Pastor Buddy’s Blog

Hi Journal,

CJ and I’ve just come back from our morning walk. (11:15 am). He really loves to roll around in the grass. Our church property is? large with plenty of grassy areas. One thing I really find interesting. When we are returning to the parsonage, CJ will go over to Snicker’s grave and linger there for a bit. He’s done this a couple of times.? It is as though CJ knows about Snicker’s departure.

Where do I begin? There is so much I want to talk about. Hope I don’t bore you with this entry. It will be a bit longer than usual.

Let’s start with last evening. Had a call from Bud Frederick last evening.? Was just checking up on me to? wish me a happy new year. Course he remarked about my web cam talk with the congregation. Got another vote on how good I look. I really enjoy calls from our church folk.? Bud and Donna are such faithful members. Bud works with our sound system and Donna is going to begin helping with our church office work on Fridays.

Betty’s sister Karen called to bring us up to date on Reza. I am so happy that he did well with the open-heart surgery.

I received another call yesterday afternoon that blessed me beyond measure. (Most calls do that to me.) Will White called to check up on me. Will and Eunice have always been very special people to me. Lots of memories there. They were members of my second church pastorate, Red Top Pentecostal Church. This was the? church that became the launching pad for Christian Challenge.

Actually? I? held my first revival in that church as an evangelist in August, 1970. (That was after I had already pastored my first church.) The last night of the revival I wanted to hug folk before we closed out the meetings.? Will? was the last person in line. When he stood before me, Will just dropped to his knees.? That scene is forever etched in my mind. I prayed with him and then it came time to? move on.

Here is the interesting thing. Will did not go on to serve the Lord at that time. But 30 years later on the anniversary of my first revival, that is, August, 2000, I was asked to hold another meeting at the same church. Guess what. I got to baptize Will and also baptized my oldest sister, Bertie. All I can say is that the Lord? leaves no job unfinished.

Bertie and Eunice and Will are coming for a visit shortly. Eunice is one of the Lord’s most precious saints on this side of heaven. How I love that family. In fact I’ve always loved that church. To this day whenever there is to be a funeral for an older member, they often? ask me to conduct the services.

Speaking of baptisms — I don’t know how many people that I’ve baptized over the years. One thing of special note. As? young minister I made me a prayer list. Put? my family on it, that is,? mom, dad, my three sisters, in-laws, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts, cousins and so on. This was primarily my Martin family list. Much of my Carver kin were serving the Lord. (Actually I put on the list those that the Lord placed on my heart. This is a good way not to miss anyone.)

One by one by one I baptized just about everyone on my list, with the exception of in-laws.? Baptized my dad in a bath tub 30 days before he passed over. Baptized my mom. Baptized my sisters, most of their children, an uncle and aunt, quite a few cousins. God was so faithful to honor my intercessions for my family. My encouragement to any believer is to make you a prayer list of those that the Lord places on your heart. If they are on your heart, it is because they are on God’s heart.

I want to share an interesting memory. The person that I miss most in all the world is my mom. All we kids were close to mama. But I well remember the many times she would talk with me and share her heart. One conversation in particular that I remember took place when I was just a teenager.

Mama was sharing with me just how special our Carver family was. It was as though she wanted to share something with me but couldn’t find the words. I thought at the time that it was simply family pride. But this one conversation left me puzzled. What is it mama?

Over the many years I remember one thing that mama said that she wanted me to take hold of. She said that our family had Black Dutch lineage, that this was where the Carver family got their olive complection and dark hair. I do remember that my grandmother Carver was darker than grandpa. (She was an O’Banion.)

Could this be mom’s secret. I finally went about to find out what Black Dutch meant. What I found is that it is an illusive term. But one area of research caught my attention in a special way. Here are a couple of quotes:

“[The Black Dutch are] Sephardic Jews who married Dutch Protestants [Christians] to escape the inquisition, many of their descendants later moved to the Americas, the ‘black’ referring to their dark hair and complexion.”

As I continue my research I found that many of these peoples settled “along the Sabine River in Louisiana and Texas.”? It appears that the Black Dutch had quite a mixture of people groups, but one line reaches back to the Sephardic Jews. (The Sabine Territory is where my family settled.)

Pardon my ramblings, but to continue, I’ve always wondered why there were so many ministers in my family line. But if these Sephardic Jews became real Christians, then they would have brought their Jewish zeal into their Christian faith. The point is that no one can match a Jewish Christian when it comes to being a defender of the faith. All the apostles were Jewish.

I could expound on this quite a bit more but I don’t want to bore you. Let me just share some? thoughts on my? Martin lineage. Through my great-grandfather’s marriage, our family lines traces back to the early Spanish settlers in the Natchitoches area, that is, to the DeRouens, the Aargons, the Torres, and the De Los Reye families. Any of these folk could easily have been Maranos.

Maranos are Spanish Jews who converted to Catholicism to avoid persecution. Many were crypto-Jews. Others became true Christians. My grandpa Martin became Pentecostal, but he always made the sign of the cross when entering the church. Would have got this from his mom. This is another issue that has lingered in my mind over the years. O well.

Nuff on that. Lane called this morning. What a refreshing conversation we had. Lane has such a love for Jesus. And he has such a heart of a disciple. To top it off, Lane is going to fix Betty and me some catfish tomorrow and bring it to the parsonage. Just in time. Boy have I ever been hankering for some fresh fish.?

(Ever notice how I’m always hankering for something? That is the sign of a connoisseur? of good food.)

Lane went to hear Terry Terrell at Union Baptist church last evening. Terry is a wonderful singer. He cries a lot and just melts? your heart. Maybe one day we can have him at Christian Challenge. I keep trying to tell our folks that Southern Gospel is the music they have in heaven. Not sure I’ve convinced any one of that fact.

Lane said they had a wonderful time. The church roasted a pig and? made everyone feel welcome. Ain’t nothing like a fresh? pig roast.

Let’s see. What else? My buddie Warren called around 10 this morning. Miss Lori is not feeling well. Warren said he wasn’t as good a care taker as Lori is. We all know that. No one can take care of sick folk like mama. What would we do without our sweet wives.

Ok, Bertie called. She has her blackeyed peas and cabbage on. Making peach cobbler and corn bread. This is a new year day tradition with folk in the south. Now why did she have to go tell me about that. My mouth is watering and my stomach rumbling.?

Ok, I’ll leave with this. Of all my friends that I have, which are many, I have to tell you that? my best friend in all the world is my wonderful wife, Betty. Not every man can say that their wife is their best friend. I can. I would rather be with Betty than a bunch of men any day of the week. Other than Jesus, she alone holds the keys to my heart, and she can unlock any door that she pleases. (Love you sweet girl.)

I’m through. Hope I haven’t bored you too much.

Blessings,

Buddy