The temperature had dropped at least 10 degrees as the final minutes of a special season for the Pace football team neared its end.
Here in Gainesville, on a chilly evening in late November, the Patriots had just lost possession of the football off a fumble and now all that was left was for Buchholz to run out the clock in a Region 1-6A semifinal.
Christians, it is that season of the year when you can expect your pastor to ask your congregation, “What are you thankful for?” The question ignites your organic search engine to launch a scan of your recent history for any events or circumstances that rise to the level of thanks-worthiness. Pastors always hope that the question will open a floodgate of thanksgiving, and sometimes it does. When it doesn’t, we resort to coaxing, restating the question again and again into the uncomfortable silence. Of course, we pastors could break the silence with our own expressions of thanks.
Sometimes we focus on what we don’t have, or situations we aren’t in, and we lose sight of what we do have and where we are. I know I have a lot to be thankful for – at all times – even when I’m wrapped up in the day-to-day busy-ness of life. I gathered these versus to remind me of what true thanksgiving is and what my gratitude should be focused on. I hope you enjoy them during this time that we take a break from our routines and focus on being thankful for all of our many blessings – or as we set out to purposefully be a blessing to others.
We at Sandpaper Publishing have much to be thankful for, beginning with our members and readers. You fuel the passion we have for publishing three newspapers each week for three communities. We work hard to report and write the stories the matter most to you. We are your voice and are privileged to be in that role. Thank you for choosing us as your news and information source. We hope you stay tuned because we have so much more work to do for you.
I hope you all are taking time to enjoy Thanksgiving week and are taking a break from the madness of the daily grind.
I can tell you I am certainly doing that after months of bouncing around football fields, golf courses, gyms and more.
My wife says I can find a topic for a column in the most mundane things. I think she is exaggerating. Anyway, I was walking from the kitchen to my office with a full cup of coffee trying not to spill. It seemed that the more I focused on not spilling, the more likely it was that I would. Caution made my posture rigid, my gait stiff. Slight missteps elicited a jerky correction that set the hot liquid in motion.
Last Thursday we said goodbye to two county commissioners whose bid for re-election failed…and failed miserably. Sam Parker and James Calkins are moving on down the road, one is literally moving. Calkins sold his house in Milton and has moved out of Santa Rosa County. Not a bad idea, one we can all get behind. There probably would have been a line of volunteers to pack the moving truck if he had asked for help.
Flipping commitments is a common thing in collegiate athletics. An athlete might decide in July that North Carolina is the place for him to play.
And then a few months later, an athlete might say, ‘I’d rather take my talents to Auburn or Alabama.’
Independence is a word cherished by most in this country. On July 4, 1776, the United States of America officially declared its independence from Great Britain. My home country of Canada was not officially declared independent until 1982!
Hey Santa Rosa County – we want better roads. We want a way to get some traffic off Highway 98. We want you to do something about flooding. We want our infrastructure to match our growth!
