My Hometown

Fort Payne Opera House
(built during the industrial boom in 1889 and
the only one in the state of Alabama still in use)

"For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our city in heaven, which is yet to come." (Heb. 13:14)

          Nestled between Lookout Mountain and Sand Mountain in a narrow valley along Big Wills Creek lies the small town of Fort Payne, Alabama - my hometown from birth to 1974.

        In the 60s, Fort Payne mirrored Mayberry, and Beaver Cleaver could very well have been my next door neighbor. Ninety-nine percent of the dads worked hard five or six days a week and mamas cared for their kids, shopped at the A&P, and cooked three meals a day. Children played in the dirt and climbed trees, and no one had ever heard of an X-Box or cell phone. 

           Today, I'm going "home" for a day. I'll see beloved family and friends, drive by the old home place perched on the brow of Lookout Mountain, and remember sweet days gone by; however, may I never forget that the sweetest days of life are yet to come.

          God's children through faith in His Son, Jesus, will one day dwell in a perfect, heavenly city absent of sin, pain, sorrow, sickness, and death. The Apostle Peter wrote, "According to God's promise we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved,  since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless - people of holy conduct and godliness."

O child of the King, be encouraged. The best days are yet to come. Therefore, live heavenly-minded in upright, pure, and godly thoughts, words, and deeds.