Going For a Walk With Grandpa
Grandpa was blind, with a thick Latvian accent from the old country. Even though he was over eighty and I was only six, I was thrilled to walk around the block with him and his white seeing eye dog because he loved to talk with me and even listen to me.
Daddy drove me to Chicago almost every summer when it was Daddy’s turn to have custody of me for a few weeks.
Even though my parents were divorced, and Grandpa was a minister, he had a loving attitude toward my mother. Of course, he knew nothing of what was going on with my seven-year-old half-sister and I as we were often left home alone in a bad section of Memphis while my mother went dancing. Sometimes, terrified, we were locked out of the house after dark while Mother entertained boyfriends. But her mother, our grandma, told us that it was bad to ever talk about what mother did. She explained to us that Mother, being so young, needed to get out more and have fun. She explained that we were a burden.
Most of all we had learned, when we were with mother, to never mention God. After all, she had divorced my Daddy saying, “No one is going to shove God down my throat.”
Grandpa and I enjoyed listening to the birds in the trees as we walked on his street. He seemed to hear more than I did. But he explained that’s because his ears focused on the sound since he could not see.
As best as I can remember the conversation, he asked me, “Annie, do you ever talk with God?”
I was so happy to hear that it was okay to talk about God.
“No. I didn’t know I could, and I don’t even know how.”
“Well, let me tell you a story. You know, the Lord is my shepherd.”
“What’s a shepherd, Grandpa? And who is the Lord?”
“When I was a young boy in Latvia, I was a shepherd and guarded the sheep. I kept them from going too far astray or falling off a cliff. I guarded them to keep them safe and to make sure no wolves could get to them.
“How did you do that?”
“Well. I had a rod and a staff. The staff had a big hook at the end so that I could take hold of the sheep if he was in danger and gently lead him back into the flock. The rod was to help me guide us on our way.”
“Okay. But I thought that you said that the Lord is my shepherd. Who is he?”
“Annie, the Lord is God. He guides me even now like a shepherd guards his sheep.”
“Why would he do that?”
“You see, Annie, he loves me. He knew my name before the world even began.”
“Really? I have never heard that.” Where did you learn that?”
“From the Bible.”
“We don’t have a Bible.” I didn’t know it was okay to talk about God.”
“Well,” he said, the Bible says, “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In other words, it’s saying that if I trust him and talk to him, he hears me as I tell him what I want. Then, I trust him to decide what I really need and what is best for me and I know that he will take care of me.”
“How do you tell him?”
“We can talk to him any time. It’s called prayer.”
“Oh.” I was surprised to hear that we could actually talk to God.
“The Bible goes on to say, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. I love that he says ‘makes me,’ because sometimes God needs to remind me to rest as if I was by the still waters and when I do, he restores my soul.”
“What does that mean?’
“Restores my soul means that I feel peace.”
“When I read my Bible and learn about him, he teaches me how to know right from wrong for His sake. That’s what,’ he leads me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake’ means. Are you ever afraid, Annie?”
I wondered how he would know how scared I was so often in Memphis. “Yes, I’m afraid of the dark.” I didn’t say why.
“Well, the boy who wrote this in the book of Psalms was a shepherd just like I was, and he said, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’ ” Notice, Annie, that he says,’ through the valley of the shadow of death.’ It doesn’t mean that we will never be scared but that he will guide us through those times. And, sometimes, it is only a shadow, not a real danger. He promises to be with us in all of these times.”
“Wow! I get it. I can talk to Him during scary times? And He will guide me just like a real shepherd guides his sheep with a rod and staff.? That’s wonderful!”
“You got that right, Annie.”
“The best part of this story, Annie, is the last part. ‘Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’”
“Wow! (I didn’t know yet what mercy was, but I knew what goodness was).” And goodness can follow me all the days of my life if I follow Him?”
“Yes, Annie. And you can dwell in the house of the Lord forever whether here on earth or when someday you go to be with Him in heaven.”
By the time that we got back to Grandpa’s house, he had helped me memorize the 23rd Psalm.
As Daddy and I drove home to Memphis, I took God with me as I started talking to him regularly, quietly inside my head.
And, sure enough, soon my sister and I were home alone again the night that a burglar broke through a bedroom screen window. We hid in the hall closet while he searched for money and even food in the kitchen. As I shook with fear. I prayed silently to myself. But the vagrant left, and we were safe once again. When Mother came home late that night, she saw the torn screen but told me I was overreacting since we were okay now. The screen was fixed. And she said if we were ever scared again like that, we could run down the street to Shirley’s mom’s house and she would let us in.
But that’s another story….
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