Because of the Butter | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Because of the Butter | Previous Challenge Entry
By Julene Celander
03/11/15
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Because of the Butter

It all happened because of all things, BUTTER! It was the butter that I needed to finish up supper that led to a memorable circumstance as a teenager. I grew up on a farm and was cooking the family supper by the time I was nine years old.

While preparing the evening meal I had planned to make a cake for dessert. The recipe called for butter and when I went to the refrigerator there was none. Now what was I going to do? The cake had already been started and to waste the ingredients would be a definite mistake in our household.

The nearest town was 9 miles to the north…a whopping village of 210 residents. There was however a small grocery store. The only thing I could do was go and get the butter.

The only vehicle at home at the time was Dad’s half ton pickup truck. It was a straight transmission. I didn’t know the first thing about a straight transmission…but my younger brother did! The only problem with that was the fact that he was not yet a licensed driver. He was just fifteen, but had been driving the tractors on the farm since he was twelve. He had had LOTS of practice shifting gears and working a clutch.

Between the two of us we devised a scheme where I would sit behind the wheel and he would lie on the floor and work the clutch. Remember, we were teenagers and our thought processes were not fully developed. It was a choice of wasting ingredients or driving Dad’s truck.

So in we climbed, me behind the wheel and my brother settling in comfortably on the floor. I started the truck. He pushed in the clutch and I put it in reverse. He pushed my foot down on the gas pedal and the truck slowly began to move. I pointed the truck toward the driveway and my brother again pushed in the clutch. Down went my foot on the gas and away we went. All I could do was hope we had a safe journey.

We shifted all the way down the half mile driveway and turned onto the blacktop leading to town. Once we were on the road and had the truck in fourth gear my brother crawled up into the passenger seat and helped me watch for any hazards. Again I hoped all would go well and that we would get back before Dad came home and found his truck missing.

We parked, jumped out of the truck and ran into the store as quick as we could to get the butter and back into the truck for the trip home. The store owner was a good friend of our parents and we were very hesitant to answer any questions he posed. We just wanted to get headed back as soon as we could.

We made it back all in one piece and I made sure the truck was parked exactly where we had taken it from. At least I thought I had. The hope of a safe trip and a delicious cake for supper made the trip seem worthwhile to us.

Dad came in from harvesting the corn at another farm and dinner was ready when he walked in. The first words out of his mouth, “Who has been driving the truck? It’s not where I left it this morning.” Until that moment I never realized what an eye my father had for details. I hadn’t gotten the truck back exactly in the same spot.

We were punished for our irresponsibility and rewarded when Dad tasted the cake and boasted about how good it was. The hope we had of getting away with the mistake we had made vanished once we were confronted by our father. But, the hope we had in Dad was rewarded by offering him an apology and an offering of a cake he loved.

This is the kind of hope we can have in our Heavenly Father. The hope of forgiveness and salvation by believing and trusting in Him is always available. Yes, we have to ask for forgiveness for our mistakes and we have to offer Him our lives as a sacrifice, but what a small price to pay to have eternal HOPE bestowed upon us. Our HOPE in Him covers everything…even the mistakes we make as long as we are faithful to obey. Who or what is your hope in today?

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