After stopping to one of my favorite businesses (the convenience store on the corner of Main Street and Lockemy Highway in New Town) to fill my truck up with gas and to get a mug of the best coffee (of which I am hooked on) I have ever tasted. In my journeys through airports, to cities and countries around the world, I have discovered that big restaurant chains having nothing on them. When I entered the store and came face to face with a very familiar looking gentleman who was talking to the woman behind the counter, I was curious of whom he was. I have a habit of initiating conversation with people in order to get to know who they are; I refer to as “writer’s curiosity,” but my wife and daughter call it “nosiness.” I will let you decide whichever term may be correctly applied to me; however, it kicked in and I just had to find out who this man was who looked so familiar. When I went over to the area of the store where the coffee was, he followed me. Evidently, he was as curious about my identity as I was about his. Starting up a conversation, I inquired what his name was and asked him if he was originally from Dillon. When he told me his last name, it did not ring a bell in my memory because I did not know any African-Americans in our area with that last name. That really got me to thinking and stirred up my curiosity to a higher degree. When he said he was from Dillon and told me who some of his close relatives were who live here, the mystery had been solved and my curiosity had been satisfied. Then he told me he knew who I was and had heard me preach when he was in prison. He said how much he truly enjoyed and benefitted from my messages during the times I was able to accompany our prison team ministry to Evans State Penitentiary in Bennettsville, South Carolina. Furthermore, he said that he reads all of my commentaries and articles that are published in The Dillon Herald. As I departed from him, he continued to encourage me about the things I say or write about in the paper. There was no way that he could have known that due to my congested schedule, other writing obligations, as well as some other factors or obstacles, I was seriously considering retiring from submitting articles to be published in The Dillon Herald. However, listening to this man, who had done some time in prison and was no doubt having some difficulty in reestablishing himself on the outside, was a spark to me. His encouraging words gave me the incentive to keep writing and submitting articles and commentaries to The Dillon Herald. I guess I am human and like any true artist, cook, and perhaps any person who puts forth an effort to enlighten, to feed, or to help people in any area, I want to know or at least believe that my labor is not in vain. To their credit, most professionals like physicians, nurses, teachers, and of course preachers (of which I belong) are not in it for the money, fame, or prestige. We know that these things will only come in abundance to a few in our professions and not without great risk. We are in it because we feel called to serve others, to give back as an expression of gratitude to He who has given us our abilities and gifts. In so doing, we believe that we are serving Him and making life for our fellow earthlings and homosapiens just a tad bit better.
Thanks, Boo Boo (not his real name) for your words of encouragement. If you never do another good deed or something of monumental significance again (which I’m sure you certainly will), your encouragement to me was timely and precise. Unbeknown to you, your words of encouragement were like arrows of a skilled archer that not only hit the target, but also the bull’s eye. I am truly grateful to you and so many others who have occasionally supplied me with the incentive to keep writing these articles. You have truly made me believe that there is somebody out there who is taking note at my attempt to provoke some thought and discussion about important issues facing our county, city, and culture. May God continue to give me grace and inspiration to never fail you as a columnist and writer.
