And It Begins
20 Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. 21 As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. (Proverbs 26:20-21, NKJV)
Every story has a beginning, and our story begins with a collection of rumors. Rumors are nothing more than circulating stories of questionable truth. While most rumors often have a shred of truth hidden somewhere deep in their origins, that truth is quickly swallowed by, and ultimately lost, in the fragments of lies and half-truths that weave themselves into an elaborate kaleidoscope of various shapes and colors. Who knows, maybe it was all the rumors that caught our attention. Maybe we were drawn in by all the stories of those who shared these rumors so boldly, clearly and with great conviction. Maybe we were determined to discover the truth of those stories and rumors for ourselves.
The rumors all revolved around an old, abandoned farmhouse just a few minutes from where Craig’s family lived. It reminded me of the farmhouse that my great-grandmother lived in. It was a throwback to a time long past, and long forgotten. The truth behind our interest was not so noble, we were simply looking for the ultimate place to conduct our B.B. gun battles with the least amount of interruption. We were looking for that “perfect” place where our group of friends could spend long Saturday afternoons goofing around, and play our version of “tag”, yes, with B.B. guns! Remember, this was the ‘80s and all of us were still young and dumb back then.
We ended up finding ourselves in the midst of something far beyond what any of us could have ever imagined. Decades later, I have come to understand that the need for adventure is a common thread that runs through the DNA of all boys. I have seen it in my son, and I see it now in my oldest grandson, and I am confident that my youngest grandson will soon follow in this tradition. It was certainly present for Craig and I, as well as the others that got drawn into this adventure (Chad, Scott, Dru and others). By the way, I have also seen that same adventure DNA trait in all three of my daughters, and in my granddaughter!
Growing up in northwest Missouri I was fascinated with the stories of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Jesse and Franks James, and MoMo. For those of you not privileged to have grown up in Missouri, MoMo is our version of Bigfoot…the Missouri Monster…MoMo for short! Missouri is known as the “Show Me State”, and Craig and I were not about to simply believe all these stories we’d heard at face value; we needed to see for ourselves. So, we set out determined to discover the truths about this house and we soon discovered that our search for adventure would lead us down a path that we did not expect and one that we certainly were not prepared for.
We had heard story after story about this old farmhouse that sat at the end of a long driveway. Some of these stories spoke about the house as being haunted. Some of the stories spoke about it as being the hangout of some vicious gang, which at that time were pretty much non-existent in the area. Some of the stories spoke about it as little more than a secluded place for high school students to party with some privacy. Either way, all the stories and rumors succeeded in keeping the majority of people away, but it also lit a fire of intrigue and curiosity that would take Craig and I into a world that we never really believed existed, and certainly had never personally experienced.
I never imagined all that would take place because of that day. What started out as two young men simply looking for a place to have our B.B. gun battles turned into experiences that were all too real, and yes, at times frightening. We were unprepared for the physical things that we would experience, but we were even more unprepared for the spiritual things that we would experience. It all began with the decision to go “check out” this old, abandoned farmhouse.
Come back next time as we find ourselves standing at the beginning of The Driveway.
Visitor Comments (0)
