April 2007

We are bearing down fast and furiously on our 100^th birthday.  Even though the cornerstone on the church clearly reads 1907, it is hard for me to believe that this church has been around for that long.  Actually, I guess it is not an issue of believing that Kiowa Creek Community Church has been around for that long, but rather imagining what it was like back then.  Back in 1967, my great grandfather died, and I remember my father remarking that when Grandpa Winkler was born, the automobile had not yet been invented and when he died spaceships were preparing to go to the moon.  Well, Kiowa Presbyterian Church came after the automobile’s development, but not by much and it was a very different world back then.  Speaking of the automobile, by 1910, there were about 8,000 cars on the road with about 10 miles of paved road.  In 1900 cars resulted in 96 deaths and speeding was considered a problem.  By 1906, 15 states had established a speed limit of 20 mph to address the crisis.  Four years before the church was founded the first cross country automobile trip was completed, requiring 63 days. The average worker put in 59 hours a week to make just under $13.00.  Sugar was $.04 a pound, eggs $.14 a dozen, potatoes $.45, wheat $.70 and corn $.33 a bushel.  Texas steers went for $4.25 a hundred.  Life expectancy was just over 47 years for a woman and 46 years for a man.  There was no income tax.

So much of what we take for granted had not yet been invented.  No commercial radio, no television, no antibiotics or so many of the medications we use on a regular basis.  The pace of life was much slower and yet everything that needed to get done got done.  Imagine transporting someone alive in 1907 to present day Kiowa and trying to explain something as simple as Safeway. 

As I think about all that has changed in the last 100 years, I realize that although there has been amazing progress, the important things have remained the same.  We may be able to arrive at our destinations more quickly, but when we arrive we need to know that what we are doing is of value.  We can provide all kinds of things for our children, but it is the love we show them that makes the difference.  We can develop drought resistant crops, but wait for God to send the rain.   With each bit of progress we are tempted to believe that we are in control of our own destinies, but when 9/11 happens, we lose a loved one, or some other personal tragedy strikes we return to the basic questions of life:  What is truly important?  Who loves me?  Who can I turn to in my crisis?  Who will remember me when I am gone?  These questions have been around for longer that 100 years and will remain for as long as the Human race survives.  For the last 100 years these and other questions are the ones that God has been helping the members of this church answer, whether it be called Kiowa Presbyterian Church, St. Marks, or Kiowa Creek Community Church. 

As we think about 100 years we may be tempted to celebrate the changes our church has gone through; and we should because we have endured much in our history.  But we need to save the biggest celebration for the constant in our history, the God who has not changed and the answers and provisions provided by God’s Spirit and Hand.