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"If you had said 'simpler,"' Ruth rejoined, "I would sign it. But what is 'simple'? I have five kids."

Her daughter Gigi writes in her book: "Mother always taught me …, 'There are times to quit submitting and start outwitting.'" Ruth admits, "That can raise some eyebrows, understandably." But this is the same woman who while praying for her "prodigal" son Franklin many year ago, felt more convicted about her own failings. When she came across the passage in John's gospel where Jesus prayed for his disciples (chap. 17), she recalls,

Our Lord is praying, 'For their sake, I recommit myself that they also may be committed to Thee.' And suddenly it dawned on me that if Jesus felt the need to recommit himself to the Father for our sake, how much more do I need to recommit myself to the Father for the sake of the children. And so I put Franklin 'on hold' and just settled things with the Lord.

Ruth admits that as the couple enters their later years she would like her husband to slow down and spend time supporting his children in their ministries and getting to know his grandchildren. "The children had to take second place the association; that was inevitable," she says. "But it's not too late to balance it out so that the children, who have been so loti him through the years, can feel his support and loyalty as get on with their own ministries." And, she adds, "there at grandchildren. That's an ongoing ministry right there.''

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October (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52