The rest of the posts in this series feature just a few snapshots that I thought might be better than average...
Today is my son's birthday. Happy birthday Andrew!!
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This "coincidence" takes place in Wilmington, Delaware. I had joined the church of Christ the previous summer, and while visiting family up north was looking for a congregation for Sunday morning worship. The first one I found was a small African-American church near downtown. It was a service I won't forget because there was a baptism that day, and since there was no baptistry in their little building we all got into our cars - every one of us - and drove in sleet and rain to one of the larger congregations in a suburb of the city.
After being let in, there were about 25 of us waiting for the baptism when someone got the idea that we needed to sing a song. Then the idea hit that I would be the best person to do the song leading! I'd never done anything of the sort, but nervously got up and had them turn to "How Great Thou Art", figuring that I had a smaller chance of blowing it with one that I knew well from childhood. This was my very first song-leading experience, but certainly wouldn't be the last, as I later became the regular song leader for the East Main Church of Christ in Nacogdoches, on and off, for four years.
The following Sunday I decided to attend service at that larger church where the baptism had taken place, since it was closer to Dad's house and less of a hassle to drive there (it had been snowing with icy conditions). I arrived just before service and it was crowded so took a seat in the very last pew.
After the last song was sung and we were dismissed, a girl my age sitting with her family in the pew in front of me stood up, turned around, looked me in the eye and asked, "Are you from Orange, Texas?" After my Yes she revealed herself to be none other than Pam Mansell, a 7th-grade classmate whose father, like mine, had also transferred to Wilmington with DuPont some years before. Not that much of a surprise, though, since between Orange and Wilmington the DuPont world isn't so big...
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