Happy 97th Birthday

On Saturday I went to the nursing home to visit our oldest His Wheels team member, Mr. Ken who just turned 97 this week. Back in 2006 I was talking to Ken's "older friend" Bob at church. Whenever Bob saw me we'd have a conversation that went like this. Bob: "How many bikes are in your basement?" Alice: "I don't have a basement. How many bikes would fit in your basement?" Bob: "I don't have a basement." Well on this particular morning Bob went on to say, "but Ken, (sitting next to Bob) has a basement." I didn't know Ken and he had hearing aids in so I wasn't sure he was following our crazy conversation. But all of a sudden Ken said, "Over a 100 could fit in my basement. When are you going to bring them by?" I told Ken I'd bring some by two days later. Then I asked, "can you have bikes in your retirement community house?" He said, "Don't ask, Don't tell!"


When I ended the conversation my head was spinning. I wondered what had just taken place? Did Ken know what he just signed up for? Did he hear the conversation? So, I found one of HWI's board members, Tom, and told him what had just happened. I asked Tom to go and see if Ken knew what he was getting himself into. Indeed he did and he couldn't wait.


The next day as I was telling someone about Mr. Ken I found out that Ken's basement had white carpeting. I called Ken and said, "I hear your basement has white carpeting." He said, "Don't worry about that, the carpet rolls up." No one bothered to tell me that to get to the basement we had to walk through the front entrance way, through the living room, down the stairs that makes a 90 degree turn at the bottom, of which all of that was off white carpet and the same for the walls. Ken's "underground bike operation" became the talk of the community. He loved having us come every week to work on bikes and we did so for over a year and a half. We definitely left our mark(s) on the walls, in the community, and on Ken's life and he has left his mark on His Wheels too. 


A few months ago his community paper wrote a story about him. After interviewing Ken, the writer, who was new to the community showed the story to another person on the editorial team. They said, "You don't have the whole story. You must go back and get the rest." Ken had left out his bike operations. So, one day I got a call from the writer. He said, "Ken told me you would have to tell the rest of the story." It's hard to outwit a 97 year old like Mr. Ken.


So as I went to visit Ken on Saturday I was reminded of something my Aunt told me years ago. "Alice you should be a pastor." Well that sounded like an impossible idea. However my Aunt's words have come true in so many ways through His Wheels. My title is HWI Executive Director but I am keenly aware that in many ways I am the pastor of our tight knit team. 


Oh and of course Mr. Ken is still working for His Wheels even as he lay in the nursing home bed. He has a stack of our new brochures on his bedside table. He wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks Mr. Ken. We are praying for your recovery.