By Pastor Leah Fintel Krotz, Trinity Lutheran Church, Bruning
Whenever Rick and I travel, we try to allow time to take the two-lane highways that wander through farm country and small towns. To us it’s so much more fun than racing along on the interstate—we can stop whenever we see an interesting antique shop or historical marker or place to eat.
Among our favorite places to stop are the little mom and pop “drive-ins” that are often only open in the summer to sell burgers and frozen treats. We like to support the home-town option instead of a chain restaurant, and often they have fun local items on the menu. On our recent trip to Iowa, we stopped in Bedford at the “Frosty Trete” Drive-In. Rick was able to get a classic strawberry malt and I had the delicious “Cookie Monster” cyclone.
This little place reminded me of the Deshler Drive-In, which was a community staple for many years until it was lost to the tornado in 2003. When I was a baby, my parents ran the Deshler Drive-In for a while, and my dad built the unique multi-colored outdoor picnic tables on the west side.
While cleaning out their things, I found a box of items from that venture, including job applications from local teenagers and a typed menu from 1967. Prices included 20-cent hot dogs and 5-cent ice cream cones. Dad once told me that they didn’t make any money while running the place, because their ice-cream cones were too big and the prices too low!
There are so many little joys to be found in life if we just slow down and take a moment to savor them. God loves to see his children enjoying the good and simple things in life—a beautiful sunset, pushing grandchildren on the swings and hearing them laugh—and maybe a big dripping ice cream cone, eaten outside in the sunshine.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” –James 1:17
