goingtoperu

09/18/98

8:51 am

Going to Peru... -Morgan Young

As I read in "My utmost for His highest" today, the biblical reference was in Romans. Inside a second or two, I remember my Grandma, on my dad's side saying, "Make sure you read Romans." And now I'm in Peru Indiana....two simple people. They had seen a stock market fall....two world wars..and a "police action"....had sent their two sons overseas to fight them....to their disgust, saw the birth of rock & roll--from a distance. They came from a simple time, both born around the turn of the century, in a meager farm community. Although the culture and times got much more complex, their lives seemed to be a microcosm....a time capsule built for two. Til the last days of their lives, they never owned a car. Into his eighties, grandpa walked all over Peru for whatever they needed. As the town spread out from downtown, his walks simply got longer...and he walked fast...a spry lean man who sported a straw-like fedora, dress shirt and tie, and dark maroon tightly laced dress shoes...resoled again and again. And this was his attire whether walking across the mean August asphalt or weeding their meticulous garden. Grandma didn't get out or walk much. Hers was the homefront...cooking, baking, cleaning. And I don't mean pulling a couple "lean cousines" out of the "icebox", as she would say. I mean making pie crusts...making noodles...making bread (and I don't mean pouring ingredients in, setting a timer and returning hours later to a perfect ball of fresh bread!) Grandma always wore a dress...fancy ones only for church. I don't suppose she even owned a pair of slacks....needless to say a pair of "dungarees." She finally came to own a handheld electric mixer....I'm sure a gift from a family member...she would never ask such a thing. I can hear her say, "Well this old hand mixer works just fine." A typically jovial and fun (in a quiet way) lady, she soberly said that in her lifetime, she saw moral decay truly ushered in by the Beatles....from that point, it was descending fast and enabled by John, Paul, George and Ringo.

I was never close with my grandparents. As simple, and as conservative as their lives were, my immediate family's was complex, "mod" and liberal. In the early seventies my three brothers and I had long hair...reflective of the time...opposite of my grandparents. As the cultural pendulum swung toward liberal thinking and away from the conservative ideas of the fifties and early sixties, so did our family. I strongly sensed and maybe even overheard that grandma and grandpa didn't approve of the way my mom and dad parented. But, it felt like that spilled over on us kids a little...not in intentional ways, but a quiet undertone.

When I remembered what my grandma said about Romans, it took me back....and in going back, I realize what a huge opportunity I missed. My grandparents went to church their whole lives... every Sunday...raised their family to serve in the church and had taught Sunday school. It was an integral part of their lives. When I was young, I just saw cultural and generational gaps...that the church part of their lives was somehow archaic. But, now to go back, retrace some steps, roll the tape from the archives of my mind, is to see how God and the church strongly and positively made them who they were. It was the basis for a simple life...they didn't need the latest technological material thing. Their life was not about external things....it was not about the culture...it was not about what the next door neighbor was doing. It was about their internal life. It was about a God honoring life. It was about something so counter-cultural that a little brown eyed, curly haired kid missed it....it went right by me. And so now, knowing what I know, being who I've become...wish that I could really get to know who my grandparents were...as I try to live a more simple life...



	09/18/98 8:51 am Going to Peru... -Morgan Young As I read in "My utmost for His highest" today, the biblical reference was in Romans. Inside a second or two, I remember my Grandma, on my dad's side saying, "Make sure you read Romans." And now I'm in Peru Indiana....two simple people. They had seen a stock market fall....two world wars..and a "police action"....had sent their two sons overseas to fight them....to their disgust, saw the birth of rock & roll--from a distance. They came from a simple time, both born around the turn of the century, in a meager farm community. Although the culture and times got much more complex, their lives seemed to be a microcosm....a time capsule built for two. Til the last days of their lives, they never owned a car. Into his eighties, grandpa walked all over Peru for whatever they needed. As the town spread out from downtown, his walks simply got longer...and he walked fast...a spry lean man who sported a straw-like fedora, dress shirt and tie, and dark maroon tightly laced dress shoes...resoled again and again. And this was his attire whether walking across the mean August asphalt or weeding their meticulous garden. Grandma didn't get out or walk much. Hers was the homefront...cooking, baking, cleaning. And I don't mean pulling a couple "lean cousines" out of the "icebox", as she would say. I mean making pie crusts...making noodles...making bread (and I don't mean pouring ingredients in, setting a timer and returning hours later to a perfect ball of fresh bread!) Grandma always wore a dress...fancy ones only for church. I don't suppose she even owned a pair of slacks....needless to say a pair of "dungarees." She finally came to own a handheld electric mixer....I'm sure a gift from a family member...she would never ask such a thing. I can hear her say, "Well this old hand mixer works just fine." A typically jovial and fun (in a quiet way) lady, she soberly said that in her lifetime, she saw moral decay truly ushered in by the Beatles....from that point, it was descending fast and enabled by John, Paul, George and Ringo. I was never close with my grandparents. As simple, and as conservative as their lives were, my immediate family's was complex, "mod" and liberal. In the early seventies my three brothers and I had long hair...reflective of the time...opposite of my grandparents. As the cultural pendulum swung toward liberal thinking and away from the conservative ideas of the fifties and early sixties, so did our family. I strongly sensed and maybe even overheard that grandma and grandpa didn't approve of the way my mom and dad parented. But, it felt like that spilled over on us kids a little...not in intentional ways, but a quiet undertone. When I remembered what my grandma said about Romans, it took me back....and in going back, I realize what a huge opportunity I missed. My grandparents went to church their whole lives... every Sunday...raised their family to serve in the church and had taught Sunday school. It was an integral part of their lives. When I was young, I just saw cultural and generational gaps...that the church part of their lives was somehow archaic. But, now to go back, retrace some steps, roll the tape from the archives of my mind, is to see how God and the church strongly and positively made them who they were. It was the basis for a simple life...they didn't need the latest technological material thing. Their life was not about external things....it was not about the culture...it was not about what the next door neighbor was doing. It was about their internal life. It was about a God honoring life. It was about something so counter-cultural that a little brown eyed, curly haired kid missed it....it went right by me. And so now, knowing what I know, being who I've become...wish that I could really get to know who my grandparents were...as I try to live a more simple life...