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Over The Coffeecups
Warren Mitchell - Editor
TODAY'S
PROGRAM
Past President George will introduce Lynn Gowan,
Montgomery County Commissioner for District 5. Lynn has been
a County Commissioner since 1987, when he was appointed by
Governor Guy Hunt. He is the marketing director for Sunflower
Waste Company. He attended Jeff Davis High School in
Montgomery and Troy State University in Troy. Mr. Gowan is
married to the former Vera Lee Hay, and they have 2 children.
His civic activities
include: Board of Directors for the Alabama National Fair,
Group Leader for the Montgomery United Way, Montgomery Kiwanis
Club, and Montgomery County Republican Executive Committee,
just to name a few.
LAST
WEEKS PROGRAM
Bill
Scarborough introduced Dr. Pat Smith, Pastor of
Memorial Presbyterian Church; the church Bill attends. Dr.
Smith thanked Bill for extending the invitation for him to
speak to the Club. He is always amazed as he travels around
and hears all the stories, jokes and historical tidbits.
Remarkably, he said he was going to mention every one of those
stories. He had in mind how much fun it would be to pull out
a $10,000 bill and pay for his gas.
He shared something about
his life with us. He grew up in a military family, his father
being an officer in the Marine Corps. He was the baby in the
family and referred to himself as a "Marine Corp Brat". He
said he can tell us he was really one of the good kids growing
up. In fact he was so disgustingly good, he walked old ladies
across the street, cared for family, a great playmate,
generous, good hearted and always pulling for the underdog.
He was widely known through his family as a sweetheart of a
child. He also grew up to be very humble.
His brother and sister are
12 and 9 years older than he is. His sister has been involved
in library science for many years and is in charge of a
library in South Carolina. Her 3 children are precious nephew
and nieces to him and have been for man years.
His brother, 12 years older,
went into the Marine Corps and planned on it being his career,
but was medically discharged after Vietnam. He has 2 sons and
lives in Jacksonville, NC; host city of Camp LeJuene. He
teaches history and athletics and is just a few years away
from retirement.
They were wonderful older
siblings and his brother being older, worshipped the ground he
walked on. Without thinking about it through high school, he
thought he would be in the Marine Corps like his father and
brother. He thought it the natural
thing to do. He grew up playing war with his friends and he
knew what it would be like in the Corps. Everything would be
wonderful and a dream come true. He believed God intervened
in all that, in a special vocational calling.
During that process as he
entered into college and traveled through the officer
candidate program, receiving a commission upon graduation.
Early in that process the wonderful recruiter, after giving
him the written test and physical exam, confirmed in the
written exam he had done wonderfully well. During the
physical they told him his eyesight was marginal and they had
no use for him. That devastated him, but he was far enough
along in his faith that he prayed, if he didn't want him to do
that, he wanted to do what he desired. What he was supposed
to do, he thought as he drove to his home in Tennessee. He
didn't know what to do.
After losing his life
savings at the track and watching the blessing of a horse, he
decided the ministry wouldn't be so bad after all. Of course,
that was true. God in his marvelous plan, called him to the
ministry and he has been grateful ever since.
One thing he has learned
about himself through the years, he doesn't know who to walk
very well. His wife has graciously put up with him as they
took walks, hiked the mountains, and even walking through the
house. He stumbles, wobbles, and bumps into things. Not
really a klutz; adapted to sports competitions, but he doesn't
know how that has come to be. He can weave off a straight
line. He lives in fear of being stopped late one night and be
asked to walk a straight line. In fact when he walks his dog,
she looks over her shoulder to see which way he will weave.
A Chinese profit wrote
several books decades ago; one book was entitled "Sit, Walk,
Stand". It was an explanation of Paul's letters to the
Ephesians. He speaks of the Christian life, of someone who is
near to the heart of God and growing in that relationship.
The process of sitting, walking and standing is a progressive
relationship. Everyone knows that a relationship has a
starting point; it then has the possibility of progressing and
growing into a stronger relationship. Relationships don't
always progress that way, because there is a barrier,
separation or distance that comes between 2 people.
The same thing can happen
with God. You need to pull the words out of Ephesians; the
progressive nature of building a life in that relationship
with God.
Walking through this life,
it can be traveled with difficulty and challenges. Living in
this life is not easy. God's people in the Old Testament
sometimes had marvelous relationships with God. At other
times God had to deal with their wandering and had to bring
them back in place.
After many generations of
those who were faithless in their walk with God; Isaiah, moved
by the spirit of God pronounced this word that everyone has
the privilege of living life under
God's kingdom; a life where we can make a difference. Even
when life is falling apart, and we are stumbling all over
ourselves, through the daily routines of life.
The 40th chapter comes with
a lengthy list of problems, announcements against God's people
and God himself. The end of the chapter says comfort, comfort
my people says my God.... At the end, there is encouragement
for everyone if we walk with the Lord.
Dr. Smith made some remarks
about "Brad" Bradley, saying he was an amazing man, and he had
found peace with God.
LAST
WEEK'S GUESTS
Scott
Powell had his daughter, Emily with him, who had
just finished the 3rd grade.
ENTERTAINMENT
Al McLellan gave some
selections of young people. A 3 year old saying the Lord's
Prayer; "Our Father who does art in heaven, Harold be his
name". A little boy prayed, "Lord, if you can't make me a
better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time
like I am". A little girl saying the Lord's Prayer said,
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from E-mail". A
Sunday schooler asked why we should be quiet in church. A
little girl replied, "Because people are sleeping".
Ken's Story
A Lutheran man at the track
saw a Catholic Priest betting. He touched the forehead of the
horse in the 4th race, blessing it. That horse, a long shot,
won the race. The man watched the Priest, do the same thing
the next race. He raced to the window and bet on the horse
that was blessed. The horse won. The man bet on the races on
the horses the priest had blessed. As the day went on, the
man won quite a bit of money. For the 8th race he went to the
ATM and withdrew a large amount of money. The priest blessed
the forehead, eyes, ears and nose of a horse. The man bet and
saw the horse come in last. He asked the priest what
happened, having lost all his savings. The priest said, "The
problem with you Protestants, you can't tell the difference
between a blessing and the last rites".
REPORT
George Oetting said
next year we will go to the Tuskegee V.A. Hospital where more
patients are housed. We will probably also go to V.A. in
Alexander City.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ken Carrick said the
RSVP banquet will be August 11th. He will need volunteers to
assist the seniors.
El Kidd reminded the
members of the Air Show at Maxwell, June 5th & 6th. The
Thunderbirds will perform honoring the 60th Anniversary of
D-Day.
George Oetting said
"In God We Trust", first appeared on money in 1864. A 2 cent
piece was the first coin with the inscription "In God We
Trust" on it. Salmon P. Chase was the 1st Secretary of the
Treasury. He put his face on the $2.00 bill. He served in
Lincoln's cabinet; was also Chief Justice. George showed us a
copy of a $10,000 bill, issued in 1914. The bill was not in
general circulation; used by banks. They are no longer
printed. The largest bill in circulation now is the $1,000
bill.
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