Today’s guest post was written by my mom, Lorraine Strohbehn. I know you’ll enjoy the mingling of this story from days gone by with the truths of God’s Word.

It was a blustery Saturday evening in January on our farm in southern Wisconsin. Our rock house with the Round Oak heater in the living room felt warm and cozy. Suddenly the silence was broken by twelve short rings on our telephone. It was a signal ring telling us that there was some kind of an emergency. Mother quickly dashed to the phone to hear what the emergency was that “Central”, the phone operator at the switchboard, was going to report to our party line. After all eight of the receivers in the other homes on our party line had been lifted, “Central” said that there was a chimney fire at the Louis Peterson farm home. They needed help!

Dad grabbed his cap, coat and boots and off he went to help with the chimney fire. A couple hours later he returned home saying they were able to get the creosote out of the pipes, the family was safe and everything was fine. Thanks to “Central” and that party-line telephone, help was alerted in time.

Our telephone— the oak rectangular box on the wall in the corner of our kitchen—was our lifeline to the outside world. It had a receiver on the left side and a small crank on the right side for ringing whatever grouping of shorts and longs were needed for the recipient of the call. The front had two brass-covered round objects that rang when someone on the line received a call. A bit lower on the box was a mouthpiece that was adjustable up and down so that it was a suitable height for the person using it. It was our communication center.

“Central” sat at a switchboard and according to the request of the caller, plugged the cords into the proper holes to connect the person making and the person receiving the call. Our signal was two short rings. I remember as a little girl that it was pretty exciting to get to answer the phone. Of course they wanted to talk to Mother, so I would call to her. As she would talk, often I would hear her say there were “rubbernecks” (eavesdroppers) on the line so she would talk to the caller about “certain things” at another time. However, when there was illness or a need in our neighborhood, Mother would also “rubberneck” to hear how things were going so that we did not have to call them too.

In our small town, “Central” lived at the house next door to the tiny house with the phone switchboard. In this separate little house, the switchboard was at one side of the room and the other side had a curtain that could be pulled across a wire; behind the curtain was a bed. At night, she, or sometimes a member of her family, would sleep at the phone building so that any call made to “Central” could be answered quickly. She had to wake up and get over to the switchboard to answer. Hopefully it wasn’t too great an emergency!

Now I see our children and grandchildren with phone in hand, taking pictures, checking their computers in another state, texting quick messages to friends, caring for business appointments and a myriad of other feats. But I often hear them say things are not downloading or uploading as quickly as they should or that the connection is not occurring as quickly as they hoped. This is surely a far cry from the old phone on the wall and “Central”—but it’s clear to see that it still has its glitches!

Hebrews 13:5 states: “… for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” The faithfulness and availability of our Wonderful Lord brings security and contentment that can be found in no other way. Recalling those days makes me thank the Lord, our Eternal “Central,” that we never have to wake Him nor wait for Him to complete another “connection,” but that He has promised always to be available!

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Thank you for taking time to read “Party Line.” Please feel free to leave a comment for Lorraine.