My earliest memories are of being poor. My mom was divorced and we lived on welfare. My siblings and I were pushed around by the landlord’s kids and I felt defenseless. My mom married Marion Douglass on June 19, 1960 when I was six years old. My new dad owned three lots in the small town where he lived and from that time on my life changed drastically for the better. Dad adopted us in March of 1961 and my name was changed from Kenneth Ray Forbes to Kenneth Marion Douglass. To pay the lawyer’s fees for the adoption, Dad installed a windmill on the lawyer’s ranch. Sometimes on Sunday afternoons, we would take drives through the country and once in a while Dad would take us to the place where that windmill stood and say, “See that windmill, kids? That’s all you’re worth.”
Years later as a young man with children of my own I wrote a poem in honor of my dad and his adopting us four kids. I would like to share that poem with you this week in his honor and in honor of the Christ who made it possible for me to be adopted into the family of God.
“The Windmill and the Cross”
A cross on old Golgotha was the symbol of release
From fears and deprivations to joyfulness and peace.
A moving from an old life and an entrance to a new;
From a bunch of broken promises to a God whose word is true.
There’s a divine protector in whom to put my trust,
A precious Heavenly Father Who’s loving, kind and just.
The cross on old Golgotha was the price He paid for me
To fully be adopted into God’s family.
So a windmill in Nebraska was a symbol of release
From fears and deprivations to joyfulness and peace.
A moving from an old life and an entrance to a new;
From a bunch of broken promises to a Dad whose word is true.
I received a new protector in whom to put my trust,
A precious earthly father who’s loving, kind and just.
A windmill in Nebraska was the price he paid for me
To fully be adopted in the Douglass family.
On my birth certificate are the names Dad gave to me
Just like the new one written in the book of eternity.
I pray that up in heaven at the end of death and loss
That I may walk with my two Fathers
Between the windmill and the cross.
Galatians 4:4-7-- But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Blessings,
Pastor Ken