Newspaper Page Text
Hmtetim Home f
(Ehe journal
V FRIDAY,
APRIL 9, 2004
Cindy Gambill
Columnist
Papa's garden
grew more
than vegetables
It’s spring. Even’ year at
this time I can’t help but
think about my grandfa
ther. My brother, cousins
and I all called him “Papa.”
It’s been eight years since
he died, but his lessons
never will. My brother and I
grew up next door to Papa
and Granny.
Papa was a farmer and
spring was his favorite time
of year. Spring was always a
season of hope.
Every spring break he
planted tobacco. My brother
Ronnie and I always
thought he scheduled it to
coincide with our school
break so we’d be available
to help him.
So we spent our holidays
walking behind the two-row
planter. Each time the set of
tiny arms would come up
and open waiting for a plant
from one of the two people
loading the plants for that
row. At the same time
another set on the loop
would release a plant into
the furrow made by the
machine.
It was a simple piece of
equipment, but it was also
old. One of the sets of arms
would often forget to
release a plant into the soil.
That’s where Ronnie and
I came in. We walked behind
the planter looking for the
skips. Each of us was armed
with a handful of plants and
a sharpened piece of an old
shovel handle topped with a
cushion made of rags and
electrical tape. When we
found a skip, we poke a new
hole with the stick and put a
plant into place.
It wasn’t a bad job for
school children, and I think
Papa always enjoyed seeing
us work.
Papa would insist on
repeating the whole proce
dure when it came time to
plant the garden. In a spare
comer of a field, he’d load
the two-row planter with
tomato plants or sweet
potato plants. The only dif
ference was that Ronnie
and I would finally get to sit
on the machine and place
those plants into the open
arms. Mom and Granny
were our planting partners
in the set-up.
Tomatoes and sweet pota
toes weren’t the only veg
etables in Papa’s garden. He
also insisted on corn,
squash, butterbeans, field
peas and okra. He also grew
mustard and collard greens,
but those were usually
planted much earlier.
While Papa may have
been a farmer, his garden
was more than just an
extension of his occupation.
His garden was his crown
ing glory. His crops were
sold to buyers and Papa did
not get to see people eryoy
ing what he grew.
The garden was different.
He could watch his family
and friends enjoying the
food it provided. Papa per
sonally delivered the veg
etables to friends and rela
tives. That provided a good
excuse to visit them and
catch up on events.
Three mqjor strokes and
other health complications
forced Papa to retire from
fanning before he was
ready.
Sn GAMBILL, page 9 A
Family&Faith
I— ——’aa£ 7 m
Jo Ballard lifts a flat of canned vegetables to carry to a
nearby shelf in the room used to store food for those in
need.
Church Food Pantry stocking up
Article and photos by
Emily Johnstone
WARNER ROBINS - The
shelves of one food bank had
a lot of items added to the
stock a few days ago when a
local business donated over
1,000 pounds of food items
collected by its customers.
The Church of the
Nazarene in Warner Robins
just started their food bank,
called the Food Pantry,
about a year ago and already
has a growing number of
people to serve and a grow
ing number of caring church
members who keep the
Kids take part in Bible drill
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Participants in a Bible Drill held at Houston Lake Baptist
Church present their Bibles to judges.
Easter is the season of Resurrection
Resurrection. It’s a pow
erful word signifying a new
start and a new beginning.
The past few weeks have
seen nature go through its
season of resurrection as
trees and flowers awaken
from winter’s slumber and
burst forth with color and
life. And no event in history
provides the hope of new life
and the promise of a new
beginning like the one
Christians celebrate this
weekend: Easter Sunday ...
Resurrection Day.
The very first Easter
dawned without much fan
fare. As the first rays of
sunlight appeared over the
hills of Jerusalem, Mary
Magdalene, Mary, the moth
er of James, and Salome
made their way to the gar
den tomb. Their steps were
not light and neither were
their hearts. Though Jesus
had told them and his disci
ples of the events that would
unfold that weekend (his
betrayal, arrest, trial, cruci*
Pantry stocked and running.
Thanks to Curves of
Centerville, the Food Pantry
recently had a van filled
with food items delivered to
its doors when business
owner Cynthia Spencer
gathered donat ions from her
customers to help the group
with their mission.
Peggy Tyler, one of those
members, stud the project is
one that “we wanted to
d 0... it has been on our
hearts and minds.”
Each first Tuesday of a
month, almost 30 families
benefit from the program,
receiving two bags of fo<xls
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Phil Lambert
Columnist
fixion, burial, and resurrec
tion), the sorrow from
Friday’s crucifixion over
shadowed his promise of a
Sunday return.
The forgotten promise can
be seen in the spices and
ointments the women car
ried with them. There is no
indication that any of them
expected to find anything
other than the dead, lifeless
Hr "s*>. k»
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Peggy Tyler, Jo Ballard and Pastor David Miller unload
the food donated to the church food distribution project
from a local business.
and other grocery items.
“We are very excited about
this!” she said.
Pastor David Miller said
the church is very commit
ted to keeping the ministry
going
It currently operates from
a room inside the church
gymnasium
Miller said he enjoys get
ting to know the families
who come in for food assis
tance
Donations like the one
from Curves and other
members of the community
are much appreciated, he
add«*d.
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
More than f>() youngsters
from local churches took
part in a Bible verse drill
last weekend.
Coordinator Hulda Cook,
a member of Shirley Hill
Baptist Church, said the
children were drilled in
groups of 12 and went
through four types of drills.
That includes naming
book of the Bible and identi
fying verses.
Cook, who became inter
ested in “Bible Skills
through Bible Drills" about
20 years ago, said this is a
wonderful short-term pro
gram with an impact that is
far-reaching and lasting in
the lives of the youngsters
who participate.
See BIBLE, page 8A
body of Jesus. And now that
the previous day’s Sabbath
was complete, the women
rose early that morning to
complete the burial proce
dure.
Depending on whose
account you reud from
Scripture, what the women
discovered when they
arrived was something quite
unexpected. Luke tells us
that the heavy stone that
had covered the tomb’s
entrance had been rolled
away. Matthew tells us that
an angel arrived in the
midst of a violent earth
quake and rolled back the
stone and sat on it. Mark
and John concur with Luke
in stating that the stone hud
somehow been moved when
the women arrived, with no
details as to who did the
moving.
As the women stood puz
zled and confused both
about what had taken place
as well as the whereabouts
Spencer said the donation
is for a good cause and her
customers were extremely
generous in helping gather
items.
“It is a giKid thing they are
doing,” said Spencer.
The business collected the
items during a week in
March as part of a corporate
project.
Nationwide, Curves col
lected and donated over four
million pounds of food
items, said Spencer.
Anyone interested in
learning more about the
Food Pantry can call the
church at 923-2108.
- <
Second? to RSCiill
'
These young people were part of a group participating in
a Bible Drill at Houston Lake Baptist Church Saturday.
of their Lord, the angel
began addressing their won
dering with a question.
“Why do you seek the living
among the dead?” But,
there’s more.
It’s in the next seven
words the angel speaks that
the power and hope of resur
rection comes alive. Seven
simple words that resound
in the hearts of believers as
strongly today as when they
were proclaimed that first
Easter morning. Without
these words there is no for
giveness. Without these
words there is no Easter.
Without these words there is
no Savior.
“He is not here; he has
risen!" Repeat them aguin.
“He is not here, he has
risen!" Let them sink into
your heart and your soul. It
is in these words you will
find life, and hope, und pur
pose. For if Jesus is alive, if
he has been raised from the
dead, then his promises are
PAGE 6A
f
Cynthia Spencer, owner of
Curves in Centerville,
delivered over 1,000
pounds of food items
donated to the Food
Pantry project at the
Church of the Nazarene in
Warner Robins.
true and his Word is sun If
.Jesus is alive, then his sarn
fice paid the penalty for sin
once for all. If Jesus is alive,
we can hi* made right with
(lod through the righteous
ness Jesus gives to us b>
grace. If Jesus is alive, the
promise of resurrection is
true for us as well for he
declared, “I am the resurrcc
tion and the life. He who
believes in me will live, even
t hough he dies; and whoever
lives and believes in me will
never die."
The bedrock and founda
tion of our faith is grounded •
in the miracle of
Resurrection Sunday. As
the Apostle Paul declared,
“For if the deud are not
raised, then Christ has not
been raised either. And if
Christ has not been raised,
your faith is futile; you are
still in your sins.” (I
Corinthians 15:16-17)
In order to prove that the
See LAMBERT, page 8A