About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 2013)
CODE OF ETHICS: Seek Truth <5*? Report It - Minimise Harm - Act Independently - Be Accountable. Where the press is free and every man able to read,, all is safe. Thomas Jefferson 4 THE GEORGIA POST Opinions expressed by writers on this page are their own alone. |, <«r ') | * , J OF THIS & THAT Trenesia Stubbs A Thanksgiving tradition fondly remembered James and I were talking the other day about missing our home parish in Miami. We’ve been in Georgia since 2008, so it’s been only been five years but seems a lot longer since we worshiped in that oh so warm community. Though large (800 plus families from 32 different zip codes), St. Louis Catholic Church was supremely blessed with a great sense of commu nity and pastoral care. It was a group of praying, evangelizing, Holy Spirit inspired believers committed to active ministries, involved young people, and a hand-clapping, foot tapping music ministry that lent fine accompaniment to full-voiced congregational singing. Our pastor, Father Jim Fetscher, was truly gifted as a preacher, teacher and was a wiz administratively; though he did have a tendency of driving the Archbishop nuts because he was such a nonconformist. After Hurricane Andrew when so many parishes were damaged and scat tered, many Catholic schools weren’t rebuilt. For two years we prayed as a community before embark ing on the road to building a K-8th grade school. Fr. Jim said that though the building of the school had been Holy Spirit confirmed, the taking on of debt would mean that it was not yet time to build it. There was audible grinding of the teeth and grumbling by parents, Parish Council mem bers and parishioners when Fr. Jim announced that going into debt was not an option. He encouraged the most vocal complainers to take point on fundraising events. One year Father Jim sent parishioners in pairs to neigh boring areas to visit people listed on our rolls, but missing in action. The message was both simple and clear— “Find out what they need. Tell them that the Body of Christ needs them more than they need us. Make them feel wel come.” We ambassadors went out knocking on doors and experienced the moving of the Holy Spirit in a variety of ways. It was an incredible journey I’ll never forget. We had a Thanksgiving tradition that built up the assem bly, not just within our parish, hut also across denomina tional fences. Each Thanksgiving our parish, the nearby Episcopal church, and our next door neighbor, a Jewish synagogue held a round-robin worship service by swap ping out choirs and pastors to give thanks as people of faith. The congregations would take turns hosting each year. The service began with communal prayers of thanks from the pastor, priest and Rabbi (no it’s not a joke). Thereafter, each of them would give a 30 minute sermon at the other two communities. The scripture readings were agreed upon between the Christian communities and the Rabbi would expound on the correlating Hebrew text. Sometimes the choirs would intermingle and split them selves among the three churches. In other instances the choir of each church moved along with their spiritual leader. It was magnificent to hear the gifted singers and musicians work in concert (bad pun, I know). They, too, learned from each other. The synagogue was blessed to re ceive an outstandingly talented cantor who taught the oth er two choirs’ members to sing psalms in Hebrew. Wow! At the end of the evening, all those who could handle be ing veiy, very close to their brothers and sisters of faith gathered at the host church to conclude services with a ramped up round of praise in song. Most folks with small children dropped out of the round robin earlier in the evening, while those retaining the energy to do so would gather in the family center to break bread together as the finale of the thanksgiving services. When I taught religious education I thought one of the most important things to impart to my students was a respect for faith communities other than their own. How can you love people you don’t understand or know? Yes, it can he done theoretically, but not truly or as the Lord intended. We can visit and learn without adopting the beliefs of the churches we visit. We can learn without dissent. And, most importantly, we can love more fully. Who knows when and how the Lord will speak to a heart, especially the hearts of those without any faith at all? Today, Thanksgiving Day 2013, is the 50th anniversary of the St. Louis parish. We miss it; but as I said to a fel low parishioner who moved to Tennessee years before our move, we have to take the spirit of St. Louis with us and we have. Praise the Lord and pass the sweet potatoe pie. TRENESIA STUBBS is a contributing columnist for the Georgia Post. Contact her at trenesia@psttel.net — ^ THIS YEAR > WE'LL GET US OHF of those big V BilCKSf . AS PEMANP FOKGUNCONTKQIEXFANPS, SO 90 GUN FANS'AKSENAiS. Being thankful is an everyday attitude This week is Thanksgiving of course. To some it is only a day off work. Last year on FBI posted something every day for which I was thankful. People are doing that this year as well and I do enjoy read ing them. I did not do that this year because I am thankful every day, not just at Thanksgiving and I believe that being thankful is an attitude to be developed and shown every day we live. I am not saying it is not a good thing to post what you are thankful for during the month of November, just that this is something personal to me as I try to develop into a better person. Before my feet hit the floor every day, I try to say thank you Lord for this day and all that it holds. It seems that there have been so many people going through hard times this year, more than I ever remember before in my life. Whether they have lost jobs, lost a loved one, had a health issue or something else, there is just so much. Perhaps thanks to social media we just know more about it. Whether that is a good thing or not, I am not sure. We do live in a hurting world and many people you are with every day, have things going on that you never know about. That is why I try to smile as much as possible. A smile is something you can give to someone and you are usually going to get one back in return. I try very hard to resist judging anyone because you just never know what they have been through, or what they may be going through at the time. I keep a prayer journal and it has really been filling up fast with names. Whether I know them or not, if someone asks for prayer, they get it. God knows each by name and He knows what they need even before they ask. My desire was to read each name before the Lord every day but as the list has grown it is almost impos sible to do so I give the names to the Lord collectively. He can handle every request. One thing about keeping a prayer journal is that you can go back and look through it and see the answers to prayers which have been given. The answers are not always the ones we might have thought or have been seeking, but it is an answer none-the-less. Just reiterates to me how awesome God is and that He answers prayers and continues to perform miracles. Even if it doesn’t seem like a prayer was answered, that is not the case. Sometimes the answer is ’no’ because God has an other plan or something better. Some times the answer is for us to wait, which is something most of us are not very good about doing. Regardless of what is going on in my life, I know that I am blessed beyond measure. If you do not know me and think that my life is easy or has been easy, you would be dead wrong. I have straggles just like eveiyone else and have lost loved ones and had my own share of health issues. The career road I chose was not easy for women when I first began either. It was tough and I started from the bottom and worked my way up with a lot of long hours and hard work and tackling assignments other people didn’t want. I learned everything I possibly could about working at a newspa per and at one time could even ran a press if push came to shove. Even with all the stuff I have had to deal with and put up with, I am thankful that I know as much as I do and learned everything. Gave me a real appreciation and better under standing of the business. College did not prepare me for what you really would encounter in a news room or being out on the street cover ing a beat. I chose community news paper because of the diversity of tilings you can cover and do every week. And I care about the community I am in and try to give back when I possibly can because I am thankful for the opportunities and the wonderful people I meet which I most likely would not have in another field. When my husband died, it was some of those people who helped keep me going and the newspaper which kept me busy and moving forward. For that I am thank ful. Each person who comes into our lives plays a role of some kind. Sometime it is to help us grow, sometimes it is as the friend we need at the time, sometimes it is to get us to look at things in a different light, or to get us to make a U-turn and change directions. For everyone I have met in Crawford and Peach counties, I am thankful. As you gather with your families and friends on Thanksgiving remember to count all your blessings. But just don’t do it on that day, remember it every day. Happy Thanksgiving. Blessings to you. VICTORIA SIMMONS is publisher of The Geor gia Post. Contact her at vsimmons54@gmail.com DAY AT A TIME Victoria Simmons A smile is something you can give to someone and you are usually going to get one back in return w factor A local question column Question: Who decides on the equipment pur chased for city, county and BOE employees? It appears we cannot pay them higher salaries but isn’t it possible to supply them with equipment to make their jobs easier? Question: What is the total number of em ployees of the Crawford County School System which actually live in Crawford County? Come on, can Mr. Douglas please answer this for our readers? Question: Who can name all football coaches in the history of Crawford County? Question: Who could or would introduce an ordinance for the county and/or the county to re quire yard markers in the yard by the road. There are several long drive ways that are not marked and this delays emergen cy services getting to you. Question: When and why is the middle school being annexed into the city? Questions are submitted by readers to get answers from powers that be. THURSDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2013 Immune stress + Rest = Immunity The equation above is the same as physical con ditioning with workouts, “Workout stress + Recov ery = Increased Strength and Conditioning.” Without the above formula being used, we can expect an increased chance that we will become weak ened and potentially injured. We are going into the flu season and it’s something that we usually get anxious about every year, (wheth er for ourselves or our family) and we| hope the bug will pass over us. What we don’t realize is that many times we may come in contact with the bug | and it may actually get to set on our YOUR HEALTH shoulder for a little while before we finally shake it off. The above is our innate immune system at work, this part of our immune system is the one that silently goes to work killing the bad and warding off viruses, etc. that oft times we don’t even know were trying to get us. Just like exposing our muscles to a good workout regularly helps keep them conditioned and strong, so does our immune system need to be exposed to germs, etc. to keep it strong “and if we try to live in a sanitized bubble” with no germ or virus expo sure guess what??? WE WEAKEN OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM! When we finish a really hard workout, even though we may not feel it yet, “our body has been weakened temporarily by the workout” even though there are Try to remember: some im- , T 7 mediate whenever being exposed physioiogi- a crowd where your cal benefits. . . immune system may be put to task in the days following, listen closely to what your body is saying. However, if we give our muscles ad equate rest, these same muscles that were bro ken down by straining harder than they were accustomed to will come back stronger then before. They will also carry out heavier tasks without straining as much (because of muscle adaption). Our immune system works in almost exactly the same way. If we go around trying to sanitize everything, trying to make sure that our immune system is never exposed to anything, (just like our muscles adapting to inac tivity by getting smaller and weaker), our immune system will also get weaker due to no activity. I believe besides diet, one of our biggest mistakes after being exposed to the flu virus or being injected with the virus (vaccination) “is not getting adequate rest afterwards so that our body can redirect its energy into fighting off the invader(s).” Whether we have been vaccinated for syntheti cally building our immune system or we come in contact with a person(s) that has a virus, (and especially during flu season) we should listen to our body and if we start feeling fatigued at unusual times, we should decrease external activity so that our body can direct the energy toward the inner battle it is trying to fight. Try to remember: whenever being exposed to a crowd where your immune system may be put to task in the days following, listen closely to what your body is saying. When suddenly you get ex tremely tired, try to rest instead of stubbornly pushing your way through whether by will power or stimulants. When we keep pushing ourselves, “our body will eventually put us down so it can start the recovery process!” Diet: drink lots of water (it’s important to stay hydrated so that our body can flush the bad things out that its trying to get rid of). If you feel you’re a little dehydrated, put a pinch of salt in the water. Eat foods that fuel your immune system, but keep foods light and easy to digest, “soups and other soft foods such as chicken and noodle soup are great.” Digesting heavy foods takes a lot of energy, and keeping food intake light and steady helps nourish it without sucking up a lot of energy that your im mune system needs. This does not include drinking lots of sugar loaded fruit juices. “A strong immune system stays in good condition by exposure and once exposed will create a memory of the bad things it came in contact with. This memory is stored in our innate immune system and it will create the exact tools needed to silently execute future encounters like your own personal team of ninjas!” WADE YODER is a Master Trainer & Fitness/Nutrition Spe- cialist.Contact him at Vclub@comsouth.net nCfje (Georgia ipogt is published every week by Crawford Publishing, LLC. Floyd Buford - President Victoria ’’Vicky” Simmons - GM/Publisher vsimmons54@gmail.com or byronbuzz@pstel.net Renee Goggins - Layout/Graphic Design Robbie Robertson - Distribution Carey Lee - Sports Photography Denisia Stallings, Student Assistant Tami Walberg, Reporter Contributing Columnists: Trenesia Y. Stubbs, Charles Cook, Nancy Gibbs, Billy Powell, Angie Carr, Wade Yoder, Dan Gatlyn, Rev. James Snyder, Spencer Price POLICIES Deadlines are Noon on Friday prior to issue. The comments featured on the opinion pages are the sole creations of the writers, they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Post management. 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