Judy Small was a young college student when we went to our first full-time church after Seminary. Her dad, Howard Small, was pastor of Calvary Baptist in Lufkin. Her mother was church secretary. She had a younger sister named Fran. This was back in 1962. The winds of change were beginning to blow across our country. Calvary was mostly a blue-collar church of folks who worked at the paper-mill or foundry, or had small businesses. It was a wonderful fellowship of folks. I had a large choir of mostly untrained voices. Our Sunday "specials" came from singspiration song books and such. Judy was active in our youth program. She and Fran were the models of what Christian young people should be. Our ministry in that church was cut short when I was recalled to military service during the Cuban missile crisis.
This week Judy called us. She and her husband are retired and live in Bonham. He had been an
engineer with Alcoa. She had been a teacher. Alcoa moved them to places around the world. She was coming to Port Lavaca, and wanted to see us. We had only seen each other at the funerals of her parents. That was many years ago. We had a delightful visit for most of the day Friday. It was amazing what we all remembered from those brief months. It was also amazing to me that someone would seek us out after all those years. I could not help but think of those words we have sung through the years:
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
There is nothing quite like Christian fellowship. It is one of kinship, for we are brothers and sisters in Christ. It is only a touch of what it will be when we are joined together in the eternal presence of God. Judy's visit really made our day!
