James Denison told about the senior adult lady who finished her shopping and returned to her car, only to find four men sitting in it. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, screaming at the top of her lungs that she knew how to use it and would if she had to, so get out of her car!
The four men ran like crazy!
She then calmed down enough to place her bags in the back of the car and sit down in the driver’s seat. However, her key wouldn’t fit the ignition. She was quite puzzled, but got out, and then found her car, identical to this car, parked four spaces up from this one.
She loaded her bags into her car, and feeling guilty, drove straight to the police station. The sergeant to whom she told her story nearly doubled over in laughter as he pointed to the other end of the counter, where four guys with knees still knocking were reporting a car-jacking by an angry senior adult woman.
Thankfully, no charges were filed.
We have some spunky seniors out there, don’t we? I have some in my church, sweet, seasoned men and women, talented and committed folks, who make good things happen.
One of those is a dear lady I’ll call Nora. Miss Nora was a preacher’s wife. She and her late husband served churches in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Germany. He was an outstanding pastor and their congregations loved them.
Before that, she was a Navy man’s wife. Her husband served our country in the US Navy as a chief on several aircraft carriers. He began his career during World War II and put in 20 years. Then he continued in the reserves for several years. They loved military life, but God transferred him from that duty into the Lord’s army, the pastorate.
So Nora has a special place in her heart for our military personnel. When she spots someone in uniform, she’ll approach him or her and ask, “May I do something for you?”
On our side of town, it’s usually someone in Army fatigues. The soldier will answer, “Sure.”
Nora then says, “I want to give you a big hug and tell you how proud I am of you for serving our country. Thank you.” Then she wraps arms of appreciation around him or her.
Last Thanksgiving, Nora flew to Maryland to visit her son and his family. Her gate was full of soldiers bound for Afghanistan, and she walked up to them, told them how proud she was of them, and gave everyone of them a hug.
She said, “I don’t know how many I hugged. They were from all over the country and some of them had tears rolling down their faces.”
Nora told them, “Just remember when things get tight over there, when the bullets start flying, there’s an old lady here in the Atlanta area that’s praying for you.” And then they’d want another hug.
Recently, Nora was at the grocery store, and a soldier was picking out some fruit. Nora walked up to her and said, “Can I do something for you?”
“All right.”
“I want to give you a hug and thank you for serving my country.”
The lady responded, “No one has ever done that for me before.”
Nora said that if she could figure out how to put it together, she’d start “Hug a Soldier Day.”
Of course, when she says soldier, she’s referring to all of our men and woman serving our nation in every branch of our military. If she had her way, every day would be Hug A Soldier Day.
That’s not a bad idea. I say let’s get on the bandwagon and be sure that every time we run into a man or woman in uniform to tell them how much we appreciate what they are doing for our country.
As Nora says, “I just love my soldiers.”
Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Fayetteville, Ga. The church family gathers at 352 McDonough Road and invites you to join them for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. Visit them on the web at www.mcdonoughroad.org.
