Lest I give the impression that life as a member of a pastor’s family is nothing but hardship, I wanted to share a funny story from life as a Pastor’s kid.

I was not allowed to go to movies growing up.  And as much as that rule might have bugged me I did appreciate the fact that my mother was consistent and said she didn’t want to own a VCR.  We had never owned a machine when Beta was all the rage, and she wasn’t interested in changing that policy when the format changed.

Then came Christmas, my Sophomore year.  The church always held the Sunday School Christmas program on a Sunday night in place of the weekly evening service.  It was tradition, at the end of that program, for the church to present a Christmas gift to the Pastor and his family.  My dad had just taken that particular position in October of that same year so we’d only been there a couple of months.  (Side note – we had attended this church in the past so when my dad took the job we basically “came home”.)

The program ended, and the family was called up on the platform so the presentation could be made.  They brought up a huge box and my dad opened it.  It contained a brand new television (which we desperately needed since our old one was barely hanging on; someone had apparently been observant when the family was moving in).  But they had gone beyond just a television.  They had also bought us (drumroll) a brand new VCR.  My sister’s and I were so tickled we almost couldn’t contain ourselves!  All the teens were laughing hysterically because they knew my mom’s “No VCR” policy.  My mother, bless her heart, kept a smile on her face and said just loudly enough for her family to hear, “We’ll discuss this later.”

My mother was gracious enough to keep the gift but she did insist that our movie choices consist of classics and musicals so from there till I graduated it was a steady diet of Bing Crosby, Howard Keel, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers . . . you get the idea.  And you know what?  I loved it!!