Ahead into the Past
There are things that I have done for which I am ashamed.
Nobody but me could be blamed.
If only I had the gift to look ahead into the past.
How I could then make the good times last.
But, now the past is done.
I wish that I had another chance; just one.
My future will be my past before I know.
Will I chose the right road to go?
As Lou Costello used to say to Bud Abbott, “I’m a baaaad boy.” Growing up, I was active in church services, Sunday School, Christian Endeavor, hymn sings, Campus Crusade for Christ, and Youth for Christ. My parents switched my dentist because I would get so many cavities. They believed my lie when I said that I would brush my teeth. This wasn’t the only bad thing about me, but I seemed to be such a good, little boy.
My mom encouraged me toward my first job, a paperboy for Allentown’s Call-Chronicle newspapers. Featured in the weekly Know Your Newsboy article that appeared in December of 1973, I am quoted that my route enabled me to earn money, meet people, and have a little thinking time in the morning. For my Morning Call route, my alarm was set for 3:30 A.M. After delivering the papers, I’d read the paper, and then get an hour more sleep before going to school.
Route profits enabled me to afford a trip to Germany with my high school German class. Ronald Reagan is known for saying, “Tear down this wall.” On the trip with my classmates to Checkpoint Charlie in 1973, I saw a crack in the Berlin wall. Reaching in this crack, I began this demolition as I broke off two small chunks for souvenirs.
My sister carried The Living Bible. But knowing the respect of the King James Version, this is what I would use for Scripture memorization to earn scholarships for our denomination’s Twin Pines camp, located in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. As bad as I knew that I was, I accepted Jesus as my Savior at Twin Pines. Never accepting a Lord whose people played Shakespeare so much, I stumbled to a deceitfully attractive, modern world that was ready for me at college.
People tell me that I don’t have to smoke and I don’t. Also, I am told that I don’t have to use KJV words. But it’s a shame that I must be around this odor in God’s house. And what’s worse is that I am encouraged to light up singing How Great Thou Art, etc.
Realize also that there is quite a bit more than an occassional Thee or Thou in the King James Version of the Bible: amerce-Deuteronomy 22:19, blains-Exodus 9:9, brigadine-Jeremiah 46:4, chambering-Romans 13:13, champaign-Deuteronomy 11:30, charger-Matthew 14:8, churl-Isaiah 32:7, ceiled-Haggai 1:4, circumspect-Exodus 23:13, clouted upon their feet-Joshua 9:5, cockatrice-Isaiah 11:8, collops-Job 15:27, confection-Exodus 30:35, cotes-2 Chronicles 32:28, covert-2 Kings 16:18, crookbackt-Leviticus 21:20, descry-Judges 1:23, fanners-Jeremiah 51:2, felloes-1 Kings 7:33, forward-1 Peter 2:18, glede-Deuteronomy 14:13, glistering-Luke 9:29, habergeon-Job 41:26, hoised-Acts 27:40, implead-Acts 19:38, muffler-Isaiah 3:19, neesing-Job 41:18, nitre-Proverbs 25:20, roller-Ezekiel 30:21, sackbut-Daniel 3:5, scrabbled-1 Samuel 21:13, stomacher-Isaiah 3:24, suretiship-Proverbs11:15, tabret-Genesis 31:27, the scall-Leviticus 13:30, wen-Leviticus 22:22, wimples-Isaiah 3:22, wist-Acts 12:9, withs-Judges 16:7, wont-Daniel 3:19, and wot-Romans 11:2. “Let,” “prevent,” and “communicate,” are a few examples of words that have changed in meaning over the past few centuries.
Ahead into the Past is condensed from a version written at my alma mater, Clarion University of Pennsylvania. For the summer of 1979, my Theta Xi brothers welcomed me back at our chapter house with a place to live. At one of our parties during this time, an acquaintance was talking to me. Thinking it to be kind of strange, she looked at me and said, “You know, you remind me of one of the brothers that I knew from here. But you can’t be him, because … he died.”
When I was taking classes at college, we’d usually have Wednesday and Saturday parties. There was Friday happy hour and I might hit a party somewhere else that night. While I didn’t die as the rumors told, I suppose that I would not have been in that 2½-week coma if I hadn’t been as much of a lush as Dottie, one of my sorority friends, correctly described me. There were many better things that I could have spent more time on.
My college grades didn’t suffer as I graduated with just over a B average. Several brothers and I had jobs at the college cafeteria where one of our fraternity advisors was the manager. Another advisor was the coach of the college judo team. Besides all the food that I could eat and all the alcohol that I drank, I had an active lifestyle. This kept me fit to start at 132 pounds and under, even getting on the scales wearing my heavy judo ghi, to start for Clarion’s varsity team. A local pizza shop, Pizza Pals, also employed me for delivery and to operate the store after the owner/manager made preparations.
One of the favorite things that I remember was at Greek Olympics. As the smallest fraternity brother, I’d be at the top of our human pyramid. Not on our knees, these pyramids consisted of circles of fraternity brothers standing with arms locked arm-to-arm. The second tier stood arm-to-arm on top of the first tier. The third and fourth tiers stood on the shoulders of the brothers on the lower tiers. Standing on top, you might wonder how safe I was. If we collapsed, we fell inward. So I had a cushion of a few tiers of brothers if we fell. Successful pyramids were dismantled in orderly fashion.
In the summer of 1977, two of my fraternity brothers and I safely took turns driving cross-country to our Theta Xi chapters at USC and UCLA. On the way, we went to the top of the St. Louis arch and then spent a night at my Aunt and Uncle’s house in Denver, Colorado. When we got to Hollywood, we went to Grauman’s Chinese theater where we picked up free tickets to see a live Tonight Show. Johnny Carson’s neck was bothering him, so previous host, Steve Allen, filled in that night. We also spent a few hours at Disneyland, went across the border to visit Tijuana, Mexico, and took a dip in the Pacific at Santa Monica State Beach. That was a long time ago, but I’d expect that we drank at least a few beers along the way. Except for a half-hour or so visit to the Grand Canyon, we drove non-stop back home.
Two months after college graduation, I was partying alone in my car when a tree jumped in front of me. Well, I did not die as rumored. After being treated at two hospitals in the Erie area, an ambulance ride that I do not remember, took me to the Lehigh Valley Hospital to be closer to my parents. After being bedridden with brain trauma, I did have to learn how to walk again at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown. With impaired fine motor skills and coordination, etc., I was glad to begin employment at one of their workshops for the handicapped earning a dollar an hour.
Dick Clark, because of hosting American Bandstand, has been called America’s oldest teenager. At the age of 119, Sarah Knauss was an older teen. She was also recognized as the world’s oldest person.
Born on September 24, 1880, Sarah finally resided at Allentown’s Phoebe Home. Visiting an acquaintance stroke victim at Phoebe, I’d occasionally stop in Sarah’s room. She once had me move a breakfast tray for her. Probably I just seemed to be a stranger and I didn’t know Sarah much more than that. On December 25, 1999, I stopped in to wish Sarah her last Merry Christmas as she died on the 30th.
Life is full of experiences outside of church.
Table of Contents/Intro
I AM vs. Thou
The Living Word Wins
A better Way
The Living Word Does Matter
Who is Saved?
Let's Do It
email me @ bobbimark@intergate.com