Waysider

[waysider]

The late '60's and early '70's is an era that is difficult to explain. It's a bit like trying to explain TWI's effects to the uninitiated.It was a time when so many young people like myself wanted so desperately to make the world a better place. What better way to do this than with the blessings of God himself? I think a lot of us had a genuine desire to do the right thing without a concern for how many crowns we earned or whether God would shower us with personal gain in the here and now. Of course,mis amigos, los lobos can sense which sheep in the flock are vulnerable and play this to their own benefit. Still, every lamb is equally important to the Master Shephard & He does his utmost to safeguard them. Yikes! I'm starting to sound like Chauncey Gardener in the great Peter Sellers flick "Being There".(side note: If you have never seen it, be advised, it's not over when the credits roll.)...............I was witnessed to in '71 or '72. A particular young lady took it upon herself to personally undershephard me. It was all quite innocent I assure you. We read the Bible together, went to twig, etc. she signed me up for PFAL & I started the class two or three weeks after my initial intro to TWI. AT about the halfway point of the class,I discovered that the class instructer was actually her beau!(Do people still use that term?) They eloped and left the area. Now remember I stated that this was all platonic so I wasn't crushed on a romantic level. Ifelt pretty silly ,however,to have been enticed into this class by such devious measures.BTW,all the other twiggies knew the score and played along................fast forward ....I was intrigued by the teaching and decided to finish. I then took TIP,AC KTR, CFS,PCP,LSD,LMNOP oops! sorry! I ran classes, ran twigs, and just generally ran , ran ,ran ,til I thought I would drop. OH! I also "ran with the cows".(That's for all my Fellow Slaverer brethern and cistern)..........I drifted away about 15 years ago and to my suprise, the Debul did not strike me upside the head betwixt my eyes nor did anyone follow me to bring me back. so much for "We luv ya brotha man". I continued to share stuff until about 2 or 3 months ago at which time I realized my PFAL book was MIA. I started looking for a replacement and found GSC instead. As for that PFAL book ,I have officially stopped looking for it. I'm glad you guys are here. It;s like an aosis , umm,an eousis ,umm,an oeesis, well anyway it's a welcome sight on the horizon!............oh yeah, WAYSIDER:one who frequented the WAYSIDE TRUCK STOP.

[rascal]

Welcome Waysider...thanks for sharing a little bit of your story :)

I can so relate to wanting to make the world a better place....That was what got me hooked...being on the *right* side in the spiritual battle....being able to strike a blow for God....yadda yadda...

A lot of really good hearted folks participated because we thought that it was the best way to bring a lite goodness and light into the world....sigh

[excathedra]

i really liked your post, waysider. pfal book MIA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[coolchef]

nice post welcome! have one on me

[I Love Bagpipes]

Thank you for sharing Waysider.

Welcome to the Cafe.

Where/what is The Wayside Truckstop?

[Suda]

Welcome. Sit back, relax, and enjoy yourself!

Suda

[waysider]

I Love Bagpipes: You asked what/where is WAYSIDE TRUCK STOP? ............In the mid seventies there was a training program known as FELLOW LABORERS. About fifty of us lived in an apt. complex in a somewhat rural area. We were about 15 miles from the nearest large town. We lived in townhouses that each had three bedrooms. We met at 5 a.m. every morning for a believer's meeting and announcements in a basement of one of the town houses. We then ran a mile on an adjoining road. There was a pasture next to that road and when we ran it awakened the cows and they ran alongside us. Not nearly as exciting as running with the bulls in Pamplona.(i'm not implying I ever ran with the bulls). This program was promoted to me as a way to intensely develope leadership skills and teaching ability and to then return to one's home area and establish and move the word. The duration of the program was two years. For all those who were in the program, this a perfect time to say "HA HA HA HA". WE were required to have secular jobs and then to report to limb HQ (in other words meet at the limb HQ) for our evening foot ighnments and group evening meal. When we finished our evening work foot ighnments we drove back to the apt. complex for our evening twig, our THIRD required meeting for the day. At this point I should note that there was a truck stop 1/4 mile from the complex. Many of us would run in quickly for a pack of smokes or coffee before reaching the apts. Of course the name of the truck stop should be obvious by now. After our evening twig we had about 1/2 hr. before "lights out". Lights out was literal according to usage and there was to be no conversation after "lights out". Many FL visited the WAYSIDE between nite twig and lights out .This was only about 1/4 to 1/2 hr. but served as a time to consider(PFAL taught us not to even consider) with each other what in the heck we were doing there without anyone listening in on our conversation............added note:we were living in atime before cell phones, internet,etc. the only phone nearby was a payphone @WSTS

[I Love Bagpipes]

Thanks Waysider for the enlightenment. I got in in the late 70's so heard about FL and the Minutemen.

Running with the bulls....har har.

Hey...I ran with cows that got loose one of my summers at RC.

Rounding up the cows was more fun than killing the potatoe bugs...

but not quite as much fun as the all night cherry pitting!!!

[act2]

Welcome, waysider. Sure am glad that you started searching for your PFAL book and found Greasespot!!

What a rocky road lots of us have traveled on to get to this place in our lives.

Keep on posting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[outandabout]

I was in FL in CA in 1976. The program there was for 6 months, though.