An Evening with Marva Dawn, Robert Webber & Dan Kimball: The Visit

(See the previous post before reading.)

It was about ten minutes before they were to arrive when the doorbell rang. As I opened the door, I saw Dan Kimball. As I invited him in, I heard someone hollering, “Wait up.” As I looked down the sidewalk, there was Bob Webber running to catch up with Dan, while, at the same time, holding Marva Dawn’s hand, pulling her along.

I said “Hi” and “Welcome” to each one of them, as they arrived, inviting them to come in. Dan immediately headed to the kitchen. Bob, responded to my greeting, and Marva said, “The Lord be with you.” Bob and I said, “And also with you.”

As I invited them into the living room for a moment, I heard Dan holler from the kitchen, “Thanks for inviting us over.” - Bob and Marva sat down with me in the living room. We had a drink and talked a bit about their trip to Greencastle. I could tell that Bob was a bit distracted. He eventually stood up and walked a little closer to the kitchen in order to ask Dan about his trip. As he did so, Marva said, “I just don’t understand why Dan can’t come in here and talk with us.” Bob said, “I have tried to talk with him about that. You know he has a very ‘artsy’ personality and is a bit of a ‘free spirit,’ but I have tried to explain to him that he can still be ‘artsy,’ and that the traditional form can actual help to aid his ‘free spirit.’ Marva responded, “Well, I don’t know about all of that ‘free spirit’ stuff, but he should be in here with the rest of us.”

After some time of small talk, we entered into the dinning room. Dan met us there, bringing some of the dishes with him. (It was obvious that he had already been snacking on some of the dessert.)

During dinner we discussed some of what has happened in the “seeker movement” of the ‘80’s and 90’s. All agreed that much of the content of the gospel had been diminished. Marva was convinced that it was by design, but Bob was not so sure that it was purposeful. Dan didn’t really comment, but we noticed that he was drawing a cross in his mashed potatoes with his fork. Bob said, “That’s a cool cross.” Marva said, “Oh, Dan, quite playing in your food and grow up. - And please use your napkin rather than your sleeve!” - After dinner, all expressed their appreciation for some real meat and potatoes, but Marva did express that she would have preferred fillet mignon, but the roast was still pretty good; certainly a lot better than the hamburgers that so many serve when she comes to dinner.

After what seemed like a short time, Bob looked at his watch and said, “Oh, it’s getting late, and we had better go.” Marva looked at her watch and said, “I told you that we should have left fifteen minutes ago. We got up and headed to the door, but Dan stayed behind for one more helping. Marva was ready to go, but Bob insisted that they wait for Dan. I thanked all of them for coming and expressed that I would love to have them back again. They all expressed appreciation for my invitation, and then headed out the door.