Knock! Knock! Who could be at the door so late? Somebody in distress, surely. Bill opened the door. 

        “My husband beat me up.” The woman on the doorstep showed all the signs of a recent fight. Her coat buttons were undone, her clothes all crumpled. She was bleeding, angry, and obviously had been drinking. Bill motioned her to come in. Quickly, Shirley made a cup of tea. 

        “I stabbed him with this.” Drawing an ugly-looking butcher knife from under her coat, the woman waved it in front of Bill. Outwardly calm, his mind worked at top speed. He had five children asleep in the house. This woman could be very dangerous to them. Without moving, he took control of the situation. 

        “I don’t want anything like that in my house.” The quiet way in which Bill spoke the words emphasized their strictness. “I think you should finish your tea and leave, since you are drunk.” Bill readied himself in case the lady attacked. 

        “A’right.” Quietly, the lady left. Bill heard later that her husband hadn’t been knifed at all. The blood on her hands was from a cut that she had sustained when her husband had tried to take the knife from her. But Bill and Shirley both thanked the Lord for His protection in a potentially dangerous situation. 

        Another time, a man went after his wife with a gun. She had taken refuge by walking in the front door of the church building during the morning service—and walking out the back door to confuse her husband. Her nonstop trip through the church confused the preacher and congregation as well. 

        The man sat outside the church in his half-ton, his rifle ready. When his wife didn’t appear, he went to Henry Enns’ house, breathing out threats and curses against his wife. Henry and Bill managed to talk him out of his rage and again, a potentially dangerous situation was defused. Later, this very man came to know the Lord. What a change this made to his life, to his relationships—and to his use of guns. 

        These incidents were rare, as they are in any community. Shirley and Bill accepted the possibility of danger as being part of life in a world of people who don’t know the Lord. Their major concern was the well-being of the five precious children whom God had given to them. 

        In 1968 Tommy was ten years old. At Lubicon Lake, he and nine year-old Kene got to go hunting and fishing with Dad. They learned these skills well. They also discovered their own musical talents. As they moved through childhood, every one of the Jackson children demonstrated special gifts of one kind or another.