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Thursday, March 7, 2024

PASTOR WAYNE NICHOLS REMEMBERED

The Rev. Wayne Nichols

  It seemed we were going back in time, when my wife Barbara and I arrived for the 2:00 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, graveside service for 80-year-old former-pastor Wayne Allen Nichols. 

Wayne died at age 80 on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. He was from Kennesaw, Georgia, though born in Taylors, SC. He was an Assembly of God (AG) minister and most recently pastored First Assembly of God in Swainsboro, Georgia. 

Pastor Wayne’s funeral tent stood at the edge of the Faith Temple Church, 5080 Sandy Flat Road, Taylors, SC. His wife Mary Bennefield Nichol’s body lay interred beside his intended space since May 4, 2017. She passed on at age 74 on May 1, 2017 when they lived in Dublin, Ga. They had resided in four states.

Wayne is survived by sons Brian Nichols (Julie) and Kevin Nichols (Tarsha); brother Ron Nichols (Linda); and grandchildren Hayden Nichols, Tyler Nichols, Lindsay Nichols, and Ryker Jump. Carmichael Funeral Home of Marietta, Ga., arranged the burial for Wayne, who lived last in Kennesaw, Ga. 

A small crowd gathered on a pleasant day for Wayne’s graveside service led by his only sibling, his 7-years-younger brother, the Rev. Ron Nichols, an AG minister. Wayne had served as a music minister and pastor in AG churches.  

A graveside service was held. No service for Wayne took place at Faith Temple’s old original church house that stood yards from his burial plot. That church house was built in 1957. Wayne sang with his late wife Mary, who played the piano many times in that building. They were married at Faith Temple, and I served as an usher in their wedding. The late Pastor James (“Jimmy”) H. Thompson, Faith Temple founder, presided over their union; Pastor Jimmy’s late wife, Mrs. Joanne Upton Thompson, directed the wedding.

According to Pastor Ron, Wayne and Mary’s meeting took place when Pastor Jimmy served as a guest preacher at Wayne and Ron’s father’s church, Faith Assembly (now called Destiny Fellowship) in Brevard, NC. The late Rev. Rudolf Nichols and Mrs. Gladys Pearson Nichols were Wayne and Ron’s parents. 

Pastor Jimmy took Mary to Brevard to play the piano in that service. Mary, while still in high school, worked as a secretary-typist for Pastor Jimmy at his Faith Printing Company. She attended Faith Temple, along with her two sisters, Jeanette and Joyce. The three sang as “the Bennefield Sisters,” with Mary playing the piano. 

When Wayne met Mary at that church service, “that was it,” Ron Nichols says. They fell in love, married, and Wayne became a youth leader at Faith Temple. 

In the summer of 1962, I worked for 50 cents an hour at Mr. Earl Taylor’s Peach Shed located just before Hwy. 101 and Hwy. 290 diverge, north of Greer. I entered tenth grade in the fall of 1962 at Greer High School, Greer, SC, started working at Faith Printing Company after school and on Saturdays, soon bought a 1956 Chevrolet, and began dating Joyce Bennefield, a senior at Wade Hampton High School in Greenville, SC. Too many adjustments in that year hurt my school grades, but I was having an exciting time.

Wayne organized a men’s trio at Faith Temple: the late Frank White on baritone; Wayne on lead (melody); and me on tenor (actually the alto part). Mary played the piano for us. We sang Southern Gospel-style favorites and hymns and called ourselves “The Crusaders Trio.”

From left: Frank White; Larry Steve Crain; and Wayne Nichols; seated is Mary Nichols.

Frank White played trombone in the Blue Ridge High School band. I played trumpet and Sousaphone, and Wayne played saxophone. We didn’t perform with instruments but sang as a trio and enjoyed singing at Faith Temple.

The Bennefield Sisters had a counterpart in the Crusaders Trio: Wayne and Mary; Frank dated Jeanette, and I dated Joyce. We traveled once to Brevard to sing at Wayne’s father’s church. I recall Ron, Wayne’s brother, a blond-headed youth who was then 11 or 12 years old, coming out to greet us when we arrived at the Brevard church. 

On a Sunday afternoon, Oct. 15, 1962, Wayne and Mary took Joyce and me to the opening of the Greenville-Spartanburg Jetport near Greer. We saw the Blue Angels fly that cool afternoon.At Faith Printing Company, I worked at times in the office with Mary, who served as office secretary and copy typist. She could type faster than anyone I had seen type. Her mother, Mrs. Wornelia Bennefield, worked in our collating department, putting book forms together. I enjoyed working with both ladies. Later, Wayne would organize his own printing company, and Mary would work with him. 

The Rev. Jim and Tammy Bakker held a revival at Faith Temple during the fall of 1963 or spring of 1964. The church was packed, and the revival was held over for weeks (maybe three weeks). The Bakkers married on April 1, 1961, and left college to evangelize. I recall they said they left school before finishing studies in order to get the message of Christ to as many people as they could. During that revival, Jim and Tammy housed at Mary and Wayne’s small house on St. Mark Road in Taylor, SC. I suppose Mary and Wayne enjoyed their fellowship. Tammy Bakker had a flair for drama. She had some of the youth walk into the church, one night, with large banners. I remember this about Tammy Bakker: She wore no makeup at that time!

Later in life, my late wife Carol and I enjoyed interacting with Wayne and Mary at Wade Hampton Assembly of God (now Christian Assembly) where Wayne led music and Mary played the organ. 

At the graveside funeral for Wayne Nichols, the gathering sang “Holy, Holy, Are You, Lord.” 

“This is a celebration,” Pastor Ron Nichols said. He recalled a time when he, on trumpet, and Wayne, on tenor saxophone, played “Goodbye, World, Goodbye!” 

“Wayne said goodbye to this world on Friday morning,” Ron said. “He was born in Chick Springs on June 27, 1943. He was named Wayne Allen Rudolph Nichols. Wayne was a defender, especially of Mary. Wayne was a lover of everything musical.” 

Wayne had no musical degree but had talent. 

“He was a faithful husband, unwavering; they did everything together. He excelled in music ministry and in ministry. He pastored well. Our loss is Wayne’s ‘gain of heaven,’” Ron said, adding these Scriptures:

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

“I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Samuel 15:49b).

“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:49).

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Pastor Ron played a recording of Wayne singing “I Bowed on My Knees and Cried Holy.”

“I think he wanted to see Jesus first, then he could dance with Mary,” Ron said. 

Kevin Nichols, Wayne and Mary’s younger son and a music promoter, told of his older brother Brian and Brian’s wife Julie “taking care of Dad for the last two years.” 

Tyler Nichols, Brian and Julie Nichols’ son, offered a prayer, saying, “Thank you for the man, Wayne Nichols.”

Wayne and Marys’ son, Brian Nichols, a band director at Cobb County Schools, Georgia, posted this on Facebook on Nov. 18, 2023: 

“The last few weeks have been a blur. I share less and less on the socials, but wanted to honor my dad. He moved here two years ago so we could help take care of him. He was a mile from our house in a senior living facility with caregivers who really cared for him. I’m glad we were close by. Yeah, it was stressful watching Alzheimers at work but it was an honor to care for him. So sad that a man who loved to tell a story lost his words. 

“I’m thankful for our times together: church, barbershop, fish dinners and ice cream (my love of ice cream is genetic) and dinners at our house with family. Our last time together we sat outside on a beautiful afternoon and just spent time. I’ll prep myself for the big stuff (Christmas, etc.) but the small stuff will get me. It hit me that no one will look at us and say ‘you two look alike!’

“He served churches in SC, FL and GA — almost 60 years of ministry. Thank you to all for the kind words and remembrances you’ve sent. Thank you to Uncle Ron for a beautiful service in Taylors. Thank you to Julie for encouraging and supporting me. I have dad’s baton and will use it on an upcoming Christmas concert. I think he’d like that. But, in the end, I KNOW he’s in heaven with his Savior and mom.”

Here is the May 1, 2017, obituary for Mary Bennefield Nichols, Dublin, Georgia: 

“Local funeral services for Mary Bennefield Nichols, age 74, will be held at 11:00 A.M. Wednesday, May 3, 2017, in the Chan Stanley Memorial Chapel of Stanley Funeral Home and Crematory. Rev. Rick Collins, Rev. Brad Nowell, and Rev. Walter Martin will officiate. 

“The family will receive friends from 9:30 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at the funeral home. An additional funeral service will also be held at 11:00 A.M. Thursday, May 4, 2017 at Faith Temple Church at 5080 Sandy Flat Road, Taylor, SC 29687, with interment to follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends from 10:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at Faith Temple Church.

“Mrs. Nichols was born on April 24, 1943, in Travelers Rest, SC. She was the daughter of the late Berdice Asbury and Gertrude Wornelia Coleman Bennefield. She has lived in Dublin, Georgia for the past 14 years. She was a devoted Pastor’s wife and secretary. She was a member of The Crossroads Church in Swainsboro. Mrs. Nichols passed away on Monday, May 1, 2017 at Serenity Place. 

“Mrs. Nichols is survived by her husband, Rev. Wayne A. Nichols of Dublin, 2 sons, Brian (Julie) Nichols of Kennesaw, and Kevin Nichols of Macon, 2 sisters, Joyce Smith of Greer, SC, and Jeanette Bennett of Greer, SC, and 3 grandchildren, Hayden Nichols, Tyler Nichols, and Lindsay Nichols. 

“In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in memory of Mrs. Nichols to Rural Compassion Ministries at 5517 Farmer Branch Road #140, Ozark, MO 65721. Stanley Funeral Home and Crematory/Dublin.”

I miss Wayne and Mary. I value the examples they were to me.

Saturday, December 23, 2023

GEORGE HEMBREE PASSES ... (A Longer Writing about His Funeral Service with FLAG-FOLDING Photos at the End of This Article)

Shown are George Hembree and Sadie Simmons, his sister.

George Hembree

  George Thomas “Bud” Hembree, Sr. 72, of Travelers Rest, SC, passed on at 6:24 a.m. on Tues., Dec. 19, 2023 at Greenville Memorial Hospital. 

A retired construction worker and U.S. Army veteran (motor pool) with tours in Germany and Vietnam, George attended Trinity Church of God (Pastor Steve Tolbert) and formerly attended Faith Temple Church (Pastor Raymond Burrows).

Born in Greenville County, SC, George was the son of the late George Houston Hembree, Sr. (1913-1980) and the late Elmer Burgess Hembree (1926-1999). He was predeceased by a sister, Carolyn Hembree Stroud. Surviving are George’s children (George Jr. and Angela), his younger brother, Ansel William Hembree (Sharon), and the youngest of his siblings, Sadie Diane Hembree Simmons. Funeral services were held at 1:00 p.m., Fri., Dec. 22, at the Howze Mortuary Chapel after the family received friends. Burial followed in the Faith Temple, Taylors, SC, cemetery. Pastors Tolbert and Burrows and George’s cousin, Charles Hembree, 69, spoke.

George and his younger sister, Sadie, lived in Sadie’s Travelers Rest home. She recalls saying to George on Mon., Dec. 4, “John-Boy, I’m gonna call it a night. I’m gonna hang it up. I’ll see you in the morning.” George said, “OK, Elizabeth. I’ll see you in the morning.”

George and Sadie watched reruns of “The Waltons,” a drama series about a rural Virginia family during the Great Depression and World War II. John “John-Boy” Walton Jr. was oldest of the 7 siblings. Elizabeth was the youngest. “The show’s end sequence featured the family saying goodnight to one another. ‘Goodnight, John-Boy’ was one of the most common catchphrases of the 1970s,” sources say.

The next morning, Tues., Dec. 5, around 9:00 a.m., Sadie found George lying behind his recliner where he had fallen minutes earlier. He could not speak. She called the Tigerville Fire Department. At Greenville Memorial Hospital, a doctor told her George’s carotid artery burst, causing blood clots in his brain. George already had stage 3 lung cancer and had taken 4 chemo treatments. He died on Dec. 19.

George’s brother William, 70, said, “Still got George’s deer-stand down in the woods where we hunted. I’ve lived 5 to 10 miles of him most of our lives.” 

George created many walking sticks, jewelry boxes, etc. from wood he gathered from walks in the forest. He gave most of his work to friends. He often said, “The Lord has been good to me.” He sometimes told of times he could have died, if the Lord had not looked after him.

George liked the bluegrass song “Life’s Railway to Heaven.” During his eulogy, Pastor Tolbert referred to that song and said about George, “He’s finally pulled into Union Station.”

Before the Funeral

  George Hembree’s trim body lay in his black U.S. Army windbreaker. His black Vietnam Veteran ball cap with embroidered, round Vietnam Veteran insignia lay near his gray-white, full crop of hair. His left hand held a Bible. An American flag half-draped his coffin. 

Folk came to pay respects. Four of George’s cousins lingered near his casket: Charles Hembree (age 69, who would speak later at the funeral; Charle’s father and George’s father were brothers), Mildred Westmoreland, Brenda Roberts, and Polly Moore. Other relatives, including George’s brother, William, and William’s wife, Sharon, stood or sat in the large Howze Mortuary parlor in Travelers Rest, SC. Sadie Simmons, George and William’s sister, talked with mourners. Sadie and George they lived together, and their brother-sister bond appeared strong.

William, 70, said that when there were family conflicts among the Hembrees, he “took the slack out of their plow lines.” He said he sometimes felt “like the big brother” in the family.
 
Ministers Speak at George’s Funeral

  At 1:00 p.m., men from the Howze Mortuary staff escorted George’s closed American-flag-draped coffin down the middle aisle of the mortuary chapel as George’s extended family followed. Friends stood as the family filled pews on the left-front side of the chapel, the side directly facing the pulpit. A large piano stood on the chapel’s right side. The chapel middle was reserved for coffins.

Pastor Steve Tolbert of Trinity Church of God led the service. A thin, gray-white-haired man wearing a gray sport coat and dark trousers, Tolbert spoke from the chapel pulpit. George and Sadie had attended his Greenville, SC, church for over a year, he said. 

“George was a giver; he loved to make things, but today he is a receiver. He’s in the Lord’s presence,” Tolbert said.
 
Pastor Burrows Speaks


  Pastor Raymond D. Burrows (pictured), of Faith Temple Church, wearing a dark suit, spoke. George and Sadie attended Faith Temple for many years prior to attending Trinity Church of God. Burrows called the gathering “a celebration service” and used Psalm 23 as his text. 

“‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’ Jesus declared himself a shepherd,” Burrows said. “George came to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus. George had this rather unusual ability to make walking sticks or pool sticks… He was generous. I don’t know of him charging anybody for them.” 

Burrows read, “He restoreth my soul.” 

“This happens really on an eternal scale. He [George] is now in the presence of the Lord,” Burrows said. “There is so much here applicable to Brother George. He took pleasure in his service for the Lord. ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.’ George said there were times when he should not have lived. He said, ‘God has been good to me.’ We know that all is well with our dear Brother George.”  

“I’ll Fly Away”

  A recorded bluegrass rendition of “I’ll Fly Away” played. Words from that song floated through the chapel — “Some glad morning, when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away; to a land on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away… Like a bird from prison bars have flown, I’ll fly away… .”

Pastor Tolbert, referring to Christ’s return, said, “When Gabriel toots, we’re gonna scoot!” 

He said we often say things such as “She lost her husband,” but that the departed is not really lost, they are just on a “different plain.” 

Tolbert said he called George “John” when he first met him, and that name sort of stuck because he still often referred to George as “John.”

“He loved to work with wood, loved to be in the woods, loved to hear leaves crunch under his feet. He loved the outdoors,” Referring to George’s condition after his stroke, Tolbert added, “George couldn’t talk, but he’d already made his calling and election sure… God brought George and Sadie to us [Trinity Church of God]. I called her ‘Sadie Mae.’”

Tolbert said the acronym for JOY is “Jesus Overflowing You.” 

“I joke around,” Tolbert said. “I’m glad the Lord brought George into my life.”

Charles Hembree, George’s First Cousin, Speaks
 


“What a paradox life gives us,” Charles Hembree (pictured above) said, explaining that in a few days, we would celebrate the birth of Jesus, yet we were “burying a loved one.”

Charles said he and many others called George by the nickname “Bud” and that George called him “Curly.” He called out other nicknames in the family such as “Boo” and “Flit.”

“We’ve got some ‘handles,’ don’t we?” Charles said. Commenting that George paid his way to a movie when they were young (Charles is 3 years younger than George), Charles said, “That boy was generous.” He recalled the first Moped George got. “Me, being younger than them [of the three: George, William, and Charles], they got me in trouble.” He recalled that they would get inside truck tires and roll the tires — “Talk about dangerous!” he said.

“I loved him with all my heart,” Charles said about George. “At times, he was a brother I never had — so was William. My heart is sorrowful. He has now run his race.”

Charles said that, in ancient days, a murderer might be sentenced by the victim being strapped to the murderer’s back. The rotting corpse would infect the murderer who would die from disease.

“Our bodies are like that,” Charles said, speaking of physical decay taking place as we live.

He read Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

“Bud won’t have to worry about this life any more,” Charles said.

He read St. Paul’s statement: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

“He [Bud] beat us there,” Charles said, referring to heaven. He reminded all that “God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”

“How is your heart today?” he asked. “Sam, Boo, Curly, Flit? How is your heart today?”

Charles prayed, thanking God that Bud was part of his life. “Father, give us all peace. Today… help us have the fortitude not to be depressed… Thank you for receiving Bud to your bosom.”

“In His Arms, I’m Not Afraid”


  Playing his guitar, Pastor Steve Tolbert and Mrs. Joann Tolbert, his wife (pictured above), sang a song by Jim Eanes (Homer Robert Eanes Jr.) called “In His Arms, I’m Not Afraid.” Here are the words to that song’s first verse and chorus: 

“When my eyes, shall close in death, / Fold my hands, upon my chest. / Sing for me, a pretty song / While I take, my journey home.  (Chorus): Not afraid to bid this world goodbye. / Not afraid, to close my eyes and die. / For this courage I have prayed. / In His arms, I'm not afraid.”

Pastor Steve Tolbert Speaks

  “Life is full of ‘suddenlys,’” Tolbert said. “Home at Last” was his message’s title.

“Hope is what the whole salvation experience is about,” Tolbert said, adding that Jesus became “a curse” hanging on a tree that we may hope to be with the Lord. “We shall be like him. Our hope began many years ago in the Garden of Gesemene… ‘Father, not my will but thine be done’… He was in flesh and blood, just like you are me. He prayed ‘if there was another way’ … but there was no other way… ‘Whosoever will’… Every one of us is a ‘whosoever will.’” 

Tolbert read Titus 2:11: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”

“Favor is ‘pleasure,’ but it’s also ‘mercy,’” Tolbert said. “You’ve never done so much, been so mean, that God won’t forgive. The sins of a man can be placed under the blood of the Lord Jesus.”

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). 

“He’s coming back again,” Tolbert said. “He gave himself for us.”

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4).

Pastor Tolbert said his mother saved S&H Green Stamps, given by retailers when a shopper bought an item. Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H) began offering stamps to U.S. retailers in 1896. A person could exchange stamps for merchandise at what was called a “redemption store.” 

“The Lord has redeemed us through his precious blood,” Tolbert said, adding that we’re in a mortal state but enter an eternal state. “Life brings us many groans. Life can be mean to you… cares of this life. We get down, burdened with his life.” 

He talked about an “earnest,” a deposit. Christ gives us his Spirit as a witness, an earnest, a deposit, on what will be given in full.

“We walk by faith and not by sight,” Tolbert said. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” 

He gave an acronym for HOPE: H — Have, we can have hope; O — Only, we only find hope in the Lord; P — peace, his hope brings peace; E — Eternally, everlasting eternal peace in heaven. 

“I’ve Never Been Sorry,” he said, naming a song title. “I’ve never been sorry that I trusted His Name.” 

Pastor Tolbert prayed: “Thank you for that grace, Lord… it will present us faultless with exceeding joy. These are heavy times, but we look beyond these times, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Go Rest High

  Singer Vince Gill’s recorded voice rang through the Howze speaker system as Gill sang “Go Rest High on That Mountain.” These are some words of that song: “Oh, how we cried the day you left us / We gathered 'round your grave to grieve / I wish I could see the angels' faces / When they hear your sweet voice sing / Go rest high on that mountain / Son, your work on earth is done / Go to heaven a shoutin’ / Love for the Father and the Son.'

All attendees rose, and the mortuary staff escorted the coffin to the left door of the chapel. The family exited, following the coffin, and many attendees drove to the Faith Temple cemetery. There the funeral tent stood, placed high on the hill beside the old church house.

Taps was played, and the American flag atop the coffin was folded by two soldiers. A sergeant presented the flag to Sadie, George’s sister, as she sat on the end of the first row of family. Pastor Tolbert said a few final words. Pastor Burrows prayed, and comfort was given. George’s body was laid to rest.

George's body was transported to Faith Temple Cemetery and placed under the funeral tent by Howze Mortuary staff. One U.S. Army soldier played Taps. Then, she and a fellow soldier folded the American flag that had draped the coffin and presented it to Ms. Sadie Simmons, George's sister. Pastor Burrows led in  a final prayer as Pastor Tolbert stood to Burrows' right. 
 
 


                                           

Thursday, October 12, 2023

THE NEWSPAPER FIRES CARRIERS

  Just as they promised, the newspaper DID NOT arrive today in our box. 

We fastened a plastic box to the post beside our USPS box. We live on a rural cul-de-sac, and for years “The Greenville News” (“TGN” of Greenville, SC) has been delivered to that box. 

Weeks ago, TGN sent a notice saying the paper would not be delivered, as of October 10, 2023, by “regular carriers” but delivered by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). We would receive the paper when the postal carrier delivered it with our mail. Of course, I can read TGN on the internet. That privilege is paid for with my subscription to the newspaper. 

I took letters to our mailbox this morning, looked in TGN box, and sure enough, the paper wasn’t there. I felt nostalgic.

Months ago, TGN stopped Saturday delivery. I had to go online on Saturdays and print the crossword puzzle I clip for my wife. She likes to work that crossword right after breakfast. Early in the morning, I take letters to the mailbox and fetch the paper out of the newspaper box. Sort of like — “Go, fetch the paper, Fido!”

Now, I’ll need to go online everyday because “Honey” won’t want to wait on her crossword puzzle. If she does not get to fill in blanks on her crossword right after breakfast, there may be some cross words exchanged across the breakfast table. Who needs that?

I suspect TGN is trying to force its subscribers to go online. I wonder if they want to stop printing a paper edition? What about the poor folks who don’t have computers? “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer” comes to mind. Maybe this is part of the push for a paperless society. Perhaps this is “pulp friction” in the making. 

Oh, well, I’ll adjust. But what about the folk who delivered TGN — the “carriers,” as we call them. 

Weeks before the “shutdown,” as I call it, I received a letter from my carrier; it was attached to my newspaper:

“Newspaper Subscriber,

“As y’all may have already heard, your ‘Greenville Newspaper’ is going to the Post Office as of Oct. 10th. So Monday, Oct. 9th is our last day of delivering your papers. So like usual at Christmas, we give y’all a Christmas card. Well this year y’all won’t be getting one. 

“We are so sorry for this. We don’t like it no better than y’all do …

“Because of the paper going to USPS, we are losing our job. We so appreciate your business so much. We all did the best to do a good job. So if y’all would like to send or give us a last tip, it would be appreciated so much. I have been with Gannett for 18 years.

“Sincerely.”  

He signed his name and gave his address. 

(Gannett Company owns over 100 daily newspapers, and nearly 1,000 weekly newspapers, sources say.)

I sent the guy a check, feeling as though my gift was a drop in the bucket for the poor fellow. Christmas is coming, and it’s sad to think of my ex-paper carrier looking for a job. Times are a-changing, and technology is causing changes — and heartache. 

The paper should arrive after lunchtime in the regular mail. I better make a note to warm up my computer early tomorrow and have that crossword puzzle printed out before Honey finishes her coffee.

Monday, October 2, 2023

LETTING GO

  “The trees are about to show how lovely it is to let things go,” someone said about the approaching autumn. 

Letting things go. Now that’s a big deal. Most of us have a hard time “letting things go.”

My late wife, Carol, grew up poor in Washington, Pennsylvania. She talked about growing up in “two rooms and a bath” with her single mother who rented places for them to stay. Carol’s father and mother divorced before Carol was two. Carol was sentimental about “her stuff” that included mementoes (objects kept as reminders of people or events) from her beloved Grandpa Ben Steele and Grandma Ella Steele’s home place in Lone Pine, Penn. Over the years, Carol also collected lots of doodads and figurines (small carved or molded figures).

When Carol and I lived a few months in Aurora, Colorado, in 1970 when I was in the Army, I bought longhorn steer horns. They were perhaps four feet from tip to tip — could have mounted them on my car hood, I reckon (ha, ha). Three years later we lived in North Plainfield, N.J., and sold those horns at a yard sale before we moved back to SC. I owned a 12-string guitar and a saxophone. Sold them too. I’ve spent a lot of life living through obsessions and then moving on — but I still hang on to too much stuff.  

Why do many of us want to hold on to things? Why do we want to live in the past and not let things go?

Sources say, “Reasons you live in the past may include traumatic experiences, fear that it will happen again, or shame that it ever did. You may also wish to change an outcome, hang on to the fear of the present or future, or worry that you will never experience a deep emotion, like love, again.”

Sources also say, “People who live in the past find it difficult to accept change. They hold onto their established routines, familiar places, and people they’ve known for ages. They don’t want to grow and leave their comfort zones. They want things to remain the same.”

“Nostalgia” is “a longing for the past, for a period or place with happy personal associations.” A central part of nostalgia is “rosy retrospection,” sources say. “This makes us remember past events more fondly and positively than they might have actually been. It’s like wearing rose-tinted glasses when looking back at our past.” We had rather live in a pleasantly remembered past than face tough situations happening now or looming in the future. 

Jesus is my source of stability. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). At age six, I became a follower — sometimes a stumbling follower — of Jesus Christ. Moving through life, I have found Jesus Christ to be my Rock. “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand,” are words of an old song. 

The spiritual meaning of “falling leaves” is that leaves represent the cycle of life, someone said. In an analogy (“a comparison between two things for the purpose of explanation”), we often compare one’s life to one year in a tree’s life. A tree puts out new green leaves (we are born and start growing); summer arrives (representing the middle of our lives); autumn represents the “getting older but still getting around” time of life; winter represents waning years. The “one year” comparison to human life ends in death on the last day of “winter.”

But there’s another way to look at trees and seasons. A tree can live a long time and weather many seasons. Like trees, we see seasons come and go, and we usually live many years. 

We do not want to get stuck in a season we need to move through. I spent a year as a US soldier in Vietnam but never saw combat. Later, back in the US, the government offered weekly nightly “rap sessions” (discussion groups) for Vietnam veterans troubled with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). I had few problems but attended some sessions to see if I could help other vets. During the meetings, I noticed some vets discussed the same experiences each week. It seemed they were stuck in traumatic experiences and could not move on in life. We all can get stuck in something life has thrown at us.  

Much of moving on through life’s seasons has to do with forgiveness. Forgiving those — individuals, churches, the government, etc. — who have hurt us can help release us from pain, resentment, bitterness, hurt, and anger we feel. By forgiving, we can deal better with physical and mental pain and find peace with God through Jesus.

When autumn and winter finally arrive in our lives — I’m now using the “one year” analogy — may we “let things go,” accept change, and rely on Jesus, who said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

Friday, September 1, 2023

SPIRITUAL but NOT RELIGIOUS?

  Some people say, “I don’t go to church, but I am spiritual,” or “I’m spiritual but not religious.” 

“Some see the term ‘spiritual but not religious’ as indecisive… Others embrace it as an accurate way to describe themselves… the label applies to a growing share of Americans,” say Michael Lipka and Claire Geceqicz, writing for Pew Research. 

Some people want to be spiritual — but do not want to belong to an organized religion.

Americans are more interested in faith and spirituality than in Christianity, pollster George Barna says. 

The internet defines spirituality as “an individual's search for ultimate or sacred meaning, and purpose in life… a search for personal growth, religious experience, belief in a supernatural realm or afterlife, or to make sense of one’s own inner dimension.” 

To be spiritual speaks of “personal practice and personal empowerment having to do with the deepest motivations of life,” the internet says.

A person can be spiritual, in the world’s eyes, and still be eternally lost.
 
  RELIGION?

“To be religious conveys an institutional connotation, usually associated with Abrahamic traditions,” the internet says. 

In other words, religious relates to attending worship services.  

Some spiritual people want to simply live happy lives, help others, and develop qualities that religious people often develop — but they don’t want involvement with a traditional religion.

In the past, spirituality was associated with religion, deities [gods], the supernatural, and an afterlife, Wikipedia says. 

But tradition no longer wins out.
 
  HAPPY AND KIND? 

One writer gives his definition of a spiritual person: 

“A major sign of a spiritual person is that they are always happy and kind to others. They don’t like to degrade or criticize people. Instead, they always offer motivating and kind words, in hopes to make the world a better place.”

That’s pretty general.
 
  AN ATHEIST’S DEFINITION

Wikipedia says some atheists define spiritual as “nurturing thoughts, emotions, words and actions that are in harmony with a belief that the entire universe is, in some way, connected; even if only by the mysterious flow of cause and effect.

“In contrast, those of a more New-Age disposition see spirituality as the active connection to some force-power-energy-spirit, facilitating a sense of a deep self.”
 
  SEPARATE?

Some see spirituality and religion as separate. 

William Irwin Thompson, a cultural historian and yogi, said, “Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization.”

“Religion is a set of beliefs and rituals that claim to get a person in a right relationship with God, and spirituality is a focus on spiritual things and the spiritual world instead of physical/earthly things,” says GotQuestions.org.

Those who speak of spirituality outside of religion generally believe in the existence of many different spiritual paths.”

WITHIN ONESELF?

“One might say then, that a key difference is that religion is a type of formal external search, while spirituality is defined as a search within oneself,” Wikipedia says.

But a person can be spiritual — and even religious — and still be lost forever.
   
TRUE CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY

Jesus said, “You must be born again” (John 2:7).

GotQuestions.org (GQO) answers the question “What is Christian spirituality?”: 

“When we are born again, we receive the Holy Spirit who seals us for the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us “into all truth” (John 16:13). 

“Part of that truth is taking the things of God and applying them to our lives… the believer then makes a choice to allow the Holy Spirit to control him/her.  

“True Christian spirituality is based upon the extent to which a born-again believer allows the Holy Spirit to lead and control his or her life… 

“The most common misconception about spirituality is that there are many forms of spirituality, and all are equally valid.”

Many people seem to be talking about being spiritual, but real Christians know the true spiritual path to God is found in what Jesus said about himself: 

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
 

Monday, June 26, 2023

Joyce Ann Crain Capps Passes

   Ms. Joyce Ann Crain Capps funeral was held at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 15, 2023, at Renfrew Baptist Church, 951 Greer Highway, Travelers Rest, SC 29690.

Her obituary: 

“Joyce Ann Crain Capps, 86, of Travelers Rest, went home to be with the Lord on Sunday, June 11, 2023. She was predeceased by her loving husband Charles H. Capps, of which they were married 57 years at the time of his passing. 

“Born in Greenville County, she was the daughter of the late Luther Jay and Nell Willis Crain of Taylors. Joyce was a loving wife, mother, nana and grandma. She was a long-time member of Renfrew Baptist Church. She worked many years for Dan Manufacturing Company and retired as a CNA at Oakmont Nursing Home. 

“She is survived by a son: Michael H. Capps (Angie) of Taylors; daughter: Debra Capps Shepherd (Wally) of Travelers Rest; grandchildren: Summer Capps Moore (Richard), BJ Capps (Rachel), Amy Sparks Dotson (Charley), P J Sparks (Kayla); and eight great-grandchildren. 

“Along with her parents and husband she was predeceased by a brother Frank Crain of Landrum. 

“The family will receive friends Thursday, June 15, 2023, from 11:30am until 1pm at Renfrew Baptist Church. 

“Funeral services will be Thursday, June 15, 2023, at 1pm at Renfrew Baptist Church with burial to follow at Mountain View Memorial Park.
The family will be at their respective homes.
The family would like to take this time to say thank you to Providence Care and the wonderful team of doctors, nurses, and caregivers. You were Angels here on earth. And to the private sitters Nancy, Angie, Miranda, Debbie, Tracy, Kayla, and Jennifer.”

During visitation time, 11:30-1:00 p.m., I spoke with Debbie Capps Shepherd. She works out of her home as a hair-dresser; her husband, Wally, drives a truck. I told Debbie about 1950s days when I was a child and her mom visited us. Joyce was unmarried then, ten years older than I, and lived with her parents on Groce Meadow Road, not far south from our house located on the corner of Groce Meadows Road and Keller Road. 

My Grandfather Carl C. Crain and her father, Luther Jay Crain (“Uncle Jay” to me), were brothers. I often fished for catfish with the two of them. They had three other brothers (Claude, Jim, and Theron) and a sister (Hazel Ramey). 

One time Joyce came to see us after a snow fell at Groce Meadow Road. I was around eight years old and Joyce was around 18. My mother, my younger sister (Shirley), and I went outside with Joyce and began throwing snowballs. Joyce was a long way off when I threw one toward her. Bent over, making a snowball, she raised up, and my snowball hit her in the face. Mom was about to give me a whipping, but Joyce said, “It’s all right.” She was kind and gracious. 

As the service began, Pastor Michael Baker of Renfrew Baptist Church said about Joyce’s funeral, “I promise you it’s a celebration.”

A young chaplain who visited and sang with Joyce, sang and played “Beulah Land.” His guitar playing was beautiful; his voice, lovely.

A chaplain who visited Joyce spoke next, reading all of Psalm 24: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully” (verses 3-4).

“Joyce was easy to love, easy to talk to,” he said. “She often expressed her love for the Savior. She poured into her children, and they poured back into her in time of her need.”

Joyce’s daughter and main family caregiver, Debbie, spoke, thanking many folk and describing her mother as “one tough little lady.” 

“Mom’s life revolved around doing for others,” Debbie said. Joyce loved to crochet, knit, make jewelry, loved putting puzzles together. “Was she stubborn? Yes, tough. I tried to be there for her every step of the way.”

Debbie said that when her mother began staying with Debbie and Wally, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and others would visit. “I became ‘chopped liver,’” she said. The visitors would rush in saying, “Where’s grandma?” Or “Where’s Joyce?” and ignoring Debbie. (The congregation laughed.)

Debbie said her mom prayed for Debbie’s dad, who was saved years ago but needed prayer. 

“We are praying people,” said Joyce, who dealt with a pacemaker, a defibrillator, COPD, arthritis, “knees gone,” etc. Debbie thanked Providence Healthcare and Pastor Michael Baker. She thanked many private angels who helped.

“There’s a hole in my heart that only God and time will heal,” Debbie said, expressing her love for her mother.

Playing his guitar, a man sang “Lead Me Home,” a song written by Randy Houser and Craig Monday. Its lyrics include these: “I have seen my last tomorrow / I am holding my last breath / Goodbye, sweet world of sorrow / My new life begins with death. (Chorus) I am standing on the mountain / I can hear the angels' songs / I am reaching over Jordan / Take my hand, Lord, lead me home. (Second verse) All my burdens are behind me / I have prayed my final pray / Don’t you cry, over my body / ‘Cause that ain't me, lying there.”

Pastor Michael said, “I will miss you; we had some good times, some good talks … that body, that frail body … healing has taken place.” 

He read 2 Timothy 4:6-8: 

“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 

“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

He prayed, mentioning those who follow Jesus faithfully, as Ms. Joyce did. 

“She celebrated who Jesus was to her,” he said. “We often bemoan what we don’t have, but we’re responsible with what we are given. Ms. Joyce was one of my favorite visits. She just had a way of making you feel like family. She was always thankful … a gleaming example … one tough lady. What an example.”

Joyce had COVID twice. 

“She learned to thrive,” Pastor Michael said. “Though she could no longer walk, she took spiritual steps. … I couldn’t figure out who was family and who wasn’t. She loved everyone. She’d say, ‘Pastor, we need to pray … .’” 

Pastor spoke to Debbie, saying, “She realized all you were giving. I see Joyce in you. … She was determined to be thankful. … She did it with a smile … She crocheted a blanket for me and Melissa.”

He referred to Hebrews 12. 

“Many people give up,” he said. “She didn’t. She wanted to talk with me about some of the thoughts she’d had … She was able to see peace with God and man. She laid aside that weight and finished strong.”

He read James 1:12: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

“God honors those who remain steadfast in this life,” Pastor said. “She preached this sermon a long time ago. … She was determined to persevere. She’s rooting for you. Lay it at Jesus’ feet. She did. What a day that will be if you know Jesus.”

The Pastor led in the hymn, “What a Day that Will Be,” as a guitar player accompanied him and the audience sang. 

The chaplain who spoke earlier closed in prayer: “You are our God … thank your for allowing us to be part of life. Praise you for everything you are doing.”

Sunday, April 30, 2023

GOD PROVIDES RAIN!

   RAIN FELL on Wednesday. That same day, I received pluviophile as the Word of the Day from Dictionary.com. 

A pluviophile is “a person who enjoys rainy days and is fascinated by the sights, sounds, etc. of rain … someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.”

Phile denotes a fondness for a particular thing. A phobia is a “fear.”

An ombrophobe is a person who hates rain or fears it deeply. 

A pluviophobe experiences anxiety when confronted with the possibility of rain. In severe cases, pluviophobia can cause panic attacks, sources say. 

The late Eddie Rabbit sang “I Love a Rainy Night.” Rainy days or nights are fine as long as you don’t have to leave the house. Sunny days abide no excuse for not getting outside work done. Rain allows you to attend to things inside the house and also take a nap, read a book, or watch TV. Rain acts as a curtain — maybe a shower curtain? — between you and the world.

As a boy, I loved being outdoors. Mother often quoted this rhyme to me on rainy days: “Rain, Rain, go away; come again another day; Little Johnny wants to play.”  

Later, I began liking rainy days. A pluviophile loves rain and is generally a quiet, calm, peace-loving loner who is not afraid of being on his own. The calming effect of rain helps introverts get pleasure from their ability to escape and turn inward for a while, Charlene Ignites says. Introverts make up about 25-40% of the population, says Bagikan Artikel, adding, “Although some may think rain is annoying, it can be seen as a blessing that gives us a new perspective over life.”

“Just as the rain brings a clean scent and new life, rain lovers also appreciate the cleansing renewal of a good cry,” Ignites says. “Pluviophiles understand very well that it takes a little rain to make the flowers grow.”

IN THE BIBLE, RAIN is referred to as a blessing after a drought, a symbol of God’s love and teachings to spread over the world, and even as a flood to wash away the sins of a corrupt world, biblestudytools.com says. 

The word rain in the Scriptures “is employed in both a literal and figurative sense.”

“The whole population depended upon the field, and the field upon the rain,” Charles Spurgeon said of Israel. “Therefore let us lift up our eyes to the Lord who giveth rain, and in so doing drops bread from heaven… As it is in the outward world, so is it in the inward; as it is in the physical, so is it in the spiritual.”

The amount of rainfall in Biblical countries varies greatly, according to Merrill C. Tenny’s Pictorial Bible Dictionary. He says that in Egypt, there is very little water, if any rainfall, the land being dependent upon the Nile. In Syria and Israel, the rainfall is usually abundant.

The Lord said to Old Testament Israelites:

“For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables.  

“But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven … And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full” (Deuteronomy 11:10-15 ESV).

But if Israel disobeyed God?

“Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you” (Deut. 11:16-17 ESV).

There are the two types of rain in the Bible: the former (fall) rain and latter (spring) rain. These rains marked the beginning and end of the Jewish harvest. Israel’s main natural water source is the Sea of Galilee. It feeds the Jordan River that flows into the Dead Sea. Israel depends on rain.

“Surrounding Israel are nations who have their own flowing water sources — Egypt has the Nile, and the Euphrates serves the Mesopotamian basin, but Israel has no such permanent and reliable source of water. Civilizations quickly sprung up around the rivers that could sustain life, but God led his people to a land where they would be utterly at the mercy of the skies… and therefore completely dependent on the one who can make it rain,” oneforisrael.org says. “And so God has placed his people in a dry and dusty land with no reliable source of water so that they must look up to the skies, to the one who can make it rain. He did it on purpose.

“He loves his children to depend upon him and his provision, rather than taking the natural for granted and relying on their own abilities to cope. He wanted them to have to come to him and talk to him. In short, he wanted relationship with them.”