Narroway

  Back around 1979, I was invited to join a Christian drama touring company based in Rock Hill, SC.  They were a group of actors that rode in a van and did drama in churches, usually Sunday nights.  When they asked me to join their band of merry men and women, I wanted to know two things.  First, how much does it pay?  Second, where would we stay?  The answer to the first question was that it was based on how much of a love offering that we would get from the church.  The answer to the second question was maybe in church members' homes; maybe in the church itself; maybe in a motel; or maybe in the van.  I had been paid to act, which made me a professional actor.  I had to have a steady income, and if the income was based on people liking us, then I wasn't too keen on that.  As for where we would stay, I had been a hippie in a previous life, but I wasn't interested in a communal atmosphere.  Been there, done that.  It would be good to get out and ride the rails, so to speak, but I told them no thank you.  They did that for a couple of years and then disbanded.

 One of our church's Seniors trips was to the Narroway Dinner Theater outside of Rock Hill, SC.  I was wondering if this group could be spawned from that group that I had been invited to some 40 years earlier.  I have a confession to make here that I have never told anyone before (aren't you special?).  I am not a big fan of seeing a religious theatre production that I'm not in.  As some of you may know, I am a perfectionist.  I know that there are people who do drama just for the love of it without getting paid, and that's fine.  I do the same thing from time to time.  However, I am very critical of how people perform.  I see things that the ordinary person doesn't see.  Why did they turn that way?  What's up with those gestures?  It is a curse.  

 I expected this group to be no better.  I went with the Seniors, because I was curious.  I was surprised.  Here were a bunch of people from the community who came together to put on a show.  AND, they weren't getting paid.  There were children and older people.  There were college students and middle aged people.  There were singers and dancers.  They were all great.  The script was written by two women and directed by one of the two.  They had professional lighting and sets.  They even did, what I love to do with my Bible-character monologues.  They involved the audience.  And, the food was good, too.  The actors also served the food.  Everybody did everything.

 I was so impressed that I wrote a letter to the director after getting back home.  I told her of my story of being invited to be in a touring company from Rock Hill.  She said she had heard of that group back then, but these people were all volunteers.  It just goes to show that one doesn't have to get paid to be a professional.  I was so impressed that I went back a couple of years later to experience another show.  If you are ever in Rock Hill, which is close to Charlotte, go to Narroway.  You won't be disappointed.  

Grist

  The First Baptist Seniors took two trips to Camden, SC.  The first was to a Grist Mill outside of town, and the other was to a Revolutionary War site closer into Camden.

 The Grist Mill was an old place that ground stuff into grits and other things.  I wasn't too clear on that, because it was cold, and I wanted to get inside.  Their gift shop had one space heater, and we had a bunch of people.  Did I mention that it was cold?  There was a wooden church at the site.  It was really just used for weddings now.  They had an old-timey organ in the church, but the keyboard was warped.  The best part of the trip there was the restaurant.  The food was great, and the restaurant was warm.  I ran into a friend there, who was a state senator.  We had a good laugh about South Carolina politics.  

 The second trip was to the Revolutionary War site.  It had several restored buildings and houses from those days.  The main house was used by both the British and the Americans.  There was a portrait of Andrew Jackson inside one of the rooms, and the guide said that Jackson had been sliced with a sword on the cheek and had left a scar.  He never allowed any portrait of the scar, so he is always portrayed looking to the right.  That particular house had steep steps and couldn't be accessed by disabled people.  I hope they fixed that.  We had a man from our church with us who was an historian.  He had written a book on Kershaw County history, and he had the Camden Museum to bring out copies for all of us.  

 This man was rather opinionated.  On our trip out to the site on I-20, he pointed out a place near the road that used to be an inn during the Revolution and beyond.  He said that George Washington had spent the night in Lexington County and then taken a carriage to this inn for breakfast.  There was no way he could have done that.  The inn was at least 30 miles away from where he had slept, and there weren't paved roads back then.  I called out the man for what he said.  He insisted that he was right.  He didn't speak to me for the rest of the trip.  

 Camden is a great place to visit.  History just oozes out of the area.  They also have some great antique shops in town.  I'd like to go back and just do antiquing.  Maybe one day.  

Library

  One of the trips we took, as part of the First Baptist Seniors, was to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.  It was near the airport, so there was some plane noise nearby.  The grounds also has the boyhood home of Dr. Graham, which was moved from its old location further up the road.  And, there are the graves of some family and friends.  Billy was still living, when we were there, but his wife had passed away and was buried there.  Also buried there was George Beverly Shea, or "Bev" as I knew him.  As I have noted before, my father knew a lot of giants of the faith.  Consequently, I knew them too.

 We got to the library around 10am and toured the site.  I was most interested in the memorabilia that they had there of Billy's life and crusades.  That brought back a lot of memories.  We had a tour guide who did a good job.  After the tour, I told him the story about meeting Billy Graham in Atlantic City with my father, and his turning down Billy's invitation for us to come to supper one night while at Ridgecrest.  You can go back and read that story back from 1963-64.  The tour guide was most interested in my story, and we laughed about it and cringed at the same time.  We had lunch there, and I bought one of Bev's cd's.  I also got a nice cloth bag from there by subscribing to Decision Magazine.  I use the bag with my groceries today.

 I then walked around the grounds.  It was very peaceful.  I came upon the graves of Ruth Graham and Bev Shea.  I had a nice time with them.  We were supposed to leave at 2pm. One of our group was late, and we had to wait for her.  So, we hit some traffic going back home.  It was a good trip with a bunch of reflections on my previous life.  I kind of wish I had paid more attention to who these people were, when I was young.  They were just my father's friends.  They were amazing people.  Most were very humble people, like my father.  They did the work they were called to do and without any fanfare.  Maybe more people need to take that approach.

Shealy's

  First Baptist Columbia has a strong program for Senior Adults.  They do a lot of things to keep active, and one of those things is trips.  Without a car and relying on buses to get around town, I didn't go away much.  My church helped with that.

 My first out of town trip with the Seniors was to Shealy's BBQ in Batesburg-Leesville.  I love barbecue, but I had never been to Shealy's.  It had a reputation around the state of having really good food.  It was a cold February day.  About 30 of us went there to eat (a lot).  I didn't know how I would be accepted by the others.  Mostly women and older than me.  I sat by myself on the church bus, just staring out of the window.  I hadn't been to BL since working at Belk, where we had a store in Batesburg.  Back then, it was important to do your work as a buyer for Belk, and then get out as quickly as possible.  I talked about that earlier in another story about not being from around there.  I put those feelings of fear aside to go to Shealy's.  After all, if anyone tried to attack me, I had a lot of older women to defend me.

 The food was wonderful.  I know that different regions of the country like their barbecue cooked certain ways.  Some like vinegar or ketchup base.  I prefer mustard.  The great thing about Shealy's was that you could put the base you liked on the meat without offending others.  It was a judgmental-free place.  I ate way too much.  When I go to a buffet, my eyes are much bigger than my stomach, and then I try and eat it all.  I did.  Real barbecue is so much better than store-bought.  Can I get an "Amen"?  

 We left Shealy's to go back to Columbia.  I no longer felt as an outsider with the group.  I was an official traveler with the Seniors.  They accepted me, and I wasn't intimidated by them.  We went back every year to Shealy's.  My stomach said "Amen"!