Ansel: The Whistling Witness
Jennifer Blalock
2016
Ansel was a quiet man who was in the adult men's Sunday school class. He had been a fixture each Sunday morning as he greeted his fellow classmates. Ansel always wore his suit on Sunday mornings with his Sunday school “perfect attendance pins” all attached. His first pin was presented to him by the Sunday school director some 15 to 20 years ago. There were one, two, three, four, five year pins, and then a 10 year perfect attendance pin, all the way to a 20 year perfect attendance pin.
To some people, it seemed like Ansel had always been present at Sunday church services. Ansel had been at church every Sunday for over 20 years and all assumed that he was a church member. The men in his class, the members, and the pastor, Rev. Strange, had arrived at different times and Ansel had always been there.
The committee whose task it was to find the deacon replacements when a deacon term was completed or when someone in the deacon pool went to heaven, approached Ansel. Wearing a perfect Sunday school pin dangling off your suit lapel with proof of 20+ years of training, you must be ready, they thought. It was a shock to the committee and to Ansel’s Sunday school class that Ansel said “no.” When someone asked him why he would turn down such an honor his response was, “Because I haven't been saved!”
The men in his Sunday school class secretly agreed to begin praying that Ansel would be saved. Ansel knew all the Bible stories, the hymns, the people of the church, but he didn't know Jesus personally even after 20+ years! Not too many months passed until one Sunday morning after the pastor's sermon, the invitation was given to come forward to accept Christ as your Savior. Ansel walked to the altar and gave his life to Christ that Sunday morning at First Baptist Church, Valley Falls in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. You might say that a revival broke out! The men's class exploded with shouts of praise to God as they witnessed Ansel’s rebirth. Ansel had been on the surface a dedicated church member, except he was only a dedicated attendee.
After Ansel accepted Christ as his Savior, he began to show up at the church office every day and ask Rev. Strange what he could do to help him that day. I'm sure that Pastor Strange began to disciple Ansel, even though he had been at church each Sunday for all those years. Ansel had many things to learn and process in his heart.
Ansel worked at the textile mill just a short walk from his house where he lived with an elderly parent as best as I remember. Ansel had never married over his 30+ years. About a month or two after Ansel’s conversion he came to the church one morning to talk to Pastor Strange and perhaps help him in some way. While he was waiting with the pastor, a phone call came in and was answered by the church secretary. She gave the message to the pastor. It seemed that a lady who occasionally attended the worship service and lived close to Ansel wanted Pastor Strange to come to her house. Not knowing what this lady needed or wanted, Pastor Strange asked Ansel to accompany him on this visit.
They had been at the lady's house for a few minutes when the pastor asked her why she had called. She said, “I want what Ansel's got!” Seems that she had been Ansel’s neighbor for a few years. With only a small yard, her children and their playthings usually littered the sidewalk where Ansel walked each day on his way to work the 3 to 11 shift at the mill. She told the pastor that Ansel had always complained and fussed at her and her kids about the clutter on the sidewalk – until the last few weeks. She told the pastor that Ansel's change had made an impression on her and she wanted to know what had happened to Ansel.
Within a short time, Pastor Strange led her to accept Christ’s offer of forgiveness and salvation. Not knowing her very well, Pastor Strange chatted with her for a while and finally asked her what had inspired her to seek to come to Christ. She hesitated for a moment as Pastor Strange tried to help her express what had sparked her interest. “Was it one of my sermons?” he asked. “No, that wasn't it,” she said. “Well was it one of the choir specials, or maybe a solo?” he asked. “No, that wasn't it.” she replied. Pastor Strange was out of suggestions. “Well, what was it?” he wanted to know. “It was Ansel’s whistling!” she confessed. “What do you mean?” pressed Pastor Strange. She told the story of how Ansel had been her neighbor for many years and that he walked past her house every day going to work. Every day that the sidewalk had been cluttered with the kids’ toys she said that Ansel had yelled at her and her kids, so much so that she dreaded his walk past her house. In the last few weeks she said, Ansel had changed. He had stopped yelling and as he walked past her house he was “whistling heavenly sunshine.”
God can use many ways to touch and redeem a soul!
Getting Old Isn’t a Disease… It’s a Triumph!
Jennifer Blalock
October 10, 2013
Growing old is not a disease or a curse, but a privilege not granted to everyone. Perhaps we have been tempered by life's heatings and coolings, stirrings and additions of good times and hard times, much like chocolate is tempered to make it smooth and glossy, with the durability desired by the chocolatier. He uses the tempered white, milk, or dark chocolate to make good quality candy and other chocolate products.
Cocoa in its basic form would be unpalatable to all of us, but give us sweet, smooth chocolate, and it melts swiftly on our tongues and leaves our mouths all too soon. The experience grows more delicious with each successive tiny bite. Just as chocolate enriches our lives by satisfying our sweet tooth, our lives can be more rich, more pure, more desirable as we mellow through the tempering of our years.
When I think back through my life at younger ages and stages I realize that I thought of myself as a mature functioning adult. I had acquired all the things that I thought would solidify my status. I had a career, a husband, two children, a house, furniture to fill the house, two cars, and the bills. It all consumed me and all of my waking hours. I had failed to fully develop as a person who knew who I was before I became “someone” to others.
It's difficult to see these things when you're 19 or 20 years old and think you are fully grown and think you can handle all the responsibilities of adulthood. My body may have been mature, but my mind and personality were not fully developed. I'm not sure if any one can say that they are truly, fully developed mentally and emotionally. At a young age you don't think about growing old; you are more concerned with making a living for the family you love. Their needs come first: loving them, feeding them, clothing them, providing a home and helping them to grow to maturity.
Along the years, you experience hardships, loss of jobs, new jobs, transfers, moving, illnesses, deaths, good times, together times, and proud-of-your-spouse-and-children times that work together to mature you. Looking from the vantage point of 20 toward 66 seemed like a long, long time, and I felt like 20 was as mature as I'd ever be. Looking back from 66 toward 20, I realized just how naive I was and how blessed I have been to have survived “life” and not made more blunders along the journey.
Would I change anything about my journey if I could? I say “NO!” God has used all those times: hard times, good times and often unrecognized blessings to mature me to be who I am today. God has given me many lessons to learn in my years. I wonder what future lessons I must yet learn on my way to maturity. I'm encouraged when I remember a quote I once read, “I am not afraid ... I was born to do this,” said Joan of Arc.