Want to know what I do “LIKE” about Facebook? In 2005, I met a family when they evacuated during Hurricane Katrina and ended up in Winston County at our local Best Western. The man, Kirk Jacobs , dropped by the post office a day or so after the storm asking about medical facilities in our community where he might possibly reconnect with his employer or patients who had fled the coast. I gave him the names of some local businesses and wished him and his family well. Meanwhile, Whitehall UMC members were busy planning meals for those who had filled our area hotel rooms and were waiting to return to their damaged homes. The men cooked burgers and Will Hill was kind enough to offer the conference room at BW for our spread. We met several south Louisiana and Mississippi families and got to meet Kirk’s whole family. South Louisville Baptist also opened their fellowship hall for meals and Kirk and Tara were very impressed with the love shown to total strangers by our community. We shared phone numbers and home and email addresses with them before they left. For the next few years we exchanged Christmas cards and I got to watch McKenna and Tyler grow. Then Facebook came along and since we were in each other’s email data base we connected there as well. A couple of years ago another storm was brewing in the Gulf. I mentioned on fb about my concern for Patrick, E. J., Jessica, Connor, two dogs, their three homes, and her three horses at a ranch in Purvis. Received a quick comment from Kirk about the horses asking where they were located. It seems that McKenna was taking riding lessons at Whispering Pines and they knew Mrs. Rhonda Walters. For those of you who don’t know Mrs. Rhonda as Connor calls her, she’s the most amazing thing south of I-40! She and her husband Paul run a beautiful ranch. She operates a catering business. Not just any catering business - the one that gets called when Presidential candidates roll into town. She raises boys – hers, his, theirs, and a few others thrown in the mix. She made a beautiful, galloping matron-of-honor in E. J. and Jessica’s wedding if some of you want to put a face with a name. She attends Temple Baptist Church which holds close to 3,000. Massive! “Attends” is not the correct word since she doesn’t just occupy a seat. She does so much more. After our first service there we were enjoying some of Rhonda’s delicious cooking in their beautiful home and I asked if Temple is Southern Baptist. Paul answered that they like to say that it is Southern Baptist with Spirit. And Rhonda as well as Paul have The Spirit and share it with all they come in contact with. Backtracking a bit so hang with me. I want you to know how God puts the right people in our paths. While Jessica and Connor were still living in North Carolina E. J. was in search of a home for her horses. Understand he knows hunting deer, dove, and turkey. He can name most every camo pattern made. He can catch fish with the best of them having learned from his Mamaw and Papaw. He can fight a wildfire in the Rockies or supervise a control-burn on the back forty. He has a beautiful golf swing and has been beating me on the course since he was about four. He can drive really fast, legally! He can write you a ticket in a heartbeat and before you ask I can’t get you out of it. But I never knew him to know anything about picking out stables. Nevertheless, he became the scout for a new home for Bet-Bet and crew. He landed at Whispering Pines and soon called Jessica and told her he had found the perfect place and the perfect people. Not only did Rhonda take in the horses she took E. J., Jessica, and Connor under her wing. They were soon worshiping right beside the Walters at Temple which happens to be the same church that Kirk and Tara attend. Start humming “It’s A Small World After All”. Now it’s stuck in your head, isn’t it? We worshiped as a family there again today. Needless to say the service was amazing. It’s a production at Temple. A production with The Spirit! And what made it extra special for me was reconnecting with hugs with my Katrina friends, the Jacobs. First time I have seen them since 2005. All because of Facebook and God!
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 01:18:29 +0000
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