1962

 

In 1962, my dad and several other men under the leadership of Brother Grant Nelson, helped to start Faith Baptist Church in Joppa, Maryland.  After meeting in Pete Beavers’ basement for several months, the new church had enough money to buy property near the old Joppa post office.  The ten acres had a house, a goat barn, and a two-story block building used as a turkey barn.  The men shoveled out truckload after truckload of turkey manure before they got down to the floor.  But the work was a blessing in disguise: they sold the manure to a farmer and made money for the renovations.  Every Saturday was spent from daylight to sunset working on the church property.  As a junior high boy, I learned how to be a Christian man by watching and listening to those men as they worked on the new church.  They sweated and laughed and worked together to get the job done.  What an impact on my life!  One particular Saturday, two men were cleaning out the old hand-dug well. My dad had made a windless to crank the buckets of sludge up and out.  Another man was down in the well digging while the bucket was being emptied topside.  My dad would unhook the full bucket, set it aside, hook up an empty bucket, and then carry the full bucket away from the well to be dumped.  But as he turned his back, the weight of the empty bucket was just enough to overcome the resistance of the windless, and while no one was watching, the bucket began to descend on its own.  As the rope played out of the windless it added more weight, and the bucket plummeted out of control.  My younger friend, Richard, boldly reached out grabbing the rope stopping the bucket’s out of control descent.  Mt dad secured the rope, and another man triaged Richard’s hand.  Richard’s palm was scraped, blistered, and bleeding from the rope burn, but he was fine otherwise.  Quick thinking on Richard’s part was fortunate for the man down in the well.  But Richard had a reason for his quick action: the man at the bottom of the well was his dad.  Hey, Richard’s brave concern reminds me of the dear Lord’s concern for lost sinners like me.  Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  Thank you, Lord, for your love for me!  Thank you for your sacrifice on Calvary!