Thank You For Giving To The Lord!

Many, many, many years ago, our family went to a Halloween Party at the Fire Hall in Jefferson, MD. When it was over, it was raining, and lightning pretty bad. My parents decided to take a back route home. Carroll Boyer Road. To this day, I refuse to drive on that road. We were going through a very narrow portion of the road, in the middle of a very wooded area, when my parents started yelling that there was a cow's head, hanging from a noose, in the woods very close to the road. They sped away very quickly, and it was never brought up again. But yet, I still can't drive on that road. It's amazing what impacts us as small kids that linger with us the rest of our lives. Today, I have absolutely no idea if there was really a cow's head or not hanging from a noose in the woods. It doesn't matter.

What impressions are you leaving your children with that will linger in their minds for a lifetime?

How about this ... I have an uncle who lives in Greeneville, Tennessee. We would go visit him, my aunt, and my grandparents once or twice a year. During each visit, my uncle would strongly encourage us kids to go to a Baptist Church that he was a member at. He drove an old bus, and would drive around the city picking up kids to take to church as well. Growing up in farm country, I had never really been exposed to inner cities much as a child, except for on his bus route.

I had very little contact with kids of other races before. But one thing I will remember my uncle saying during one of those bus rides. He turned to me, smiled, and said:

Jesus Loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow black and white
They're all precious in his sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world

I did not start going to church on a regular basis until I was 18 years old. I never asked Jesus into my heart until the end of Basic Training in the Air Force. But what my uncle said to me as a small child resonates with me to this day. He planted seeds. Although his full time profession at that time was working in a factory for Magnavox tv, he was also a farmer, planting seeds that would one day come to fruition!

Thank you, Uncle Ralph! Thank you for giving to the Lord!