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FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 25, 2005
Rill. ' i
Columnist
Horse
drowns
A boy was sitting on a
park bench reading his
Bible and loudly praising
God. Along came a man who
had recently completed
advanced studies in religion
at a local university. Feeling
himself schooled in the
ways of truth and eager to
demonstrate his acquired
enlightenment, he asked
the boy why he was so joy
ful. “Hey,” replied the boy
with a big smile, “don’t you
have any idea what God is
able to do? I just read that
God parted the Red Sea and
led the whole nation of
Israel to safety.”
The enlightened man
chuckled softly, then sat
down by the boy to explain
this so-called miracle of the
Bible. “That can all be very
easily explained,” said the
man.
“Modern scholarship has
shown that the Red Sea in
that area was only 10 inches
deep at that time. It was no
problem for the Israelites to
wade through.” The boy
was stumped. His eyes wan
dered from the man back to
the Bible lying open in his
lap. The man, content that
he had enlightened a naive
young person on the finer
points of the Bible, began to
walk off. Scarcely had he
taken two steps when the
boy began to rejoice and
praise louder than before.
The man turned to ask
the reason for the lad’s jubi
lation. “Wow!” exclaimed
the boy happily; “God is
greater than I thought! Not
only did He lead the people
of Israel through the Red
Sea, He topped it off by
drowning the entire
Egyptian army in only 10
inches of water!”
The 19th chapter of
Exodus picks up the flight
of the Jewish nation from
Egypt with Pharaoh’s army
in hot pursuit.
During the night the
Pillar of Cloud signifying
the Lord’s presence separat
ed the people of Israel from
the Egyptian army. That
night “the Lord drove the
sea back by a strong east
wind and made the sea dry
land, and the waters were
divided. And the people of
Israel went into the midst of
the sea on dry ground, the
waters being a wall to them
on the right hand and on
the left.”
The Egyptians, driving
chariots and riding horses,
chased after them. As they
entered the sea bed, the
Lord made the dry ground
change to mud, clogging
their chariot wheels and
causing them to drive heav
ily.
After the fleeing Israelites
exited to the other side, the
Lord instructed Moses to
stretch forth his hand over
the sea. Immediately “the
waters returned and cov
ered the chariots and the
horsemen and all the host of
Israel. Not so much as one
of them remained.” Some
Bible scholars contend that
Pharaoh perished as the
suspended walls of water
collapsed. Others feel he
dispatched his army but
never followed them into
the sea.
Some liberal theologians
See POWELL, page 7A
Family Faith
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By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
HHJ Lifestyle Editor
Businesses, government
offices and service agencies
all across Houston County
got surprising news in
recent weeks. They learned
that they had been “adopt
ed” by members of
Southside Baptist Church
as part of the church’s “40
Days of Community” pro
gram.
The adoptions were
undertaken by 128 separate
small groups of church
members, meeting in
homes during the 40 day
emphasis on “community.’*
The effort, Associate
Pastor Matt Walls explains,
wasn’t to get new members,
although new members are
always welcome at the
growing church on Houston
Lake Road.
Instead, it was part of a
commitment by church
members “to live our lives
in a way that takes the
focus off ourselves and puts
it on others.”
“Jesus said a long time
ago that we should love our
neighbors as ourselves,”
Walls said.
At The Houston Home
Journal, that love came in
the form of two visits from
the Cross Class, which is
the Deaf Ministry of the
Church, and while a num
ber of those visiting spoke
only through sign language
and needed the interpreta
tion skills of their class
leader, Laveme Lowe, their
message of love came across
with no need for words at
all.
They arrived with smiles
and the way to all newspa
per workers’ hearts; food!
One Friday they showed up
with cookies and cake, and
on Monday they brought in
pizza, tossed salad and bev-
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HHJ/ Charlotte Perkins
Jimmy Townsend, Beverly Ellis and Phillip Wooley dig into to the pizza that the
Cross Class of Southside Baptist Church brought the HHJ staff as a lunchtime treat.
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Members of the Cross Class, which provides a ministry to the deaf, “ adopted" The Houston Home Journal, bring
a surprise party of cookies and cake one day and a big pizza lunch a few days later. From left, Jasmine Lowe,
LaVerne Lowe, Bonnie Murphy, Brenda Curtis, Sheryl Shifflet, Keilie Smith and Jane Mitchell.
erages, treating the whole
staff to lunch.
“It was extremely nice,”
said Angel Elledge of the
HHJ staff. “In this day and
time you don’t see a lot of
that kind of thing. The
pizza was awesome and so
were the people!”
At Faircloth Realty in
Warner Robins, employees
had their cars washed and
cleaned inside and out,
along with being treated to
breakfast and lunch.
“It was wonderful,”
Warren Faircloth said. “We
didn’t believe it at first.
Who’s going to be that
nice?”
Gale Bryant at CB&T on
Watson Boulevard in
Warner Robins said that
the church members who
adopted them brought fresh
flowers for their desks and
treated them to pizza.
“They prayed for us, too,”
she said. “They put a
prayer box in the bank so
we could write down what
we wanted them to pray
for.”
Would they like to be
adopted that way again?
“Oh, honey, yeah!”
Bryant said. “Like the kids
say, ‘lt was the bomb!’ We
never saw such caring con
cern for people like us in a
service industry.”
The teamwork required
to serve others throughout
the community was a goal
of the program, Pastor
Walls said
“Over the past 40 days,
we have really found out
that we are ‘Better
Together.,”’
This Sunday at 6 p.m.
the church members will
hold a celebration at the
conclusion of their 40 days
of love and teamwork. All
are welcome.
Reaching out
The outreach effort of the
“40 Days of Community"
program at Southside
Baptist Church touched
lives at the following busi
nesses, service and govern
ment agencies and health
care facilities:
Coldwell Banker SSK
Realtors
Faircloth Realty
Fickling & Company Real
Estate Services
Golden Key Realty
Keg Realtors
REMax Warner Robins
Huntington Chase
Apartments
Lake Vista Apartments
Sandpiper Apartments
Southland Station
Apartments
Heritage Memorial
Funeral Home Inc
McCullough Funeral
Home
Parkway Memorial
Gardens
Best Western Peach Inn
Country Inn and Suites
Comfort Suites Warner
Robins
Hampton Inn
Days Inn
Ramada Inn Warner
Robins
Suiteone Hotels
BB & T - Branches,
Russell Parkway,
ATM Location
Bank of Perry
CB&T Bank of Middle
Georgia
Robins Federal Credit
Union
Sunmark Communtity
Bank
Wachovia
Victoria’s Garden
Gramps’n’Grannies
Warner Robins
Rehabilitation and
Nursing Center
Communication
WMAZ TV-Channel 13
WNNG Radio AM 1350
Houston Home Journal
Macon Telegraph
Cox Communications
Houston Medical Center
(Including the emergency
room, the nursing and
ambulance service and
even night shift work
ers on different floors.)
City of Warner Robins
(All departments)
Warner Robins Area
Chamber of
Commerce
Warner Robins/Houston
County Library
Keep Warner Robins
Beautiful
Houston County
Commisioners Office
Houston County -
Emergency- 911
Houston County
Development Authority
Houston County Sheriff’s
Department Houston
County - District
Attorney
HODAC
Houston County Board of
Education
Houston County Driver’s
License Offices
American Red Cross
The Salvation Army
Houston County
Goodwill Industries of
Middle GA -
the Job Connection
Houston County Habitat
for Humanity
U-haul Center Watson
Blvd
The Galleria at
Centerville
Groome Transportation
Warner Robins City -
Police Department
Fire Departments- 6 sta
tions
Ibalz Marketing
Raising money for
. Relay for Life
Bonaire-Kathleen Community “You
Are The Reason” Relay for Life
team members, from left, Judy
Coleman, coordinator, Faye Allen,
secretary, Earline Cole, Public
Relations chairperson and 8-year -
old Sarah Lucas display quilt made
by Sarah’s grandmother, Madelene
Johnson of Ohio. Afghan in photo
was made by Jim Maine, native of
Bonaire and retired art instructor
at Northside High School, Warner
Robins. The quilt and afghan were
donated to the Bonaire-Kathleen
Relay for Life Team as a fund-rais
er for the American Cancer
Society. Tickets are $1 each and
will be on sale at the Fun Day
scheduled for Saturday, April 30 at
Bonaire Middle School. Contact
Judy Coleman, 923-9209 or 923-
2141 for advance tickets.
submitted
6A