Bethel Baptist Church

I heard a couple of great love stories recently. In December I had the privilege of attending a breakfast at Ben and Becky Turner’s beautiful home. They hosted the Chick-fil-A Monday Morning Devotional Group for a Christmas breakfast. The food was delicious. As a side note, I got to try Ben Turner’s famous Oyster Stew, and it was fantastic! As good as the food was, the fellowship and conversation were even better. After breakfast we gathered in the Turner’s living room for a devotional and prayer time. Somehow the conversation turned to how we met our spouses. The stories were heart warming and nostalgic.

“I’ve known Nancy Parks (Glazener) ever since I can remember. Her family and my family went to the same church (Black Branch Baptist). Her grandfather donated the land that the church was built on. Both of my grandfathers and grandmothers were early members of that church as were both our parents.

I was born in June 1943, because of that my father had been given a deferment from being drafted into the Army. Shortly after my birth my father was called back for the draft and was inducted into the Army. Upon completion of his basic training my father was stationed at Fort McPherson, College Park, GA. My father had an aunt living in College Park, GA and she was willing to allow my mother and father to live there while daddy was stationed there, my mother planned to travel by train from our home in Chase City, VA to Atlanta, GA to meet my father.

In those days there were no car seats for infants to travel in. A portable crib called a bassinet, allowed mothers to travel with their babies. With me being the first child of our family, my mother did not own a bassinet but Nancy’s mother, Mildred, did. By then Mildred’s first child was old enough not to need a bassinet so my mother borrowed Mildred Park’s bassinet and used that for me to travel by train to Atlanta, GA. My mother said that I slept in it the whole time we lived in College Park (less than a year) and also on the return train trip back home. Shortly after this, Mrs. Parks had a little girl named Nancy and she needed the bassinet for Nancy to sleep in. Little did either mother know that the two babies that slept in that bassinet would marry each other 21 years 4 months and 29 days later and enjoy over 52 years of marriage together.”

Hearing the Glazener’s story, and other’s like it, gives me a thought: We need to tell these stories in Church. Why? We all love a good love story, but beyond that, if we listen carefully and prayerfully to these stories, we can sense God’s guiding hand of blessing. As I listened to Dennis and Nancy’s story it was amazing to me how all of the details of their story were woven together. These circumstances of their birth, where they lived, and how their lives unfolded ultimately led them to the altar to stand before the Lord and a congregation of people to pledge their love and their lives to one another.