People I Know

I have a weird group of friends. They run from people who have no home down to millionaires who have several. Frankly, I am equally at ease around either end of the spectrum, but it is still really a strange mix when you think about it. Today, I would like to tell you about my friend Bill.

Bill and I have known each other for about three years, now. He has worked on the ranch during that time. To see him, you would think he is a crotchety old man in his 80's. He is actually a crotchety old man in his 50's. Missing one arm and several teeth, his appearance is one of someone who has had a tough life. So is his story. To hear him speak, he comes across as someone who is wary and often on the defensive. You probably would be, too.

Bill and I have gotten close during these years. He is my snake hunting buddy. I remember hearing stories about crazy ol' Bill before I met him. When I did get acquainted with him I told him I would like to watch him hunt rattlesnakes. I still remember his answer.

"Watch?" he yelled. "Hell! Ya ain't much good a-watchin'! If you're going you're gonna carry a bucket and a stick and catch some snakes!" I was instantly less enamored with the idea. Eventually I went, however, and now I really enjoy the insane hobby of rattlesnake hunting.

I have talked to Bill a few times about his faith. The first time I came away very ashamed. When I brought it up he said that he had, in fact, been baptized, but he had no real use for church. I let him explain at his own pace and a little later he did. He said that he had grown up very poor. Frankly, if you saw where lives even now this might have more impact. But anyway, he said that his grandparents raised him, his brother and his sister who had polio. He still remembers the day the preacher stopped them one day and told them they really needed to find some nicer clothes before they came back. They never went back. I can hardly blame them. I might be a little crotchety and defensive, too. When he was baptized it was in a muddy stock tank. He maintains that he still has yet to darken the door of a church service.

Bill was trouble incarnate as he grew up. He says he was always getting into fights. His main two reasons for fighting were people making fun of his disabled sister and people making fun of them for being poor. I can hardly blame him. I might be a little crotchety and defensive, too.

When Bill was 17 or 18 he had his arm torn off in an oil field accident. He had just gotten married, but that marriage failed shortly thereafter. I might be a little crotchety and defensive, too.

Bill is one quarter Cherokee but 100% outdoor mountain man. Even with one arm, he can make beautiful arrowheads, knives, hatchets and art from flint using the same methods the Indians used. He hunts and works with one arm better than most people do with two. He admits that he cannot tie his shoes, but that is the only thing he says his handicap keeps him from doing. Have you seen the latest styles in Velcro shoes? I might be a little crotchety and defensive, too.

Recently Bill had a rough couple of weeks. His wife and his mother both fell seriously ill and almost died. The same week, he wrecked his truck. I found a truck for him to use and he sure used it. He lives about 30 miles from Abilene but his wife was in the hospital here. His mom was in New Mexico. He did his best to take care of both. I visited him frequently while he waited in the hospital here. I also hauled his truck to Abilene for him and put it in a shop for repairs. In the course of all that I also told him I was praying for him. His response absolutely floored me. This is nearly a direct quote.

He said, "I know you are. And I know it's working. I can tell Jesus loves me and I love Him, too. Yesterday, drivin' the dozer I looked around and the sky was pretty and there were deer walkin' around and birds flyin' and I just stopped for probably 20 minutes and I prayed. I prayed about all this stuff that's been goin' on and my bad luck. I prayed for you, too, and about all the help you've been givin' me. I appreciate it more than you know." I tried hard to swallow a lump too big for my throat. "But I still ain't goin' to church with you."

Maybe my theology is wrong-headed, but I told him that was just fine with me. I figure his church is outside in the open spaces where he feels a relationship with God. It would never work to try to put that in a box.

A few weeks later I loaned Bill some money to help him out on a deal. Yesterday he brought me his first payment- in the form of two big bags of 50-cent pieces; two thousand of them. He said he had been collecting them for a long time and decided he didn't need them and wanted to start paying me back. I told him I was not in a hurry to be repaid, but he insisted. I've already decided I'm not going to deposit them. It just doesn't seem right to spend something that took him so long to collect. I'll just hold on to them until he misses them enough to take them back.

Anyway, that is an example of one member of my strange circle of friends. There is so much more I could tell about crazy ol' Bill, but it would take too long. So, like Inigo Montoya, "Let me sum up." Bill is the very type of person who often falls through the cracks, but in getting to know him I have learned a lot; about people, and about Jesus. And maybe, he's not so crotchety and defensive after all.