Editorial for January 19, 2005
By Jim White
Dear Jimmy,
Before I get to the “how are yous” I've got to begin with what's happenin' down at Bluebell Baptist.
Do you remember, the Booth boys from down on Crader Creek? Well, for some reason, all five of 'em have been coming to church right regular like for a couple of months now. It made the rest of the church kinda nervous seein' them sit shoulder to shoulder all in one pew because their shenanigans are well known in these parts. It was the Booth boys that figured out how to get one of Dooley Allred's cows on top of his implement shed. Unfortunately for the cow, before Dooley could figure out how to get her down, she fell through the roof onto a wagon still loaded with hay and she ate herself to death. Dooley says it was the same as if those boys had murdered that cow theirselves. Of course, some folks rumor that if Dooley paid a little more attention to maintaining his outbuildings that cow might still be around.
And speaking of outbuildings, it was the Booth boys who turned over our outhouse one Halloween with Uncle Orley in it. You know how your uncle tends to get excited about things at times. Well, when the building began shakin' and pitchin' one way and then the other he thought at first it was the second coming. Aside from his embarrassment at bein' caught with his pants down, he commenced to prayin' and confessin' sins he'd forgotten he committed. His state of spiritual purity was brief, though, 'cause when he heard those boys whoopin' and hollerin', he realized he was a victim of their vicious natures and he wanted to strangle each one of them.
Well, pret' near every family in the valley has a similar story to tell, so to see all five of them in church brought back a lot of distractin' memories and made it hard to concentrate on the sermon. Charlotte Diggs, who has sat beside me in the choir for 25 years, said she kept expectin' one of them to pull out a pistol and another to produce a pillow case and demand all our valuables. Not that we have that much, but still I think our young pastor, Brother Bobby, would be surprised by what some folks are leavin' with every Sunday compared with what they leave behind in the offering.
It got to the point that wherever two or three were gathered together the Booth boys were bein' discussed.
And, I must say I didn't know how creative our little church could be. Some rather ingenious ideas were hatched during those small group meetings about how we might discourage their attendance. I'm ashamed to admit it now, but your uncle and I were engaged in the plottin' just the same as everybody else.
Well, “freeze out” was the only strategy we were able to implement before last Sunday when all five of them up and walked down the aisle and got saved. When I saw them on their knees at the front of the church it was like the Apostle Paul. It was as if great scales fell from my eyes and I could see clearly how utterly awful I and the others had been. Before I could help myself, I was on my knees beside them seekin' forgiveness for what had been in my heart toward them. First thing I knew, Orley was beside me on his knees and half the congregation was in a similar posture across the front of the church.
It turns out that ever since the cow incident Brother Allred has been cultivatin' a friendship with them and invitin' them to church. Who would have thought it? Dooley Allred is one of the quietest people around. I can't remember him ever havin' an opinion in a business meeting and Orley says when it's his turn to read a verse from the Bible in Sunday school he gets all tongue-tied. To think that he is responsible for getting the Booth boys in church where they heard about Jesus and got saved makes me wonder what the rest of us could do if we put our minds to it.
Uncle Orley remarked that we should be ashamed of ourselves. What if we got together in twos and threes and talked about how to bring people to church? What kind of creative ideas could we come up with? If we gave as much time and devoted as much energy to encouragin' people to come hear the gospel as we did in discouragin' the Booth boys, what could happen here?
I think Bluebell Baptist has been taught some valuable lessons which I hope we can profit from. We've learned that it doesn't take smooth talk and a plan of witnessing to bring people to Jesus. Not that those things are bad, but gettin' to know folks who need to be saved and caring about them is what is important. And we can all do that if we will.
We learned, once again, not to be so doggone judgmental of folks and to not write them off as beyond hope of redemption. Never would I have thought that the Booth boys would be open to conversion, but when the Spirit begins to work in human hearts, all things are possible. To my way of thinkin', the conversion of the Booth boys ranks right up there with partin' the Red Sea in the miracle category.
Well, you take care and keep on with the good work God has called you to. I'll write later on and let you know how things are goin' with us.
Love,
Aunt Ida