OBSERVATIONS FROM THE GUY

ABOUT THE WEBMASTER, PART 1

Many might ask who is this person hidden behind the veil of the internet, trying to tell us how to secure our church? Its a valid question and I feel a little background on myself is owed to the readers of this site. First off I am a disciple of Christ who is just trying to live the life the Lord has laid out before me as best I can. In this life God has given me specific skill and knowledge that may be of use to others and while on a break between posts between churches decided rather than doing nothing and enjoying the break, running to the first church that has asked me to secure their facility, that sharing my experiences online might reach someone and save someone some work or many the pain of a life altering event on thier church campus. I am still advising and training but God has not led me to a permanent post at this moment so for now I will share for better and hopefully not worse'

I was born in Atlanta Georgia and my second Sunday on this earth my parents had me in the nursery of a large north metro area church. This was the early 1960's when big churches were a newer idea and my father was a deacon in every church the Lord ever moved him to. While I have a lot of early memories of growing up in the church, if the doors were open our family was there, one particular early experience sticks out as significant. This day was when I was early elementary school school age and went with my dad to purchase a handgun. I remember him asking lots of questions, handling a myriad of guns and finally deciding on one that fit in his pocket relatively easy and was of large enough caliber to put a evil doer down. I asked, dad what the gun was for and he said it was to protect the church and his family. We lived in the safest neighborhood a person could ask for where doors were seldom locked and children wandered unsupervised except for the watchful eyes of the neighborhood elders. Something had happened at church and all I knew was that my dad and the other deacons were arming themselves.

Welcome to 1969 and when the world changed for a young boy. I was six years old and knew something bad had happened at church, significant enough that guns were needed to keep it, or worse, from happening again. I was shown where the gun was kept and told not to touch it. I also grew up in a home where in certain topics, when dad spoke it was law to be followed, not an option to be negotiated. For the next six years I grew up with my church family and a brother was added to my biological family and we had the most wonderful lives children could live. At age 11 life took a very interesting turn, my dad retired early to watch his sons grow up and moved us to the country. He bought a large farm that had been in my mothers family since Georgia was a colony where I could trace my roots to before the Revolutionary War. It took a year to build a house for our grandmother, barn for our horses and a home for our family. Due to trying to live in the Metro area during the week and work at the farm on weekends dad resigned from the board of Deacons and suddenly our church attendence went from three days a week to sporadic.

By age 12 we were fully moved and looking for a new church home. In the tranistion time we had an issue or two on the farm where calling the local sheriff was required. Imagine our suprise when we discovered dialing the operator (pre 911 days) and asking for help meant the sherrif showed up not in a few minutes or even an hour or so but the next day. We were from suburbia where calling the police had a car at your place of need in a matter of minutes. Those two long waits for the sherrif were followed by sage advice on second visit. He asked dad if he had a gun and replied yes, asked if mom and I had one and was told no. Sherrif told dad to arm ourselves, next event might be more than threats and we were on our own till the next day most times unless someone was dead. There wasn't even an ambulance or fire truck in the county, people took care of their own issues and he came and wrote the report. At age 12 I was given two items the same day, a Volkswagen Beetle and a Ruger Mk 1 Standard pistol. I was told to stay on dirt roads and if messed up with either would loose both.

That same year we became friends with the local game warden who not only coached me with my shooting but taught me the basics of reloading and got me my hyunters safety card which was quickly followed by a large caliber rifle to go with my rimfire rifle and pistol. To a young kid all these new toys were facinating and being a voracious reader every month was a long wait for the new issue of Shooting Times plus Guns and Ammo. By age 15 I was no longer reloading on the game wardens equipment but my own and had a collection of firearms that rivaled many adults. I carried a Smith & Wesson M19 Combat Master 357 Mag on my hip daily before legally old enough to drive. I was going into the woods overnite by myself and was able to fend for myself and defend myself before most kids where I came from had their Learner's License for driving.

During this time we continued to look for a church home but coming from a church with well over 1,000 members, multiple services and a pastor with a PhD in Theology we found ourselves making the 90 minute one way drive to our home church most Sundays. I joined the Childrens Orhestra as was better playing an instrument than singing and we tried to continue inthe manner we had grown accustomed to but a three hour round trip to church finally wore my parents down. There will be more to this soon but enough for today, will add to my story soon but welcome to my childhood for now. To God be the Glory, lets keep our congregations safe. We will be adding articles as time permits and this page will be the gateway to more than one page of observations.

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