A daughter remembers

Written from Fort Lauderdale a month after her father's death to "Letters of Interest"

Dear Letters of Interest,

    My father's silence seems to be pounding within my pulse. For years I had quietly prayed for this assembly movement and now my bones wax old because of my silence. 

    Claude Bulander was my Daddy, Father, Pastor, and Friend. He Loved the Lord so much that he was ready to die in God's service, and that is just what he did when a paralyzing stroke stopped him. 

    He pounded the pavements with thousands of tracts and witnessed at every opportunity he could find because of his love for the Lord and compassion for the sinful and misunderstood. He loved the Christians with all his heart. He fought unrighteouseness with a fervor that would not let him be still. He had to be on the go til he could hardly get where he was going; he walked though his feet had begun to drag; and he dared to drive though he could hardly see at times. 

    Any wonder that God called him to his side to be at rest!

    My mother could hardly eat because of anxiety during those last few weeks of his life where he was out serving the King, for she suspected that he was "undertaking" more than his body could endure, more than their love could stand through weeks of separation. 

    But he "kept looking up" and so did she till the martyr of Delamatyr Drive had trudged on and collapsed, seeing that God's work and leading were accomplished.

    Truly my mother has had a lonely, suffering heart from time to time through the years as she sacrificed their companionship so that others might hear Dad tell of Christ. She prayed with such a  burden at times that her heart had almost given out, too. But God was always first in their lives beyond personal and temporal needs.

    He was a wonderful father. There was never any doubt in my mind as to whom I should serve in this life. When I was only six years old his preaching left me with such a burden of sin and fear of hell that I accepted Christ as my Saviour then. His prayers and influence have seen me through my lifetime with a peaceful joy in the Lord, a dread of sin, and an unconquerable desire to honor and serve my Lord and Master. 

    Years ago his dedication to the work of the assemblies challenged me, and I have spent most of my life praying and working in and out of the closet in this regard.

    He treated my husband Larry like his own son, and they shared many happy times in Christian fellowship. 

    Mother and Dad were responsible for the human efforts that led our children Randy and Chrissie to faith in Christ and into the sacred waters of baptism. 

    Dad's armour in this fight for Christ is now stopped. "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, Giving Glory to God." Romans 4:20.

    May God raise up young men to take the place of these great fathers whom He has taken from our midst into His presence. 

    Sincerely in Christ, (Mrs.) Dorothy Larson, November 11, 1968