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The Rocking Horse of Tuscumbia
September 6, 2013
The Rocking Horse of Tuscumbia
is now available through Amazon.com for iPad, Kindle, Android, PC, BlackBerry, and more.
Click here to visit the book on Amazon.com
One reviewer says, “The Rocking Horse of Tuscumbia captures your interest & steals your heart from the very first chapter. It is a thought provoking novel that encourages the reader to explore there own life/faith & possibly prioritize a bit!!!’
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The Word Stands Forever
April 12, 2013
“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” – Isaiah 40:8
Blind Aunt Annie
January 9, 2013
— 5 Comments
Annie May Denman was a prolific author and poet despite being blind from birth. My grandmother told stories of how “Blind Aunt Annie” wrote to her and my great-grandmother almost every week on the typewriter she used to produce books like, Poems: By a Blind Girl of Mississippi and Poem Time. After graduating from the Industrial Institute and College (now Mississippi University for Women) in 1919, Annie wrote an account of her experiences titled, I.I. and C. Echoes, describing the difficulties she faced navigating classes while carrying her typewriter. In the book she also thanks her peers for ministering to her by reading classwork, studies, and assignments aloud.
Although most of Annie’s published works are only available for viewing inside the archive sections of university libraries throughout Mississippi, I’m thankful to still have some of her letters and poems.
Annie (in green dress) linking arms with my great-grandmother, Glynn Denman McNutt.
For trade, amusement, and at the displeasure of those around her, Annie raised poultry behind her home in Jackson. In this letter to my great-grandmother, Annie shares about her family of geese:
Dear Glynn,
Outside the window now the gander is ringing the bell that I hung on the fence. It was on the back gate, and he kept on ringing it so I put it in a better place, and now he loves it. He is consoled after the killing of the leading gander yesterday. I’ll have to take the bell down and bring it in at bed-time, or he would be ringing it all through the night. I go and call out: “Fibber, is that you ringing that bell, “He will answer close to the bell: “Wank, wank, wank—Well, well, well.” He is a gentle gander. Tomorrow the man will come for the other gander; and then it will be Fibber and Mollie with the bell, their mirror and their tubs of water.
Yesterday I caught the leading wild gander and put him in the little yard by the vines. All day we all worried—he trying to get out, the others going to the gate to talk to him, me just dreading the killing. By night I had indigestion. I had to hold him while the maid next door cut off his head. He cried, and I shivered. Then it was all over, and we had blood on our clothes and faces. I felt like a traitor. The Maid said: “Law, if the police was huntin’ somebody and they saw us, they would put us in jail sure. Looks like us been in a fight. But we would have the dead goose for proof.” She dressed him nicely, the friend who took him paid her a dollar and seventy-five cents for dressing him, He weighed thirteen pounds dressed. at four months and one week old.
Let me know how you are getting along.
Annie.
Annie with one of her turkeys.
I’m thankful for the legacy handed down to so many people through the bravery of my great-great-aunt and for words like these given to my grandmother regarding me and my younger cousins in 1984:
“Demanding grandchildren who thrive in your care
Will bless you some day, and perhaps learn to share
What they are receiving from you, all unknown.
As you will be giving through them to their own.”
Indeed her love of faith, words, family, and poultry continue to trickle down.
What a blessing.
In addition: A couple years ago Michael Popek found Annie’s poem, “From the Heart of a Little Girl” (published by Met. Life Insurance Co.) hidden inside The Light in the East: The Life of Christ and The Apostles by Rev. John Fleetwood. You can view the poem and book on his fabulous blog, Forgotten Bookmarks.
“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”
– Maya Angelou
Angelou (bird songs)
January 5, 2013
Every Child
December 28, 2012
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso
Willie
May 31, 2012
— 6 Comments
“Absolute identity with one’s cause is the first and great
condition of successful leadership.”
– Woodrow Wilson
Willie Baldwin’s leadership skills have been formed by amazing mentors and a keen ability to identify with the cause. He’s passionate about leading children to Christ, so he works hard to gather the troops, encourage people on the frontlines, point to what really matters, apologize when things don’t go as planned, praise the King in the middle of chaos, recognize the enemy, and most importantly—stay the course.
He knows the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the evils of the world (Ephesians 6:12). His goal is to lead children along straight paths, because he knows the dangers of un-paved roads.
Willie grew up in an area of North Memphis known as Hurt Village. The fifth child of seven siblings, Willie grew up fighting for his life and those of his younger sisters. His mother did her best to support them, but the $4 an hour she made at the gas station was hardly enough to make ends meet. Willie and his siblings were hungry, so he looked for alternate ways to help provide for their needs. He started stealing things and selling them for profit before his thirteenth birthday. From there, Willie moved into the more profitable trade of selling drugs to kids hanging around the outdoor basketball court near his mother’s apartment.
That basketball court was where Willie met Roy “Soup” Campbell for the first time. The summer of 1990, Soup backed his red pickup truck into a clearing near the basketball court, opened the tailgate, removed the lid from a full box of donuts, and waited for the hungry kids to gather around. That day, Soup told Willie and the others about a loving and redemptive God. Willie listened as he ate and sipped orange juice. It wouldn’t be the last time he sat in awe as Soup spoke about salvation and forgiveness. In Hurt Village, a public housing neighborhood that’s no longer in existence, a beautiful friendship was born.
Willie didn’t immediately follow the straight path. In fact, for the next seven years he bounced back and forth between obeying what the Lord commanded and doing what his buddies insisted.
He had dreams of becoming a police officer, but God had something else in mind for Willie Baldwin—something that would encourage the broken-hearted and glorify the creator of the world.
I first met Willie in 2004. He’d been praying for a way to give back to his community through starting a Bible study for the children on his street. Now, eight years later, the ministry that started in his living room is still going strong. In fact, children aren’t just coming from his block to the Nathan Street Fellowship—they’re traveling great distances to Willie’s home in Binghampton for fellowship, prayer, games, biblical teaching, and free pizza.
When the number of kids outgrew Willie’s living room, he (along with several volunteers) joined forces and built a two-story clubhouse in his backyard. The meetings have since moved from their original bimonthly schedule to several times a week and now minister to over one hundred children from ages 3-19. The children’s demand for more of Willie’s time earned him a full-time position with Eikon Ministries (the outreach ministry started by Soup Campbell in 1997). Through Eikon, Willie is able to mentor and interact with inner-city kids through sports programs, work programs, Bible studies, and mentoring relationships.
Willie constantly points the kids in Binghampton to a loving God who can do anything. He tells them stories about the One who has already laid down His life for them. Willie relates to the kids in Binghampton as someone who knows what it’s like to walk in their shoes and suffer through their temptations.
When times get hard, or the fight seems too great, Willie returns to his favorite verse and remembers to trust in the Lord, have faith in His goodness, submit to His will, and lead His children along straight paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
He’s a leader I’m proud to follow into battle.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8
What is required?
March 13, 2012
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” – Deuteronomy 6:5
Sparrow Refuge 