Out of the Past with a Twist of Truth

The Honeymoon

June and I had only been married one full day when we checked into a motel in Southern Pines, North Carolina on a Sunday afternoon. We were nineteen, and I was a bit uneasy being a hundred miles from home.

The motel was one with cottages. When the manager saw the “Just Married” sign on our car, he gave us the cabin farthest away, making me more uneasy.

Being tired from the wedding the night before, we decided to take a nap before going out to eat. With the blinds and drapes pulled, the room was total darkness, and we went sound asleep.

In the deep of sleep, June woke me with the startling words, “Be quiet and listen”—. In the dark, I heard a horrible noise that sounded like someone was tearing the screen off the window. I was scared. I couldn’t see a thing. I prepared to go for help, instructing June to slam the door behind me and lock it. I opened the door and ran out screaming so as to frighten the intruder.

To my amazement, it was broad daylight! People were sitting out in lawn chairs. They cheered and clapped when I ran out screaming.

I felt like a fool. I could see then that the frightening noise was caused by a limb from a tree rubbing the screen on the window as the wind blew.

Life is just that way sometimes. We are unnecessarily frightened. There are a lot of tree limbs blowing in the wind. Check them out to make sure they are worth getting excited about. (See Proverbs 29:25.)

Introduction

I have been told a sign of old age is when we start reminiscing. It is true, I can remember things that happened forty-five years ago better than I can remember the things of today.

This book is about things that happened years ago. It contains true stories from my past—stories I have loved and told over and over again. They were a vital part of me, and many of them affected my life permanently. I use them to highlight spiritual truths and hope they may have a life-changing effect on those who read them.

I am grateful for my heritage and have always enjoyed sharing it. I am also thankful for the love of family and especially of my wife, June, who has sat and listened to these stories as they were told to new people. She faithfully smiled each time through her boredom.

I am also grateful to my sons, Rusty and Larry, who listened to them when they became of age, and now to my four grandchildren, Josh, Caleb, Amber and Alli who also enjoyed these stories, giving me a new and fresh audience.

Most of all, I am thankful to the Lord Jesus Christ for my Christian faith and for helping me to blend the past with spiritual truths.

I hope you enjoy reading these brief stories as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Norman R. Gardner
Orange Park, Florida
1990 (updated 2022)