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The postmark was March 1, 1997, the official deadline for the 1997 CHRISTIAN READER Writing Contest. There was an ice storm that day in Alanson, Michigan, a town where the "post office is the size of a closet," author Kathy Maguire told us. "I wanted to make the deadline, so I rushed off, forgetting the cover sheet. Our postmaster rummaged around and found a blank sheet of paper way back in a drawer for me to use."

One note Kathy did include with the story said, in part, "I hesitated to write this true story because of the perverted way so many people think today. Parents should carefully discern whom they trust with the care and nurture of their children. But children need the love of grandparents [real or surrogate], and I want to declare this kind of loving healthy relationship still exists and needs to exist."

This poignant intergenerational story isn't something you read about every day. In a world of hurting people, we're glad that Herb Rulapaugh and Faith Maguire's friendship blossomed. In the judgment of the CHRISTIAN READER editors, the story of "Mr. Rulapaugh's Fair Lady" is a winner. We hope you agree.

Goodbye, Grandma and Grandpa," tearfully whispered little four-year-old Faith Christine through the car window as we drove away, following the U-Haul truck. We were heading to my husband's new job as a full-time pastor—a dream come true. The biggest drawback was it would take our family of five—soon to be six—over 250 miles away from the daily contact with loving grandparents.

Adjusting to our new community and job was easy for my husband, Dan, and me. After a three-year search for a pastorate, we loved the family feeling a small town and church congregation brought to our lives.

	Though he never mentioned it, the pain must have been almost unbearable. But God was watching.

Our oldest daughter, Joy, was busy with new school friends, and our two-year-old, Jonathan, enjoyed exploring unfamiliar territory. Six months after our arrival, Rebecca was born. As most newborns do, she grabbed the attention of our congregation. More deeply than ever, Faith felt that separation from Grandpa and Grandma and my husband and me. She needed to feel special.

Daddy seemed to always be at church, and I was too busy fulfilling my new role as pastor's wife, Sunday school teacher, secretary, and janitor to see it as clearly as I do now. To help with the family income, I also ran a day care out of our home. In the busyness of our lives, Faith nearly got forgotten.

But twelve years ago, God was watching. He remembered Faith in a wonderfully unusual way.

Best one for the job
In our new church, Eileen and Herb Rulapaugh were one of the couples who showed us generous hospitality. We often went to their house for dinner or invited them over. On Sundays, they tackled the big job of teaching children's church. In their seventies, they had been married for more than fifty years, but still acted like newlyweds. Their love for each other and God shone in their faces.

There were no discipline problems in children's church because Mrs. Rulapaugh had a gift for Bible storytelling. Against beautifully hand-painted backgrounds, her Bible characters came alive. She didn't need a teacher's manual. She knew those Bible stories by heart and she knew the God of those Bible stories. The children saw him in her eyes and heard him through her voice.

Near the end of her series of lessons on the Tabernacle, Mrs. Rulapaugh contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized. From her room in the intensive care unit she pleaded, "But who will finish the lesson? Who will take my children into the Holy of Holies?"

I volunteered. With such an important matter settled, Eileen was at peace and died that day. I felt like Elisha as I picked up her mantle.

With his beloved sweetheart Eileen gone, Herb Rulapaugh now sat alone in his pew in the back each Sunday. Though he never mentioned it, the pain must have been almost unbearable. But God was watching.

One Sunday morning, Faith slipped beside him in the pew. Delighted, Mr. Rulapaugh invited her out to Sunday dinner after church. Faith's face lit up. No one else was invited. Not baby sister Becky who charmed waitresses with her smiles and baby talk. Not Dad who would just talk theology and church business. It was just Mr. Rulapaugh and Faith.

When she got home, Faith announced she had been allowed to order whatever she wanted and even had a second glass of chocolate milk and two desserts!

Her knight in shining armor
To say that Mr. Rulapaugh spoiled Faith would be an understatement. He became a godly surrogate grandfather. He made her soft cuddly dolls and took apart an old fur coat and stuffed it for a teddy bear.

Each holiday, he remembered Faith in some special way. At Easter, they went shopping for a beautiful dress and hat. For Thanksgiving, he made her a homemade pumpkin pie. Before Christmas, he drove her to the mall to shop. And at the end of the school year, Mr. Rulapaugh bought Faith a new pink bike to celebrate.

Almost every Sunday, Faith and Mr. Rulapaugh joined other church members at a restaurant for dinner or went to fancier places I knew I would never go.

I could see my little girl's confidence growing with each passing year. Over the next seven years, Faith learned proper restaurant manners, how to read a menu and how to figure an appropriate tip. She learned to act like a lady because she was treated like one. Mr. Rulapaugh always opened doors for her.

In fifth grade, Faith wrote an essay on her friendship with Mr. Rulapaugh and how much it meant to her.

The next year, Faith got busier with school and extra-curricular activities. She didn't have as much time to spend with Mr. Rulapaugh anymore. But God was watching.

By the time Faith was in sixth grade, Mr. Rulapaugh was very busy himself—courting a widow. Soon Myrlea became his new bride!

Faith cried when she realized her special days with Mr. Rulapaugh were coming to an end. Now a sophomore in high school, Faith, 16, has written her list of what she would like in a future husband. At the top is "A kind person like Mr. Rulapaugh."

Over the years of their friendship, Herb Rulapaugh's family confided to me that Faith played a very important role in his grief recovery. Our little girl gave him renewed hope and a reason to live.

We have moved again, about 35 miles away from Herb and Myrlea, starting a new adventure with our first church plant—another lifelong dream of my husband. Faith still receives cards from the Rulapaughs and this past April we all got together to celebrate his eighty-fourth birthday.

Remembering how God reached down into our small congregation to meet the need of a seventy-one-year-old man and a five-year-old girl's struggle with loneliness makes me realize how loving God is. Many years later, I'm still learning that sometimes his answers to our problems are sitting right next to us.

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