The True Joy of Positive Living Ch:8

Departure and New Beginnings

• In May 1927, the narrator leaves Brooklyn, driving towards Syracuse, New York.
• The drive through upstate New York, specifically the Mohawk Valley, replaces feelings of loneliness and sadness with excitement for the future.
• A stop at the Old Hotel Utica coincides with reading about Charles Lindbergh's historic landing in Paris after flying the Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic.

Settling in Syracuse

• The narrator resides at the Hotel Syracuse in room 648, which overlooks a courtyard.
• The hotel staff, especially a maid named Grace and the general manager, provide care and make him feel at home.
• The weekly rate at the hotel is approximately forty dollars.
• Church members frequently invite him to their homes for meals.
• Geoff and Elsie Brown are particularly kind, offering him a quiet refuge, especially before and after Colgate football games.

Community and Connection

• The narrator encounters an Armenian restaurant owner named Joe Edison, who recognizes him and insists on treating him to a steak.
• This act of kindness continues for forty years including meals at Joe Edison's home in Los Angeles.
• The narrator's mother visits from Ohio for his first Sunday at University Church, a stone building with stained-glass windows.

Initial Impressions and Challenges

• The first Sunday service reveals a congregation that only partially fills the seats.
• An extra-tall ladder lies across the empty balcony.
• A layman advises the narrator to aim his voice at the bottom of the balcony to manage the acoustics.
• Hugh M. Tilroe, Dean of the School of Speech and Drama at Syracuse University, welcomes him to the church.
• Tilroe emphasizes the congregation's responsibility in shaping the young minister into a great preacher through prayer, help, teaching, and love.

Mentorship

• Hugh M. Tilroe becomes an important influence in the narrator's life, inviting him to his lodge on Oneida Lake for fishing trips.
• Following a stroke, Tilroe asks the narrator to take his speaking engagement and refers to the narrator as a great man on the platform.

Compassion and Support

• Tilroe assists a preacher whose wife leaves him, driving to his home, taking him to his lodge, and offering comfort and prayer.
• Tilroe's presence and care provides the pastor with a sense of peace.

Meeting Ruth

• Bishop Leonard hopes the narrator can engage Syracuse University students with the church.
• The narrator organizes a committee of interested students.
• He meets Ruth Stafford when she visits the church to meet Phyllis Leonard.
• He expresses his feelings and falls in love upon seeing her.
• The narrator asks Ruth to chair a committee for a student dinner.

Courtship

• The narrator and Ruth start to spend time together.
• He ensures they work closely on the student dinner arrangements, dining at charming restaurants in the country.
• He moves her seating card to be next to him at head table during the dinner.

Securing Ruth's Future

• He proposes that Ruth be hired at Central High School, ensuring she has a job in Syracuse after she graduates.
• Ruth gets hired as a mathematics teacher.
• The narrator purchases an engagement ring from his friend Bob Pond.

Economic Hardship

• The stock market crashes in October 1929, in the period leading up to the Great Depression.
• Bob Pond believes prosperity will never return.

Church Finances

• The narrator experiences a "depression" in the church due to declining membership, attendance, and finances.
• The church is in debt and the official board lowers the pastor's salary.
• The narrator sees this as an opportunity to improve the church.

A Mysterious Encounter

• He receives a phone call requesting him to visit a dying woman.
• A car with shaded windows picks him up, and he is taken to a blacked-out house.
• He reads to the woman from the Bible and prays for her soul, offering comfort.
• He returns to the hotel and never finds out who the woman was.

Addressing the Debt

• A fifty-five-thousand-dollar debt burdens the church.
• The narrator proposes raising the debt, but the board decides to focus on raising only twenty thousand.
• The narrator meets with Brother Andrews drives into the country to meet.
• Andrews is a positive thinker and successful businessman.
• Andrews initially declines to donate.
• Andrews is persuaded to donate five thousand dollars to the church.
• Andrews and narrator pray together and suggest other donors.

Securing Donations

• Heeding Andrews' advice, the narrator asks Dr. Roy Moore for five thousand dollars.
• He tells Dr. Moore he will have the "privilege" of matching Brother Andrew's donation.
• The doctor agrees, visibly startled.

Revival and Growth

• Brother Andrews states that Dr. Moore donation was due to his directed prayer.
• The narrator raises forty-five-thousand dollars more through assistance.
• The church begins to grow, attracting disenchanted members and new ones.
• University students flock to the church, especially before Hendricks Chapel is built on campus.
• Student organizations reserve sections for services.
• Students find faith, community, and guidance.
• The Reverend Webster D. Melcher and the Reverend Dean Richardson assist in the ministry.

Marriage

• The church grows with new families seeking support.
• The narrator gets married to Ruth Stafford.
• He purchases the wedding ring from Bob Pond.

Wedding Details

• The wedding takes place in University Church on June 20, 1930.
• The ceremony is officiated by three ministers, including Ruth's father.
• Prominent guests attend, and a reception is held at the chancellor's mansion.

Honeymoon

• The couple spends their first night at the Cooper Inn in Cooperstown, New York.
• They travel to Cazenovia Seminary for a commencement talk, delaying their honeymoon.
• They stay at a charming house near Fifth Lake in the Adirondacks.

A Frightening Night

• They arrived at Fifth Lake and learn of an escaped murderer.
• The narrator hears noises and confronts a chipmunk, armed with an ax.
• The convict gets apprehended the next day hundreds of miles from their house.

Lasting Partnership

• Ruth and Norman Peale get married which began a shared exciting life story.