Thursday, November 20, 2014

The Saga of our Neighbors Part Six

Johnny went to live across town with his sister for a while and we didn't see him. Then, he returned to Billy's house next door. Several others moved in with him. These other people were bad news. The cops began making regular appearances there and carting some away for drugs. Finally, Johnny's sister, who is executor of the house, was called. She came and kicked everyone out of the house including Johnny! She had all the utilities turned off. Johnny and the others went to a motel until they were kicked out for tearing up the room. A couple of months ago, Johnny moved back into the house alone without air conditioning or running water. He came over and talked with Brock often. He had hit rock bottom and he knew it. A local pastor heard of Johnny and came to visit him a couple of times. Johnny would come over and sit on the front porch and discuss with Brock what the pastor had said. A week ago Saturday, Brock gave him a Life Book, written by a friend of ours about the gospel of John. Johnny came to the house that evening and had read the entire thing. He said he was ready to make the commitment to follow Jesus! Since then, Johnny has been going to the local pastor's church. He quit drinking. He's been helping Brock Gill clean up the trees that have fallen in our yard, had dinner with us a few times, and gone to the fair with us. Right now, Brock is outside working in the shop with his buddy, Johnny.

The Saga of our Neighbors Part Five

James and Johnny were over at the house every day we were home. Just about the time I was about to tell Brock Gill he needed to draw some boundaries (something he can never do when someone is in need), James began to ask more questions about Brock's faith. While Johnny was at his house drinking, James would come over and talk about God. James said he was ready to give his life to Jesus. Brock talked with him for hours about it. The following Sunday, we took James to a country church down the street (our church was too far away for someone without a car). He met the pastor and began attending the church. Someone in the church gave him a job in construction. He quit drinking cold turkey and renewed his relationship with his 20 year old daughter. Everything was going great for James. However, a few weeks later, we came home from a show, and James was gone. Because of the location of Johnny's house, he was violating his terms of parole by living there. The police made him move out. Since James does not own a phone, I don't know what's happened with him. I pray he is still living for the Lord. Johnny watched how James' life changed when he became a Christian (mainly not drinking anymore) and did not want any part of it. He told Brock he wasn't ready for a change like that. Find out the conclusion tomorrow...

The Saga of our Neighbors Part Four

Johnny is a very sensitive guy. He came over and poured his heart out to Brock. The problem was that Johnny didn't have a job or car or anything. Therefore, Brock drove him to the store, and let him do odd jobs around the house. A few weeks after Billy's accident, James, Johnny's friend who had just got out of prison, moved in with him. Both of them were at the house asking for work or a ride or a few dollars everyday. Most people would tire of them, but Brock Gill never did. He is drawn to people on the fringes. I remember recently at a multi-day event, one of our friends who was speaking a couple of the nights told Brock he needed to network more. After the service, I saw our friend, the "networker," talking with the leaders trying to get them to hire him again in the future (which there's nothing wrong with this). I went looking for my husband. Guess where he was? He was speaking to the janitor of the school where the event took place. I smiled, because this was typical of Brock. We would go out of town to do shows. The minute we returned, James and Johnny were at our doorstep. At one point, we had to stop paying them to do odds and ends at the house because we were running out of chores and money. However, Brock would still take them to the store, and they would sit on the front porch where I served them sweet tea. On James' birthday, I baked him a cake. We went to their house to deliver it. James and Johnny were sitting outside. Brock quickly said, "I'll give it to them, Auny. They look drunk." I never heard anything about the cake because neither one of them remembered it. I was crushed. It seemed hopeless with these two guys. Alcohol had a strong hold on James and Johnny, but our God is stronger. Find out what happened with James tomorrow...

The Saga of our Neighbors Part Three

It was the first weekend of Winter Jam in January, 2012. We sat down for dinner in catering when Brock's phone rang. "Hey Johnny!" I heard him say. Then, his facial expression turned grim. He walked out of the noisy room and I followed him. After the call ended, he looked at me and said, "That was Johnny, Billy's brother. Billy was at a party last night. Things got crazy and he fell off of the porch and hit his head. He died on the way to the hospital," and he quickly added, "but they were able to revive him!" "That guy has nine lives!" I said breathing a sigh of relief. "There's more," Brock continued solemnly. "Billy is paralyzed from the neck down." My breath caught in my throat as I asked, "Will it come back? Sometimes paralysis is temporary after an accident." Brock said, "They think he may regain some mobility, but he will never walk again." A few weeks later, Brock and I went to the assisted living home where Billy had been transferred. When we walked into his room, Billy was asleep. His bed was propped up and he had his head tilted back and eyes closed. I noted how different he looked. He was pale and frail, not the vibrant Billy I was used to. Brock gently spoke his name. He stirred and looked at us without recognition. Brock said, "It's Brock from next door." We both chuckled when Billy asked, "Who???" We chatted with him a while. He was heavily medicated and not very coherent. I told Billy the Lord must have something special planned for him because he had died and been brought back to life three times! After several minutes, he looked up at Brock and said, "I'm hot. Can you take off my shirt?" Brock Gill laughed and said, "Billy, you never did like wearing a shirt!" Then, he leaned down and carefully removed his white t-shirt. Brock talked with Billy's sister who is a Christ follower. She told him Billy got saved in the hospital a few days after the accident! I pray that's true. Every now and then, we take Johnny and go visit Billy at the assisted living home. The last time we visited, he had won a popularity vote and was teasing the nurses. He is back to the same Billy just a different place and circumstances. He will live at this home indefinitely. Now enter Johnny. He moved into Billy's house. I will tell you about him and his roommate tomorrow. It all leads up to last Saturday evening...

The Saga of our Neighbors Part Two

When Brock called Billy, this is how the conversation began every time: Billy: "Hello." Brock: "This is BROCK." Billy: "Who???" Brock: "This is BROCK from next door." Billy: "Oh, hey BRAD." One time, Billy was over at the house and he looked at the girl who was living with us at the time and said, "If someone comes up here that you don't know nothin' about, you call me and I'll show him what I'm about!" Then, he looked at me and said, "You too, Brock's wife." Haha! He could only get Brock's name correct when referring to me! We had a dozen friends over one day trying out our new 300 foot zip line. Billy was over helping us install it. He went on top of a rickety ladder with a chainsaw over his head and no shoes on. Brock, who was the Billy whisperer, was inside, so I tried to talk him out of cutting this one branch. One of the girls told a guy to hold the ladder for him. The guy shook his head and pantomimed the chainsaw coming down and cutting off his arm. We all backed up feeling helpless. At that moment, the ladder and Billy began to fall. Billy threw the chainsaw in the opposite direction. Then, he shrugged and got the chainsaw, climbed back up the ladder, and cut the limb. We all breathed a sigh of relief! When someone began going down the zip line, Billy would yell out encouraging words like "Make it happen, captain," or "That's the ticket, baby snake!" However, toward the end of the ride, he got concerned that the brakes would not stop the passenger and would scream the same thing every time, "Jump!!!" It was hilarious and all of our friends loved on Billy. Tomorrow, I will tell you more, but warning...the story gets sad.

The Saga of our Neighbors Part One

About ten years ago, Billy was driving his motorcycle with his brother, Johnny, on the back. They hit a semi-truck and were both thrown from the bike. Johnny hurt his back, but Billy was quickly declared dead. They covered him with a cloth. After several minutes, Johnny noticed the cloth over Billy was moving. He told the paramedics. They removed the cloth and Billy looked at them! On the way to the hospital, Billy died again. They gave him CPR and he came back to life again! After being in the hospital for eight months, Billy was released and went home. He had brain damage and lived off of a monthly disability check he received from the government. A few months after he returned home, we moved into our home next door. We quickly met Billy and became fond of him. He never wore a shirt or shoes, just a pair of shorts or jeans in the winter. He used words like "I don't mean to be ugly" even when he was not cussing or being ugly at all. Billy told some of the same stories over and over again. Our favorite one was when he came into possession of some full blood wolf pups. He loves animals and didn't know what to do with these wolves, so he took them to the Walmart parking lot and put up a sign above them that said "Free Huskies!" He gave them all away in a few hours. Can you imagine the owners' shock when those "puppies" grew up? Very quickly Billy began to associate Brock with the Lord. He would tell his friends, "Don't use bad language around him. He's religious!" More Barefoot Billy stories tomorrow...