and in other ways. Fact in point: Charles proclaimed the gospel standing on church roofs (e.g., Alamo UMC and Bloomfield UMC) to fulfill a pledge, Fill the sanctuary with worshippers, and I will preach from this church’s roof. Indeed, it was an impressive fulfillment of the admonition found in Matthew 10:27, What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs (NIV), … proclaim from the housetops (TLB). I have the name Charles Cravey noted in the margin opposite this passage in my Bible.

I recommend this quality book for your reading and study. My gifted brother, Charles, has lived joyfully a lifetime of splendid dedication to Christ. Well done, Charles! Well done, good friend!

Hugh L. Davis, D. Min.

Perry, Georgia

June 2023

INTRODUCTION

A logger, a farmer’s wife, two church painters, and two funeral directors find their paths merging at the crossroads of life. For many, their lives are routine and normal, but their stories are far from it. At a designated time in each life, decisions must be made that would change the entire course of their lives forever.

A father’s singing performance at his daughter’s wedding, a young man learning lessons from the school of hard knocks, a man encountering his long-deceased father’s friend while getting a haircut, and Forrest Gump’s question to his mother about his destiny all lead to searing questions and answers that are often hard to swallow.

Take the journey through the eye of a needle and witness the pain, anguish, agony, and joys of life through the eyes of one who has made such a journey and survived to tell his story. Under the Canopy weaves a series of short stories, personal events, muses and memories, religion, and philosophy to give us a glimpse into the extraordinary calamities and celebrations of ordinary and mundane lives.

CHAPTER 1

SHORT STORIES

One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to do things, to go places and explore. Another is that writing motivates you to look closely at life, at life as it lurches by and tramps around.

—ANNE LAMOTT, BIRD BY BIRD

A PRIMAL SCREAM

A t her kitchen window, Clara Cramer stood cold and alone, staring at the flakes of snow falling aimlessly to the ground. Every fiber within her cried out for reason and an explanation of what had decidedly become the worst day of her life. Her beloved husband, Sam, had just been laid to rest in Christ Hill Cemetery earlier that afternoon. Clara was now alone. At the close of the funeral service, Beatrice Carter had shared some disturbing news with Clara, which shook her w orld.

She stood there, as in a trance, trying to understand the circumstances of what she had just learned from Beatrice, when a lone dove flew into the window and fell to the ground. She watched as another dove came and landed beside the fallen one and then took flight again.

Clara’s heart was as cold as stone as her mind speedily went through the motions of making sense out of what she had heard at the funeral. Deep within her psyche, a primal scream longed to be released, exposing her hurt and disappointment with Sam. She felt as if she had been strapped to a cold metallic bed and administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital. She could have easily been pronounced DOA at four twenty-six in the afternoon, for she felt expired, undone.

Sam, her beloved husband and best friend for the past forty-four years, had died last week from a massive stroke. It had been a rough week in which he was hospitalized and everything possible had been done to help keep him alive, but to no avail in the end. She would be facing innumerable medical fees, and she had only Sam’s small retirement and Social Security from his employment to survive on. Clara had never held a job outside the home. Sam had wanted her to just concentrate on working at home and keeping the household in order. They had a few cows and pigs and a yard full of chickens that provided them with meat and eggs all year round.

Sam worked for forty-five years at Cranston’s Furniture store in downtown Swanson. The Cranston family loved Sam. His loyalty and devotion to the company had given him a good severance package on his retirement three years ago. He and Clara had lived comfortably, but there were no frills or fancies, for the money was not in their accounts for wishful spending.

Sam suffered before his death. His three days in the hospital were filled with constant tests, a heart catheterization, a brain scan, and a neurological test. He was hooked up to numerous tubes in and out and was completely miserable! Clara was the perfect wife. She had sat by his bed and spent each night in the uncomfortable chair next to him. Meals were ordered for them both, so she only had to leave him whenever she needed the bathroom. She was very faithful and loyal to the love of her life, and she would not leave him for anything.

Marilyn, their twenty-six-year-old adopted daughter, visited in both the morning and at night. She stayed in the hospital with them for hours. She loved both her mom and dad and would do anything for them. Marilyn came to Sam and Clara after they had learned of a child at the orphanage home who was up for adoption. Sam had made all the arrangements and worked everything out with the home for the adoption. Marilyn was nine months old at the time.

Clara and Sam had tried for years to have children, but it just was not in the cards for them. Clara felt that being a stay-at-home mom would be advantageous to raising Marilyn. She even homeschooled Marilyn until the eighth grade, at which time she attended the local high school until she graduated. Marilyn became a well-rounded child and an immense help to Clara around the farm. Sam was so pleased they were both now able to have a child to raise.

Life around the farm had been great for the Cramer family. Clara, Sam, and Marilyn were the perfect match made in heaven. Townsfolk talked about how happy they always seemed to be. Marilyn even began singing in the church choir, and she became a cheerleader on her high school cheer team. She was a great child and never once got into trouble. She was chosen as valedictorian of her graduating class. Clara and Sam were so overwhelmed with happiness.

After graduation, Marilyn married Billy Merritt. Billy was a good provider. He worked at Stinson Elementary School as a janitor. At night, Billy attended classes at the local university. Eventually, he graduated with a master’s degree in education. He then began teaching at the very same school where he had formerly worked. The teachers and staff loved Billy, and he quickly moved up the ranks. The school superintendent eventually chose Billy to be the principal at the same high school!

Billy and Marilyn had two children, a beautiful daughter named Maria and a son named Billy Joe, after his father. Their modest home was three miles from the Cramers in Stinson. They seemed the perfect couple, like Marilyn’s adopted parents.

The funeral brought people out from several surrounding counties, those who had known Sam through his work at the furniture store and those they had occasionally bought a hog or cow from.

Sam was a good man, a solid man, but he was the epitome of the man of La Mancha, eternally fighting elusive windmills. He was always dwelling too much on the past. It often bothered Clara when she found him in such states. She never confronted him about it, however, and they lived together in relative peace.

Beatrice Carter had been known for years as the busybody around Stinson. Once she found something out, it would be only a matter of time before everyone knew about it! If you wanted to know something about anyone in town, Bea, as she was often called, could tell you in detail. That did not mean the gossip was always right, but fairly accurate. She was a blessing to some and a curse to others.

She had confronted Clara at the cemetery and asked her, Clara, do you know who Marilyn really belonged to?

Clara, thrown aback, replied, What are you talking about, Bea?

I mean, did you know that Marilyn was Sam’s actual daughter?

No, I didn’t, Bea. And this is certainly not the time for your nonsense. Marilyn was already upset over losing Sam, and now the talk of the town was trying to give her some gossip. Who did she think she was?

I know it on good authority that Marilyn is Sam’s child. Sam and Rhonda Bassitt had an affair twenty-six years ago, and Rhonda became pregnant with Marilyn. She would later die of complications suffered during childbirth. So, Marilyn was placed in our local children’s home for adoption since there was no family to claim her. Sam worked it out in private with the home. You and he would adopt the child since you were unable to have any on your own. The home obliged and told Sam their secret would always be held in strict confidence.

Not only did the news of Sam’s affair break Clara’s heart, but to know that their very daughter was Sam’s, really Sam’s!

Clara told Bea, This is not the time or place to be telling such lies. I will be in touch with you later. She told Bea that she would require facts and details about the whole story.

Now, as Clara stood in front of the kitchen window with the snow falling, she felt that Pandora’s box had been opened and there was no way to get this information back in it. Her heart grew colder and colder as the night approached.

Marilyn came by to check on her mom, but Clara said not a word to her about the rumor. There may not be one element of truth in what old Beatrice Carter had to say in the cemetery.

Mom, would you like to come home with me tonight? Marilyn asked. Billy and I would love to have you, and the kids would love our time together.

Honey, I don’t think I can tonight. I need to be alone for a while and sleep in my and your dad’s bed tonight. I’ve got a lot of things to work over in my mind. I would love to sit down and talk with you in a day or so. I love you and do appreciate the offer.

With that,