It Started in Our Youth

I awoke this morning to news that another member of my high school graduating class had died. It caught me off guard. This was due largely because we had chatted back and forth on Facebook and were Farmville neighbors and yet I had no clue that Shirely was having health issues. She was a woman of great faith and always seemed to find just the right words to encourage us. Shirely will be missed. Our prayers go out on behalf of her family. As I thought about Shirley's passing and her faith my thoughts turn to the days we were thrown together at Pasadena High School back in 1962. We came from Junior High campuses all over town but a large number of us came by way of Jackson Junior High. Some of us had known each other since our elementery school days while we became aquainted with others in Junior High School. But somewhere along the way we became the Pasadena High School Class of 1965 . . . a remarkable collection of personalities. Ours was largely an inclusive group. Oh to be sure we all had our circle of "best friends." But, ultimately we have become the Class of 1965 and the passing of one of us is genuinely felt by us all. I discovered via Facebook that while we may not all be "churchy" people we are largely a very spiritual people with a strong evangelical faith. That didn't "just happen. It started somewhere and I believe it might just have been in the churches we attended as youth. One of the things that I have come to recognize with the passing of time and as we have matured (and gotten older) is the influence our individual churhes had on us. Pasadena had in those day no Mega-church just a collection of small to medium size community congregations. My own high school years were spent at the Boulevard Baptist Church which is now long since gone. It was there that I trusted Christ; was called to the preaching/teaching ministry; was married; and celebrated the birth of my oldest daughter. The pastor, Estol Williams, had a profound influence on my life. He was my first Greek teacher and instilled in me a love for and desire to know the Word of God and allowed me to preach during services and generally mentored me. That local church made up largely of refinery workers, family members, and a few enterprising small businessmen made a major investment in my life and the life of scores of youth. Being a Baptist I naturally think of all the Baptist Churches of that day when I think about the spiritual develoment of the PHS Class of 1965. In addition to my church home there was Richey Street Baptist Church where Dalton Havard was pastor; Memorial Baptist where H.D. Hale served; and across the street South Main where B.J. Martin was pastor; Queens Road Baptist with Raymond Blount; and of course the First Baptist church and L.D Morgan; Thomas Avenue Baptist Church with Cullen Hawkins; I remember these churches and these pastors because they all had a special interest in our spiritual development. There were other churches as well, Sunset Methodist and Asbury Methodist as well as Central Baptist, First Presbyterian and the Christian Church on Harris and of course St Pius Catholic church sandwiched between Shaver and Main Streets. I believe we, the PHS Class of 1965, owe a great debt of gratitude to the churches of our youth. They not only taught us in Sunday School but they coached our ball teams, funded our Youth activities, and generally invested there lives in ours. Most of these people now in their 80's or already gone have no idea the influence they have had. Yet I see it every day on Facebook as members of the PHS Class of 1965 willingly respond to the hurts and losses of their Facebook Friends. It is a great comfort for me to know that when I pass from this life to the next I will not only be reunited with family but also so many of the members of the Class of 1965. As a dear friend of my says, "I'll see you here, there or in the air."