For Memorial Day the boys and I took the opportunity to pick up limbs and mow Aunt Mar's yard. We went back over there and grilled out for supper.
PRAYER REQUEST. I'd like to ask you to pray for Eric Hulsey who is a member at our church. Eric was injured in an explosion at his work on Friday. Over 75% -- possibly as much as 90% -- of his body is burned. Eric is in his 20s. He and his wife have two young boys.
73RD BOMB WING REUNION. I went to the 73rd Bomb Wing reunion again this year. The nice thing is that I didn't have to fly anywhere as the reunion was in Nashville. This afforded me the opportunity to take my scanner along and scan a lot of documents and pictures in their memorabilia collection.
The pre-flight social for the reunion was Wednesday evening and we had a friend of mine, Mark Lowe, come to speak. Mark is a certified genealogist and spoke on his Tennessee heroes. He touched on many well known names (like Davey Crockett and Daniel Boone) and some more obscure figures as well. His whole point was how valuable our stories are as we tell them to each other. He had the whole audience when he got everyone in the room to sing the theme song to the old Davey Crockett TV show. I heard several people say he was the best speaker they'd ever had.
Thursday night was the banquet so Vicki, Mom, and the kids dressed up and went with me to enjoy the evening. I am glad I got the chance to introduce them to many of the people I've met at reunions over the years.
I went back on Saturday for the luncheon. This is always the best part of the reunion for me as we are divided into smaller groups and the men take some time to tell their stories. All the stories are interesting and many take the opportunity to express pain they still feel some 66 years later.
GOOD-BYE MR. ROBERT. Robert Yates has been a fixture at our church for all my life and for many years before I came along. He passed away last Sunday evening. He was 98, and I think he was the last World War II veteran in our church family.
Mr. Robert was a layman wholly devoted to his service to God. He was elected as a deacon as a young adult and taught Sunday school for over 60 years. He lead music at church for many years as well. In 1998 Mr. Robert was interviewed for a video promoting the building program to build our current sanctuary. His words are a remarkable testimony to his devotion to God. I am including a transcript of this interview below though you can see it if you visit our church website (http://www.mtcarmel.cc/sermons/).
Joe
Robert Yates
Recorded in 1998
At one time I didn't really like to go to church. I'd rather been out playing ball or something like that, but we had to go. And we came here to church and back then we had one service a month. We wasn't able to pay a preacher full time so we had once a month he'd come in and spend the night with somebody and then he'd go off and we wouldn't see the preacher again for three of four weeks. At that time our church was pretty small and its grown mightly in the years that come.
When we first started coming to church here, the front of the we had two entrances to come in, [one] on each side. And of course, the auditorium was smaller than it is now 'cause we extended it back later on.
We had furnaces in here. [Mr. Robert is standing in the front of our old sanctuary and extends his arms to indicate where the stoves stood.] And the come up and we heated that-a-way. And I know a lot of them ... we had one old gentleman or two that would use that for a spittoon there [laughs] and I wouldn't want to call his name, but it's really changed since then. We didn't have near the modern conveniences we have now.
I also remember when we had our first basement in the church ... around behind there. All the different ones volunteered labor and came in there and dug out under there and the old part of it there was done then. And we thought we was really making progress at that time which we were, but nothing to compare with what's happened over the last few years.
I've seen so many changes in this church ... I think back about how it used to be and how it is today and you just can't believe it without you lived a long time ago. You see, I'm 86 years old and I've been to a lot of services here. And of course, I was elected a deacon when I was almost a boy. And I taught a Sunday school class when I was about twenty-something years old ever since, and I didn't do too good a job but at least I came every Sunday and tried.
And I'm thankful for my mother and father seeing that I come to church because if they hadn't brought me to church I'd never have gone. And that's an important thing for people to bring their children to church. They don't realize that they're going to shape their lives from what they learn when they're young.
And it's still a joy for me to come to church even though when you get old it's a little hard to get up and get ready, but it's still a joy. And I'm thankful for our church. Thankful for what it's done in the past and look forward to what it's going to do in the future. And actually, we haven't scratched the surface of what can be accomplished at Mt. Carmel. So it's a joy to have a little part in the growth of our church.
Prayer Request Update
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
For the benefit of those of you who do not live locally I will pass along what Roni Martin, our church secretary wrote earlier today as she says this so well.
Dear Church Family,
As many of you are already aware, Eric Hulsey passed away last night at 5:30 pm. We are all so deeply saddened this morning for Heather, the boys, and their entire family. Please continue to lift all the family up in prayer. The journey ahead is going to be very difficult, but we will continue to surround Heather and the boys with our constant love for their family.
Eric has touched so many of us, always willing to help others, while always loving his beautiful family. We are all so blessed to have known Eric. We are thankful for his spirit, his faithful witnessing for Christ, and his love for his friends and family. May we all find comfort in knowing that we will see Eric again, and may we honor him, by continuing his good works in this church and our community.
Blessings, Roni
