“Welcome to The Little Town with a Big Heart.”
We are all so blessed throughout our area, compared to others in Texas – it’s so sad. I believe God is trying to wake everyone up to show us he is still in control. God is good! All the time, God is good! Remember to pray for all the people of Texas – so much devastation and flooding everywhere.
The Best Day of My Life: In the faint light of the attic, an old man, tall and stooped, bent his great frame and made his way to a stack of boxes that sat near one of the little half-windows. Brushing aside a wisp of cobwebs, he tilted the top box toward the light and began to carefully lift out one old photograph album after another.
Eyes once bright but now dim searched longingly for the source that had drawn him here. It began with the fond recollection of the love of his life, long gone, and somewhere in these albums was a photo of her he hoped to rediscover.
Silent as a mouse, he patiently opened the long-buried treasures and soon was lost in a sea of memories. Although his world had not stopped spinning when his wife left it, the past was more alive in his heart than his present aloneness.
Setting aside one of the dusty albums, he pulled from the box what appeared to be a journal from his grown son’s childhood. He could not recall ever having seen it before, or that his son had ever kept a journal. Why did Elizabeth always save the children’s old junk? he wondered, shaking his white head.
Opening the yellowed pages, he glanced over a short reading, and his lips curved in an unconscious smile. Even his eyes brightened as he read the words that spoke clear and sweet to his soul. It was the voice of the little boy who had grown up far too fast in this very house, and whose voice had grown fainter and fainter over the years. In the utter silence of the attic, the words of a guileless six-year-old worked their magic and carried the old man back to a time almost totally forgotten.
Entry after entry stirred a sentimental hunger in his heart like the longing a gardener feels in the winter for the fragrance of spring flowers. But it was accompanied by the painful memory that his son’s simple recollections of those days were far different from his own.
But how different? Reminded that he had kept a daily journal of his business activities over the years, he closed his son’s journal and turned to leave, having forgotten the cherished photo that originally triggered his searc
h. Hunched over to keep from bumping his head on the rafters, the old man stepped to the wooden stairway and made his descent, then headed down a carpeted stairway that led to the den.
Opening a glass cabinet door, he reached in and pulled out an old business journal. Turning, he sat down at his desk and placed the two journals beside each other. His was leather-bound and engraved neatly with his name in gold, while his son’s was tattered and the name Jimmy had been nearly scuffed from its surface.
He ran a long skinny finger over the letters, as though he could restore what had been worn away with time and use. As he opened his journal, the old man’s eyes fell upon an inscription that stood out because it was so brief in comparison to other days. In his own neat handwriting were these words: Wasted the whole day fishing with Jimmy. Didn’t catch a thing.
With a deep sigh and a shaking hand, he took Jimmy’s journal and found the boy’s entry for the same day, June 4. Large scrawling letters, pressed deeply into the paper, read: Went fishing with my Dad. Best day of my life.
Grace United Baptist Church will hold its fall revival Sept. 24-27. Bro. Steve Winstead will be delivering the message. Sunday services begin at 9:30 a.m. Sunday School, morning worship at 10:30 a.m. with night services at 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Bro. Jamie Leach and members of Grace United invites you to attend all or any of these services. Grace is located at 2087 Lebanon Church Road, Decatur.
Prayer requests go out for Troy Brand Jr., Dannie Walker, Carol Ann Alexander, Jack Graham, Shirley Griffin, Marie Eason, Ann Hodges, Bonnie Walker, Cheryl Stacy, Mike Linton, Bill Matlock, Lorene Smith, John Patterson, Doyle Gibbs, Doyle McMullan, Cili Norman, Johnnie McMullian, Aaron Stokes, Stephanie Roland, Betty Kennedy, Janie McMullan and Stacy Stevens.
Shut-ins are Christine Herd, Ola Jean Parker, Mary Stamper and Abertine Walker.
The Liberty Community club met on Aug. 14 at the clubhouse. Johnny Reeves and his wife, Lauren, were our guest. Johnny is the Veteran Service officer for Newton County. His office is in Decatur and he is there Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
He can help you with any of the veteran forms and placements. He works with the VA clinics and hospital. We collected two boxes of school supplies for Newton City schools and took them to the Newton Chamber to distribute. Next month on Monday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m., we will have our “Show and Tell.” Bring your favorite item and tell us all about it.
Praying everyone had a great Labor Day weekend without accidents happening.
Birthday requests for the week Sept. 6 go out to Bill Williams in memory, Danny Skinner and Brenda Thorne; for Sept. 7 to Rick Van Hasselle, Ray Childress, Judy Linton, Emmitt Russell and Junie McNeil (in memory); for Sept. 8 to Andrew Needle, Bethany Garrison and Levelle Walker; for Sept. 9 to Stephanie McMullan, Randy Rushing and Angela Thornton; fpr Sept. 11 to Tabitha Walker, Chad Bond and Christine (Sarah) Herd; and for Sept. 12 to Mike Clark, Phyliss Harris, Linda Martin (in loving memory), Jason Clark and Jackie Stamm. Happy birthday to each one!
Anniversary requests (belated) for Sept. 1 go out to Mike and Paula Williams, Joey and Amy Williams, Ronnie and Terry Foley) and for Sept. 12 to Michael and Stacy Rowland. Happy anniversary to each of you!
Recipe for the week: Old Fashioned Sour Cream Pound Cake
Ingredients: 3 cups sugar, 1 cup butter, 6 eggs, separated, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 cup sour cream, 3 cups all-purpose flour, sift before measuring, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Directions: Cream together sugar and butter, add the egg yolks one at time; beat well after each addition. Blend in vanilla, lemon juice and sour cream. Into a separate bowl, sift sifted flour, salt and soda. Add sifted dry ingredients to batter; beat well. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold egg whites into the cake batter. Pour into a greased and floured tube or Bundt pan and bake at 300 degrees for about 1-1/2 hours or until cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan.
