Last week I got an email, as did Der Bingle, from LZP about his son’s commendation. It came through the morning after Mr. Feller died and things were hectic.

But today, I want to take time to mention it here and then highlight the email response Der Bingle, a former Air Force officer, sent to LZP.

Here’s the email from LZP: (click to enlarge)

Here’s the email that LZP got back:

Lon LZP,

 

Those aren’t normally given to enlisted personnel. Joe must have done an exceptional job.

Ron Der Bingle

I had a horrible nightmare last night. And this morning the sun is often covered by widespread clouds . . . so my spirits are lifted for a moment or so and then the grey takes over. Then it happens again. If I can make it until 1 pm, more sun than clouds are predicted and at 7 pm, the weather people show all sun.

Seven pm. Oh, great. Seven pm is getting on to “dark time” as I remember it being described as a little girl.

I think I need to put some feathers on my head and moccasins on my feet and go out and do a sun dance in my (fenced-in) backyard. Of course, if I go out in the backyard, I will see it needs to be mowed. Auuugggggghhhhhhh.

Okay, I’m not linking to the story in the News-Sun because I don’t think you can see it online if you are not a subscriber. I am going to feature it here, though, because if there is one story that should be out there for all to see, it is this one.

It was written by Matt Getts of the News-Sun (kpcnews.com). Rev Barker was the minister who spoke at my mother’s graveside service, and I will be forever grateful.

***

KENDALLVILLE — Thursday night, the Kendallville Area Chamber of Commerce gave its highest individual honor to a man who has dedicated much of his life to helping those in the lowest of stations.

The Rev. Dan Barker, a retired pastor, current executive director of Common Grace and Noble County Jail chaplain, was named the chamber’s 2012 Citizen of the Year at the conclusion of Thursday’s 55th annual banquet.

Barker humbly accepted the honor after being given a standing ovation at a packed Kendallville Event Center.

Barker, 66, was born in Brighton, Mich., and when 2011 Citizen of the year recipient Ray Scott announced this year’s winner was born in that community, the rest of the laurels Scott had mentioned started to hit home for Barker.

“I was shocked,” Barker said. “When I heard Brighton, Mich., I kind of panicked.”

Barker’s surprise honor came following a keynote speech from Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Also receiving special recognition by the chamber were 2011 Industry of the Year Creative Liquid Coatings and 2011 Business of the Year Shepherd’s Chevrolet Buick GMC.

Common Grace provides services to those who are undergoing financial hardship, offering food, rent and utility assistance.

KENDALLVILLE — Thursday night, the Kendallville Area Chamber of Commerce gave its highest individual honor to a man who has dedicated much of his life to helping those in the lowest of stations.

The Rev. Dan Barker, a retired pastor, current executive director of Common Grace and Noble County Jail chaplain, was named the chamber’s 2012 Citizen of the Year at the conclusion of Thursday’s 55th annual banquet.

Barker humbly accepted the honor after being given a standing ovation at a packed Kendallville Event Center.

Barker, 66, was born in Brighton, Mich., and when 2011 Citizen of the year recipient Ray Scott announced this year’s winner was born in that community, the rest of the laurels Scott had mentioned started to hit home for Barker.

“I was shocked,” Barker said. “When I heard Brighton, Mich., I kind of panicked.”

Barker’s surprise honor came following a keynote speech from Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Also receiving special recognition by the chamber were 2011 Industry of the Year Creative Liquid Coatings and 2011 Business of the Year Shepherd’s Chevrolet Buick GMC.

Common Grace provides services to those who are undergoing financial hardship, offering food, rent and utility assistance.

“Common Grace is the one place to go if you need help,” Scott said.

As its executive director, Barker has been the go-to agency’s go-to man for the better part of two decades. He helped start Common Grace in 1995. For the last 11 years, he has ministered to inmates at the Noble County Jail.

It would be accurate to say Barker came upon his philanthropic endeavors naturally — and evenly divinely.

His parents both were pastors, and they showed him what caring meant.

“Our home was a home to anybody and everybody,” Barker said.

After graduating from Marion College, Barker entered the Asbury Theological Seminary. While in the seminary, the young man from small-town Michigan spent time in the Bronx section of New York City. There, he learned the joy of helping people from all walks of life.

“I referred to it as my conversion,” Barker said.

Barker graduated from the seminary in 1971. He served pastorships at several United Methodist churches in Michigan before coming to Kendallville in 1978. He oversaw the flock at Trinity Church United Methodist for 15 years, then spent eight years at Trinity United Methodist in Albion before retiring in 2011.

He remains active as the executive director of Common Grace, a man who has lived a philosophy that the church isn’t limited to a structure. That’s why, he said, helping others is what he must do.

“It’s imperative to serve the poor,” Barker said. “I see in every person a reflection of God. I’ve never met a person I could sense the presence of that divine essence.”

Barker said he is but one small part of the success of Common Grace. He cited the generosity of ordinary citizens, church groups, foundations and social organizations with really making things happen in this area.

“It’s a community that cares,” Barker said. “I don’t feel I’ve had to do that much. People want to help people.”

Barker doesn’t see his work at Common Grace coming to a close any time soon. His work for those who have nothing isn’t a hobby, it’s a calling from God to serve.

“That’s what your life is,” he said. “It doesn’t require any extra effort to be who you are.”

That doesn’t mean it’s easy, he admitted.

“You don’t like experiencing the despair of life some people have to deal with,” he said. “At the same time, it’s extremely gratifying.”

Hey, we’ve been living in this peanut butter world for over a half century now, cherishing the comfort food of a folded over piece of bread with peanut butter in the middle . . . and feeling at home by the sound of a screen door in summer and the heavy thump of a solid wood country farm door in winter. We chortled when restaurants served little bitty pieces of food served as edible art on a plate. Apparently, some heard our chortling and investigated.

BECAUSE we hear from LZP that peanut butter is the new rage in Iowa City.  Check this Out. Here, let us help you with this screen shot.

Three restaurants are mentioned in the article: Gus’s Food & Spirits, Crepes de Luxe Cafe and Quinton’s Bar & Deli.

My good friend, Kathryn Feller, who will be 95 on Friday,  buried her husband Emory today.  He was 98 and would have turned 99 in July.

Kathryn was an example of grace and a determination that overcame frailty.  On an unusually hot day in March – 85 degrees – she showed the stuff of which heroines are made. I am humbled.

Yesterday we set six shrubs in a small berm. I stacked at least half of a truckload of wood. Today I spent five hours cleaning.

I believe I have lost my mind.

Yes! I went out this morning and sawed off some more tall leaders and woo-hoo, from inside I still have privacy and yet the sun is hitting the interior of the shrubs. A little more taking out of the big stuff and then it will be snipping off all the dead twigs that had withered from lack of sun.

I may hang a wind chime in on of the hollowed out places. Or not, depending on how the sound would or would not travel to my neighbors.

I look like a lady bun when I go out – still wearing my yellow SPAM hat don’t you know. And an old, old Banana Republic shirt from when I was in my 30’s. That would be when it was a safari themed store and was really great. Hmmm, better check on ebay for some vintage items, but they are getting rare.

I think I need to get all my little redheaded friends here outback hats. Just a thought.

I am a sucker for dog stories. I cried during Homeward Bound when Shadow was stuck in the hole, telling the others to go on. My grandkids, who had seen it before, laughed at me and I sobbed out, “What kind of people can call this entertainment?” Marley and Me – now there was another movie that left me so sad.

Since then I’ve steered away from animal stories. Ironically, there are a few sad people stories I have been following because I once wrote an article about CarePages and CaringBridge pages and while researching it, got started following  a few of the families online. There have been a lot of goodbyes. Today one of the last links from those days posted an update: “He’s gone.” He was seven.

The next email was from Amazon.com about their daily Kindle book special. It is titled, Amazing Gracie: A Dog’s Tale. I felt an obligation to click on it and read this:

Now in paperback, AMAZING GRACIE is a moving, funny, and inspirational canine rags-to-riches story. Tears will stain the pages as you read about Gracie, says USA Today. The Chicago Tribune advises, If you’re short on inspiration, read Amazing Gracie. You don’t have to be obsessed with dogs to love this story (Philadelphia Enquirer), Two paws up (Portland Oregonian), humorous yet poignant (ASPCA Animal Watch)

And this:

In a dead-end job and mourning his dog’s death, Dan Dye adopts Gracie, a deaf and partially blind Great Dane puppy. He learns to cook to help Gracie thrive, and this act of love inspires Dye and his friend Mark Beckloff to start Three Dog Bakery, the successful international pet-food chain.

A story about a deaf, partially blind dog from a breed with short a short lifespan. Oh, yeah, just what I need. But maybe I do. Sometimes I think I have learned to shut out bad things that happen to other people because I don’t want anything to open that  door to a room in my mind of remembered despair.

Seven years old. Gee, that little boy had the lifespan of a Great Dane. Obviously a coincidence – those two email notifications being one after the other. I  one-clicked my 99 cents away and, I guess, bought myself a man’s best friend’s nudge towards empathy.

From amazon.com/kindle

Why am I typing Kendallville, Indiana over and over again? Well, I don’t really know. It could be that when I have searched for past posts lately,  I have not been able to find them. I think the first Kendallville was because it was written about being outside in March.

But, to get on with it, I put on my newly-found Lands End hat and went to a jeweler’s to retrieve a necklace, and when I pulled into the driveway, I knew I could saw some shrub leaders after all. So I did. Only first I had to come into the house to change into my SPAM hat because the LE hat was one of my better ones – not one of those I’d worn over and over again for mowing. I took my yellow-topped head into the shrubs and took out three thick ones.

I’m thinking of moving up to axes.