Tailgate Service Was Packed
The church that sits on the hill overlooking College Street was packed to beyond capacity Sunday night.
It was the annual “tailgate service;” a time in which the members of the First United Methodist Church honor the athletes from our local high schools and wish them success on their upcoming seasons.
It’s probably a southern thing to merge high school sports and religion but I guess that’s one of the great things about living in the South.
The evening reminded of an old country and western song by Bobby Bare that featured this chorus:
Drop kick me Jesus through the goalpost of life,
End over end neither left nor the right,
Straight through the heart of those righteous uprights,
Drop kick me Jesus through the goal post of life.
(Song from Bobby Bar’s Greatest Hits, Bareworks Inc.
Words and music by Paul Craft.)
We didn’t sing that song but we did sing a few praise choruses.
The coaches of both our local high school football teams spoke about their expectations for the coming seasons.
The athletic directors of each of the two schools also shared a word.
One of our adult parishioners later commented that it “Looks like we have some great coaches in the community!” Indeed we do. Not only do we have great coaches our educational institutions are blessed with wonderful leadership in all phases of their operations.
Two of the youth from our church inspired those assembled with musical selections.
Darell Huckaby of Conyers, author, educator and newspaper columnist both entertained and inspired those assembled with a motivational message. He spoke of one of the worst words in the English language, the word “can’t.”
He told his own story of how many had told him “You can’t do that” but he beat the odds and persevered and did what he was told could not be done.
He told us the “Porterdale Paraphrased Version” of the story of David and Goliath. He reminded us all that when the giants in our lives say we can’t that by the power of God when can say that “yes we can.”
All in all it was one of those wonderful occasions that causes one to say, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”
So this Friday night the Cougars will travel over to Siloam to face Nat Greene and kick off another football season and the Hurricanes will make the drive up Highway 11 to take on Monroe and begin their season.
On behalf of the folks at the First United Methodist Church we wish you the best this year.
Remember this year that while winning and losing is important, (after all that’s why there is a scoreboard at the end of the field), one is always a winner if the experience of sports leads to the development of greater character.
May God be with you on your journey this season.