Quality of Life (participants only)

Wednesday, April 6th

Want to learn more about LJC? Call the Chamber at (601) 649-3031

Break Bread Together

I am sure several of you will find this very hard to believe, but when I was a boy, I was not always the upstanding citizen you have all come to know as your Chamber Director. In fact, I was somewhat of a hooligan and trouble maker (although my mother would never believe it if you told her. So I am counting on you NOT to tell her.) Some would claim that it was just typical boy and I suppose I blame it on the Delta heat and pesticides from the cotton and soybeans. 

Like so many families in the Delta, we were in church every time the doors opened. If you weren't in church and didn't have a valid excuse (which with my grandmother there were no valid excuses to miss church) you knew that first thing Monday afternoon after school, a "crisis letter" would be delivered along with a visit from "D" (my grandmother) to discuss what sin had crept into my life that allowed me to miss church. I say all that to set the stage that we were always in church - NO EXCUSES. 

Now being a young kid (10 or 12 I think) being FORCED to go to church was not a fun thing for me. And at that point I really did not grasp what church was or how important it is in our lives. There was a group of us who attended the same school and also attended the same church. Most of the time we felt Sunday school was an extension of regular school (which is somewhere else we felt FORCED to be). 

So one Sunday, like any typical day in school, we were cutting up, not paying attention to our teacher and not really caring about the lesson. (I don't know why, but I remember this event from my childhood clearer than most.) I remember Mr. Yurkow, our teacher, abruptly shutting his Bible (not slamming, abruptly shutting. Mr. Yurkow was a very peaceful man who never got riled or flustered). We all knew that if Mr. Yurkow abruptly shut his Bible he meant business. So we quickly straightened up, to the extent we could. He told us that we were not going to follow a lesson that day. Instead from us he wanted to hear which passage in the Bible meant something special to us. Well, you can imagine that like most kids that age we were bumbling and fumbling just trying to remember what the books of the Bible were. But being the great theologians and philosophers that we were, most of us blurted out the typical John 3:16, Psalms 123, and being good little Presbyterians about anything from Romans 8. But one of my buddies, we'll call him Luke, stuck out his chest and said, "My favorite passage is Acts 20:11". I still have no clue why those two random numbers and book came into his head and out of his mouth at that time, but being caught off guard by such a profound expression of his faith, Mr. Yurkow, in his wisdom, asked Luke to read the passage and explain why it meant so much to him. 

The text from the New International Version says this, 

"11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left." 

Now you can obviously imagine this passage had no meaning to my friend Luke. And I wish I could remember the eloquent BS he used to mask his random blurting out of this passage but I suppose that is what happens with age and time. 

For Luke this passage and story held no meaning, but this is a memory I have often thought about from my childhood and every time I think of it, it brings a smile to my face. It makes me smile for a few reasons; First, because it reminds me of a simpler time when we were kids without a care in the world just being dumb and being boys. Second, it reminds me of a great role model and friend in Mr. Yurkow who passed away a few short years after this happened from cancer. He was a great Christian leader in our church and someone I strive to be like. Finally, the passage itself reminds me to find friends and loved ones, neighbors and customers, to share a meal with. My father used to tell me, "A lot of great business has been conducted over broken bread". So my advice and take away from this story to you is, gather up some friends, head out to any of our great dining establishments in Jones County (we have several great ones!) and break bread. Talk and share your lives into the wee hours of the night. Get to know one another on a more intimate level and let's get some great business taking place over broken bread in Jones County. If you can't find someone to go with, give me a call. I'm always looking for a great meal and there is no better place to find one than in Jones County!

"If Nothing Ever Changed,
There Would Be No Butterflies"

~ Anonymous

For many decades, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science has been educating its visitors about our state's ecosystem through its many aquariums, 2.5-mile nature trail, activities and programs, and its special exhibits. Currently on display until May 8, children and adults will marvel over "Amazing Butterflies," an exhibit created by The Natural History Museum of London in collaboration with Minotaur Mazes.

Join the lifecycle of one of nature's incredible wonders by entering the massive monarch caterpillar tunnel. Towering grass will loom above as you emerge into this interactive experience and learn of the many challenges that butterflies encounter. Visitors will discover the amazing lifecycle of a caterpillar on its journey to becoming a butterfly and learn about the many different species. There is even a butterfly zip slide where one can fly and soar, just like a beautiful butterfly.

"Amazing Butterflies"

February 5 to May 8, 2011

Le Fleur's Bluff State Park

Lakeland Drive and I-55, Jackson

Admission:

Adults, $5; Children, $3 (age 3-18); under age 3 is free

http://museum.mdwfp.com 

Local Government
(participants only)
Wednesday, March 9th

Want to learn more about FLJC? Call the Chamber at (601) 649-3031