THE FOURTH KEY

I looked at the arrangement of keys on my table and wondered what all of the memories meant. It is too easy to say that each one of them creates the person I am today. Truly they also created the person I had to abandon to become me. They are markers along the journey to today. Before I could ponder this very long, I picked up the fourth key. Through the fog of years past I flew swifter than the Concorde soared across the Atlantic. I was in the car. It was a brown Chevy Monte Carlo. We were arriving from Hot Springs, Arkansas. We got out and walked up to the door and that's where I retrieved the key from my pocket. I opened the door to the house where I had been living for a few months, but things were different now. Now I was living here with my wife, my new wife. And her ten year old daughter. It was not a special house, just a fairly plain rent house. It had brown indoor-outdoor carpet throughout. (Yes, that's what I thought too.) It had a too-small kitchen, one bathroom, and three bedrooms. It had a fenced-in back yard. There was a cottonwood tree that made my yard look like snow at a certain time of the year. We would track that fuzzy stuff into the house. It didn't look good on the brown carpet. But it was the first house we would call home as a family. I learned so much in such a short time in this house. I would like to share with you what newlywed John learned. *I learned that families aren't made by placing a number of people into the same house. *I learned that tuna casserole is an acceptable food item to some people. *I learned that ten year old girls who have been raised by a mother and grandparents do not appreciate being yanked out of that secure setting and placed into a home with no traditions or established guidelines. *I learned that over time, love really does conquer all. *I learned the value of godly in-laws, and understanding friends. *I learned that sitting in the driveway on Sunday mornings with the car running, gunning the engine, honking the horn, and losing my temper was not a very godly way to force someone to accept my long list of expectations. *I learned that I needed to drive to church in my own car to get there early. *I learned that God had placed a wonderful woman in my life ... even though I would learn that more clearly over the years. *I learned that being an instant dad is not as easy as instant pudding, though both can be sweet. *I learned that being a married youth minister was a lot different than being a single youth minister. A last memory associated with that house had to do with a simple item: a lawnmower. I didn't have one, and no money to buy one. My friend ... one of my 'fathers' ... Lowell gave me the first lawnmower I ever owned. And it even worked. It even worked when I thought I would add some oil to the lawnmower, via the foam air filter. Hey... I'm a preacher, not a mechanic. I was touched, though, that he gave me a lawnmower. It was something of a milestone ... I was a real landowner with a real yard to cut. I never said I enjoyed it, but it was a responsibility that made me feel more like a man and a husband. Before long I would embark on a short-lived career in something besides ministry. And the key that opened to door to my first home would belong to someone else. I suspect that many many people have lived in that house since.