From Sampler to Sower

It’s been a bittersweet day today.

It’s Sunday, January 31 as I write this.  Unusual I know.  I don’t normally write on Sunday.  (Of course, I guess you could say lately, I don’t normally write.)

But I’ve got some time on my hands now.  I’m sitting in the food court at the mall while my son and a bunch of his friends watch To Save A Life with about 100 others from our church.  I went to the first showing with about 200 of my closest friends.  And as good as it was, I didn’t feel like sitting through a second round so soon.  So while he watches, I’m writing.

The movie is a big part of the sweetness of the day.  (I should probably be posting this in my “Why I Love My Church” series, but instead it’s here.)  We really felt like this movie was something God wanted to use to speak to our youth ministry and church.

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I really don’t intend for this to become a series, but there’s lots of cool stuff happening in Middletown, and I just can’t help but celebrate some of the great people involved in these huge successes.

Yesterday, my family attended the Luray  Harvest Festival, affectionately known as “Luray Day.”  But to fully appreciate what that means, we need to give you some back story.

First, there’s the town.  Luray is officially a “unincorporated community” in north central Henry County, in Indiana.  In other words, it’s a road, along which you can find about ten houses and one small church.  And just outside town there’s a 600 acre gravel pit.  That’s about it.  You can take a virtual tour of the town using Google’s Streetview.  (That’s right, streetview has even been to Luray.)

Back in it’s heyday it was a little bit more.  I hear on good authority that there used to be a blacksmith shop, a general store, a hotel, and a public livestock pen so people driving their herds down highway three could stop, corral their livestock, and rest comfortably in the hotel.  But that was a long time ago.  Luray hasn’t seen that much business since . . . well, since you went to town to look for a blacksmith’s shop.

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