January 28, 2019 - In 1951 as I hitch-hiked back to Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, I stopped in for “chili dog” sandwich in Mena, Arkansas. The sandwich cost me twenty-five cents (the cheapest thing on the menu) and it left me a ten dollar bill in my wallet and some change in my pocket. But when I got back to school and reached for my wallet, it was gone. I had lost it somewhere between Mena and Springfield, so I figured I’d lost it in someone’s car that had picked me up. Most of the ministerial students at The Baptist Bible College were “pore”: and we depended on each other for survival food.
About two weeks later I got a package with my wallet and ten dollar bill still in it. A note was included: “Thought you might need this”…and it had no return address. I rushed down to a little store on nearby Route 66 and bought a huge jar of Jiffy Peanut butter, returned to the dorm and got the news out: “Peanut butter in my room… BYOC,” (Bring Your Own Crackers). That night Charlie Wisdom, Billy McCall and I had a feast in my room: peanut butter, crackers…and plenty of water.
I’ve heard a lot about preachers and chicken, but some of my fondest memories of Seminary days was a bunch of young preachers passing around a jar of peanut butter …..thanking the man for the ten dollars….holding hands…and thanking God …not for chicken…
….but for delicious Peanut Butter and crackers.