pages speak life

     In our conversation Betty Runge brought up two books Thursday, June 25th, at Seward, Nebraska. One had a brown cover, she remembered, while the other was green. The occasion was my mother's funeral. Betty and Leo Runge had made the trip in from Ames, Iowa. Leo was my mother's cousin. My grandmother on my mother's side was Amalia Runge Steinbrueck. Dorris Elenore Marxhausen was originally a Steinbrueck from Blackburn, Missouri. A small farming community twenty miles from where my wife and I live.

    As documents, both books were published in 1985. The brown book was sixty-four pages in length. The title was "Runge Book: Pictures and Impressions." It was self-published by son Karl Marxhausen through Christopher Press of Des Moines, Iowa. (See cover, next. Double click on image to enlarge)

    The green book was one hundred and eight pages in length. The title was "I Saw It On My Way Thru: Nebraska Traveler." It was self-published by father Reinhold Marxhausen through Independent Publishers of Seward, Nebraska -- a subsidiary of the Seward County Independent newspaper. The author had his son do the graphics. There was an edition of 1000. It was released on July 7, 1985. (See cover, next. Double click to enlarge)

   The Runge Book was based on drawings of relatives that I made during the three day reunion in August. All of us were housed in a dorm on the campus of St. Paul's College in Concordia, Missouri.

Some graphics depicted something about each person I met. Most were humorous and fun. Some embodied ideas I held at the time. The edition was limited to those who signed up for the book. It was an outlet, a gift, and now also served as a time capsule for my father and my own life.

  The Nebraska Traveler was formed to stimulate imagination among family members, young and old, as they looked out the window of their vehicle on the way to a vacation destination. In the introduction the author aspired to promote the thinking process at all levels, learn how things work, discuss philosophy and art, teach awareness no matter where they were, and much more.  Questions were asked and a place on the opposing page provided room for the participant to write down their thoughts. For example: "Do horses sleep standing up?"

    It was the SINGING RODS that my mind settled on. ABOVE, BELOW.

"In 1962 I became a colleague with him at the college. When there were office spaces at Jesse Hall I had a room on the corner just across from Founder’s Hall, where your dad had an office on the second floor of Founders. All of a sudden I could hear the notes of “Amazing Grace” outside. Your father was throwing metal rods out of his office window down to the sidewalk. They were cut in different lengths. (When they struck the sidewalk they rang out notes) As he threw the rods you could hear the tune of Amazing Grace. That’s when he started to move into that world of sound sculpture."

"I’ll never forgive the national announcer on television. David Letterman did not catch who Marxhausen was. Your father had brought with him the metal rods that he intended to play Amazing Grace with on national TV. Letterman picked up all the rods in one handful and dropped them on the floor altogether. He didn’t give your father the chance to play them (as he had hoped to). And then Letterman ended the interview right there." Jack Duensing   (phone interview interview, January 9, 2015)

This happened the night of January 17, 1990. That was the night I was laying on the den floor of Betty Larson. An important story which I will detail in another post. Click on Youtube link and move ahead on video to the 31:48 minute marker to see that Letterman segment. https://youtu.be/T31f2fU5Qc8  Four and a half minutes long.

     My wife and I were plugged into the green house fellowship just off Sixth Street and Forest Avenue, the inner city of Des Moines, Iowa. An older lady Linda arrived to the evening prayer meeting in her wheelchair. David Garcia led the street believers in bible study. Joe Dunn sang about being a green olive tree planted in the house of the Lord from behind his casio keyboard. Terry Sharlach, Michael Calton, Jim, Little David, Curtis, and others worshiped Jesus on the beat-up metal folding chairs, just down the street from the Salvation Army Center. The adult we called Little David stayed at our house for a season.
     I didn't know about speaking in tongues. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was new and interesting. It was nothing I learned about from my Missouri Synod Lutheran teachers.

     I do remember Curtis Manchester. What I admired about him was that he walked the city streets and was able to pray for hours and hours because of this prayer language. My spoken prayers ran dry after a couple of minutes. He had full control over the gift. And the Holy Spirit gave him the ability to praise God fluently in what sounded like foreign language.  It was a wonder to me. I also witnessed raggedy clothed believers of Jesus minister in the group. What I mean by that is some knew scripture very well, and were able to share scriptures that gave hope and comfort to someone who asked for prayer. None of them were ordained. Yet, they were able to speak words of life, say yes to God's presence, with hearts knit together, and came back to meet and sing and pray.

     While living and working in Des Moines I met people and groups of people who were charismatic. Where you could ask for prayer and believers in Christ would pray for you right there. God was close. God was active. Jesus was lifted up and bragged about. The Holy Spirit was credited for opening hearts and making Jesus someone you could get to know. Many lessons were learned. There were surprises. My night job of cleaning office buildings for two years turned into a day job working at Redeemer Lutheran Church.
     By 1987 Jan and I had gone on two team trips with members of that church in a van down to Nuevo Progresso in Mexico. At a family camp we heard missionaries speak about their work, and we took part in a Candidate Retreat in Minneapolis to see if missions was for us. The Lutheran agency World Mission Prayer League encouraged us to get contextual bible schooling. So as to understand the Bible from a culture outside of the United States. Jan already had her Bible schooling through Concordia University in Seward. It was I who needed the classwork. God opened the door for us to attend the Lutheran Bible Institute of California in Anaheim. Sixteen hundred miles from home.

     Back in Nebraska, during the summer of 1987 my mother Dorris Marxhausen enrolled in a college class trip to Nicaragua in Central America through Concordia University. She was studying also Spanish. The back of the above photo read "July 21, 1987. Coke (soda) in a bag"

These photos are in the Marxhausen Estate.