Shelby County Today

December 7, 2020 - Grace and peace from our brother Jesus, Amen. Sunday was the Second Sunday of Advent. It became clear this week that East Texas is ready to flirt with Old Man Winter. My morning walks with my four-legged friends, Gunter and Sam, have been quite chilly. The pups don’t seem to mind as they frolic around the park. I am listening to the new Michael Connelly book and moving as fast as I can. I bundle myself up real good, as I just can’t take the cold like I used to.

All during the month of December we will be collecting cans of soup for Community Christian Services. Paxton Methodist is having in-person worship, and we respect each other by wearing masks and keeping socially distant. The predictions by scientists and the medical community have unfortunately come true. The virus is spreading throughout our nation, with millions getting infected and thousands dying. Even though the United States only makes up 5% of the world’s population, our country accounts for 20% of the infections and deaths worldwide.

Scientists and the medical professionals say that we can do three simple things before the vaccines are released later this month. To curtail the spread of Covid-19, we should wash our hands regularly, stay at least 6 feet apart—social distancing, and yes, wear a mask. Things are so dire that mask wearing is the patriotic thing to do. It is also the Christian thing to do, loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Usually at Paxton Methodist, Advent features a Christmas program and dinner for the community. However, due to the ongoing pandemic, we have canceled our 2020 celebration.

We want to be as safe as we can. Our music this morning was on CD. The first was the Christmas song, “O Holy Night” sung by Marie Osmond. The second hymn was “Standing on the Promises,” on Christy Lane’s album, Footprints in the Sand. Our first-Sunday communion was shared...but also socially distant and in individual Ziplocs. Today we were in double digits and were glad to hear that two of our absent members had returned home, although not at church yet.

Our Sunday School lesson was focused on the idea that humans were made in God’s image. The scripture came from the Jewish hymnbook, The Psalms—Psalm 8: 1-9. The beautiful poetry of this psalm speaks of creation, saying that humans were fashioned with glory and grandeur just slightly less than divine. Our being created in the image of the Divine should be seen as an awesome responsibility to live up to.

The scripture for my sermon was the Gospel lesson for the Second Sunday in Advent, Mark 1: 1-8. In this Gospel, there are no babe in a manger, no angels, shepherds, or wise men, and no bright star. Instead, the writer of the Mark Gospel, the oldest Gospel in the Christian Testament, tells us about the wild prophet in the wilderness, John the Baptizer. Apparently unknown to the Mark writer are the stories of Bethlehem and the birth of the babe. In Mark’s Gospel, John, like the prophets in the Jewish Testament, is urging people to turn to a new (but also old) way of seeing and thinking. He is baptizing people into a new life—a new way of understanding God. All these years later, we should still heed John’s words.

Whoever you are, in whatever faith you were born, whatever creed you profess; if you come to this house to find God you are welcome here. Paxton United Methodist Church is an inviting church that takes to heart the idea of “Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds.” Worship begins at 10:00. Our email address is paxtonumc@yahoo.com. If you would like the weekly email newsletter about Paxton Methodist, you can send your email address to the Paxton email address, and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed.

November 30, 2020 - Pam and I got into a discussion about hot peppers yesterday. I was telling her how my Dad could “chew up and swallow” the hottest peppers without batting an eye. “Since he grew up around Louisiana Cajuns, he ate the hot ones just like they did” I said. But Pam would not be outdone. “My daddy (Oley Ledoux) could best your daddy any day,” she said, “because he didn’t just grow up around Cajuns. He was a Cajun.”

Pam’s parents grew peppers every year and she developed a taste for the sweet banana peppers when she was only three years old.  Her mother kept some on their kitchen table and Pam often stopped and ate one. But one day her dad accidently mixed a hot Banana pepper with the mild ones. When Pam bit down on it, she immediately stuck it in the refrigerator figuring it would cool off by the next day. But only a taste the next morning proved she was wrong.

So, Pam learned the hard way something her dad had never thought to tell her: “A cold hot banana pepper…is still a hot pepper.” 

November 27, 2020 - The imagery that David presents for us in Psalm 23 is one of abundance.  In writing of the gracious provisions of God as our Shepherd, he writes, “my cup runneth over”.  Have you ever done that?  Have you ever filled a cup to overflowing where it ran over the sides of the cup into the saucer or on to the table?  Can you actually picture a more adequate description of the abundant blessings that we enjoy as the children of God?

This is the season of the year that we set aside as “Thanksgiving”.  Yet, why do we need a special time to be thankful for all that God has blessed us with?  Oftentimes we are like the child on Christmas morning, surrounded by an abundance of presents who looks up plaintively and asks “is this all”?  Like spoiled children, we are often prone to take God’s lavish provisions for granted or, worse, to grumble when something is not to our liking.

We need to pause and reflect and understand that every good thing we enjoy in this life is a gracious gift from God.  We should thank God daily for our food, our clothing and our shelter.  We should express our gratitude for all the material provisions of this life he has given to us.  Yet, we must realize that the greatest gift that God has given to us is His Son, who came to this earth and went to the cross to save our souls.  Take the time to thank God for his bountiful material provisions, and also to thank Him for the gift of Jesus.  Not just at “Thanksgiving” but every hour of every day.

It’s something to think about…..tbp

January 6, 2020 - In the 70’s Lumberton, Texas  was the fastest growing town in the State. Along with other businesses, they built three new churches, two funeral homes and I built my “Doug’s Gun Clinic” on Highway 96. Later, the City of Lumberton made plans to build a water tower two blocks from my shop and employed an Arkansas Construction Company to build it.  
   
A few weeks after construction began, my shop door exploded open one morning and a scared, bloody, black Security Guard threw his arms around me saying, “Please, Sir---Please Sir---Will you save me? They’re trying to kill me!” His blood-covered face and clothes confirmed his story. I had heard that the Local Union had shut the Tower work down and that Lumberton had hired a Security guard to watch the Tower site.
    
As the young man sat down, a vehicle wheeled up in front of the shop. I grabbed my Colt Python .357 Magnum from under the counter and opened the door. One of the two men in a pickup shouted out, “Did you see a N----- running down this way?”  Pointing my Python toward the driver, I replied, “Do you want to die?!” The men hurriedly spun from the driveway and raced back towards Beaumont.

Since a State Trooper office was nearby, I told the young man I was leaving to get him. “When I leave, lock the door and don’t open it for anyone except me”, I said. The Trooper was writing out a report as I entered his office. When I told him what happened, he hardly looked up and mumbled, “I’ll be there later.” And when he finally got there, he looked over at the trembling boy sitting in the chair… humility written all over his blood-covered face …and gruffly barked, “Come on!” ---as if the black boy was the criminal. When they walked out the door, I was left with a sense---not of relief---but of sadness.
   
Occasionally Pam and I drive through Lumberton on our way to photograph birds around High Island. And there it is: My old Gun Shop…the Water Tower…and all the memories I had there….almost 45 years ago. I never even learned that young man’s name…and I often wonder what ever happened to him.

My son Mark recently asked me, “Dad, do you know what you would have done if those men had tried to take him?” “Yes, I know…and those men knew, too”, I replied. “And if it happened…I‘d do it again.”