Wilber Gets Religious

Old Wilber was getting up there in age; he was over eighty now. He’s been thinking a lot about his past. How things were when he was a boy. How he, Alfred and Albert had it growing up on the farms. He’s been reading and studying the bible all these years and watching some of the good preachers on TV. Always listening to the good ones of the radio and missing the old time programs. One that he really misses is pastor Norheim, old time Lutheran. Sermon and song out of Pasadena California. He was on the radio for over fifty years. He left this old world in December of 99. Wilber loves Billy Graham on TV and radio. He realizes Billy will be going home in not to many years.

Old Wilber, Alfred, Albert and most of their old friends grew up in the old Norway Lutheran church. They had such good sermons and always had such good old time music. There was no drums, no dance hall music instruments, just guitars and fiddles.

So Wilber has been thinking about going back to church. The last time he went the sermons were watered down, the preacher talked for about twenty minutes they sang songs from the book no one seemed to like. It didn’t sound like anyone was singing. The pastor had on big colorful robes; Wilber could not handle all of that for to long. Now days some of the old time churches had been changing to fast for him. He tried one in the big city but there were to many instruments on stage and it felt like he was in a nightclub. Preacher said a few words and clapped his hands. All of a sudden the people stood up and began to clap. They were shouting all kinds of words, after about and hour Wilber stood up and walked out of the building. As he was walking out a well-dressed man asked him if something was wrong. Yes replied Wilber I thought I was going to church but never did I think I was going to some kind of night club. The man just looked at old Wilber and said remember Jesus loves you. Old Wilber turned and said maybe you should start reading your bible and believe what it says.

Old Wilber did love old pastor Larson, but just could not go along with all of the changes the church was going through. Pastor Larson’s father was the pastor before him. They had all come over from Norway in the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Wilber had a real good friend a Baptist preacher over in the next county; the church had to close there just wasn’t enough people around to attend. When the kids grew up most would leave for the big cities. Good jobs with good wages, lots to do, no one could blame them we all like to have a good life. When I left South Dakota back in 1943 it was the best thing I ever did. Donna and I just love the northwest. The weather, things to do and the jobs are super. We just wouldn’t live anywhere else.

When the Baptist church closed old Wilber was really upset, he loved the music in the Baptist church so he took all the song books home and put them in a shed. Old pastor Larson had to retire when he hit sixty-five, he wanted to keep preaching but the church said no. He did nothing for about a year but he became really board even with all of his hobbies.

The old Lutheran church was going down hill fast and what people were left attending were leaving even faster. The church needed a lot of repair; it looked like it hadn’t been painted in forty years or more. The grave yard out back looked like a weed field. It wasn’t long before the church put the building and the ten acres of land up for sale. When the church wouldn’t sell old Wilber told them he would buy it. He made an offer and the church told him they wanted cash. Wilber told them that at his age he didn’t need payments.

Wilber got his friends together and told them his plan. They all went to work remodeling the church. They painted a nice clean white and they even cleaned up the cemetery, it looked like a park. After a few months he went over to see pastor Larson. He told him he wanted to take him for a ride. He had his old V8 Ford with the fuel cell in it, only pastor Larson didn’t know about it. When old Wilber pushed the pedal the car shot out like a rocket. Mr. Larson asked Wilber why he was in such a hurry and the car went so fast? Old Wilber just looked over and told him he was just having some fun, everyone needs a little fun now and then. He slowed down and turned on to the road to the old church. He pulled up in front of the church; pastor Larson asked who had fixed up the church. Wilber took the pastor into the beautiful church. It looked like a new building. The pastor noticed the pulpit was in the center, he told Wilber he hadn’t seen that in fifty years or more. He asked Wilber what was going on, fallow me Wilber said I’ll show you the grounds. Larson just couldn’t believe what he was seeing, the cemetery looked like a park. Pastor Larson asked who did all this work? Wilber told him the story how he had bought the church at the auction. He told Larson he wanted to do something real nice before he was called home. He told Larson he had lived a hard life, he had worked hard since childhood. They went back into the church to looked around, pastor Larson picked up the songbooks and said Wilber these are like the ones we had sixty years ago. Wilber told him the story of how he got them. Larson asked him what he was going to do with the church now that it was finished. Wilber told him he was going to offer Larson to be the pastor in it if he wanted to. Larson explained that the church would not let him preach any longer. Wilber said no problem I got us signed into the independent Lutheran group. We are completely free of any rules we don’t like. He told Larson to just accept and come back to preach. You are in very good health and you still want to preach. Wilber told him I’ll be head deacon for now. I’ll form a board of deacons and give you a good salary. We’ll take care of everything, you just preach and teach God’s word.

Pastor Larson said where is the money going to come from until we get the church built back up again? Wilber told him he would donate money to pay his salary and all the church bills. Larson agreed to be the pastor and Wilber told him he would arrange everything for a big open house. He got all of his friends together and told them his plan.

Wilber put an announcement in the big city and all the local papers. He also put one on the radio and some on the TV. He wrote all the ads and paid for them to be published. He had a lot of money from that big land sale in eastern Washington. He gave lots of it away though many people thought he was a tight wade. They judged him by the way he dressed and the old cars and motorcycles that he drove. If they only knew.

The big day came to reopen the church. Wilber, Alfred, Albert and all their friends brought their musical instruments to play. Wilber had arranged for the local women to put on a picnic dinner after the first sermon. It wasn’t long before the cars started to fill the parking lot. The church was filled in no time at all. Wilber had set up a load speaker in the yard just in case to many showed, he wanted them to be able to hear the sermon just the same. All the people loved pastor Larsons sermon; he gave such a good old time sermon. Then Wilber and his men play Rock of Ages and all of the people agreed that they needed music like that in their churches. Everyone just loved Independent Lutheran, it didn’t take long before people came from far away just to hear the Sunday service and some even came for the Wednesday night bible study. Wilber did a wonderful job as a deacon, building up the number of members that the church had. In no time at all the church was full every Sunday. Pastor Larson just loved preaching in the church; it made him feel like a young man again. God was really using the older retired pastor in a good way. Wilber kept talking to Larson about the bible. He changed Larsons mind on many subjects. He no longer believed the many things he was taught in school. Wilber asked him how in the world he could get three days and three nights from Friday to Sunday. They changed Good Friday to Thursday and pastor Larson began teaching only what the Bible said.

Wilber and all his friends were beginning to show their age. He was in his eighties and could no longer drink like he used too. That was OK with him he had plenty of other things to keep him busy. Besides he had Jesus in his heart. He was a really good witness he got so many of his old buddies to repent and get back into church.

Wilber, Alfred and Albert had made a big change and Independent Lutheran had a lot to do with it. They would never be the same again. PALMS C-90-V- 10 The days of our years are three score years and ten and if by reason of strength they be four score years; yet in their strength, labor and sorrow; it is soon cut off an we fly away.

Wilber Builds His Own Fuel Cell

Old Wilber got tired of hearing people talk of all the smog in big cities. Poor quality of water in many parts of the U.S. All these problems are caused from cars and big trucks are all polluting our land.

The government and all the big car makers just tuck talk, their going to do very little to help the problem. Take the auto industry, all autos have to abide by the rules, but half the vehicles on the road are big suv’s and big trucks. So who’s polluting the air. It’s got a lot to do with these big suvs and pickups. Besides they use twice as much gas as a regular car. How are we to save energy this way, there lucky to get 12-14 miles to the gallon? Look around what do you see on the freeway, these big gas-guzzlers, air polluting rigs. We could improve the air quality and save half the fuel if more people would really care. There is nothing wrong with driving a small car, they’ll do everything a large car will and then some. My V.W. Bug never gets less then forty-five miles to the gallon. It will cruise all day at eighty miles per hour. Most people driving these big gas guzzlers think their macho. Same thing in the big Harley-Davidson motorcycle business. These same people won’t be satisfied with just a nice Harley; they got to have that special custom, costing thirty-five to forty thousand dollars. Being macho is what it’s all about. I’d better get back to the story about Wilber or my publishers will get a bull slinger.

The automakers talk of electric cars, think real hard now when was the last one you saw on the highway. The electric car is a hundred years away. The high breed car is just coming around. All cities talk of raped transit, in most cases it means the bus. One must be honest, never are we going to get most people to ride a bus. People have their cars and always will. Most of us enjoy driving so lets face it we are stuck with people driving their own cars.

So old Wilber is right, keep the cars, but power then with a different source of power. That’s what he has been working on for over ten years, his fuel sell. There were over seventeen million cars and tucks sold in the U.S. alone in the year 2000. That’s about two million more then we need. So with all the old cars on the road and seventeen to eighteen million more each year the smog and pollution problems will be here for a long time. But Wilber does have a solution, put in an energy fuel cell. When the cars on the road today need a new motor, put the fuel sell in. In about ten years the problem will be almost gone. All the new cars should get thirty-five to forty miles to the gallon and give out very little pollution or they should not be sold in the U.S. If the Oil Company found out about Wilber’s replacement and how good it works he wouldn’t be around for much longer. He has kept this secret for ten years not even telling his best friends, Alfred and Albert about it. Remember old Wilber invented his nuclear powered motorcycle and how it really works is a big secret. This fuel sell engine is something he would like to see in all cars soon.

Wilber took one of his old Ford V8’s removed the motor left the gearbox and installed his new engine. The fuel cell will go fifty to one hundred thousand miles before it has to be replaced. He has the answer for this to but he has not worked it all out yet. I’ll give you a tip. It lies in the sun, but that’s all I’ll say now. Remember the sun has an endless amount of energy. We just have to find a way to capture it.

Since Wilber bought and is starting to get the hang of his computer, his hard work has been cut in half. All this time Wilber has been working on this cell his farm has suffered. He has plenty of money from that big land sale, but he loves farming so he keeps working three to four hours a day. After getting that old Ford going with its new source of power he wanted to try it out and have some fun doing it. He drove the old Ford out onto the highway, pushed that pedal to the metal and was going over a hundred miles per hour in no time. He pushed the pedal further down, the car hit 140 and the speed-o-cable broke. Going 140 in a car with bad brakes and just not up to going this fast scared him. So he took it home to fix which was no problem for Wilber.

When he took the car home he put it into one of his many sheds and went to work fixing all the many problems. He left the outside appearance to look like the car was all worn out. Wilber took that old Ford out on the highway a few days later and was going seventy to seventy-five miles per hour. He had been passing all cars with no problem when he came up on a new Corvette. He knew that the car could really go- fast so he pulled alongside of it and asked the guy to race. The car took off in front of the old Ford and Wilber pushed the pedal to the floor. The speedometer said 145 and he let the vet pass him. He could see that big smile on the guys as he passed. Wilber just smiled pushed the pedal down passed the vet doing 185 which was faster than he had ever gone. Then he slowed down let the vet go by and watched the guy smile as he passed the old Ford.

Wilber turned his Ford around headed for his farm fifteen to twenty miles away. He was moving along at seventy or seventy-five when he noticed in his rear view mirror that there were big red lights behind him. He didn’t want any more tickets or trouble with the law. That patrol car must have seen Wilber racing that vet. Wilber pushed the pedal down, his Ford leaped to 165 and he knew that there was no way the patrol car could ever keep up with him. After clearing the cop he dropped speed to 120. He could see his farm up ahead and he pulled onto his road with dust flying everywhere. He pulled into the garage and closed the door in a big hurry. He then ran outside through the side door, got on his old John Deer tractor and drove around to the side of the barn. He then turned the tractor around as if he had been coming from the pasture. He could see the patrol car coming down the road and Wilber knew he had followed the trail of dust. The cop got out of his car coming at Wilber his face was just boiling red. He was so mad he could hardly talk.

Wilber had out smarted old Jim who had been a cop for years. Jim thought he had him this time. He yelled for Wilber to get off of the tractor. Wilber asked the cop why he needed to come down; the cop told him that he wanted to see that fast car that he had been driving around. Wilber said the only cars I got her are over there in the yard. Jim ran over to the cars felt the hoods to see if they were warm, but they were all cold. Jim asked what was in the garage. Wilber opened the door; the old Ford looked like it hadn’t ran in years. It looked just like any other old bucket of bolts. Jim said open up the hood, he looked at that funny looking box were the engine used to be and said what is this box and were is the engine? Wilber told the old cop he had no idea what was going on. He told the cop the car was exactly the way it was when he bought it from the junk yard, and that he had intended on putting a V8 in it the day he bought it. Jim was still really mad and said he was taking Wilber to jail. When Wilber asked why Jim told him that he already knew why. He told Wilber that the car pulling into his driveway making all that dust belonged to him. He told Jim that he had seen all of the cars that he owned and that when Jim had seen Wilber he was on his tractor. He told the cop to go ahead and give him the ticket but to be sure to put that when he saw him he was driving a John Deer tractor. Wilber told Jim you tell the judge that I was going a hundred plus when you first saw me and that I out ran your patrol car on my tractor the judge is going to laugh at you. Don’t make a fool of yourself. Jim saw still so mat but he got into his car and shook his finger at the farm. I know you got something funny going on here on your farm. Wilber just walked away, but he knew Jim would be real confused from now on. He knew he had to find a place to hide the old Ford after he had driven it so fast. He remembered his dad building a bootleg still during the thirties when the big depression was going on. His dad has stacked up bail hay made a really big stack and put the still in the center of it. He built a long door out of the hay and a push on one of the bails would open the door.

His dad fooled the law for many years never finding the still. The stack of hay looked like any other big stack of hay. Wilber built a garage inside a big stack of bailed hay; he did the work at night so no one could see what he was doing. He knew small planes flew over head and thought one could be the cop. He loved out smarting Jim. Most people thought Wilber was just an old hayseed. Poor souls if they really knew what he was like. Wilber continued to work and improve his fuel cell and many other parts. He is starting to show his age so he is getting less done then he was a few years ago. Boy could he work fourteen to sixteen hour day and then read for four or five after that. He used to say sleeping and eating are just a waste of time.

Now days he’s really concerned about the environment and all the smog in the big cities. He moved and never intends on moving to a big city ever again. He is happy playing with his computer, playing music, reading and studying the bible. He knows it is not to many years and he’ll be going home to be with the lord. But until that day he’ll keep working, studying and building his products.