Roads of Life

I grew up near a country road. It was called the Old County House Road. Of the gravel variety, it looped from US Highway 70 back around to rejoin 70 again. We knew every family who lived on that road. Sometimes, as early as my 5th year, my mother would send me walking on an errand to Dewey Manning’s General Store for foodstuffs (Usually, a pound of sliced cheese or sliced boloney.) McCall Lane joined the County House Road as it turned back south toward Highway 70. It was a lonely walk of a quarter mile. In those days there was nothing to fear. Everybody knew everybody.

The original D.T. McCall farm linked up with the County House Road by way of Old Highway 70. That was the route my father always took on his A-Model John Deere tractor. I was half-grown before he ever let me take the tractor on  that trip alone. I couldn’t count the times I rode on a flat-bed hay wagon behind that old John Deere on our way home. My father would let the old tractor “roll.”  The wagon, free of the weight of a load, (except for me) bounced all over that gravel road. It would knock the breath right out of you. Experience finally taught me to sit on my hands (excellent shock absorbers) or ride standing up. In summertime the dust was almost unbearable. Country boys learn to be tough.

Much could, and has been, written of the roads we travel in life.  John Denver sang, “Country Road take me home.”  Willie Nelson longed to be “On the Road Again.” Paul McCartney sang of “The Long and Winding Road.” Author M. Scott Peak wrote of “The Road Less Traveled.” Recently, I met with a young man who was facing a number of complicated family issues. What should he do? How should he proceed?

“Well, you can take the high road, or you can take the low road,” I said. “The high road is not always the easy road. Sometimes it is the harder road, but it is the best road.” I was pleased to see him take the high road.

We must all choose the roads we take. In the Disney Classic, Alice in Wonderland, Alice found herself at a fork in the road. To the Cheshire cat perched in a tree, she asked, “which road should I take?”

“Well,” replied the cat. “That depends on where you are going.”

“But I don’t know where I am going,” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which road you take,” purred the cat.

The Good Book tells of two roads. One is a broad road with a wide gate. The other is a narrow road with a strait gate. Each leads to vastly different destinations.

In the western classic, Dances with Wolves, Sioux medicine man, Kicking Bird, counsels lieutenant John Dunbar with these words: “Of all the trails (roads) in life, there is one which matters most. It is the trail of a true human being. I think you are on this trail, and it is good to see.”

Sometimes, I think we as a culture are becoming less human. Made in the image of God, the further from Him we stray, the less human we become.

I grew up attending a little country church. For years the great songs of the church were drummed into my head. What I once thought, as a boy, was a curse, ultimately became a blessing. As I thought about roads while putting this column together, an old song titled Glory Road came to mind. One of my granddaughters often speaks of a song “getting stuck in her head.” Well, Glory Road got stuck in my head. After a few days, all the verses and the words to the chorus returned.

The chorus ends like this: “It’s good to be on this road to Glory land.”

Indeed!

Copyright 2024 by Jack McCall

Whosoever Will Men’s Bible Class

I met Bryan Townsend about twenty years ago. When we were first introduced he was already a well established member of the National Speakers Association. A southern boy and motivational humorist like me, he traveled in the same speaking circles as I did. Over the following years we became friends.

In the fall of 2010, Bryan invited me to be a part of an annual fundraiser billed as “Humor on the Square” in his hometown of Talladega, AL. Each year, he asked a couple of his “speaking friends” to donate their talents for the event. I was honored when he asked me.

While in Talladega for the weekend, he invited me to attend his Sunday school class. It is called the Whosoever Will Men’s Bible Class.

The class met in an aging brick house located across the parking lot from Bryan’s church. Started in 2007, the class had grown to over 60 strong with an average Sunday attendance of 35. In the few years leading up to my visit to Talladega, that class was a major part of our conversations. Bryan was passionate about his Sunday school class.

I wrote about his class in my column back in 2010. In case you missed it, here are the four class rules:

1. No one is asked to read.

2. No is asked to pray.

3. You can come as you are (no dress code.)

4. No one will hassle you if you miss class.

Over the ensuing years, Bryan Townsend became my best friend in the speaking business – for a number of reasons. First, he was unashamed to express his love for Christ. Second, he was a really good man. Third, Bryan’s Sunday school class inspired me to start the Whosoever Will Men’s Bible class in Hartsville, TN. In the few short years that followed we discussed the progress of our classes on a weekly basis.

 The Whosoever Men’s Bible Class in Hartsville began in February of 2012. With an average attendance of 35-40 each Sunday, the class meets at the Farmer’s Harvest Restaurant on Broadway in Hartsville on Sunday morning at 8:30, class from 8:45-9:30.

 On September 28th, 2012, his birthday, my friend, Bryan Townsend suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke. The doctor said he was dead before he hit the floor. He was 64. And, quite frankly, it left me with a hole in my soul.

 Before his untimely death, Bryan had planned to visit my class, and he had just finished seeing one of his dreams come true.

  An organization called Carpenters for Christ had just put the finishing touches on a brand new building which now houses the Whosever Will Men’s Bible Class in Talladega.  Of course, Bryan was the driving force behind the building project.

 I was left with this reality firmly fixed in my heart and mind: Bryan Townsend planted; others have watered; it will be God who gives the increase.  

 The death of a close friend will make you re-evaluate how you will use the time you have left, which brings me to this.

 If you are a man living in comfortable driving distance of Hartsville, you are invited to attend the Whosoever Will Men’s Bible Class of Hartsville.

 So far, we have delegations making the trek from Macon, Smith, and Sumner Counties on Sunday morning.

 Bryan Townsend started something special. I’m just trying to stay out of God’s way and allow Him to do His work.

Copyright 2024 by Jack McCall

The Sounds of Spring and Summer

I sometimes marvel at how our five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch allow us as human beings to so fully experience this adventure called life.

King David of ancient Israel was correct when he declared that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

For some reason unknown to me I have especially been attuned to the sounds surrounding me this spring and summer.

Somewhere in our back yard a beautiful mockingbird builds her nest and raises her young each year. She seems to be ever present as I come and go each day. And she is especially annoyed by our dog, a miniature schnauzer named Chancey. The mother bird’s fussing is relentless. From housetop to gutter to tree and back again she goes, back and forth, back and forth. And as she flits and flies, she chirps a reprimand which is both sharp and shrill.

The dog could care less and is certainly no threat to the mother bird and her family, but the chastisement continues until the nest is empty.

I have come to look forward to her “Chirp, chirp…chirp.”

A few years back I read the vows for a summer wedding in Trousdale County. The ceremony took place in a beautiful, sprawling backyard that sloped gently down to a peaceful, shaded pond. It was a spectacular summer setting.

When the bride, groom, and all the attendants were in place, we found ourselves backed up only a few feet from the water’s edge.

Reading  the vows, I repeated these words, “Let nothing deter your love.” The word “deter” seemed to stick in my mind as I continued with the ceremony.

In a moment the time came to offer a prayer of blessing for the soon to be married. As I began to talk to God on their behalf, a big bullfrog at water’s edge jarred down in his deepest bass voice.

I’ve never experienced a situation quite like it in my life. I’m trying to concentrate on the prayer and this bullfrog is wearing it out. As I continued to word the prayer, I kept thinking back to the words of the just repeated vows, “Let nothing deter your prayer, Jack.”

Before the wedding came to its close most of the frogs in that pond had chimed in at one time or another. It made for many smiles, hushed laughter and a few chuckles.  I was left thinking, “Only in the summertime.”

I pitched a bundle of tobacco sticks out of the back of my truck the other day. As the bundle, secured by hay baling strings, hit the ground, it made a strikingly familiar sound. It was a sound I have heard a thousand times, a sharp, crackling, rattling sound. It took me back in time.

For a moment I heard the popping sound of ripe tobacco stalks giving way to the blade of a tobacco knife and the hum of a tobacco spike as it vibrated on the end of a tobacco stick.            

I have come to love the sound made by a scoop of horse feed when it hits the bottom of the feed bucket. It brings me to life in the early morning. My horses and “bottle” calves love to hear the sound of the garage door going up. That’s when they call to me. I answer with a bucket of feed and a, “Good morning, ladies.”

A thunderstorm blew through the other evening. As I was witnessing a spectacular display of lightning, I waited for the thunder to follow. It was a rolling, crashing kind of thunder. I could see the rain coming in the distance. Then, I heard the rain rushing in my direction. That was followed by the sound of rain drops peppering the windows and roof of the house. It can be a most satisfying experience.

I remembered how the rain used to arrive in the Brim Hollow. The first drops of rain hitting a tin roof make a deliciously, tantalizing sound. Then the rain would come with more force. Sometimes it would build to a deafening, roaring sound.

There was a quiet peace you could feel under the safety of a tin roof in the middle of a rainstorm. 

One of my favorite sounds, when our boys were growing up, was to hear the front door opening in the night.  It meant someone had arrived home safely. It also meant for sounder sleeping.

There are many familiar sounds that paint pictures in our lives and, in doing so, help define who we are.

May your ears be attuned to the sounds of this spring and summer.

Copyright 2024 by Jack McCall

Back to Brim Hollow

My eldest son, J. Brim, and I took two of my grandsons into the Brim Hollow last week.  Whitman Brim and J. Manning found themselves lost in the wonder of a place they had never been. Days later I realized a mobile device was never mentioned while we were there. (Of course, there is no reception in the hollow.)

 We had walked for about a mile when Whitman made his first observation.

 “Whew, I’m burning a lot of calories,” he said. “How far have we walked?”

 “A long way,” I answered.

 “How much farther?” he asked.

“A long way,” I said.

Both boys asked a thousand questions about the old home place and ancient barns. As we walked cautiously among the silent walls of the old house, I told them stories of the rooms where I once slept as a boy, and how my grandmother cooked on a woodburning stove. I showed them where the water bucket once hung at the back porch, and of how we drew water from the well. They were much impressed with the massive fireplace that once warmed the entire house.

 Wide eyes and “wow”s were the order of the day.

 As we ventured deeper into the hollow, I showed them how the road once turned sharply down into a creek bed called “the narrow place.”  With no small effort, we climbed over giant rocks, and over and under fallen trees to make it into the creek. I showed them the rocky bluffs which defined the narrow place and how the road led out of the creek at the other end. They were impressed.

 We stopped by the remains of what was once called “the little house” where a family of 14 once lived. I explained to them the house had only one room and of how all the children slept in the attic.

 All the talk of days gone by inspired Whitman to ask a question.

 “Daddy Jack, was your hair black when you were young?” he asked.

“It was once upon a time,” I said.

“You got a picture on your phone?” he continued.

“There were no cellphones when my hair was black!” I said to myself.

I was disappointed I could not pinpoint the location of a little springhouse from which I once drank the coolest water. All evidence of it ever exiting was not to be found. And a barn where we once “walked” sticks of tobacco in and hung on round, worm-eaten tier poles was all but gone.

 Arriving in the “head” of the hollow, we took the boys to see the remains of a majestic springhouse. Its rock walls were once six-feet tall with great wood beams supporting a shake shingled roof. In the rock floor, a “bowl” had been hewn out to pool the cold, clear spring water. I once dipped water from that bowl more than half-a-century ago. The springhouse floor was now filled in with sediment and the flow of the spring disappeared underground.

 We showed the grandboys how the old log cabin and pulled its rock chimney to the ground, and we marveled at how the main chimney, tall and erect, had refused to yield when the big house folded under the weight of the years.

 As we prepared to hike back to our truck, Whitman asked, “how far is it back to the truck.”

 “Two miles,” I said. “You are going to burn a lot of calories.”

 I must admit as I came away from the hollow that day, I was a little saddened by all the change I had witnessed. Everything changes. Well, almost everything.

 So, I sought comfort in the Holy Writ.

 “Behold, I change not.”   “… the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.”

 Copyright 2024 by Jack McCall   

Springtime

Oh, the glory of springtime when the earth yawns and wakes from winter’s sleep. Buttercups, the greening of the grass, returning birds, and budding trees announce Mother Nature’s coming out party.

Much can be said of springtime and its intoxicating spell. If you are feeling well, you are liken to “a spring chicken.”  Inordinate behavior of both young and old is blamed on “spring fever.”  Of course, the stress level of our modern world has made it necessary to have a “spring break.” And who can find a young lady, regardless of her age, who would not like to be described as “a breath of spring?” We even “spring” forward at the changing of our clocks as daylight savings time is ushered in.

As winter begrudgingly loses its grip, hope “springs” eternal.

Many are the springs I observed my late father “spring” into action. It seemed he could never get started early enough. Come the first warm day of February, he couldn’t sit still. He saw there was much to be done - plant beds to be set in order, tobacco patches to be made ready for “setting,” and all the details involved in getting the next crop in the ground.

Come March, he would be watching over his tobacco plant beds like a mother hen. A potential late frost would have him doubling the plant bed canvas. And I remember a few springs when he built fires along side plant beds to ward off the chill.

Of course, he claimed all bragging rights that came with early success. At the country store he would announce to his peers, “Boys, I’ve got plants as big as a thumb tack,” or, “I’ve got plants as big as a dime!” When the growing plants had leaves as big as a quarter, he would say, “Boys, I’ve got plants leaving the ground!”  All the while, he was planning ahead.

I never recall his being unprepared. If he was not tending to plant beds or “working” tobacco ground, he was taking care of the “little things” that made for a smooth operation.

In my 12th year, Little League Baseball came to Smith County. I played for the Giants in my first and final year. In the ensuing years my younger brothers played. Our father allowed us to play though he rarely attended our games. Baseball players have been called “the boys of summer,” but I submit they should be called “the boys of springtime.” Of course, springtime is planting time. We saw ballplaying as a privilege made possible by our father’s hard work. While we played ball, he stayed at home preparing for the next day’s work.

 He would often chide, “We are going to lose a crop over all this ballplaying.” My, how things have changed!

 In the month leading up to tobacco setting, Frank McCall would have gathered every two-and-a-half-bushel wash tub, bushel basket, orange crate, sturdy cardboard box, and any other container that would hold tobacco plants (slips.) He would have greased and gone over the tobacco setter with “a fine- tooth comb.”  The engine and water pump would have been tuned and ready to go, the water tank filled ahead of time.

 In all the years he orchestrated tobacco setting, we never experienced a breakdown.

Springtime - a time for doing – a time for preparation - a time to swing into action. And a time for breathing in the wonder of life. 

And above all, a time for celebrating an empty tomb.

Copyright 2024 by Jack McCall      

Quotes to Remember

Over the course of my speaking career, I encountered many people who were smarter than I am. Here are a few of the great quotes I discovered.

On the subject of attitude:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so, it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”

-Charles R. Swindoll

“Everything can be taken from man except the last of the human freedoms, his ability to choose his own attitude in any given set of circumstances – to choose his own way.” -Victor Frankl, Holocaust Survivor

“It is energy-demanding work to experience distressing realities in a positive light.” -From the book, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goldman

“No misfortune is so bad that it can’t be made worse by whining about it.’ -Jeffery C. Holland

On the subject of Life:

“America is great because America is good. When America ceases to be good she will cease to be great.” -Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805-1859

“One thing I know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”  -Albert Schweitzer

“A friend is one to whom one may pour out the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.” -George Eliot

“One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement. It is easy to laugh at men’s ideas; it is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it is easy to discourage others. The world is filled with discouragers. We have a Christian duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.”

-William Barclay

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer; never give up then, for that is just the time and place that the tide will turn.” -Harriot Beecher Stowe

“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

What you have spent years building, someone could destroy overnight.

Build anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.

Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.

Give your best anyway.        

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It was never between you and Them anyway.” - Mother Teresa

The Disappearance of the “Shade Tree Mechanic”

When I was growing up, I learned of a special breed known as “shade tree mechanics.” These men and women (mostly men) were endowed by their creator with exceptional mechanical skills which they applied in their back yard, side yard, and, sometimes, in their front yard. They were called “shade tree” because their work usually found them laboring under the shade of a tree. Often times that tree became useful in the mechanics works. A low hanging limb was used to support a “chain fall” in the pulling of a car engine. “Chain fall” is old school for a chain hoist or even a “come-a-long.”

Of course, back in the day, motor vehicles and, especially, engines, were much less complicated.

My late father once told me, that in the days of T-model Fords, you only needed 3 things to keep a vehicle going – a box of tire patches, a tire pump, and some baling wire.

Shade tree mechanics did most of their work in their spare time. Many worked at a “regular job” and freelanced at home. They were known for helping a neighbor, sometimes working into the night and on Saturdays to finish a project. Most were invaluable resources on “how to” uncomplicate engine issues that had another mechanic or neighbor “stumped.”

Many perfected their skills by learning from a father, grandfather, or uncle.

But alas, the motor vehicle landscape has shifted … radically. The computer has changed everything. Now we have vehicles without ignition keys. Compress the brake, push a bottom, start the car. What happens if the car doesn’t start? Have it towed. A trained technician will hook it up to a computer and the computer will tell him what is wrong. You pay the bill.

I recently spoke with a manager in need of hiring young men and women to work outside. Part of the job involved truck driving.

“I can’t find one who can drive a “straight shift,” he said.  “What is the world coming to?”

A skill set is being left behind. I well remember the first time my father put me behind the wheel of a pickup truck to drive in a hay field. I looked down at the floorboard and saw three (3) pedals only to realize I had but two (2) feet. I was ok until the first time I had to stop on the side of a hill.

I have made a vow I will teach my granddaughters and grandsons how to drive a straight shift. You never know when necessity will demand a skill.

When our sons were growing up, one listed the qualities he looked for in a young lady in whom he might be interested. He specified three things.

1)     Be able to “pull” a calf.

2)     Be able to field dress a deer.

3)     Be able to change a tire.

I would have added to that list – able to drive a straight shift.

Many years ago, my father had the opportunity to purchase an “irrigation outfit” in a distant part of the state. It included over 5000 feet of aluminum irrigation pipe and a six-inch pump driven by a “straight-8” cylinder Chrysler engine. The problem was the engine had not been started in over two years and the starter was missing. My father was undaunted. It was the “shade  tree” in him.

Today those shade tree mechanics are hard to find. If you happen upon a good, older vehicle worth saving, best you track down a mechanic of the “shade tree” variety. It will be well worth your time.

Copyright 2024 by Jack McCall

Unsung Heroes

In celebration of Black History Month in February, here’s a story that needs to be told. Hartsville, TN, once a farming community like so many others in our great a state, has experienced sweeping changes in recent years. But unlike many small towns, Hartsville has managed to hold on to three very important entities – a weekly newspaper (The Hartsville Vidette), a local radio station (WTNK), and a hometown hospital (Trousdale Medical Center.) This story is about the hospital and a man named Robert Calhoun.

Trousdale Medical Center, once known as Hartsville Hospital, was built in 1962. Dr. E.K. Bratton, one of the founding physicians, was instrumental in creating a marvelous culture of care which still exists today. (Employees who have been there for years vow that his ghost still walks the halls.)

Shortly after graduating from high school in 1966, Robert Calhoun came to work at the hospital as what was then called a janitor - a position later called “housekeeping,” - even later known as “environmental services.” He, along with his brother Larry and a number of cousins, saw to it that the hospital was immaculately cleaned for years.

George Harris, who served as maintenance engineer at the hospital for over 40 years, said he had worked under 19 different hospital administrators. In 1999, I became that 19th administrator.   

Over a span of 60 years, you can imagine all the changes a hospital might undergo.  Trousdale Medical saw changes in ownership (some good, some bad), changes in physicians, changes in management. All the while, the hospital building continued to age. Robert Calhoun and his staff continued to clean.

Then, through a fortuitous series of circumstances near the turn of the century, the hospital was purchased by Carthage General Hospital, at that time a part of the Covenant Health System. Under the leadership of Hospital Administrator Wayne Winfree, vast improvements were made to the interior of the hospital – new flooring, new wallpaper, new paint. Under Robert Calhoun’s watchful eye, the hospital interior sparkled.

In a few short years, it appeared the hospital would be up for sale again. Contacts were made. The big question became what do we have to sell? Two things – culture and clean.

At the same time, Trousdale Medical Center was being surveyed by Joint Commission. The leader of the survey team was a pediatrician from Virginia, a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. At the end of the survey period, on the day I was to take him to the airport, he walked with me to my car. As he sat down in the passenger seat, he turned to me and said, “Mr. McCall, I see about 50 hospitals each year, and I have been doing surveys for years. And this hospital is, without question, the cleanest hospital I have ever seen.”

I rode that horse for all it was worth. The cleanliness of the hospital was the single most important factor in placing Trousdale Medical Center in what would turn out to be capable hands. The driving force was a man who had cleaned the hospital for over 50 years. His name was Robert Calhoun.

In 2013, Robert Calhoun received the Meritorious Award from the Tennessee Hospital Association for his outstanding accomplishments as a Departmental Manager. Each year he actively supported a health fair at his church. The first time I attended that health fair my first thought was, as I entered the church fellowship hall, “Robert Calhoun has been here!” “Pristine” is the word that came to my mind. It is defined as “pure, in perfect condition, fresh and clean as if new.” That is the way Robert Calhoun kept things.

Could one man have that much impact on a church, a community, or even, the future of a hospital?

You bet your life!

 COVID took him in 2022. But not before he had made his mark.

Copyright 2024 by Jack McCall