Happenings in Four Holes

Things are quiet here in the swamp. Most folks in Four Holes go about their business quiet-like and neighborly. Most like to stay in good stead with Miss Sadie. She bakes the best apple crumb anybody ever wrapped their lips around, but she’ll find a way to avoid giving you one if you are tied up in a rumor.

Well, the other day Bert Johnson got tangled in a rumor. Bert likes to tell people he is a confirmed bachelor, but everybody knows he ain’t mature enough to get married. It isn’t that Bert’s not a good guy, he just likes to act before he thinks. Trouble and embarrassment follow such a man, then rumors. Preacher Pat keeps working on Bert, but Bert’s wants seem to get the best of him. He thinks he needs what he wants now and never thinks that waiting might mean better.

Preacher Pat says there are a lot of people like Bert, even mature, married people who think everything is instant pudding. He says God doesn’t work that way and we shouldn’t think God is an instant pudding God. He says the God of Abraham is more like Miss Sadie’s apple crumb. This means there is the fixin’ and preparing, the putting together, the baking, and then, the resting after removing it from the oven. This all takes time.

Miss Sadie knows this well. She doesn’t even use a timer to know when the crumb is ready. She can tell by the aroma coming from the oven, and besides, she’s done this for so long she’s got an inner sense. She knows making a good apple crumb is best done in season. There is simply no use using apples that are not tree-ripened. After all, Abraham had to wait before Isaac was born. Ripening happens on God’s time in His season.

This seems to be lost on Bert. He believes there is no time like the present and why wait for the season when he could have it now. He thinks time is just time. Bert always had trouble in school understanding that words could have different meanings. By the looks of it, this shortcoming has led to a lot of stress for Bert, even made him think he either didn’t believe God or didn’t believe in him. Why wouldn’t God give him what he wants now? Bert just keeps giving in to his wants when he ought to stand up to them and say no sometimes. But when he sees everyone else doing it, he ciphers why shouldn’t he? Bert lacks a filter on his eyes and mouth and this is how the rumor started.

Bert had been invited to dinner at the Burkholder’s for Tuesday night. Miss Sadie was going to deliver one of her crumbs for him until she found out he skipped on dinner without telling Mrs. Burkholder. Something about a movie and a girl caught his eye and he said “yes.” Miss Sadie didn’t think so well of this. There will be no apple crumb for Bert. He’ll have to wait.