Nanafalia and Common Sense

On Tuesday mornings for several years the local radio station called me to do a live report from Bethel Baptist Association.   Moody Radio deejays John Rogers and Martin Houston (Former University of Alabama running back) talked about common sense or the lack thereof.  I really feel that people are losing the ability to have common sense.   

For instance, did you hear about the man who visited a psychiatrist?   He told the doctor that he was stressed and could not sleep.  After a few questions, the doctor suggested that the man take a few weeks' vacation.  The man said that he and his family had just returned from two weeks in the Bahamas.

The doctor then suggested that the man might need to buy a new automobile or truck.  The man responded by saying he just bought a new sports Mercedes convertible.  The doctor suggested that he might change locations and build a new house.  The man said I just built a million-dollar house at the country club.

The psychiatrist was bewildered because the man had everything a person could have.  The psychiatrist asked, “If you have and do all these things, why are you so stressed?”  The man replied, “I make only $250 dollars a week.”

Common sense says that one cannot spend more than one makes.  Unfortunately, we as a nation do the opposite and are part of an unbelievable national debt.  We are a credit card society that wants it now.

After the radio program, I ventured to an event at Judson College.  The guest was Dr. Timothy George, Dean of the Beeson School of Divinity at Samford University.  I had Dr. George for a class when I attended Beeson.  He asked where I was serving, and I told him Bethel Baptist Association.  For several years I was the only Beeson graduate serving as a Director of Missions.  Beeson, or should I say, a few professors were proud of that.

Dr. George asked where Bethel is saying that the last time we talked, he said you were near Calera.  Being we were in the auditorium of Judson College in Marion I thought that telling him southwest of here would do.  He responded, “Is that near Tuscaloosa?”  I said that it was about 75 miles south of Tuscaloosa and a good bit north of Mobile on the Highway 43 corridor.  I realized that my commonsense approach to the very intellectual Dr. George was not communicating.  It is almost like the old saying, “You can’t get there from here.”  What throws people for a loop is I say Bethel Baptist Association and they automatically try to remember their Alabama history and geography realizing that Bethel is not one of the sixty-seven counties.

I felt like I was playing the “hot or cold” game with him.  Every time he would name a town he was way off base and I was trying get him closer.  He finally said, “Then, you are near Meridian, MS?”  I said that I was closer to Meridian than Tuscaloosa.

We broke for delicious dinner.  I cannot remember how the table conversation about Nanafalia came up, but a couple of pastors at my table said they did not know how to pronounce Nanafalia.  I said it was an Indian name.  All these men were of my generation so understood that “Injun” was what is the politically correct call Native American and not an owner of a service station or a motel. I told them that Nanafalia means long hill.  One of the preachers asked where it was.  I said on Alabama highway 10 between Sweet Water and Butler.  Most had a puzzled look.  I said Nanafalia is across the Tombigbee River from Ezell’s Famous Catfish Restaurant.

Someone said, “Then Ezell’s is in Nanafalia?”  I said do not make that mistake because it is in Lavacoa in Choctaw County next to the Nanafalia Bridge.

So, I have had a day of Common Sense, Intellectual Conversation, Political Correctness, and Politics.  The event at Judson was about God, the Church, and Politics.  I realized that politics and common sense go together like oil and water.  The event was good and helped me with my responsibility as Christian citizen.  I left the meeting realizing that Romans Chapter 13 and Acts Chapter 4 are not contrary to each other when dealing with powers ordained by God, but reminds the reader that God owns everything.  Common sense says that there are moral laws that govern society.  These moral laws come from God.  If government breaks moral laws, then we must obey God.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God . . . (Romans 13:1ff  KJV)

And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye . . . (Acts 4:18-19ff KJV)

Good Old Common Sense

 

For several years I had a segment on Moody Radio with John Rogers and Martin Houston in the morning.  Martin was former running back with the University of Alabama and is a Baptist preacher.

That morning we talked about common sense or the lack thereof.  I really feel that people are losing the ability to have common sense.   For instance, did you hear about the man who visited a psychiatrist?   He told the doctor that he was stressed and could not sleep.  After a few questions, the doctor suggested that the man take a few weeks vacation.  The man said that he and his family had just returned from two weeks in the Bahamas.

The doctor then suggested that the man might need to buy a new automobile or truck.  The man responded by saying he just bought a new sports Mercedes convertible.  The doctor suggested that he might change locations and build a new house.  The man said I just built a million-dollar house at the country club.

The psychiatrist was bewildered because the man had everything a person could have.  The psychiatrist asked, “If you have and do all these things, why are you so stressed?”  The man replied, “I make only $250 dollars a week.”

Common sense says that one cannot spend more than one makes.  Unfortunately, we as a nation do the opposite and are part of an unbelievable national debt.  We are a credit card society that wants it now.

After the radio program, I ventured to an event at Judson College.  The guest was Dr. Timothy George, Dean of the Beeson School of Divinity at Samford University.  I had Dr. George for a class when I attended Beeson.  He asked where I was serving and I told him Bethel Baptist Association.  For several years I was the only Beeson graduate serving as a Director of Missions.  Beeson, or should I say, a few professors were proud of that.

Dr. George asked, where is Bethel saying that the last time we talked he said you were near Calera.  Being we were in the auditorium of Judson College in Marion I thought that telling him about 40 miles southwest of here would do.  He responded, “Is that near Tuscaloosa?”  I said that it was about 75 miles south of Tuscaloosa and a good bit north of Mobile on the US Highway 43 corridor.  I realized that my commonsense approach to the very intellectual Dr. George was not communicating.  It is almost like the old saying, “You can’t get there from here.”  What throws people for a loop is I say Bethel Baptist Association and they automatically try to remember their Alabama history and geography realizing that Bethel is not one of the sixty-seven counties.

I felt like I was playing the “hot or cold” game with him.  Every time he would name a town, he was way off base and I was trying get him closer.  He finally said, “Then, you are near Meridian, MS?”  I said that I was closer to Meridian than Tuscaloosa.

We broke for delicious dinner.  I cannot remember how the table conversation about Nanafalia came up, but a couple of pastors at my table said they did not know how to pronounce Nanafalia.  I said it was an Indian name.  All these men were of my generation so understood that “Injun” was what is the politically correct call Native American and not an owner of a service station or a motel. I told them that Nanafalia means long hill.  One of the preachers asked where it was.  I said on Alabama highway 10 between Sweet Water and Butler.  Most had a puzzled look.  I said Nanafalia is across the Tombigbee River from Ezell’s.  Ezell’s catfish restaurant is famous throughout Alabama.

Someone said, “Then Ezell’s is in Nanafalia?”  I said do not make that mistake because it is in Lavacoa in Choctaw County next to the Nanafalia Bridge.

So, I have had a day of Common Sense, Intellectual Conversation, Political Correctness, and Politics.  The event at Judson was about God, the Church, and Politics.  I realized that politics and common sense go together like oil and water.  The event was good and helped me with my responsibility as Christian citizen.  I left the meeting realizing that Romans Chapter 13 and Acts Chapter 4 are not contrary to each other when dealing with powers ordained by God, but reminds the reader that God owns everything.  Common sense says that there are moral laws that govern society.  These moral laws come from God.  If government breaks moral laws, then we must obey God.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God . . . (Romans 13:1ff KJV)

And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye . . . (Acts 4:18-19ff KJV)

An Alligator Crossing the Nanafalia Bridge

I was visiting one of the churches I served when director of missions in Bethel down at Hoboken Baptist Church and saw a small dog that did not have a back leg.  That’s something that you don’t see everyday.  I told some small boys watching the dog that the church ran out of chicken legs for Sunday Dinner and they borrowed one from the dog.

My brother-in-law had some cousins that had a small dog that lost both back legs.  Feeling sorry for him, his uncle made the dog an apparatus with roller skate wheels attached to the puppy’s body where his legs would be.  I often wondered what he did around fire hydrants, car tires, and trees.  That’s something you don’t see everyday, a dog roller skate backside.

Back around 1972, the Goodyear Blimp was making a trip from Florida to the Iron Bowl in Birmingham.  The blimp was following Interstate 65.  I was a die setter for Keystone Metal Moulding in Clanton and I was helping a couple of co-die setters stack dies behind the building.  We spotted the blimp meandering above I-65.

Now, there were men and women working at Keystone that were very common country folk.  I could tell they had never been very far from home and lived sheltered lives.  Several ladies came running outside and were in a panic because they were seeing a UFO.  They were screaming and some were wringing their hands.  A cigar shaped silver object slowly rocking in the Eastern sky.  They thought the Lord was coming.  In a blimp. Really?

I stood there amazed at the people.  I said, “Hey y’all it’s the Goodyear Blimp headed to the game at Legion field Saturday.”  Some asked how did know it’s not a spaceship.  I said it has Goodyear written on the side.  It was something you don’t see everyday.

I was headed to the office when I noticed that the pickup in front of me had a mattress and box springs on the trailer it was pulling.  I observed that the mattress had become untied.  Suddenly, the wind picked the mattress up, up, up and away.  In the words of the crows in the Disney movie Dumbo, “Well, I have seen a horsefly, and I seen a dragonfly, yeah, I seen a housefly,” but I ain’t never seen a mattress fly until that moment.  The mattress looked like a large blue and white albatross slowly flying to the roadside.  That’s something your don’t see everyday, a mattress fly.

Speaking of seeing things on the roadside, on our way back from Texas I saw a stretch limo broke down on the side of the road.  It had a couple of doors open and the hood up.  I traveled for years and I think that was a first.  Limos with open doors and hood up are not something you see everyday.

One day traveling on the Interstate I saw port-a-let tied on the back and in the trunk of a car.  I know there are motor homes and travel trailers with built in toilets, but that was the first car I saw with one.  That’s something you do not see everyday.  The poor soul must have had Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

I was told by a truck driver that he saw a large alligator crossing the Nanafalia Bridge between Marengo and Choctaw counties.  Someone in a log truck tried to run over its tail, but most people dodged it.  When someone asked me reckon what the alligator was doing on the bridge.  I said, “Undoubtedly, he did not want to swim from Choctaw County to Marengo County, so took the bridge thinking it safer than being hit by a barge.  An alligator crossing the Nanafalia Bridge is something you don’t see every day.

Headed back home from Central State Bank in Calera when I worked at the cement plant, I saw a group of motorcycles.  The bikers and their women were a motley crew.  Long hair, beards, tattoos, and sporting sleeveless shirts and jackets they rumbled down Main Street on US Highway 31.  I noticed one of the blondes in a black leather jacket on the back of a Harley Hog was a neighbor.  What caught my eye was one of the Harleys pulled a small trailer.  A trailer behind a bike is not unusual. But, the casket on the trailer is something you don’t see every day.  I asked Shelia, my neighbor, about the casket.  She said it was a biker brother that wanted to be carried to graveyard on his bike.  Now that is something you don’t see every day. 

When is the last time you saw something that you don’t see everyday?  I think God gives us these moments where we can stop for a jiffy and ponder life.  Some things we see or hear about can be life changing like the corona virus we are experiencing this Spring of 2020. 

When Jesus walked on earth, there were plenty of things not seen every day.  The blind saw, the deaf heard, and the lame walked.  Lazarus rose from the dead, Peter walked on the water, and a small boy gave his lunch and Jesus fed five thousand.  People did not see those things every day.

I thought about Moses’ call as I pondered on these things.  He saw something that you do not see every day.  He saw a burning bush that did not burn.



And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him (Moses) in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed (Exodus 3:2 KJV).



As you venture down life’s highway, meditate on the things that you do not see everyday and ask this question.  God, what are you trying to teach me?