Throwback Thursday.... The Reverend Doctor P. L. Barrett was the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Blacksburg, Virginia, during my years as a college student. In those days of yore…before pastors had armorbearers, adjutants, and entourages…I used to be the “gopher” – “Teal....” – Dr. Barrett would bellow from his office – and I knew I had to “go-fer ‘this’” or “go-fer ‘that.’” One of my unofficial duties as “go-fer” was to serve as the pastors “chauffeur.” And in that capacity I drove Rev. Barrett all over Southwestern Virginia! Dr. Barrett was in demand as an evangelist, and his preaching ability coupled with the fact that he was perpetually President This Conference or Moderator That Association or holding some other significant denominational office kept him (and therefore his chauffeur) on the road between Blacksburg and Roanoke. Early on in my chauffeuring days, I had occasion to drive Dr. Barrett to Roanoke across Christiansburg Mountain. I had ridden with him along the route several times, and I think maybe I had even driven it once or twice…but this particular Sunday “Doc” had preached pretty hard and he decided to get a “catnap” as we made the 35 minute trek “down the mountain.” I think I must have been driving his VW Beetle. I don’t know exactly what Rev. Barrett had done to it. (He was always tinkering with something.) But that thing could roll…and roll we did – around curves, across railroad tracks, over one-way bridges, down steep slopes, across streams…. I liked the chauffeuring gig because – [a] I was a broke college student with no car and [b] Rev. Barrett didn’t pay too much attention to the speedometer. So there we were – flying across the countryside…windows down, wind blowing through my S-Curl. Knowing me, I was probably day-dreaming and driving because I remember that all of a sudden, I realized that I was lost! I tried to get back on track, but the second time I passed the same burned out farmhouse with the same cows grazing in the same field, it was a wrap. Now….you would have to know Rev. Barrett to know that I agonized over waking him up because I knew I was going to have to hear his mouth…and he was not going to be reciting the Lord’s Prayer, either… Just as I got up enough courage to take the tongue lashing that was sure to be mine and looked over at him, he cocked one eye open and said, “Teal, I was wondering how long your were going to keep driving around this field…..turn here!” And just like that….we were on our way to Roanoke! In the mornings text, Deuteronomy 2:3 - we encounter Moses and the children of Israel. They have been walking around Mount Seir for 38 years, going in circles. God said to them: Youve been going around in circles long enough. Turn, here. Turn northward. Isnt it wonderful to know that God offers Gods people both then and now... A New Direction. [Yeah, it was the set up for last Sundays sermon...]
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 20:41:12 +0000
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