When I was a small boy, some few centuries ago, I was dragged to church weekly by my daddy to Sunday evening preaching very much against my will. That particular church was chartered and built by my daddy, his brothers and sisters, hid daddy and a small handful of other good folks in my newly founded and incorporated hometown in the Piedmont (Little Mountains, Fr.) region of Southside Virginia, around the year 1910.

Dr. I Ben 'Alfwright was the resident preacher at the time. Yes, we had PhD's even then. Wormwood Seminary? Really don't know. Reasonably sure though it was a different religious background than that of the Apostles Peter, Paul and John. Wormwood would certainly fit. Wormwood's present seminary program does, in all due respect, historically precede the training program the Apostles went through! It's based on a fish named Charmor (nicknamed Burney) Darlose, which two weeks before God created Adam, stiffened his fins, used them as legs and walked up out of the sea onto the land. This proves, if nothing else, that nicknames were around before there were names to nick. Burney has grown continuously since then. He is currently sitting on the bench in a very large holding tank waiting to substitute for Shamu, if for any reason he can't perform. However, he's been caught up in today's low fat fad and has started to scale down hoping eventually to be a running back for the Miami Dolphins.

One on one, Dr. 'Alf as we called him was the most gentle, kind, smiling, concerned and considerate person I knew or knew of. I shall never forget him because he was one of the very few people I've ever known to call me by my real first name, which is N.. Most people then and now who know or think they know me call me by my nickname, which is U.. Dr. 'Alf would pat me gently on the head and say, "N., I love you to death".

When Dr. 'Alf stepped into the pulpit a great metamorphic explosion took place. He changed from a gentle man into a great growling, snarling Kodiak bear. I know it was a Kodiak because I'd immediately remember I had forgotten my Kodak again. I wanted to show him a picture of himself, but I never did remember my Kodak. It's doubtful that Dr. 'Alf would have looked at himself had I remembered, busy as he was loving people to death.

To be continued...

Have a good week!