Life on the Ranch
The Flagpole
May 28, 2020
I was truly blessed that I was one of 7 kids in the 1983 graduating class of Twin Bridges High School that began our education in kindergarten and went up the stair-step of grades, finishing our senior year in the same school in which we started. There were 21 graduates that year in the school made up of not more than 80 kids total. Like a family, we mourned the loss of the three Banks brothers in a tragic accident, celebrated sports championships and so intertwined our lives with one another that after all these years, friendships remain.
While living in the cabin, the yellow school bus branded District 7, rambled down the dusty dirt road of Redfield Lane to pick us up in the early morning to make the 7-mile journey to Twin Bridges. Between my big brothers, Steve and Keith and my cousin John, I felt safe that no one would mess with me…except for the ones who were my protectors! The boys’ rendition of “Little old lady from Pasadena, go Phyl-y go..go..go…” song brought me to angry tears more times than I wish to remember! While in high school, my cousin Linda purchased the newfangled cassette player! What a genius invention of the day! As I sat next to her and my other cousin Donna, we listened to “Jack and Diane” repeatedly until the words were forever memorized in our consciousness. I spent many hours studying for tests, completing homework assignments and reading books on the 45-minute ride.
Missing the bus lent itself to a morning of chaos, especially in the dead of winter. As the car groaned to turn over in the cold Montana weather, we would gather our supplies and wait patiently for the heater to create enough warmth to begin our journey into town. Sometimes we were taken by our parents and other times by my grandparents, Ralph and Clara Redfield.
In our days in the cabin, we didn’t have a telephone. Countless times, one of us kids were the runner – running back and forth between their house and ours to give and receive messages. When my turn, I imagined I was a great pony express rider. With a note secured in my pants pocket, off I would gallop on my trusty stick horse past the corrals, the Pillsbury tree and clothesline to deliver the message of upmost importance. I survived mountain lion attacks, ran through vast herds of buffalo, and crossed mountain streams in which I lived to tell about! With the response in hand, I would gallop back, keeping my eye fixed on the imagined Indian trading post, not stopping until my quest was complete. My horse sure was tired after this thrilling adventure!
I assume the flagpole was erected after one too many times of missing the bus. A long pole was attached to the side of our cabin by the front door along with a rope and pulley system. My dad supplied the red handkerchief used as the flag. The purpose of the flagpole was to let Granddad Red know we were up for school. When we roused from our nightly slumber, my mom would hoist the flag up to the top of the pole, signaling we were awake! The times the red banner wasn’t raised, Granddad would drive his old blue, Chevy truck to the cabin to check on us. The irony of all this was that my granddad was legally blind. Macular degeneration robbed his eyes of seeing clearly. We often wondered how he ever saw the flag rise and fall from such a vast distance.
People today can be spiritually blind. Unable to see the red banner of love flying high on the hill of Golgotha– the cross, the blood, and the ultimate sacrifice, a void is left that only accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will fill.
Many people look for spirituality. I now live in a place where millions of people yearly visit to seek that inner longing that only God can fulfill. Unfortunately, they’ve set their sights on and worship the creation rather than the Creator. They seek to be their own gods. Their blindness permeates to the very soul leaving them forever in a chasm of spiritual darkness.
“For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.”
Matthew 13:15-16
My prayer is that you will allow God’s banner of love to transform you into His child.
Twin Bridges High School 1983 Graduates.
Clara an Ralph Redfield 1972
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