Early Childhood: Carried on Angel's Wings
Len: Welcome to A Willing Heart to Please the Fa ther! This is Len Lacroix, and I'm here tonight with Dr. Andrew Stenhouse. And we're going to begin our first segment of his autobiography, talking about his early childhood.
So, Andrew, I want to welcome you, and it's a pleasure to get this started tonight with you; so, welcome.
Dr. Stenhouse: Len, thank you so much! I do appreciate the opportunity to be with you on your program.
Len: Yeah!
Dr. Stenhouse: And you know, any time you have the opportunity to introduce anybody to the Lord Jesus is such a joy and such a pleasure.
Len: I know. Amen.
Dr. Stenhouse: And I think what I'll do is, because my early childhood was a little unusual, I’d like to just outline it for everybody so that they'll understand where I'm sort of coming from, as the Lord works through me and on me.
Len: Yeah! Yeah, that would be great! And I thought it would be really interesting to begin with the time when you were seven years old, and then we can go back to the beginning.
But just to start with that story about what happened during the war when they were bombing London. Could you tell that to me again, please?
Dr. Stenhouse: Yes. When I was a boy, about seven years old, we were in the middle of the bombing from Germany. And, one evening, I woke up after I had been asleep, and there I was—I was being carried under the wings of an angel into the bombing zone. And the angel was talking to a partner angel on his left-hand side. And they were laughing and having such a good time dodging the bombs and staying out of the searchlights.
And I was able to take this for about ten, fifteen minutes, and then it got too much for a seven year old, and I started to cry.
The next thing I knew, I was back in my bed. And my father came in to me and asked me what was wrong, and I told him what had happened and he gave me a weird look. But, other than that, I went back to sleep, and he didn't say much more after that.
Len: Yeah. That would be pretty neat.
Dr. Stenhouse: The same situation happened again, where I found myself under the soft wings of an angel. It was really cozy and nice, and I was being carried under his right wings.
Len: Wow!
Dr. Stenhouse: And it was the same alternative angel, as far as I could tell. And they were taking me in another ride through London, through the lights, and just missing the bombs and so on.
Again, after about ten minutes, I cried, and they took me back, and I then woke up in my bed. And Dad came in again and asked if I was all right.
But most of the nights, we wouldn't be in our beds. We would be under the stairs to rest, in case the house was hit and shrapnel and stuff was coming round. So anyway that's the story of when I was about seven years old.
Len: Now we started off with you at age seven, but take us back to where you were born, and a little bit about your parents’ nationality.
Dr. Stenhouse: Ok. Well I was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1934. And my mother and father had known each other in Scotland and came over to the United States.
My mother worked in a store as a buyer and always told me, “In case you want to be a buyer in a clothing store, the way you make money is by buying correctly and not selling.” So it sells itself. And that’s all I remember from my mother.
My dad worked for General Motors as a spring designer. Later in England, he worked for their European subsidiary Vauxhall Motors, but that was short-lived. At the beginning of the war, he was put in charge of all the British steel for the war effort and occasionally would take me on a ride up in his car. He didn't have his own car, but they had a chauffeur drive him in one. So I remember going several times up to the Midlands of England enjoying the time with my father.
Len: But you were initially growing up in Detroit, right?
Dr. Stenhouse: Yes. We went back to England just before the beginning of the war.
Len: Yeah, so when you were back in Detroit, he was with General Motors.
Dr. Stenhouse: Yes.
Len: Now what was your parents’ nationality?
Dr. Stenhouse: My parents’ nationality was Scottish…Great Britain.
Len: Ok. And what was their faith?
Dr. Stenhouse: Well, both of them were believers—strong believers and were members of a Plymouth Brethren collection of believers or church.
Len: Ok. So you said that you went back to England, where you lived north of London. How did you get over there from the U.S.?
Dr. Stenhouse: We went by boat. And the only thing I remember much about the boat is that it was really quite comfortable, and a whale ran into the side of the boat. But other than that, I remember very little about the boat trip up there.
Len: During that era, weren't there German u-boats that were known to attack even civilian liners like that?
Dr. Stenhouse: Yes that's right. And my parents took the risk, because they had to get back to Britain—my father for his work, and my mother to help take care of us two—my sister and I.
Len: And, you know, one of the things that you had talked to me about was our Heavenly Father’s desire for us to have a willing heart. I think that was something that you had said was important.
Dr. Stenhouse: Oh, yes! I think as we go through the very things that happened in my life, that the important thing is to realize that we're not in a religion, really, we're in a relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Len: Absolutely!
Dr. Stenhouse: And He has called each one of us separately to be related to Him. And He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to die on the cross in order that He could take our sins in His body on the tree and make the way for us to have eternal life.
Len: Thank you very much! That was excellent! I really appreciate you sharing that about your birth and early childhood. And we're going to wrap this segment up right now, for today. So thank you very much, Andrew, for joining us! We really appreciate you sharing that today.
Dr. Stenhouse: Thank you, Len!