Dudley

Dudley is one of the members of our church. I don't know how tall he is. I would guess he is about 4'11" tall. Dudley is 94 years old, and he is one of the more active members of our church.

In an official role, Dudley is our Sunday School Superintendent. He works hard to keep careful records of who attends our Sunday School classes, giving faithful reports every week.

Unofficially, he is the church handyman. He trims the bushes around the church. He fixes some of the doors in the church. He notices when some small thing needs done and takes care of it. In addition to that, Dudley is faithful in bringing flower boxes to place outside our church every sunday. He has a large garden in his backyard, which is now producing all kinds of produce such as tomatoes, cucumbers and squash.

Dudley is also a tender hearted man. He has been widowed twice. Often in a discussion something will remind him of one of his loves that has passed away, and he will be moved to tears. Sometimes I wonder if he is depressed. Maybe he is, probably more than that he is simply lonely. At different points I have heard how he has tried to woo prospective women. He is the only regularly attending male in our Wednesday night Bible study group.

I like Dudley.

The other day, I was in my office when he came in to do some work around the church. I invited him to come visit a bit. At some point Dudley brought up the election. He asked me who I was going to vote for. I evaded the question. Then Dudley said, "I don't see why we cannot give that young gentleman a chance. He sounds like he will do well. I think we should give him a chance."

From there, he went into a long story about growing up during the depression, and how Hoover was to interested in foreign policy and did not pay enough attention to Americans. He shared how Roosevelt was not liked by some, but he thought Roosevelt did a pretty good job. Dudley has been a Democrat since Roosevelt he shared.

I could tell in a way he was testing me. Seeing if I would be ok with him being a Democrat. I was. I said, "Maybe we should..of course you know that puts you in the minority in this town."

He looked at me with a mischeivious smile, "And at the church, and at the senior center, and ....."

We both laughed.

Pastoring people like Dudley is one of the joys of being a pastor in a small town like this.