Posted By: revmaddog1948Posted On: 05:40:44 20th Jun 2010
Hello to my new and potential friends, and old friends recently reacquainted!
I just wrote a letter to Tim Gates, whom I knew as a young man in Clinton, Illinois. He and a girl named Vicky seemed to be a perfect fit, so I introduced them. They just celebrated 30 years of marriage.
Tim asked me to update him, and as usual, I wrote an essay. I have decided to title it The Football Game.
Hi Tim! So great to find you on Facebook. Your inquiry inspired me to cut, paste, edit and rewrite a short bio to bring you up to date. I hope it makes sense.
My life seems to be divided into 20 year quarters. The first quarter was mostly good, except for early struggles with bullies, and my depression, which seem to be aggravated by screaming teachers. I attempted suicide in the third grade, but was obviously unsuccessful, and I never told anyone or tried it again.
Meeting, dating, and marrying Lynne and raising our family and pastoring churches from coast to coast and border to border was the second quarter, and very enjoyable. 41 years ago I received a phone call from a beautiful young lady from Chicago asking me to go to a turn about Hay ride. We were later riding in a car when she laid her head on my shoulder, told me that she loved me and gave me a kiss on our first date. 15 days later, I finally respond, by saying I love you, and I asked her to marry me. We were married for 40 years.
Lynne and I moved to Colorado Springs in 1969 to attend Nazarene Bible College. With Dave and Jane Smith we formed the Insights, a sort of unofficial college quartet. We would accompany Dr. Strickland, Dr Williamson, Ron Lush, or Dr. Newenschwander when they spoke at different churches on Sundays. Later we re-formed with Dave Royer, and toured the Colorado area. For a brief period we traveled full time, and toured coast to coast. I became a youth pastor, then a pastor, then a youth pastor, then back to the pastorate again. The girls joined us in singing and we became The Dittmers. I pastored in California, North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, and Georgia.
The third quarter was a lot of work and some hard times, but God drew very close to Lynne and me and our girls, Becky and Wendy, which made it all worth while. I started a nondenominational church in Walkerton, Indiana, and had to supplement my income by working in a factory. I did both to keep the family together, and about 8 years into the 3rd quarter, Lynne was diagnosed with bladder cancer. I worked many extra hours to keep up with the extra medical bills, while our health insurance went through transitions and actually became excellent. The girls married good men, Tim, a police officer, and Chuck, a pharmacy tech. They settled close by, and gave us incredible grandchildren, all of which Lynne enjoyed immensely. We worshiped as a family every Sunday in my Thomas Kinkade like country church, and had a Walton like Sunday dinner at our house every week. We still do.
Lynne had cancer of the bladder starting 12 years ago, and had her bladder removed, and later had her vagina removed. Around Christmas of 07 she had severe pain and swelling, almost non stop. When the cancer doctor got involved again in Feb., 08 we began to manage the pain much better, and involved hospice in August. They were angels sent from God. My sister came for 2 months, another angel, and I took a lot of days off. Her last 6 days were bad, but God was really with us, and we had lots of help from our friends, and my girls were there constantly. Wendy, Chuck, and Mathew moved in to help with Lynne, and later stayed to economize. I took out all of my 401k and spoiled her rotten 2 years before her death. The entire clan took a trip to Wisconsin Dells shortly before our fortieth anniversary, thanks to some generous friends who loaned us a cabin. I leaned on Him day after day, moment by moment, while the love of my life slowly withered.
Here is the strangest thing! My heart did not go numb. If anything, I hurt worse than ever, as she slowly died day by day in front of my very own eyes. God was doing miracles for others, but my own Lynne was fading, dying. But strangely, the joy of the Lord was so much greater than my grief. It was like a supernatural Chinese buffet, where the bitterness was overlaid with a deep satisfying sweetness. Lynne passed away October 12, 2008.
The 4th quarter of my life has been kicked off exactly the same way as the 2nd quarter, with a nice warm kiss in April 09 from a beautiful woman from Chicago. I met her on a Christian dating site when I asked if there was a woman out there who shared my passion for worship. I thought it was a sign from God.
She was a godly woman, but soon into our relationship, we began to struggle with compatibility issues. It was more than just personalities, but also careers, children, and in addition, I was still dealing with grief and anger issues.
I reluctantly went back to the same internet site at the very end of 09. In early January, I met a lovely lady from Michigan. Her mother had just moved nearby to Mishawaka, Indiana. On our first extended date of 4 days, I had more fun that I had had in 15 years. One month into our friendship, we had a second longer extended date, and we found out that we were so compatible, that my daughters thought we were clones. Favorite movies, favorite foods, even our way of thinking made it a perfect fit. I have proposed, and she has accepted.
Mary is sweet, funny, romantic, and can be as cute as a bug, or a knock out beauty, whatever her choice is for the day. We are still looking for something to argue about, and she makes me happy 24/7. The girls, the grand kids, the son in laws, the in laws, and the church have adopted her as one of their own, for which I thank the Lord. Right now our plans are for me to continue pastoring my church, and we will live both here and in Michigan to visit her grand children. Mary is retired, and I am almost retired, for I am on a lay off which will probably continue till my planned retirement date of March 31.
We moved the wedding up to March 4th, 2010. I worked my last day in the factory January 26th. I preached my last Sunday on the last Sunday of March.
I am meeting many new friends on Facebook, and getting reacquainted with many old friends also. I am being urged or I feel a strong ambition to publish an ebook called The Gift Parables. I have been publishing it one chapter at a time, using the Facebook message system, and also emails.
YOUR TITHE NEEDS TO GO TO YOUR CHURCH! I do need help, but rather than ask for money that should go to your church, I am starting a new online business, selling premium nutritional supplements. Stop by my website at
http://www.amway.com/revmaddog
Think of me as a giant girl scout (that needs a shave!) selling supplements instead of cookies!
I also desperately need your prayers, encouragement, and help in sending these chapters out, either by copying and pasting into an email or by sending this as a message to your friends, or recommending friends.
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