Uncle Fred

(Exodus 35:35 KJV) Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work. 

Wise people have always intrigued me, particularly those from whom wisdom flows so effortlessly. As a result, I have made a habit of studying their lives, words, and moves in order that I may learn as much as I can from them. I am sure my question is no different than that of many others, “How did they become so wise?”

There is a natural wisdom that is the result of living life and overcoming the challenges of it. This is particularly true when it comes to the older folks who have lived through the hard times of WWII and even many of the post war folks of the late 40s and early 50s. These folks seem to be full of natural wisdom. I personally love being around them even though I too lived through the hard times of the pre-war and post war days of WWII.

I can understand how some may have natural wisdom by just living life, but I am totally baffled by those who seem to have so much Godly wisdom. I am not talking about those who know and understand the Bible well. I am talking about those who seem to have supernatural wisdom that is far beyond their understanding of the Bible. Wisdom flows out of their mouths even in normal conversation.

My wife Karen and I continually pray that God will give me supernatural wisdom, because sometimes natural wisdom is  simply not sufficient.

As far as natural wisdom goes I remember a man who was a distant relative by marriage. We knew him as Uncle Fred. I am not sure where Uncle Fred came from, but I never met a man who had more home spun wisdom than he did. He also seemed to be capable of doing anything in the world, such as being a doctor, a builder, an inventor, an architect and sometimes I thought he could even fly a little bit if he put his mind to it. Over the years I have met a lot of "one of a kind" people, but Uncle Fred was at the top of the list.

Even though he was an old man, he was in absolutely perfect health. One day I asked him how he stayed in such good health and he told me what he believed to be his secret. I am not sure I believed his remedy, but it seemed to work for him.

Uncle Fred lived way out in the country in East Texas in a house that did not have electricity or running water. However, he did have a fine outhouse with two holes and a moon shaped cutout on either side. I am not sure what the second hole was for, but nevertheless Uncle Fred was a big thinker and he splurged a bit when building this outhouse.

He told me one of the reasons for his good health was he believed one’s body should be charged with a little bit of electricity every day. His way of doing that was to stand on a wet board out behind his house at night after he had finished throwing water on himself with a dipper so he could take a bath. (I suppose that is what you call an early East Texas shower). He would then stand on that wet board and place a wire under each foot that was connected to an old crank telephone box that lay on the edge of the back porch so he could reach it. As he turned the crank on the telephone box electricity would start going through his body and he said that kept his joints healthy. I tried it one time and I turned the crank too fast and I almost electrocuted myself. One may not agree with Uncle Fred’s health remedies, but he was an encyclopedia of the wisdom of life.

Father,

Thank You for putting such people as Uncle Fred in my life with so much natural wisdom. And thank You as well for those with spiritual wisdom. I too want to be a person of wisdom for the sake of those who are younger than me and need a father figure to learn from.

Amen