Pastor Mike graciously asked me to preach in our Chapel at the Beach this Lord’s Day.   He is joining his family in Georgia to celebrate his Mother’s 81st birthday.  He said that they did not do much celebrating last year on her 80th and have been reminded about that - so they decided they better try to make it up to her this year.

Have you ever noticed how women view birthday’s?  Before they get to be about 80 years old they are afraid someone will know how old they are - BUT- once they hit that magic number 80, they are afraid no one will know!?!?

We are told the age of many of the men in the Old Testament and some in the New Testament.  BUT, only two women in the Bible whose age is revealed.  And they didn’t tell it, God did.  But He didn’t tell until they were past 80.  I’m sure you know who they were ?

Mike has been preaching a series from the little epistle of First John on the subject: “You might be a Christian if…”  He asked me to preach on the last chapter.  I hope you’ll pray for us.

What a privilege it was to preach in the Wynnbrook Baptist Church on the Lord’s Day!  It was a blessing to be able to report to the church that I am still preaching the pure and simple GOSPEL of Grace that I learned from the good men and women in those Sunday School classes!

And then an added blessing on top of blessing!  Cousins James and Regina invited the whole family over for Sunday dinner.  WOW!  What a challenge for those dear young folks.  Harriet figured that there were 39 of us in their home.  All the ladies brought ‘fixins’ of some of the best groceries this side of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb!  Quite a gathering- all the best cooks in Georgia showing off in one meal!

Thank you, Gracious Lord! 

I still have the certificate, faded from 50 years of proudly hanging on my wall.  It says: 

We the undersigned, hereby certify that upon the recommendation of the Philadelphia Baptist Church at Blairsville, Georgia, which had full and sufficient opportunity for judging his gifts and after satisfactory examination by us in regard to his Christian experience, call to the ministry, and views of Bible doctrine,

Julian Dunaway Gordy, Jr.

was solemnly and publicly set apart and ordained to the work of

THE GOSPEL MINISTRY

by authority and order

of the Wynnton Baptist Church at Columbus, Georgia

on the Second day of November, 1958

The certificate was signed by the preachers on the ordination council whose signatures have since faded into almost invisibility.  I well remember that my pastor was Glenn C. Womack and others on the council included my cousin Jim Lindsay and my dear friend and classmate Shuford M. Jones, our beloved pastor emeritus Frank G. Lavender and my Uncle    B. B. Gordy, Sr. was there as a deacon and the church clerk. 

And this Lord’s Day, November 9, 2008, I will have the privilege of preaching in that beloved church again.  I can hardly wait!

>>>see pictures of Philadelphia Baptist Church on the ‘photos’ page <<<

We had a wonderful week away, visiting family and attending the Alumni weekend at TMC.  But as with all trips, it was good to get home.

Are you old enough to remember a popular song of years gone by?  “The longest mile you’ll ever roam, is the last mile home”.  Should have been the sweetest mile.

We had a mountain of snail mail and just about as many emails waiting in our INBOX.  I’ve been working at them and hope to finish (?) or at least make some headway on them this week.

I preached in the Cornerstone Baptist Church here on the beach today.  It has been a privilege to be with these good folks for several weeks and look forward to preaching for them several more.  One of the blessings to me has been doing a series of messages -don’t get to do that often as in itinerant preacher which I’ve been for 34+ years.  I’ve been preaching messages from Acts 11-16 on the characteristics of the New Testament church.

Harriet and I had such a blessed and enjoyable weekend with some very nice old people. They were just kids when we started college together up in Cleveland, GA. And sure enough, by the looks of the old men who had no problem recognizing me, it must have been 1957 instead of 2007 like I remember. Funny how the girls just got a little prettier and the boys all became old men! Glad it didn’t happen to me!

And we are enjoying the beautiful mountains so well we decided to stay a couple of extra days! Not a hard choice for us to make. Neither Harriet nor I were born in the mountains but the mountains were sure born in us!

the young lady at the reception desk of the Smith House asked.
“How old are you, little lady?” I asked her in return. She said she was 24 years old.

“Well, I ate here 22 years before you were born,” I informed her.

The truth is, we college boys came over to Dahlonega from Cleveland to eat when we could scrape together enough money for gas and the meal. The dining hall at the Smith House was family style, all you could eat and some of the best cooking a college boy could get away from home. And we DID get our money’s worth when we ate!

It was one place I wanted to take my bride on our honeymoon. So Harriet and I stopped there back in 1962 and we have been back occasionally. We did not eat there today but we did enjoy an ice cream cone up on the town square!

And we promised ourselves that next time we will get to Dahlonega in time to see if the food is as good as always.