Sharing My Story

As the 1970s were running its course things continue to change
in my job with Worldwide Challenge magazine. "Bill Rhodes,
who is the art director of the magazine got married to
Miss Ginny Heyl on her parent farm in Spring Mills, PA on
Sept . 1" [1979] -(from October 1979 prayerletter). While
Bill was gotten I assumed a number of his responsibilities
designing features on the Jesus film and Roy Rogers.
"When you think of the power of God's Word coupled
into a visual medium like motion pictures that relates
so well to the 20th century mind the impact of this film
could be tremendous." The Jesus film was then translated
into dozens of languages and it was viewed by hundreds
of millions of people in many countries in the years following.
It is very satisfying that I had a small part in promoting this film.

We had two new staff come into the WWC art team at that
time, Karen Murphey from Louisiana Tech (the same
school Bill Rhodes and Eddie Maggard graduated from).
Karen was with us for a short time and later transferred
to the headquarters training center. Donna Daniels
from Decatur, Georgia (University of Georgia) also
came into the department and was also "a real help
in getting out the magazine."

As 1980 arrived a major change happened in my living
situation. There is taken from my Jan.-Feb. 1980 prayerletter.
"On December 1, 1975, I moved into a nice five-bedroom house
on Hampshire Road in northern San Bernardino with five
other Christians. The house was being purchased by Mrs.
Doris Oram. Doris is a 67-year-old great-grandmother who
works in the Print Shop at Arrowhead Springs. She was our
"house mom" and landlady. Our rent monies enabled her
to make the house payments.

"When we first moved into the house we all prayed that
this home would be used to God's honor and glory. Over
the past four years we have had many Bible studies,
Growth Group meetings, parties, workdays and wonderful
Sunday afternoon lunches (with many guests) in our house.
Three of the housemates met their future wives while living
there and two others shortly after they moved out. Lots of
struggles, personal growth and good times were shared by
everyone that lived at 1141 E. Hampshire Road.

"On Jan. 10, 1980, there was a flash flood that sent about
3 to 4 feet of mud down Hampshire Road from a nearby
flood control basin. The mud and water literally went over
the flood control dam wall. This first flood carried two of
my housemates' cars that were parked in front of the house
and deposited them about half a block down the street. The
mud and water of this flood did not get into our house.
However, on Jan. 14 we experienced another sudden downpour
(I was at work when it happened at about 5:00 p.m.) which
sent an even greater volume of mud and water over the flood
control dam and our house (among 28 others) was invaded
by a torrent of silt-laden liquid. We had between 6 inches
and 3 1/2 feet of mud in our house. We lost all of our carpets
and living room furniture. I personally lost a number of
valuable books, magazines, shoes, personal artwork, photos,
my art portfolio and some clothes. The mud knocked in the
garage door and caused so much pressure on the wall that
separated the garage from my bedroom that it knocked a
hole in it. The water and mud also forced its way in through
the front door and through the dining room sliding glass doors."

"When the flood was happening, one of the housemates,
Manny Wong, was talking to me on the phone. I think I
will always remember him describing how the mud was
picking up his car (a 1975 Camaro) and how the mud was
going over and through our sandbagging of the dining
room doors. Fortunately, Doris and her boss got to the
house at that point and got Manny out of there as the mud
came bursting through the front door. They escaped the
mud by going through the back yard and over a concrete
block wall that was knocked over by the mud just after
they jumped over it.

"Greg Praniewicz (another of my housemates) and I
reached the scene about half an hour after the flood
subsided and made it into our home. What a sight!
Three feet of mud and sand in our living room. The
furniture was floating in a "stew" of mud."
"Tuesday morning, Jan. 15, we were back at the house,
ready to dig out. For the next week we did that with
the help of the California Conservation Corps,
volunteers from Norton Air Force base, Campus
Crusade and our individual churches."

"The flood was blamed on a devastating forest fire
that occurred on the foothills above our neighborhood
last September. All of the vegetation was burned
off so that there is nothing to hold back rapid erosion
during rainstorms. County officials have indicated
that it may take 5 or 10 years for it to grow back
enough to hold the soil well enough to prevent
further mudslides and flooding."

Don and Lucille Franklin offered housing for me
after the flood. I spent several months with them
at their home in nearby Rialto, California.