"Those were the best years of my life"
We just held the annual "Old Timers Picnic" at CRISTA. This is an annual event which started way before I came to CRISTA. These are all people who came at the call of Mike Martin to help start Kings Garden beginning in 1949. The name was changed to CRISTA later. They did every job imaginable; mowed lawns, painted, taught school, build the radio stations. They were nurses, engineers, carpenters, missionaries. The oldest person was 98 years old. They drove from Longview, Tacoma and Spokane. I took the opportunity to go around and thank them for all they did to lay the groundwork for what CRISTA is today.
They were given a place to stay on the grounds or (as one person described) a "dusty old motel" that we rented rooms in. They also ate together three meals a day. They were paid $40 per month "when Kings had the money". "Often we were asked to donate the money back, which we did willingly". So here is what it looked like... live in a place that had been abandoned for three years often sharing toilets, eat three square meals, get paid sometimes way below minimum wage and then donate that back. To the person they would then say "And those were the best years of my life." My natural follow up was...WHY?
The answer was the same for every person. One, "we were called by God". Two, "we did it in community" (my staff put on a program for them but it was obvious most of them just wanted to talk to each other). And three, "we were following a great big vision and a visionary leader". What a lesson!
I wonder what we all will say were the best years of our life when we get toward the end of the journey?
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