When you last heard about the Georgia trip from this Summer, Bob, Ashleigh, and I were staying at the Plains Historic Inn. On Sunday morning, July 9, we got up early and headed just up the road about a mile to the Maranatha Baptist Church.
We got there about 7:15am and found there were only four or five people there before us. The Secret Service had not finished securing the building so they were casing the area with their bomb-sniffing dogs. Waiting in line is never too boring as Miss Jan will always come out and brief the crowd on what to expect (metal detectors, camera inspections) and not-to-expect (autographs, conversations with President Carter). There are always other visitors in line from out of town to strike up conversations with.
Ashleigh waits
Bob waits
After waiting just over an hour, by 8:30, they were letting us inside the church. We had timed it just perfectly to be seated in the front row. This was my second time visiting a Sunday school class taught by Jimmy Carter and wouldn’t be my last, but to date, this was the only time I sat in the front row.
Excitement mounts in the front row
President Carter addresses the crowd while a Secret Service agent guards the window
Carter scans the crowd
The lesson for the day was Corinthians 8:1-13. I have always found this text interesting and a little confusing. As usual, the apostle Paul was somewhat ambiguous (at least by today’s standards) in explaining his philosophies. In this passage, Paul was addressing the church in Corinth who had asked him if it is okay to eat the food sacrificed to false idols. Their rationale was that if the idols were false (as they knew they were), then there was no sense in not eating the meat.
President Carter delivers his message
Paul’s response was in essence, “Sure, we know that idols are false, and therefore the meat is not tainted and okay to eat – but is there a potential for someone else to have faltering faith because of our actions?” President Carter did an excellent job of not only explaining the text and message, but, as always, drawing parallels to our daily lives. I will always remember his voice as he quoted one of my favorite Bible passages “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”
Between Sunday school and the church service, our friends John and Janet Duff surprised us by revealing that they were in the church with us the whole time. John and Janet are fellow Sons of the Desert members from the West coast.
We remained for the church service and found that Maranatha had a new, young pastor, different from the last time I was there. He and his wife were expecting twins (and when I visited in October, they had had the babies). Following the service, we waited in the quick-moving line outside to get our pictures with President and Mrs. Carter. I thought I might look better with my glasses off, but unfortunately I was caught mid-blink, so an otherwise great photo was nearly ruined. Blah!
Sleeping through our meeting
We went back and showed the Duffs our rooms at the Plains Inn and then attempted to meet up for lunch but that fell through. We saw a little more of the town including my first trip to see Jimmy Carter’s boyhood home. Following our stint in Plains, we moved on – heading North again to Warm Springs.
Bob waits for the Duffs – who never came…
See the official Jimmy Carter posting here…
(Read about our next trip to see President Carter teach Sunday school here)
A parting shot – photo by Brad
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