Mount Calvary

I found out on Wednesday night that the church that my grandpa pastored for 53 years has been severely damaged in a storm and has now been listed as condemned.  When I saw the news footage, my heart sank.  There is a huge hole in the foundation and 3' of water flooded the basement.  As much as I know that a church is really the people that make it up and not the building itself, it's hard to put aside my feelings for this wonderful little white church.  

My grandparents came to this church in the early 40s.  The picture above is from, I believe, the late 40s, if I had to guess based off the size of my Aunt Judi in this picture.  My grandparents' house was directly behind the church - a little sidewalk connecting the two.  My dad and his siblings grew up in this church and later brought us to the church when we would come out on our vacations.  

When I told Pete about the damage and the state it was in, he said, "At least you know that the kids and I were able to see it." and that's true.  I'm so glad that the next generation of Drexlers were able to visit and see Mt. Calvary too.  Back in 2010 we went out for the 100th Anniversary celebration.  Boy, was that a special time.  I was brought to tears more than once just sitting in those pews and remembering my grandpa standing behind the pulpit and my grandma sitting in the back on her little cushion.  There was an immediate connection to this church, because my grandpa was there for so long.  He had to retire due to his health when he was 88 yrs old, so you wonder how long he would've continued had his health allowed.  He loved studying the Word of God and being a teacher to his congregation and he spent those 53 years doing just that.

I don't know what the future now holds for this special place.  I hope the congregation is able to stay together and I hope that somehow the church will find a way to be repaired and survive.  There are too many joyful memories there to see it fall to the wayside.

I wanted to share this picture of my grandpa playing the piano in the church.  He told us he used to play the piano in movie houses when he was young, but I only had the chance, one time, to actually hear him play.  His hands were so arthritic, that I wonder if it pained him to do it, but he played and it was so fun to hear him!  My grandma also played, but I never got the chance to hear her unfortunately.  The room he's playing in, in the above picture, was the room behind the sanctuary.  I think I remember having a Sunday School class here, when I was younger.  The little stairway off of this room led out to the sidewalk I mentioned earlier.  I think of all the Godly men and women who spent time here and continue to spend time there and hope that this church will find a way to survive this storm and spend another 1003 years housing those who search out Christ and live their lives for Him.