Experience and Love ' Bernhard J Urban Jr.'

Dear Family

I was born October 21 st 1915. The first thing I remember is my mother pinning my diapers, the second is when I was creeping toward the lace curtains in the front bay window with my little fingers heading for the lace circle to give it a crunch, when my mother came along and gently held my hand and said "you wouldn't want to hurt Moma:s pretty lace curtain's would you".? Later I, a couple times, I came to the same place and held back my temptation to do the same thing; moms was very wise!.

When I was about seven playing with a little neighbor boy in my bedroom; he had a little ten cent fire engine and it got wrapped in some cloth or rags and we went home without  it and I keep it (that was my first real purposeful  sin and  I felt, and it did get returned, a short time latter Dad gave a beautiful  Fire engine wich he paid five dollars, It had a team of four horses two fire men in the driver’s seat all leather reigns and bridles red ladders a big vertical boiler and two firemen riding on the back step, I wish I had it yet! Later we had to move and a pastor lived next, after summer we were about to move again when a couple of beautiful white pigeons lit on the pastor roof and I talked the pastor into allowing me to go out of the roof and after struggle to get  to the second bird. I came back with these two birds. Our family was tickled. After about a week we moved out south about a mile from the airport. But the pigeons took first place in the basement which I diligently kept clean and I ended up with a quite a flock.

When I was eleven I wanted a job I got a couples of nickels from Mom and got on the street car and went down town to the Minneapolis Tribune and applied and ended up with a morning paper route.

My early teen years was spent around the airport where I watched and read and studied airplanes and engines and was there when Northwest Airlines received their first mail contract. Before I was graduated from High School I joined Naval Reserved and after a couple of years I started running with a group of kids who were interested in Christian things then I had a Job in hardware store uptown and the Lord started to work on my heart. When on the streetcar for a hourin the morning one has time to think and for a couple of days I started telling God that I would serious about those things when I was about fifty , The third day he showed me fire down out of the  corner of my eye, then I said that Satans territory AND I WANT TO GO WAY 11 Suddenly I realized that what I said was a prayer, I had made a decision and the lord started me feel unusually warm and the more I thought about it the warmer it got and it me realize that  I had made the most important decision in my life, and the rest of the day was the happiest day in my life. It also answered  the question when I was a little boy when I asked myself how does the Pastor know this?