THE LIGHTER SIDE

GODLY HUMOR 

SD: Good. Bill, many would see you as a very serious person and they'd probably be right. If you sit at a dinner table for five minutes the conversation will either be on Jesus Christ or the Great Commission, but do you do other things? Do you ever read a novel? Do you ever do anything at all that some people might classify as either a diversion or a hobby?

BB: Well, my hobby is living for Jesus and serving Him.

SD: So, the answer's no.

BB: I love to read, but most of my reading is theological books. I've read some fiction, but it doesn't normally edify as much, but God has led me in recent times to recognize that fiction novels communicate, if properly written, theological truth in a way and to far more people than just a straight theological truth.

SD: Bill, you were raised in the countryside of Oklahoma.

BB: Yeah.

SD: Did you ever learn to ride a horse?

BB: Oh, I grew up on a ranch. As a matter of fact the first photo ever taken of me I was about two years old and I was riding a horse and I am sure someone was holding my leg off the side.

SD: I'm sure something held you upright.

BB: But I grew up on a horse. I love to ride. I haven't ridden for sometime because it's not a convenience for me, but my father was a great horseman and cattleman. I grew up loving that life and all of our five sons were taught how to ride wild broncs and steers and that was the fun of growing up, but I look back on it and think that was not the smartest thing I ever did.

SD: Wild broncs you mean?

BB: Quite a few people break their necks.

SD: Absolutely, I agree.

BB: I grew up on a ranch. It was a wonderful life. There were five sons and two sisters and we have a very busy and hard working life. We began our day long before daylight and went long after dark, but everybody did in those days. Everybody worked hard and I must say I look back on those wonderful experiences with great delight and wish that my own sons could have had such a similar experience. We broke wild broncs and rode wild steers and we had all kinds of picnics and watermelon parties and ice cream parties and hayrides. It was a wonderful life.

SD: Well, the watermelon I could handle, but the wild broncs sounds a little dangerous.

Bill, you've been called a man with a happy heart and I know that's true. You have quite a sense of humor. Sometimes you really catch people who don't realize you're telling the joke, but where do you think that came from?

BB: I don't know. My father had wonderful sense of humor. He was always telling jokes and making people -- he was assimilating conversations.

SD: So, you had a good model?

BB: I think I inherited some genes.

SD: I think you did.

BB: I love to -- Vonette and I have a great time together. She's very conservative and sometimes she doesn't understand my jokes.

SD: I think I'm reminded many times ??? Oh, Bill, quoting Vonette here.

BB: Yeah.

SD: And when you two get going up in front of a crowd I think you have the whole crowd in stitches after a while where you'll just pass these very subtle pieces of humor and then Vonette will react to it very vivaciously as she does and the two of you up there you'd think you were doing a humor show.

BB: I always say, it's much better to laugh than cry.

SD: Sometimes those are the only two alternatives.

BB: And so, we have a ball. We have always had a lot of fun.

SD: That’s a side of you I think a lot of people have never seen like I'd say the typical staff member would see.

BB: Well, when I write my Brightsides and other articles for the magazines and letters I’m usually dealing with serious issues. So, most of the staff have never had the opportunity to see Vonette and me up close and don't know that we're just ordinary --we're just ordinary people who have a great Savior and His love overflows.
 

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