My Little Corner

Today's thoughts come from the activities in my little corner of the world this week:

Sunday: A busy day of worship and fellowship. People responded well to the messages from God's word this Lord's day. Our lessons were on the Body of Christ (Sun AM) and God's Concept of the Church (Sun PM). One sister responded Sunday saying she felt "stuck in the valley" and could not find her way out. She knew she needed the Lord's help and the help of her fellow members of the Body. Please pray for Winonna. Sunday evening culminated with devotionals for our young people as they studied and spent extra time together.

Monday: A good day with a local Jr. High / High School group. Oakman High School, where my son, Andrew, attends is a small school of approximately 450 students in 7th - 12th grade. Since their football season is over the coaches decided to see who wanted to play next year. Those that signed up to play (80 students from grades 7-11) took a field trip to Bryant Denny Stadium, The Bear Bryant Museum, and the Crimson Tide indoor practice facility in Tuscaloosa. They also heard from the Athletic Academic Director, who encouraged them to work hard off the field and in the books!

Tuesday: Back to a regular work day. Spent time preparing early research for two sermons and two Bible classes.

Now on to two special events that both revolve around volunteer work. I am a volunteer Basketball Coach for the Boys 7th Grade and 8th Grade teams at Oakman High. We had games both Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

Event one concerns Monday's game and loss. One of our teams were way behind the opponent when Coach Mullinax sent in "John." That was when something amazing happened. The other team, who easily outmatched us, saw that John was a special needs student. They gave John the opportunity to shoot every time he got the ball. They would back off, just enough to give him the chance. He missed, but one of our other players rebounded and scored every time John shot. Oakman still lost the game, but John won, and so did every player on both teams.

Event two comes after Tuesday's game against Valley. After the coaches and players shook hands, one of the volunteers with Valley's team called all the players and coaches to mid-court. There he mentioned one of their players who was attending his grandfather's funeral a few states away. Then he asked if someone would lead a prayer. One of Valley's players volunteered and lead a prayer not only for his friend but for the great sportsmanship that both teams displayed on the court that night.

No matter what courts may rule, as long as there are Christians and Christian minded people involved in our schools, people will pray and right will prevail. We will look out for the hurting and lift up those who need our special attention.

Have I said before, that I love small towns and small schools.

Scott

Modern Luxuries -- make that needs.

"Little luxury, don't you cry,
You'll be a necessity by and by."

We spent last night in a house without a working Air Conditioner. For those not in the Deep South this may not seem a big deal, but a muggy, breezeless, summer night will really get to you. It was warm, but really not that bad. Our house, even with old widows that no longer open, was built for such weather. The house on the right is mine (well it will be when I finish paying off the mortgage). The original owners built this house in 1911 - '12 long before modern conveniences of running water, telephone, electricity, and definitely before central air-conditioning. Last night I was quite thankful for 12' ceilings and the natural air currents.

This morning has me thanking God for the blessings of the modern conveniences we take for granted. Along those lines I began to wonder what other things we take for granted. Just thinking about the changes this house has seen in technology. From no electricity to a single wire hung bulb to wires running throughout the house controlled by fuses, and then breakers and a grounded electrical system. This house has seen no running water and no kitchen to running water and a modern kitchen with running water both hot and cold (we could also mention the convenience of having other indoor facilities). This house has seen the installation of a telephone and the advances from party-lines to dial phones to touch-tone cordless phones and answering machines. Now through the phone line we have DSL, and recently a cellular company put a tower in our town so we have cell phones that work in our house. I can barely imagine what this 94 year old house will see next.

It was not that long ago that these necessities like telephones and air-conditioners were luxuries. The A/C repair man just called -- he is on the way! Maybe we'll sleep in A/C tonight :-)

Scott