FROM THE BOOK BLUE EYED SIX: Drews and Stichler’s legs and arms were pinioned by stout straps. Stichler, who was the last one bound, being engaged in silent prayer all the while. The rope was first adjusted around Drews’ neck and the white cap drawn over his head, and as they were performing the same operation on Stichler, Drews cried out, “Frank, now we go to heaven, now let go, oh, Father, help.” Both men trembled all over like Aspen leaves for a moment before the fatal blow was struck and they shot through the trap launching them into eternity. Their bodies were placed in very plain coffins, furnished by the Directors of the Poor. Drews was buried in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery and Stichler in the garden at his father’s house in Indiantown Gap.

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LOBO COMMENT: So ended the lives of the two men convicted of the murder of poor Joseph Raber drowned to death in Indiantown Creek on the fateful day of December 7, 1878. An unlikely pair, Charles Drews (age 59) a humble father, farmer, butcher and past soldier in the Union Army whose name is listed on the Gettysburg memorial, and Franklin Stichler (age 19) a bold town ruffian and frequent thief were contracted to commit the crime by four other Lebanon County PA conspirators, all six having blue eyes and such were tagged as the infamous “Blue Eyed Six” by a reporter covering the story.

The genesis of the story begins with a plot to kill a man in order to collect money from the insurance policies which four of them had taken out on the victim. It’s a story of greed and viciousness not unlike many murder mystery stories of its kind. I happen to be related to two of the men, Charles Drews and Franklin Stichler, and thanks to my Uncle Wayne H. Anspach, who wrote the book “Blue Eyed Six” have an authentic record of the event through his research and interviews of family members done at the time it was first published back in 1971. Uncle “Snack” as our family and friends called him, graciously granted me permission to use the information and pictures from his book which, if you want more detail, can be purchased at the Lebanon County Historical Society.

So why another account of this tragedy? My blog “Lobochronicles” is meant to give spiritual insights into a disciple’s pathway and so my goal was to examine the Blue Eyed Six to see if there existed any record of true Faith in their lives and what could have derailed that Faith to allow them to commit such a heinous deed? What follows is what I discovered and my opinions of these matters. Since our faith always has roots springing from the foundation of the influences in our lives from family, schooling, friends, church, our work etc., I will list some of these influences and comment about their impact on the men.

We’ll save my relatives who actually committed the murders for last, and look first at the four men who participated in the plot of insuring Joseph Raber for the $10,000 they planned to gain by his death. Thankfully, the laws have changed and today you cannot blatantly insure a friend or stranger for devious purposes.

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To begin, here is an artists sketch of the little hamlet called “Joseph’s Springs” where the plot was hatched and murder committed. Raber was drowned in Indiantown Creen (loc C) and the plot was planned in Brandt’s house (loc B).

JOSEPH’S SPRINGS

ISRAEL BRANDT – Age 47 – The Mastermind

A SUMMARY FROM “THE BLUE EYED SIX”: He was born in North Lebanon Township, Lebanon County PA on May 27, 1834 a father of 4 children at the time of his death in 1880. His father was a faithful hard-working farmer and carpenter in the community but Israel did not possess the stability of his parents but was possessed with a restless disposition and a desire for change.  He went to school at age 8 and continued to age 15 when his father sent him to a tailor to learn his trade until his 18th year. He worked at tailoring for 5 years but sighed for a change so he packed his gripsack and wended his way to the Hoosier State working on a farm gathering fruits of the earth for a few years. Again the demon of change wrestled with him and he headed back to his home in Pennsylvania.

A short stint in the military followed but his unit chose not to go to war. A two-year job keeping the Washington House in Lebanon followed after which he sold the business and moved to Illinois where he lost his arm working with a threshing machine then moved to Iowa remaining a short time. Finding no work he headed back to Lebanon! His next venture was managing the Cold Spring Hotel for two years where his first wife died from consumption. He tied the knot again in 1858 while managing and land lording a hotel called the Half-Way House for some years where he was known as a country tavern keeper.

Like the “Wandering Jew” we find him still on his travels catering to the appetites of his customers in the hotel at Joseph’s Springs and was there the longest time of 7 years at the time of the Raber tragedy. He was arrested once for selling liquor to minors and routinely had stolen cattle, sheep, chickens and turkeys butchered in the basement of his hotel. He even served stolen sweep potatoes to the man from which they were stolen and the man enjoyed them immensely! He was known as a “jolly good fellow” while doling out beer and whisky to the general public. It was his idea to insure Joseph Raber but he needed others to participate so that his cost would be limited. Testimony was given that he tackled and badgered these men until they finally agreed to join the conspiracy.

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LOBO COMMENT: So here was a restless and devious man who found no happiness in the fruit of his labors wherever he went. He was a regular bad influence in his community to say the least! There is a short reference about him being a Lutheran and also a note about him protecting a Camp Meeting in Sinking Springs from some “ruffians” who made it a practice of breaking up such spiritual gatherings. But to his dying day on the gallows he made no public confession of the crime nor outward confession of his faith. With that said, just before his excecution Brandt shared a poem he had written with a Newspaper Reporter which in part said: “Yes, Israel I was christened, Jesus’ name I see; In him I’ve found all comfort; O precious blood for me; Holy home I wish to go; My faith in Thee alone I show; For You will be my Savior.” He also had “devotions” with fellow blue-eyed convict Jesiah Hummel until midnight the night before the hanging and also participated in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. On the day of his execution he went to Henry Wise (who had confessed all the details of the crime) and forgave him “for all that Wise had ever done against him”. All these are to me as evidences that God was truly working in this sinners heart.

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THE BIBLE: The great God who formed everything Gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages. The way of the transgressor is hard. Surely you did not hear, Surely you did not know; Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, And were called a transgressor from the womb. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Proverbs 26:10; Proverbs 13:15; Isaiah 48:8; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23)

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 Next up Henry Wise “The Squealer”

Blue Eyed Six & The Faith – Chp 2 (Henry Wise)

As fallen human creatures whose minds are filled with web after web of “head trash” collected over decades of cataloging detailed offenses, we need to find a way to clear out our mental attics! Yesterday as I sat with my Uncle “Snack” (Wayne) Anspach under a shade tree on the lawn of the Lembergers United Methodist Church (discussing my upcoming blog on the faith of the “Blue Eyed Six”) a jogger passed by. When we said hello she stopped to chat and during the conversation about jogging and other things, she mentioned that she’s learned to “Travel lite through life and dismiss all the head trash” which bogs her down in her journey.

What a clear analogy and wise advice! The Apostle Paul, the writer of 13 books in the New Testament of the Bible, could have carried a lot of head trash into his ministry. He was a “Pharisee of the Pharisees” (that’s like a Pope among Popes) who knew every jot and tittle of the Jewish Law which constricted that nation’s people with lifeless rules and regulations shackling their daily lives. He was a hater of the new believers which sprang up in new life after Jesus’ resurrection even to the point of approving the stoning of Stephen a new deacon in the church whose faith shone like a blow torch to his executioners. Paul went on to breathe out threats to all the new churches and carried government arrest warrants with him as he traveled to persecute them.

That was when Jesus appeared to him in a bolt of light on the road to Damascus. Struck down to the ground as Jesus spoke to him from the heavens he embraced “The Faith” as his own and trusted in Christ as his Savior. A changed man, he then made it his life’s goal to preach of Jesus to all who would listen and founded church after church in that quest and thanks to him and other faithful disciples you and I have the opportunity to hear of and trust the Savior today.

Paul dismissed the head trash which could have weighed him down. He said in Philippians 3:13 “I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” The writer of the book of Hebrews in chapter 12:1 also said “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”.

It has been said that holding onto unforgiveness and bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. How true it is! So what is the key to clearing out the web after web of headtrash? This battle of the mind is a spiritual one. We don’t fight physical battles but go to war with forces unseen whose goal is to keep us from living out our faith. The battle starts with making sure you are in the family of God which is done by believing the Gospel that Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised on the third day. By turning from sin and trusting in Christ to forgive you He will give you the new life He promised.

Then, equipped with Jesus new life inside of you, saturate yourself in His Word the Bible with daily reading, memorization of and meditation on His Word and then start a daily conversation with him in prayer. These steps, along with attending a church where the Bible is preached, will give you all the tools you need to be set free from all that binds you. Pray, “Lord I forgive everyone, everything. Take these burdens from me, I lay them at the foot of Your Cross. I don’t want to carry this baggage anymore.” Let it go! Let it go!

What a way to start the new year 2017!

There is a story told about a missionary who led a tribal leader to the Lord. Some time later he went back to see the chief and asked how the new believer was doing. He said, “Inside of me there are two dogs. The black dog is mean and tries to talk me into making the wrong choices. The white dog is good and encourages me to make the right choices. The black dog fights the white dog all day.” When asked by the missionary which dog wins, the chief reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most!”

You know, most of us believers are the same way. There is a part of us that is Christ-filled, compassionate, trusting, caring, serving and focused on helping others. (Our White Dog or New Nature.) We also have a self-centered, fearful, habitual, controlling, anxious part of us that is generally focused on “me, myself and I” and preserving the status quo. (Our Black Dog or Old Nature.)  These two natures are in a constant battle.

Even the Apostle Paul had this struggle. He put it this way. “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:21-25 NLT)

So how do you feed the white dog? Turn from the dark and un-holy things which your spiritual enemies, the World, your Flesh and the Devil throw at you every day and seek and saturate yourself with the things of the Lord instead! Daily reading and meditation of the Bible, God’s holy Word (see link below for my blog “The Plus 30 Plan” for a helpful way to read the Bible).

Make a prayer list and pray daily for yourself, your family and others. Attend a church which preaches from the Bible and where you can make new friends of common faith. Serve others in any little and large way you can. All these things feed the white dog and lead to a much much more fulfilling and rewarding life.

FEED THE WHITE DOG!

Feeding plan here: The “Plus 30” Plan

On this morning of September 11th I write to you about a person from the “Greatest Generation” who has been a rock in my life and the life of my family. As I sat by his hospital bed last night, where he has been on the precipice of eternity since last Friday, it came to me that he was among the major providers and foundational characters in my life. I speak of 89-year-old Clarence Wolfe (known to us growing up as Uncle Junior) who has had a tremendous impact on us as they say “from little on up”. The year 2015 brought to him many physical trials which culminated in a perfect storm of ailments attacking all of his bodily systems at one time.

Clarence was born in 1926 and grew up in the World War II era. His father’s name was Clarence, hence the nickname “Junior”. He joined the Navy when he was old enough and served two years at sea on a destroyer which protected carriers from attacking enemy planes. My family recently toured the USS North Carolina (my grandsons are pictured in the ships bunk beds below) and I realized it took a special person to be able to live in the belly of a big ship like that sometimes going days without seeing the sun. Those men were made of granite.

As I shared in my blog “Bud’s Beginning” my family got off to a rocky start and due to circumstances, some not of his own making, my father disappeared from our family’s life when I was in elementary school. My Uncle Junior (my dad’s little brother) and his wife Janie having no children of their own often came to our home with food and money and clothes to help my mom raise us Wolfe boys. We grew to know that they could be depended upon and time and time again they were providers for us. When our mom had a nervous breakdown we each were taken in by different relatives and my twin brother Bruce lived with Uncle Junior and Janie. They called him “Brucey” and I think even today they still consider him their adopted son.

As a young parent I went to Uncle Junior to ask him to co-sign a loan so we could buy a mobile home. He suggested rather that he had a “friend” who would be willing to loan the money to us for much less interest and a lower payment than the bank could offer so we took him up on the deal. The identity of the “friend” was never revealed but in my heart I knew it just had to be him.

When my Great Grandfather Allen Wolfe died (the country store keeper) Junior and Janie provided for his wife Grandma Kate by placing a mobile home on their property in which she lived the rest of her life. We came to know her as “grandma trailer” since at the time we had four living grandmas and it was just easier to differentiate her that way. Oh the happy times we had with Grandma Trailer and with Uncle Junior looking on as we drove his riding lawn mower (sometimes over his flowering bushes) and played pool in his basement.

His last public event was my retirement party a couple of weeks ago (pictured above with wife Janie and our grandson Braden) and miraculously he was able to attend where he got to see many of his Wolfe relatives and all of my seven grandkids. His wife said he really enjoyed himself and was so glad he could make it. Uncle Junior was a great example for us, a solid citizen, a caring provider and a father to the fatherless. Our world needs more men just like him.

So I sat alone at his bedside approaching the end of visiting hours holding his hand and I told him how much I appreciated his impact on my life, how that he had been my rock. I told him it was ok to go home to be with the Lord and to rejoice there with all our relatives gone on before him. I told him we’ll look out for Aunt Janie like you did for us. See you over there my friend.

The day I wrote this blog, September 11, 2015, my Uncle Junior went to be with the Lord.

Let me take you back to the community pictured above. Tucked between two mountains in the heartland of Pennsylvania is a little community called “Green Point”. Maybe I’m just a nostalgic guy but I would love to put myself back in those days when the world was a much simpler place. No interstate highways with cars and trucks racing back and forth across the land, no cell phones, no people staring mindlessly into their smart phones, no computers, no big chain stores. No Fed Ex! Are you with me? Could you go there? Oh yeah, I could go there. People would wave to you when passing on the street walking or driving. They would actually KNOW their neighbors by name and everything you needed was either on your property or within a short walking distance.

Take a long look at what you see in the picture. Among many things you should see is a One Room school, a church, 3 houses, plowed fields, a garden, livestock buildings and out of the picture just down the road to the right was a AJ Wolfe’s General Store. All the things a family needed to survive was located in just a half square mile! This was a quiet place and smack dab in the middle was what my friend a gravestone maker calls “The Quiet City” or a cemetery.

The Quiet City is a leveling kind of place. There’s no talking there, no putting on airs, no criticizing, no family squabbles. Stroll through this one and you will find stalwarts of the community, generations of family laid side by side under the same last name, the rich and the poor, plus you will find Henry Wise (Blue Eyed Six & The Faith – Chp 2 (Henry Wise) a notorious member of the “Blue Eyed Six” gang buried there after his hanging in the late 19th century. You will also find a meager set of stones of a husband and wife and their 3 small children all of which went into the presence of the Lord before reaching their one year birthday. No older offspring are found, just the three little ones. The Quiet City doesn’t speak but you can imagine for this couple who tried and tried to have children the heartache, the tears, the anticipation of another child and yet their hopes were shattered again, and again.

Is this all there is? Is there no hope for the Quiet City? Is there no place to find answers to the hard questions of life? Oh yes my friend, there is hope and there are answers! Smack dab in the middle of The Quiet City the white shining church steeple points heavenward and the bell cries out come! Come where you will hear of hope and of the path to righteousness and reconciliation with your fellow-men and to your God from the Sacred Page. Come and learn that even the criminal will have his chance for repentance and forgiveness. Come and hear King David’s words of faith to the young couple who lost 3 children, that if King David would see his infant son in eternity, then they too will through faith in Jesus see their children as well, and at last understand the ways and purposes of the sometimes hard paths of the Creator.

O yes, there is Hope in the Quiet City and in that place Jesus walks with us and talks with us and He tells us we are His own. And He tarrys there like none other to reach, to love, to give hope and eternity to his beloved.

Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man opens the door I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me”. Revelation 3:20

More faith building messages here: New Blog Index

I was writing some thank you notes this morning to people who showed me kindness at my recent retirement party. It suddenly came to me that some of these people are the very same ones who took in my brothers and me when were in effect homeless as young boys in a single parent home (you can read more about that in my blog “Bud’s Haven”) when the thought came to me that they were being the hands of Jesus and were even ministering to Him! Here are Jesus’ words:

‘For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me…’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (select passages from Matthew Chp. 25)

Isn’t this what our world needs today? So many needs, so many people needing a friend, a place to live, food for the table, a ride to a doctor’s appointment, on and on it goes. We can be the hands of Jesus and if we open our eyes to the needs around us we will see them. They may even come to us like a young man from my neighborhood did the other night. He is going through some troubles in his home and marriage and because I had shared the Gospel with him many months ago he thought of me. He unburdened his heart and I shared my advice and then I once again shared Jesus with him. This time he opened his heart and trusted Christ as his Savior! I’m sure the angels were rejoicing in heaven and I covet your prayers for him and me as I help him in the coming weeks and months get grounded in the Word of God.

Jesus left this world after his resurrection and passed the baton to His disciples and to us. We are the hands and feet of Jesus, there is no else, there is no other plan. Be Jesus to someone, share Jesus with someone today!

We now come to the climax of Brian’s chronicles. It is a wonderful thing to know that there is a Master Craftsman with an invisible hand working behind the scenes of every human creature on earth. A loving Heavenly Father yearns for relationship and fellowship with His creation. A Master Strategist sends and allows circumstances and events to guide them and as it were like a magnet pulling but ultimately leaving the decision for true relationship, for that final step of faith in the hands of the created one.

It was the spring of the year when men often seek the Author of Life on the occasion of celebrating Easter that Brian and his Sweetie knew from somewhere deep in their parental core that their young sons needed to be exposed to the teaching of God’s Word. So they dressed up in their Sunday best and drove to the closest church in their neighborhood. It was a church that had “Jesus Saves” posted in neon lights across the steeple and unbeknownst to them they were having revival meetings! Why they chose that church they didn’t know at the time. Maybe it was because Brian lived next door to the pastor when growing up or that he attended school with the pastor’s children. Whatever the draw it soon became very clear why and it was providential.

They handed off their sons to the children’s workers and entered the sanctuary sitting close to the back of the church. The singing was loud and inspiring and life seemed to waft through the pews of people as they worshipped their Savior. The speaker was a powerful evangelist named D.M.Fruits who only had one leg as he leaned against a stool and fired away with truths from the Word of God. His words were arrows of burning truth and they pierced their hearts as he spoke so earnestly. He told how Jesus suffered then He bled and died and that He did it for Brian and his Sweetie. They sat in their pew with hearts trembling with conviction of sin. The congregation stood for the last song “Just As I Am” and an invitation was given to go forward to trust Christ as Savior. They gripped the pew in front of them and stood like statues. A little elderly man in front of them turned around and said, “If you want, I’ll go forward with you.” To which Brian said, “No that’s ok were just fine”. But they weren’t fine. They couldn’t wait to get away from that place and quickly retrieved the boys and scurried home.

But God’s pursuit of Brian was relentless as he would find himself on a weekend trip into the mountains of Pennsylvania with a friend who was contemplating a divorce because of his broken marriage. Brian’s brother Pooch, a strong Christian, who had also witnessed to him at the gas station a year earlier, was also on the trip and after a day in the mountains the men were relaxing in the cabin and his brother began to encourage his friend to turn to God for answers for his broken marriage. All that his brother said caused Brian to reminisce in his own mind about the many times he himself had run from God. It all seemed to come to a head and he couldn’t escape any longer.

They went to the cabin bunk room and there lying in his bed in the dark room Brian told his brother about his thoughts and he responded, “You don’t have to be in church to trust Christ as your Savior, you can do it right here and now.” At that point Brian stopped running and opened up his heart with a simple prayer, “Lord Jesus, I’ve been saying no to you so many times but right now I ask you to come into my heart and forgive my sins and make me your child.” He invited Christ into his life in the best way he knew how and he came in! His life was transformed into a new creation!

He shared the news with his Sweetie when he returned home and she received it with skepticism but when she saw the genuine change that had come over him within 6 months she too trusted Christ as her Savior at the dining room table in his brother Pooch’s home. They went on to have another son and all 3 grew up to be men of God.

To keep this blog as short as possible I didn’t include other miscellaneous family facts and names to keep the theme focussed just on how God loves us SO much that He seeks us and draws us to Himself especially by sending His Son Jesus to the earth to die for our sins so we could trust Him by faith and have eternal life. I pray this story has been an encouragement to you.

Jesus said: “No man can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” John 6:44

Maybe HE is drawing YOU to Himself today!

If so, go to Guaranteed Reservation in Heaven!

Or go to New Blog Index for more encouraging blogs to help build your faith!

Brian met his Sweetie in first grade in a one room school-house where he sat behind her and pulled on her pig tails. They lost contact when his family moved out of their soot filled garage apartment and he began attending school in a different district. It was 9 long years later as a 10th grader, his family having moved back, that he saw her walking down the hall in his high school. It was love at first sight! Soon after that she happened to attend a dance where his band was playing and they had their first dance followed by their first kiss when he dropped her off at her home after the dance. Wow, he was hooked!

Her smile and joyful laugh lit up a room and she became the light of his life! They were inseparable and did everything together though their dating life was often interrupted by band engagements when Sweetie had to sit on the sidelines and watch while Brian was performing.

After graduation Brian’s band “The Entertainers” broke up as many band members began new chapters in their lives with education and family. Brian toyed with college taking a couple preparatory courses but after graduation he ended up choosing a drafting job instead at a national electronics company. He and his Sweetie planned a wedding the next spring but to prepare Brian was required to attend confirmation classes at Sweetie’s church so the pastor would agree to marry them. He did well in the classes and learned much “head knowledge” about God and the Bible but the teaching didn’t reach his heart and there was no lasting change in the way he lived. Their marriage was an ornate event with Brian’s twin brother Bruce as Best Man and some of his school mates in the wedding party. New work friends, family and other friends attended and they started housekeeping in a little 10×40 mobile home not far from where he grew up.

 

Four years quickly passed and by then Brian and Sweetie had two young sons to raise. Times were tough on the young couple with money problems and strains on their marriage that reminded him of his childhood when his parents had split up over similar issues. He wanted to keep his family together and be the provider so he got a part-time job working nights at a local gas station. One night his oldest brother (nicknamed Pooch) stopped in at the station and told him of the wonderful changes that had come into his life since becoming a Christian. He told Brian about his faith in Jesus and asked him to receive Christ as his Savior. He said he would think about it but actually had no plans to make such a decision, but the seed had been sown again and began to grow in his heart and mind. (to be continued)

See final chapter “Brian’s Decision & Destiny” below:

Brian’s Decision and Destiny

This story left off with Brian living with relatives while his mom was in the hospital. The cycle of living at home and back and forth with relatives took place a number of times in Brian’s young teens, until at age 15 a remarkable thing or you might say a providential event occurred. It went like this. He was visiting a friend and Gary, his friend’s cousin, was there playing the guitar and singing. Brian joined in with him as he sang “My Baby Does the Hanky Panky”, a 1966 hit by Tommy James and the Shondels, and Gary suddenly stopped playing and said “Man you can sing! Do you want to be the lead singer in my new rock and roll band?” To which Brian quickly answered in the affirmative and so began a three-year adventure as the band was formed, practices began, songs were learned and their first engagement arrived.

They were a 4 man “combo” and called themselves “The Wandering Kind”. Their first gig was in a firehouse and they played for a birthday party full of elementary girls. As they began to play the girls all rushed up to the stage and started to scream as if they were the Beatles and Brian thought, “Wow this is going to be fun!” It was the first and last time that happened, but he was in his element and really enjoyed singing and performing which gave a needed outlet from his dysfunctional family life and would provide opportunities for his Heavenly Father to show His hand of protection and guidance but I’m getting ahead of the story.

Within a few short months the band went through a transformation from a “combo” to a “big band” as they added a Hammond organ player, trumpet and saxophone players and another guitarist. They renamed the band “The Entertainers” and became known as a white soul band since their style of music had changed to the Mo-town genre as they performed songs by The Temptations, The Four Tops plus Smokey Robinson and other Mo-town stars. Engagements flowed in and they began performing every weekend at high school dances, night clubs, fraternity and pool parties.

At one job Brian met the drummer for the band The Parliments which was the main band playing at a teen night club called The Sunny Club. Brian’s band was the back up band and played when The Parliments were on break. Brian asked the drummer if he was the only white guy in the band and he responded by taking off his sunglasses revealing bright pink eyes as he said, “Boy, my momma and daddy are black as the ace of spades!” Lesson learned, don’t ask an albino any questions!

A real highlight for him was when he managed to get the band booked for a Friday night dance in his own high school cafeteria. This was a huge event for him. Here was a wayward kid from a broken home who wasn’t the best dressed, who had insecurities and who struggled in school, with an opportunity to prove he was somebody in front of his classmates. He sang his heart out and the band was a big hit. Brian walked tall the next week in school and the remaining months of his school years.

His guardian angel worked overtime in those years as the teenage band members each took their turn driving their band vehicle which was a 57 Chevy stick shift school bus painted black with the band name emblazoned on the side in BIG white letters. Their travels took them over back roads, up and down mountains and bouncing down highways all over Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

They also found themselves in places where drugs were available, alcohol flowed freely and other temptations for teenage boys were present which could have ruined their young lives. Providentially, not one of them fell prey to these pitfalls. God also made Himself known in a powerful way at one practice when Gary, who had originally recruited Brian, announced that he had gotten “saved” at a church revival meeting and was “born again” plus he got his draft notice into the army. Brian didn’t know what saved or born again meant at the time but he was to learn up close and personal about it in a life changing way not too many years into the future. (to be continued)

See “Brian & His Sweetie” below:

Brian and His Sweetie

From the very moment we open our eyes in the morning the world cries out for our time and attention. Work, housework, exercise, yard work, appointments, shopping, errands to run, kids crying for attention, on and on it goes. Where do we get the energy? How do we keep everything together and going in the right direction? From where do we get our guidance? How do we answer life’s questions which inevitably face us as we move through our day? I suggest before you do anything take time every morning to look up. Yes, look up to God and seek His face before doing anything else to start your day.
The place to seek God and hear from Him is in His Word the Bible and I suggest following this simple plan by reading the book of Psalms to start your day. The Psalms have been referred to as the hymn book of the Bible or better yet the “Him” book. The Psalms are right about in the middle of your Bible and there are 150 chapters but I don’t suggest you read all 150 each day.

So here’s a plan I heard years ago at a Bill Gothard seminar which breaks it down into daily 15 minute installments. Start with reading the chapter for the day of the month you are in. For example today is the 12th so today I started with reading chapter 12 and then I added 30 and read that chapter, plus 30 and read that chapter, plus 30 and so on until I reached the end of the book and had read 5 Psalms, chapters 12, 42, 72, 102 & 132. By following this plan in a months time (with 30 days) you will have read the entire book! One side note, save Psalm 119 for months with 31 days since that Psalm is huge and just read that one chapter on the 31st of the month.

Why the Psalms? You see, the writers of the Psalms, many which were written by King David of Israel, also Asaph a worship leader and even some by Moses, were written from a human perspective about trials, circumstances, emotions and burdens that the writers were going through. Many call out to God with questions that we might even have today. Many are filled with praise in days when we need to get the focus off of ourselves and toward God. Many have answers and can encourage us in our deepest valleys. Many contain God’s answers that will match the very questions and circumstances you are facing and many will reach into your very soul and you will experience God’s presence! The Psalmist cried out in Chp 63 “O God Thou art my God early will I seek Thee, my soul longs for Thee….”.

So tomorrow get up 15 minutes earlier, find a quiet place, pray “O God open my eyes to behold wonderful things in Thy law” then dig into the Psalms and search for “Him” and don’t forget “Plus 30”!