Submitted by Doug Fincher

“A Church for the Birds” by Doug Fincher

“Eutychus fell out the window because of Paul’s long sermon...” Acts 20:9

February 22, 2021 - In the late fifties while I was a student at ETBU in Marshall, Texas, I was asked to preach at The Bonaldo Baptist Church in Nacogdoches County. The church was composed of the descendants of the early Spanish settlers: the Acostas, Molandes, Ariolas. The Bonaldo Creek and the Loco Creek ran near this community and into the Angelina River. The church decided to name their church after one of them and wisely chose The Bonaldo.

“The ‘Ill-Wind’ Squirrel Hunt” by Doug Fincher

February 15, 2021 - Although James Cannon and I were both from the Shelbyville, Texas area, I first met him in 1970 when I became pastor of Fletcher Emanuel Baptist Church in Lumberton, Texas. James was our Youth Sunday School teacher, a member of the Lumberton tax equalization Board, and was highly respected resident in the fastest growing town in Texas. We became close friends and often hunted together.

“Get Ready to Jump” by Doug Fincher

February 3, 2021 - In 2010, Pam and I took a three-week vacation to the West Coast.  After Yellowstone, Wyoming, Idaho and California, and Oregon, we were returning home through Colorado and turned on a road leading to the peak of Colorado’s tallest mountain, Mt. Elbert. We were pulling our old Red Dale Travel trailer and failed to read the sign that forbad our entering this steep mountain road with our truck and trailer. It didn’t take long for us to realize we were not equipped to climb the super steep road.

“Bayou Seipe” by Doug Fincher

January 25, 2021 - Before Toledo Bend Reservoir was ever built, the Bayou Seipe near Huxley, Texas was a ten-mile “no boat” creek- fisherman’s paradise and when my friend Hollis Peavy and I heard about it, we were soon addicted to it. Busy little Harris Branch … spring-fed and ever-flowing … intersected the Bayou Seipe on its ten-mile run to the Sabine River. And this gorgeous branch/creek stretch of water became a favorite for Hollis and me.

"The Church House" By Doug Fincher

January 4, 2021 - "My cup runneth over…." Psalms 23:5  

"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 1 Peter 1:8

 When I was five years old, we moved to a house on the Henrietta Road north of Center, Texas. My memories about it are few:  bitter weeds, bitter cow milk…. roasting hickory nuts in the fireplace…. our dog "Nellie"… and the yellow jackets that covered my brother Bill and me with stings.

“My Painted Throat” by Doug Fincher

December 7, 2020 - In 1950 at the age of 18, I hitch-hiked to Springfield, Missouri with three dollars in my pocket. I persuaded the college to let me enroll with the promise to pay as I could for a room in the dormitory. I was given a room shared with Don Walker of Tyler, Texas. It was complete with a lavatory, a Panel-Ray Heater, a washcloth, a towel, a broom, and two bunk beds.

“The Cold Hot Banana Pepper” By Doug Fincher

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.”

“The Wood Rat” by Doug Fincher

November 9, 2020 - Many families who lived in the Post WWII days (in the mid-forties) lived in rent houses and were no exceptions. We had lived in a total of seven rent houses in my hometown of Center, Texas before I left for college in 1950. One of our rent houses was located in East Center and Daddy told all eight of us that it was very old and “needs a lot of work."

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