Life Matters - October 19, 2022
A week and a half ago we (my wife and I with our youngest) spent a long weekend amongst the happy sound of four grandchildren with their parents, Justin and Erma. The Black Hills of South Dakota had beckoned to make a visit happen. We stayed at a very functional, older remodeled house on the outskirts of Custer. When I say, “the outskirts,” I mean literally, as the landscape beyond our narrow strip of backyard was a sheer, solid rock cliff that went straight up some 50 feet and then tapered back from there for another 50 some feet. It didn’t look like anyone was going to build there anytime soon! And being a “dyed in the wool” country boy, I was very much fine with the privacy.
I am also very much fine with meeting new people. Which we did as we stopped at Wall Drug, went through the Badlands, visited Mt. Rushmore, went on a train ride with wooden train cars pulled by an 1880s steam locomotive and toured a segment of Jewel Cave. I say “a segment” because we learned from our tour guide that Jewel Cave has 212 miles of explored passageways with more to discover. Collin, whom I got acquainted with, is an exceptionally good tour guide. Communicative, a clear voice, a clear and ready mind, observant, ready to help and did just an overall excellent job. And best of all, he spared us from any of that millions-of-years “science falsely so called.” (1 Tim. 6:20) I gave him a Divine Response book and hope to meet again, either in the present, or, in the “sweet by and by.”
Speaking of books, one of the highlights of this vacation was being able to introduce a critter from storyland to our grandchildren. A critter that they’ve heard a lot about from their grandpa but had never seen pictures of before. A critter that was born in my imagination around 2017 when our Helmuth grandchildren were back home in South Dakota with their parents on a mission furlough, from Benin, Africa. We visited them at their home in the small town of Farmer and as the oldest two had permission to stay at their grandparents’ house for a week or so, we brought them along home. The eldest, Kylan, was fascinated with dinosaurs at the time and brought one along. As I was riding in the back with the children, I spied it lying on the floor where it had fallen, picked it up and remarked about these dinosaurs roaming the earth before the flood of Noah’s time and wondering if we still have down-sized versions of them today. Kylan then informed me that what I was holding was a stegosaurus which I understood to be “stigosaurus.” That’s when Stiggy was “born” in my upper cranium and also when our grandchildren first heard about him, and the lessons learned through adventurous mishaps brought about by his mischievous nature that didn’t think ahead very far.
I was encouraged to put these stories into book form and now the first of a series of “Stiggy Stories” is available. These children’s books have adventure and then lessons learned, many of them being a reflection upon one episode or another in my own eventful life. The title of the first book is Stinky Stiggy. It is available at emanuellapp.com. Or you can try calling this grandpa at 605-949-2141. My apologies ahead of time if you find me hard to track down. I try and will continue to as long as God allows it.
Sometime after Stiggy was “born,” Trina informed me that, “Dad it’s not stigosaurus. You misunderstood, it’s stegosaurus” But by then, Stiggy had stuck, so now he is “Stiggy the Stegosaurus.”
Our Miller grandchildren, Mikayla, 8; Kassya, 5; and Kaedon, 3; (Kyler the handsome littlest guy, is still too small to comprehend) have been hearing Stiggy stories from little up, so it was very special to have the privilege of showing them the first book, Stinky Stiggy one evening on this very special vacation trip to the Black Hills in the great state of South Dakota with its “Great faces, Great places.” With all due respect to the founding fathers of this great nation we are blessed to live in, the greatest faces on earth are still the faces of loved ones who love in return. And the greatest place is still home. Even after a great vacation in the Black Hills. A great vacation with great places and great faces.
Life Matters!