Robinson Chapel on Howe Street

Last Friday night I found myself walking door to door on Howe Street in Alcoa. If you know anything about law enforcement in Blount County, you know that the Howe Street Park has been the setting for more than one crime story, but do you know about Robinson Chapel Cumberland Presbyterian Church less than a block away? I had visited there before but truly had no idea when my friends pulled me inside the church what the fifth day of a Revival with a dynamite preacher was really like. I cannot accurately capture the rhythm, the music and the Word but let me say that I am further convinced that whatever plans we may think we have God's plans are seldom the same as ours.

Kindness to Children

I met a lady in her seventies at a chinese restraunt who told me a wonderful story about a kind act of my mother while she was teaching 3rd grade in Rockford over sixty years ago. She remembered the class and the times and explained how poor people were then in the 1940s and how one little girl had come to school without shoes eventhough the weather had begun to turn cold. My mom brought in an eigth grade teacher to read to the class and explained to the class that she was going to town and would be back. She took the little girl to town and they returned with shoes and new clothes and the lady telling me the story pointed to me and said: "You see people never forget a kindness to children" and then hesitated for a second and said: "they never forget a meanness either."

That's a true story and some great advice for all of us. We are often better remembered for the little things we do or don't do than those "big" things which weigh so heavily on our minds.