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Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life
by Tom Kelley
"From the bottom of the hill..."
That tag line used to be the lead in for a number of columns that I wrote when we lived in the little community of Waco, near Richmond, Kentucky. We lived on the top of the hill about a quater mile from the recognized hub of the community. That hub was the Waco Food Mart. Along with it's grocery store there was also a rather nice little restaurant. Every morning the local men would gather in there for breakfast and conversation. My neighbor on the hill suggested that I needed to become a part of that gathering, so I did. I never regretted it. It taught me something that I never eally totally understood until then. People need to gather.
Every community here in Kentucky has its gathering place. In Mount Vernon that place used to be the Druthers out near the Interstate. When Wendy's bought out Druthers the gathering place became Wendy's. In Richmond it was a McDonald's restaurant on the Eastern Bypass. Here in Georgetown it is a little mom & pop restaurant called Fava's. Perhaps your community has one of those places. I seem to remember a donut shop or two in New York and Ohio that served as gathering places for those who wanted food for the body and the mind to start the day.
That's the kicker. Those early morning gatherings are wake up calls. Time to get awake and start the day. What better way to do that than with a good breakfast and good conversation with good friends. I can remember some of those times in Waco were times when someone in the group would ask or say something that made us all have to think a little bit. Some thought that unfair. I remember one such occasion when we were challenged to think about something and one man responded with, "It's too early to think. If I wanted to think I'da stayed home with the missus."
In 2004 I was a part of a group of seven people who met every morning of the work week at a place called the Lock n Key. It was coffee shop where an informal group met for some rather intense discussion from time to time. We wanted to be made to think. The conversations were brisk and the topics ranged from that of abortion to Karl Barth's theology. People need to gather and do more than just sit. They need to relate. That is why the gathering know as the church is so important.
"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24,25 I see people today who are making all out efforts to make church a worship time. That's great. I have nothing against that. The Hebrews writer on the other hand says that gathering better serves the purpose of stirring up "love and good works " as we "exhort one another" while we are together. Wonder how that would increase attendance? Imagine, a gathering place for Christians.
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...He was the Minister of the Minorsville Christian Church located near Stamping Ground, KY.
...Becky and Tom have three children; John, single and in worship ministry in Nicholasville, Kentucky; Sean, married (Jennifer, elementary school teacher) with twins (Grace and Patrick, b.d. 10/31/04) and regional director of Papa John's Pizza in Central KY; Kara, married (Vince Taylor, prison guard) and working with Hospice East in Winchester, KY.
...Tom went to be with the Lord on November 13, 2009 after a lengthy battle with cancer. If you have been touched by Tom's writings please send an email to Tom's son at jkelley@catalystchristian.net
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