An Odd Cross to Bear by Anne Blue Wills

Author:Anne Blue Wills
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eerdmans
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Franklin was about eight years old during that Montreux summer when Gigi and Stephan first met. With her oldest daughter trying out more serious relationships, and the other girls growing up, Ruth wrote in her journal with concern about her older son and his apparent indifference to building a relationship with God. “Little Franklin,” she wrote, “has never, to my knowledge, put his trust in Christ.” He had not actively pushed Christ away, but he had not given his mother even the slightest impression that he gave God much thought. In her private writing, Ruth worried over a dream she recalled from the year before in which her little boy had grown into a handsome young man. In her dream, he was full of life but heedless of “his spiritual welfare. Unreachable.” She comforted herself with the fact that Franklin “was still a boy at home with us. There is still time.” She would not insist outright on his committing to Christ, but she would watch for signs of interest and try to nurture those.

Franklin was a tough customer; in particular, he enjoyed bossing little brother Ned around. Bea Long reported to Ruth the following conversation between the two brothers:

Franklin asked, “Ned, do you love me?”

“Yes, Nock,” Ned replied, using his nickname for Franklin. “My love you.”

“Well,” Nock answered sharply. “I don’t love you.”

Bea told Ruth that after a moment, Ned answered, “Well, I love you.”

“Well,” Franklin reinforced the point: “I don’t love you.”

Ned tried to counter: “The Bible says—“

“The Bible doesn’t say I have to love you, does it?” Franklin argued.

“Well,” the little one replied, “the Bible says some nice things.”

Franklin could mercilessly tease his brother and sisters, testing Ruth’s patience terribly. Well-known is the story of a fed-up Ruth stopping in the middle of driving the five children to Asheville for hamburgers, taking the little pest from his seat and locking him in the trunk of the car. Releasing Franklin on arrival, she deadpanned to the surprised carhop, “Don’t worry. He enjoyed it.”

As Franklin grew older, his rebellions expanded to include speeding—almost baiting the area police—and a blaring devotion to rock music. “All right, Franklin,” Ruth had told him one particular day. She would be hosting an afternoon gathering at Little Piney Cove for visiting missionaries, and she sought a compromise with her son: “you can listen to your rock music, but in your bedroom with the door closed. Please don’t have it blaring all over the house.”

As Gigi wrote of the episode in her 1979 family memoir, Ruth entered the house, missionaries in tow, while Franklin’s music indeed blasted through the whole house. Gigi recalled that her mother “was furious, so she went flying up the stairs, two at a time.” Franklin was nowhere to be found. Ruth turned off the music, took the records, and returned to her hosting duties. Gigi said that her mother’s “conscience” troubled her afterward, not because she felt responsible for Franklin’s disobedience but because of her own angry reaction. So the next day, Ruth drove to Asheville and purchased a new album for Franklin’s collection.

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