A Long Journey, Part 3 (Across the Border)

Dad was always a hard-worker, looking for ways to make things better. When the foundry that he worked at went on strike, he would look for other jobs rather than just collect unemployment. On one of these strikes, he found employment with a company across the state line, in Indiana. It turned out to be a good job. So much so, that when the strike was over, he stayed with it.

A couple of years later, we ended up moving across the border. We still weren't attending church anywhere.

It was a huge change for me, going from an elementary school where I was one out of a class of about 30 to a Jr. High school, where I was one out of about 750. I hated it. But over time, I found some friends, many of whom were connected to a local church. I had also gotten involved the the choir at school. And it just so happened that the church where many of the kids were going had a good youth program which was based around a youth choir.

One of our big events was an Easter Pageant which was a combined effort of the youth and adult choirs. The presentation would be on Easter Sunday in the evening. Mom and Dad decided to go to the pageant. It was a good show. Our director was excellent not just at the music, but the drama as well. When that cross was laid on the ground, and the you could see the hammer raise up and hear the sound as it struck metal, you could also hear the sniffles as people fought back the tears.

When Mom and Dad got us home, they made a rather surprising declaration: we were going to start attending church there as a family. Catholic mom and Lutheran dad had found a home.

Next: Conversion coersion