A Scene Out of the Waltons

Last Saturday after I finished my final session of the Word of Life conference in Kokomo, Bob Cosby picked me up and we drove to Logansport, about 35 minutes away. He and Cathy live out in the country along with six of their eight children and Bob's parents in a old farmhouse they are restoring. To call it a farmhouse is a bit of an understatement because it is really a stately old mansion that had fallen into a state of sad disrepair. The family has been working together to give the dilapidated structure an extreme makeover. They have done nearly all the work themselves, including ripping off layers of old wallpaper, putting in new floor joists, learning how to plaster and drywall, putting down new wood floors, and so on. Like most restoration projects, it isn't finished and won't be for a long time, but they have made remarkable progress. Marlene and I knew Bob and Cathy from our student days at Tennessee Temple University in the early 70s. I hadn't seen Bob in almost 20 years and didn't' recognize him at first because he sports a thick gray beard.

Even though I had preached three times yesterday and was tired, I found it restful to eat around a big table in the farmhouse with maybe ten other people, most of them family members. Later we sat in one of dining rooms while Bob and several of his children (in their 20s now) played folks tunes on a guitar, two violins and a mandolin. It felt like a scene out of the Waltons, and when we left to drive to the motel, I felt refreshed.

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