Pleasant Memories

I haven't updated my blog for about a week. Last week was basically a blur of activities. There has been very little free time to spend on blogging due to the fact that I have spent 6 of the past seven days in a place where my roots run deep - Logan, WV.
Logan is nestled in a narrow valley of the Guyandotte River, sixty nine miles down State Rt. 10 from Huntington, WV. It is the county seat of the county that bears the same name. I was born at Holden (about 5 miles from Logan) nearly 58 years ago. Boy has that place changed in 58 years! The former center of town would have been Stratton Street (pictured to the left), a narrow thoroughfare that passes the County Courthouse, and a number of shops and offices. However, the new center of commerce is a place called Fountain Place Mall, located on four lane U.S. Rt. 119 just on the north side of downtown.


Last Saturday, I took the two local grandsons and traveled with Mom and Dad to visit a community near Logan that no longer exists. That community was Dehue, a coal camp that had built up in the 30's through the 70's around a productive mine, owned by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. The remaining buildings of Dehue were demolished in 2003 and now there is only a narrow hollow where hundreds of people formerly lived, worked, and played. Each year, the living former residents of Dehue gather for a reunion. It's almost more of a "family reunion" than a community reunion. For more information regarding the Dehue
Reunion, you may click on this link that will take you to my post of August 10, 2007. http://cjablog.blogspot.com/2007/08/dehue-reunion.html Pictured below is an old photo of the supervisor's homes in the "bottom" at Dehue. We had a good time at the reunion, but that was just the beginning of my busy week in Logan.

Beginning Monday night, we started a revival meeting at Central Baptist Church in Logan. I still tried to put in a couple of days in the church office at Westmoreland Baptist, but the revival and travel time put that time at a premium. I certainly would like to thank Sonia Jones, my super efficient Church Secretary, for her tremendous help this past week. On the nights I commuted to Logan I didn't arrive back home in Ashland until after 11:00PM. I did stay in Logan a couple of nights to take some of the two hour (one way) travel time out of the equation. There, I was blessed to have the hospitality of my second cousin, Lois Thompson and her son Robert, who graciously provided me with a comfortable bed, plenty of food, and some good company.


The revival services started out a little "slow" but the attendance and the spirit improved each night of the week. There was good "mountain style" music (lots and lots of it) and the people were gracious and attentive to the messages. I had opportunity to see a number of old friends whom I remembered from my childhood, and make a number of new friends. Pastor Glenn White said that the church had truly experienced Revival and several of the older members of the church indicated that it was one of the best series of meetings at the church in a number of years.


I thank God for being able to bring the messages and to be part of what He was doing in that community last week. I certainly appreciate the invitation from Pastor White, the hospitality of my cousins, and my home church allowing me to spend the time away from my primary area of ministry. I am blessed to serve such a wonderful group of people.


My week in Logan brought back a flood of wonderful memories and created some new ones.