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Wednesday
Pastor Keith takes Monday off but attends the Boy Scout meeting Monday evenings. Tuesday, he prepares for Tuesday night Bible study. Wednesday is his office day. He counts the tithing from the previous Sunday and totals the giving. He pays bills and updates accounts.
Bigger churches have bookkeepers and accountants. The Living Waters Church of Burwell, Nebraska, has one full-time employee: Pastor Keith. If times are tight and tithing is below budget, the church has one full-time employee at half pay. Keith doesn’t mind. He and his faithful wife, Haylee, knew what they signed up for when they started.
Keith Wardlowe is not in the preaching business for money or fame. He has no plans to write a book or start a worldwide preaching network. He is devoted to his family and the people of Burwell, Nebraska. Pastor Keith Wardlowe has his schedule, and you might say he follows it religiously, so it’s no small surprise on Wednesday, after the previous night’s bible study when he preached against the book, Straight Up–Preparing for the Rapture, he broke from his schedule to pay a visit to Frank Brown.
Burwell, Nebraska has a population of twelve hundred forty souls and is the county seat of Garfield County. In 1887, the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad was extended to Burwell. People imagined that the railroad would bring rapid growth and prosperity to the small town. They didn’t realize the railroad would continue all the way to Denver, Colorado. Burwell became a stop along the way. Few stopped.
Burwell is most famous as the host of “Nebraska's Big Rodeo,” an annual event held the last weekend of July. The rest of the year it’s a small rural town in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska. It’s a three-hour drive to big cities like Lincoln or Omaha and seven hours to Denver. Burwell is a town left behind by modern standards. What it lacks in the latest tech it has preserved in tradition.
Burwell has the look of old time Americana. Livestock and the fish hatchery are the main industries. The rodeo might be the big event of the year, but people enjoy fishing, hunting, and family activities year around. Ninety-nine percent of the six hundred households are families. Being a divorced, single mother is a rarity rather than the norm. Families attend church. Young boys and girls join Scouts or 4-H. It is a friendly, wholesome environment. The remote location of the rural town, with the peaceful Calamus river flowing through it, allows their traditional lifestyle to continue keeping things the way they’ve been without feeling old-fashioned.
Construction of the Calmus Reservoir in 1986 tamed the Calamus River of springtime floods. The reservoir is two miles northwest of town, providing water for irrigation of local farmland, fishing, camping, and recreational activities. The reservoir is fifteen miles long and held back by the hundred-foot-tall, Virginia Smith, earthen dam. At the base of the dam is the fish hatchery.
Frank Brown worked at the fish hatchery for almost thirty years and has been a hard-working, loyal employee all his adult life. Frank had married his high school sweetheart, Debbie Wilcox. Their fun, teenage relationship changed when Debbie learned she was pregnant. The pregnancy forced Frank and Debbie grow up fast. They married and a few months later they welcomed their son, Thomas, into the world.
Frank’s uncle worked at the fish hatchery, and with his uncle’s reference, Frank was hired. Frank advanced over the years from feeding the hatchlings to Assistant Manager of Operations.
The Nebraska Game and Parks commission operates the fish hatchery. Two years ago, they hired a new manager and invested in technology to bring the facility up to date. Frank had become a fixture at the hatchery and did things a certain way. Some people said he was stubborn; others said he was too old to learn new ways. For whatever reason, Frank didn’t get along with the new hatchery superintendent. After a few months of butting heads with the new boss, they agreed Frank would find other employment.
These days, Frank mows grass at the golf course. After his years at the hatchery, Frank enjoys his independence out on the course. Nobody watches his every move. Out on the course, it’s just Frank on his riding mower with his thoughts. It was one day while edging the green of the ninth hole—Frank remembers it vividly—that he received his revelation from God. There will be a flood. Frank must prepare. He should build a ship to save himself and his wife. God spoke to him, so he built his submarine.
As Keith drove, he thought about his friend and church member Frank Brown. The Brown family has had a rough go of it the past few years. First their only son, Thomas, died in the Sulu Sea conflict, then Frank lost his job at the hatchery. Thomas’s death devastated Debbie. He was her whole life. Frank had his work at the hatchery, his hunting and fishing friends. Debbie had Thomas.
Although Debbie had a hard time adjusting to the loss of Thomas, Pastor Keith worries about Frank and his submarine-building mission. Keith had hoped once Frank saw how silly he appeared on the TV show. He would give up. Instead, the show had pushed Frank to complete the project.
Pastor Keith pulled into the Brown property. The house sits on a large lot a few miles out of town. The property is on the way to the reservoir, near the hatchery, just off Dan Road and Pebble Creek Road. Keith walks to the front door.
He figures Frank will be out back somewhere, but the neighborly thing to do is to knock on the front door, so Keith knocks. Debbie opens the door halfway. Keith can see it’s dark inside the house. Debbie looks sad and depressed, but once she notices its Pastor Keith at the door, she puts on her “going to church” smile.
“Why, Pastor Keith, what a surprise. What brings you all the way out here?” Debbie asks, as she opens the door wider while smoothing out her wrinkled blouse.
Keith smiles his, “I’m your neighborly preacher” smile, as polite as he can be. He knows Debbie’s emotions are still close to the surface. Haylee, Keith’s wife, spent many tear-filled hours counseling and consoling Debbie after Thomas’s death. Keith doesn’t want to get her started. He’s here to see Frank.
“Well, I wanted to come out and see Frank’s submarine for myself. It sounds like he’s made a lot of progress,” Keith says.
Debbie appears disappointed the visit isn’t for her. She doesn’t hesitate showing disapproval of her husband’s project. “That man and his stupid ideas. I don’t know what drives him to have these outlandish thoughts. He’s out back. His contraption is out there, next to the shed. Go on back. I’m sure you’ll hear him banging about, wasting his time and our money.”
Keith is sure that Debbie’s tirade is one Frank has heard many times. He gives her a polite nod before walking to the back of the house. Debbie follows for a few steps, still talking.
“He gets these crazy ideas, then uses God to justify them. I don’t know how he thinks he can get away with using God as his excuse for whatever he does.” Keith picks up his pace, hoping to get out of earshot.
He makes it to the back of the house just in time to see Frank’s head disappear into the submarine. Keith hears noises from inside the vessel. Frank’s head then pops up. He looks for something on the ground and disappears again into the submarine. Keith can’t help but think Frank looks like a prairie dog popping in and out of his hole.
The submarine has a large curved window in the front. Keith covers his brow to block the sun and peer through the windshield. Frank squats on the floor and notices something has blocked the sunlight coming into the sub. He turns, catches a fright, and jerks to pop out of his hole, this time smashing his head on the metal roof of the sub.
“Ouch, Goddamn it! Who the hell is out there?” Frank cries, rubbing his head as he comes up through the sub’s hatch. Frank lets loose with a string of expletives but stops when he notices the unexpected visitor is Keith: “Shit. Who the fu... frock is scaring the holy Jesus out of me? Preacher, what are you doing out here?”
“I’ve heard so much about your submarine project. I wanted to stop by and have a look for myself.” Keith gives the submarine a once-over, patting the metal exterior. “Looks solid. How deep do you plan to go with it?”
“I’m not sure how deep I need to go, but it should be all right for thirty feet. It’s meant as an all-weather vessel. I saw a show about the Coast Guard on the Oregon Coast. They have these boats that can go underwater or flip over in a storm and not sink, but they’re not submarines. This ship is a hybrid like the Coast Guard one. Everybody calls it a submarine, so it stuck,” Frank explains.
Frank had tried to explain this to his wife, but she never let him finish the first sentence. One of the townsfolk called the TV show, and they came out to film. The TV crew listened to Frank's explanation. They filmed and took notes and still called it a submarine.
The ship looks unique. Keith inspects the vessel, thinking he would have a tough time describing it. He can see it’s easier to call it a submarine. The ship is twelve feet long, eight feet wide, and six feet high. It has a keel like a boat, but round in front instead of having a sharp V, like the bow of a boat. It’s covered with a metal roof with a big round hatch like a submarine. There are two portholes along each side. The ship rests on a wooden brace. Overall, it looks like a professional job for a guy who worked at a fish hatchery most of his life.
Keith stands back, making a show of examining the craft. “It looks like you’ve done a real good job building it, Frank. It’s a unique design. Maybe you should test it out in the reservoir.”
Frank stands in the hatch with his hands on the roof. “It’s not meant to go boating on the reservoir. You don’t believe me, do you?”
Keith hadn’t planned on how to confront Frank. “Frank, I have little experience with people who say God spoke to them, and then build an, ah...” He searches for words while motioning at the strange ship.
“I knew it. You’re the same as the rest. You picked on me and had your fun last night. Everyone had a good laugh. Frank Brown and his submarine. The joke of Burwell on national TV. You might be a preacher, but you’re no better than the rest, Keith.”
“Frank, I apologize for last night. I didn't mean to single you out, I—.”
“No experience, you say. I sit in church listening to you tell us about God talking to people every week, and how those people acted on what Gold said. Seems to me, things turned out worse when they ignored what God told them to do. You stand here and ridicule me for following God’s word. Why is it any different for me?”
Keith thinks for a moment. “Well, I mean personal experience. In the scriptures of the Old Testament, God was... well, that was a different time. These days, God doesn’t speak to people directly. It’s more of a feeling or a pull in one direction or the other, not explicit directives to build something.”
Frank climbs down from his submarine. Once he’s on the ground, he faces Keith. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.” Pastor Keith is about to reply, but Frank interrupts him again. “Listen, Pastor, I know you think I’m crazy. Those TV guys had fun making me look the fool. It doesn’t matter. I know what God put on my heart. Maybe I am crazy. I don’t care. I’m gonna finish this thing and I’ll be prepared—for what I’m not sure, but I’ll be ready, just as God told me. This ship is for Debbie and me when the time is come, and that’s all she wrote, Pastor.”
Keith is speechless. Frank walks toward Keith’s truck, and Keith follows. After a few steps, Keith finds some words. “Frank, I don’t think you’re crazy. I care about you and Debbie. I wanted to know if you’re OK, that’s all.”
“Keith, we’ve been friends for a long time. I’m fine. I got the mowing job over to the golf course and I like it. It’s decent work and gives me time to think. It’s Debbie I’m worried about. She never got over losing Thomas, you know that. Maybe you could ask Haylee to look in on her again.”
“I will, Frank.”
“Thanks. She gets lonely out here. Some company for her would be nice.” When they reach Keith’s truck, Frank opens the door. An invitation to leave.
“Well, I’ll get back to the office. It’s my bookkeeping day,” Keith says as he climbs into his pickup.
“Thank ya for taking the time to check in on us, Pastor. I do appreciate it. I’ll say your goodbyes to Debbie, for ya,” Frank says as he shuts the truck door. Frank turns and walks back to his submarine. Keith waits a few moments before driving back to town.
