Ever since I was a child, I felt rather odd,
if my hands were void of having anything
in them to do-or to build something. I was
constantly seeing myself as an inventor of
something. Small airplanes, attached to a wire
which was attached to an ‘axle’ (meant for
hands of a windup clock’s two hands, one hand
being the ‘Hour’ hand, the other the minute
hand). Note: I had to remove a couple of gears
inside the inner windup motor that turned real
slow–I needed it to turn fast as my airplane
was coming into the airport to land via a
circular approach. This was a project for a
history class in grade school. It actually
worked. I didn’t win any “Ribbons’ for my
work–however, classmates enjoyed winding
it up–then it would slow down (which resembled
a natural landing. The landing was a cardboard
box–runway painted in, some green grass,
a small building for people to come and go in,
plus a couple of old cars in the parking lot.
As the years unfold, wind up clocks turn into
“New and unimaginable” ways to build and do
things, never done before. Being an electric guitar
player, I had an idea. Guitars have been built
like ‘cookie cutters’ for hundreds of years. Pretty
much, fairly looked the same. Same soundhole,
same body, and neck, tuning knobs at the tip-top
of the neck etc. Then–I built my dream guitar
totally different. Tuning knobs–three on each
side of the strings (mid guitar body). Nothing but
pegs where tuners used to be. A palm-operated
tremblo (so I could keep ‘picking’ and have my
palm doing ‘down/up for the needed sound).
I flew to Minneapolis, Minnesota to hire a
patent attorney. Once it was all finished, the
next step was a global search to make sure it
had not been patented by some else. It, at
first seemed to be ‘loner’. After a few days, I
was alerted to a new finding, that had been
overlooked. A man from Nebraska in the early
1900s had applied for a patent on a guitar he
designed. Now, the only difference was–he
had placed the tuning knobs (six of them) at
the tail end of the guitar (where the strap
that holds the guitar up while
standing up to play. Ok, now I had to start
all over (on that detail) and prove that my
tuning knobs (in the mid-section) were an
improvement. I knew it was but had to
challenge it, via the Patent Attorney. Well,
at nineteen years old, my cash limit had
arrived-and did not have the money for
that final step. However. I built a duplicate
from a solid piece of oak lumber. Including
the neck/all in one piece. A lot of sanding/
sawing produced my dream Guitar (elect).
Its color just had to be ‘(Candy apple red)’
then I played it for years. Nothing but
‘patent applied for’ label, but the idea and
the experience was worth all my time and work
into it.
From there, I successfully learned how to build
my own Solar panels at home. That process took
me to Hawaii for five months, then around the
globe for years, to teach those, struggling with
electricity payments and could be off the hook.
I always found some, lacking in design to try
and make it more useful. As I look over my
shoulder, it has the view/colors pointing
toward ‘a a puzzle’, needing to ‘put’ back
together. As I turned eighty years old, I was
alerted to the fact, that maybe I should
stop looking for projects and find:
Perfect Peace in my life (not another project)
That happened quickly. It was as if a strong arm
from the heavenlies reached down. removing
the dust from my work table: Saying, look
around–all the world is looking for, what
you label ‘Perfect Peace’ and share with them
this story of your life. It may turn out to be
‘a a key’ for some who have the same
thoughts as you. Remember, Jesus spoke
the words: My thoughts are higher than
your thoughts and my ways are
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, either are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways.
by Robert D. Anderson
Fruit of The Spirit- Garden 