Good trip to Laurens, SC

We made it back to Amis Chapel yesterday after a good trip to Laurens and Clinton, SC. We left right after church last Sunday to drive the five and a quarter hours to make it for Lewis Mann's 6pm ordination to gospel ministry. It was a special time of worship, and the Holy Spirit's presence was nearly tangible. Pictured left to right are Lewis Mann from Clinton, SC, and a student at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY; center is Rev. Rhett Wilson, soon to be Dr. Wilson, associate pastor at Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church in Laurens, SC, and another long-time friend; right is yours truly. See Rhett's take on the ordination. At Chestnut Ridge we saw a lot of friends we miss. I was bowled over by the numbers of people who said they read this blog regularly! Wow!

On Monday and Tuesday, we saw a number of friends and relatives and enjoyed everyone. We didn't get to see nearly everyone we wanted, and our time was so short there. The Bedenbaughs were incredibly kind to us as were so many. I did get to see several who had moved to a nursing home since we had left Laurens County. I missed Mr. Claude Lawson from Hopewell Community who is at Martha Franks, (he was at the doctor), but I got to see my former Bailey Bank bookkeeping supervisor Mrs. Patricia Lanford and the woman who taught me so much about prayer, Mrs. Alma Galloway, who is 96 now. Over her couch at the Frampton Hall of the Presbyterian Home in Clinton, is a picture of Jesus in Gethsemane and hanging over the top of the frame is the crown of thorns I made her from a locust tree in the yard back when I was in college.

On the way back, the "overdrive off" started flashing right at the NC line, but after a phone call to an automotive friend and topping off some transmission fluid in Greensboro, we had confidence to drive on home. We made it in time to teach Bible study on Wednesday night.