Opinions & Ideas
PAGE
4-A - HOGANSVII2~ HOME NEWS -~tURSDAY, SEFr. 30, 2004
THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS
,usPs s~-o40
JOHN K~ALL
PUBLIS~DITOR
LAtmm Ia~m~
ADDING DIRECTOR
Cu~r CuAvmzooK
~LSSOCIATE EDITOR
RoB I~~N
ASSLSTANT EDITOR
A (6rime~ ~uhl~cathm
Mi, ard B. Gdnma, Pr~ddont
m.w
Phone (706) 8463188. Fax (706) 846-2206
P. O. Box 426
Hogansville, Georgia 30230
Don't Be Afraid to
Live Your Dreams
Okay, I admit that I'm get-
ting older. Maybe too old to
do a lot of the things I used
to do and too old to do many
of the things I've always
dreamed about.
If I have a regret in life,
that's probably it. That I have
not done all the things in life
that I've wanted to do.
As children, we all dream
about the things we want to
do when we grow up. Play
professional sports, be in a
band, become a member of
the peace corp or a world
renowned doctor or lawyer.
You know those dreams,
we've all had them.
Now that I'm older, I real-
ize that many of my child-
hood dreams have never
become a reality. That is
because I did not pursue
them.Not because I could not
accomplish them. I just never
took the time to.
For some reason after we
receive our education and
move forward in life, our
dreams become secondary to
making a living, raising chil-
dren, etc. Life, and the fast
pace we live it, becomes more
of a day-to-day grind to sur-
vive than to chase what was
once our dreams.
Now, I'm not saying that
I haven't fulfilled some of my
dreams and goals for life. I
have. I'm not saying that I
haven't enjoyed life or my life
today. That is not the case at
all. It simply means there
were things in life I wanted
to accomplish but never did.
AS A YOUNG man, I
never gave much thought to
such trivial things, like pur-
suing my dreams. I always
thought there was plenty of
time to fulfill each and every
one of them. Now that I'm
pushing the half a century
mark, I think about such
"trivial" things more often.
There were so many other
things that I could have done,
should have done, if I'd only
time.
I'm not writing this col-
umn to complain, but more
to send a message to all of
our young readers out there.
The message is a simple one:
"Take time for you and your
dreams."
LIKE I SAID earlier, as a
young man or woman we
think that we will live forev-
er and there is always time.
Before we know it the time
has slipped away, we're much
older and many of our
dreams have not been lived.
I guess it was a combina-
tion of things that made me
start thinking about this
recently. As I said I'm getting
older and more mature and
realize that time really does
pass quickly, and the family
is all grown and on their own
now and I have more time on
my hands. But I think having
to attend a funeral last week-
end is what made me really
start thinking.
As I sat there and listened
to the preacher talk about the
accomplishments the man
had made in his life, I won-
deredffthere were things left
undone. You know, things he
wanted to do but never got
around to. "I'm sure there
are," I thought to myself. "No
one accomplishes everything
in life they want or desire to."
I made myself a promise
in that moment, that I was
going to write the column you
have just rea&
There is a country song
out today thatCalks about an
older man that leaves his long
term career behind to pick a
guitar and sing in clubs. The
song asks a very pointed
taken the time. However,
time was always a preciouS, question, "if the man is giv-
commodity when I was \ing up his ~vjng or taking
younger. Now that I'm older, '~ack his life.
I realize that I had plenty of~ ,, Iguesseveryonehasadif-
time to accomplish many fe,~nt opinion on the matter,
things, I just didn't take the but ~ would have to answer
time to do it.
As I said, life has been
wonderful and exciting. So,
I'm happy with the way my
life has gone for the most
part. J guess it could have
been better. I could have
made better choices, betteb
decisions and not made as
many mistakes. But, overall,
life has been pretty good. So,
I'm not complaining about
that at all. I'm simply saying
that there were many other
things I could have accom-
)lished had I only taken the
that he was taking back his
life. He felt compelled to live
out his dream, even ff it was
late in life.
Now, I'm not talking about
doing anything that drastic.
I'm simply saying that we
should all pursue our dreams
when we can. After all, the
Bible tells us that we are not
promised a tomorrow. So,
why not take advantage of
today and live your dream.
You might just find that you
are a happier person for
doing so.
THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NRWS is published weekly by the Star-Mercury
Publicizing Company,a division of~ Publica6o~ at 305 ! Roosevelt Highway,
Manchester. Georgia 31816. USPS 620-040. Subscription rates by mail: $20 in
Troup. Harris or MeriweZher Cound~: $24 a year elsewhere. Prices include all
sales taxes. Periodicud postage ~ at ~ville. Georgia 30230.Single copy
FoR ~sst~ call (706) 846- 3 i 88 or write to Cmailation Manager. Star
Me~ury Public~. E O. Box 426, Manchester, Ge0fgia ~1816.
t Posr~t~s-r~a: Send address changes to E O. Box 426, ttegamvill~ GA 30230.
Publisher and Editor .......................................................................... ~ Kt~!
Advertising Director ................................................................................. .Lau~ Lewis
As~ciale Editor ................................................................................... Clint Ciaybrook .
Assislanl Editor ................................................................................... ~ob Richardson
Stuff Writers .......................................................................... Bryan Gezer. Billy Bryant
C~4x',sition .............................. Dewayne Flowers. Robert Weems. Gaff Youngblobd
Circulation Manager. .............................................................. Tracy Lynn Wyag
Press Manager ................................................................................. Wayne Groch~ski
Pressroom Assistants ..................................... Zaddie Dixon.Damell McCauley
Mailroom DL~ba[ion .... ~ ........ ,~......; ........................................... David Boggs
Coal~ Omegas
President ........................................ i .................................................... Millard B. Grimes
Vice President .................................................................................. Charlo~e S. Grimes
Executive Vice President and Sec~ ........................................ Laura Grimes Cofex
Treasta-er ........................................................................... :...:._Kathy Csimes Gmve~
Legal C~I and ~ Scer~ry ............................................ Jmmes S. Grimes
Breaking the News to His
We planned the marriage
for a year. I had finished my
sophomore year at Georgia,
and Paula had completed her
modeling school, and, in the
meantime, some yo-yo had
asked her to go off to
Gatlinburg with him to model
some of his sweaters, forcing
me into fits of jealousy and
further instilling in me the
desire to make it official that
she was off the market.
The big problem, I had
thought, would be my moth-
er. The one great fear in her
life was that I would not fin-
ish college, and she consid-
ered early marriages cer-
tainly detrimental toward
that end. And I had promised
her I would not rush toward
the altar, and I had meant it
at the time, but I had made
that promise under duress -
Bubba Gatewood was out
somewhere, riding around in
his car with my girlfriend. I
saw no use delaying the
inevitable.
I was home for a week-
end. My mother was in the
kitchen cooking my favorite
meal - fried corned beef out
of a can, navy beans, corn-
bread and French fries. I
walked into the kitchen. I was
nervous.
"I've got something to tell
you," I said.
Mothers know. Somehow,
they just know. There was no
reason for her to speak. I
could see it in her face and in
her eyes that she was antici-
pating a momentous, and per-
haps dreaded, announcement
from me.
• She walked to the kitchen
table and sat down.
Perspiration was running off
her forehead from standing
over the heat of the stove. I
sat across the table from her.
"Paula and I want to get
married," I said.
OUR EYES were locked
together. I thought I read her
clearly. She had known this
was coming, she was saying
to herself. She realized the
impatience of youth, but if
only they really knew what
they were doing, if only there
were some way she could tell
me, tell us both, that we had
so much time yet to go; if only
she could make us aware of
the dangers and the risk; if
only there were something
she could say to make us
change our minds.
I had dreaded this, and I
bad already played the scene
over in my mind a thousand
times.
"you promised me you
wouldn't rush into anything
like this," she would say.
"I know," I would reply,
'but I miss Paula so much, and
this turkey asked her to go to
Gatlinburg with him, and I
just can't wait any longer."
"But what about school?"
she would ask.
"I'll finish," would be my
answer. "I've got a job, and
Paula will get a job, and I'll
stay in school."
"She's not pregnant, is
she?"
"Of course she's not preg-
nant. We just love each other
very much, and we want to
be together."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
"But you're both so
young."
"We're 19."
"You're making a horrible
mistake, son," my mother
would continue, beginning to
sob. I would feel awful about
breaking my promise to her,
about disappointing her. I
wondered if she would come
to the wedding.
THE SCENE, however,
was nothing like that at all.
My mother and I had both
grown out of the protective
role she had played in our
relationship before. She had
given generously, and I had
taken, a great deal of inde-
pendence. We had remained
close, but she had not fought
against her emptied nest.
Now I sat before her, I
ing made the most
decision of my young Life,
I had underestimated
precious trust. I had
acknowledged the fact
this woman, my
also my friend, and
love for me would not
her to come down hard onZ
for any decision I
have done so would have
lated that
grown to - one of
respect, one of
ing. I had no way of
it at the time, but to
reached that peak of
fortable interaction with
mother was a
happenstance, one that
are
any other person, much
with a parent.
...to be continued
week
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Why Some Churches Fuss
Since the church is a big
part of the lives of a lot of
people in this town, we have
spent the last several weeks
talking about the church.
Hopefully, many things have
been understood about what
the Bible says about the
church.
The first thing that was
looked at was "What Is the
Church." We found that the
church is more than bricks
and boards. The church is
people.
Those who make up the
true church are those who
have trusted Christ as their
Savior. But, we must also real-
ize that, as the bumper stick-
er stated, "Christians aren't
perfect, just forgiven," peo-
ple are still human. When a
person gets saved, along with
the new nature created by the
Spirit, the person retains his
old nature. (Romans 7)
Because of this, people have
fusses.
Many wonderful things
can be said about the church.
The local assembly I pastor
is made up of wonderful peo-
ple, but those wonderful peo-
ple are still only sinners saved
by grace, just as their pastor,
namely me.
The people here love each
other, love the lost, and love
the Lord, and I'm sure you
could say many good things
about your church. But, from
time to time we can hear of
a church having a fuss. It is
sad, but sometimes it is true.
IN SOME PLACES a fuss
is the rule instead of the
,exception. Although church-
es are made up of human
beings, it is possible that they
can walk together, worship
together, and work together
without the hindrance of a
fuss. King David said in
Psalms 133 and verse 1,
"Behold, how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity?"
Good Lord willing, next
week we will consider why it
is that churches seem to
always have a dispute going
and what can be done to rem-
edy the situation. But, for the
remainder of the space we
have left this week, let's con-
sider what happens when a
church does fuss.
There are two things the
Apostle Paul brings out in the
first chapter of his first let-
ter to the church at Corinth:
The people at the church to
which Paul wrote were fuss-
ing over who the best preach-
er was. Because of that, he
asks them a very pointed
question in verse 13 of chap-
ter one. Paul asked, "Is Christ
divided?"
That word divided means
to cut to pieces as if to serve
to several people. On the
cross of Calvary Jesus was
crucified. Many do not real-
ize how horrible a death Jesus
died, nor do they realize how
he suffered before he was
nailed to that cross.
According to Isaiah 52:14,
Jesus was beaten so badly
that his face was not even rec-
ognizable as ~ human.
According to Isaiah 53.7,
Jesus was led as a lamb to the
slaughter. He was literally
butchered on Calvary's cruel
cross.
You may be
what has this got to do
a fussing church?
on the cross and Paul
the church at Corinth if (
was divided. Paul is
implying that a
divided church is a
that might as well
6:6 says, "Seein
fy to themselves the Son
God afresh and put him
open shame." Because of
hurt and pain and it
Jesus, it is a sad
people who claim to love
Lord fuss and fight
themselves.
Briefly the second
a fussing church does is
der the
said in 1 Corinthians
"...lest the cross of .C~
should be made of
effect."
He means a fussi~
church hinders folks fro#
believing the gospel message~
Let's ask ourselves this queS,
tion: "Is it more important
get my way or is it more
important that we have a tes"
timony that helps people to
accept Christ?"
50 Years Ago..,
In the
Hogansville Herald
~to the Hogansvme Home Nev~
• DROUGHT WORRIES- The Sept. 30, 1954
Hogansville Herald had a number of articles about
the severe drought hitting the area. A front-page arti-
cle headlined, "City Water Supply Endangered as
Long Dry Spell Continues" urged residents to con-
serve water. ~Vlonday, orders were issued from the
mayor's office to curtail the local water supply as
much as possible, due to the decrease in the water
in the creek from which the city pumps its water into
the big tanks." Mayor Bill Crawford said the short-
age was "very critical., An inside story carded the
headline, "Garden Club Weeps Over Water
Shortage."
• COMEDY-LESS CINEMA TIME - Movies show-
ir~j at the Royal Theatre that week definitely leaned
toward action. Featured were =King of the Khyt)er
Rifles," "Captain Kidd and the Slave Gid," "Dark
Command," "Massacre Canyon" and "Broken
Lance."
*WANT AD WONDERS - =Make extra money.
Address, mail postcards, spare time every week."
• GOOD-LOOKING BARGAINS OF THE 505 -
Henson Furniture Company ran an ad offering a
"Beaut~ul Metal Waste Basket" for 25 oe~s.
• GIVE ME 10 MINUTES TO GET HOME, PLEASE
, Local photographer Fred Brown was opening a
. photo studio in his home. =Although busy at Stark.
Mill inthe morning and eady afternoon," Brown would
welcorr'~ photo customers at his house %vhere he
can be found any time after 4:10 p.m."
