Letters to the Editor: Joplin Globe: See You At The Pole

The opinion below was e-mailed to the Joplin Globe today. It regards their coverage of yesterdays See You At The Pole rally.

Your story (‘A noticeable presence,’ September 28) on the See You At The Pole rally held at Joplin High School was great, but you missed an even bigger SYATP rally on the Missouri Southern campus. There, more than seventy students representing at least five campus ministries (Baptist Student Union, Roman Catholic, FCA, Campus Crusade for Christ and Koinonia) as well as who knows how many Christian denominations gathered to praise God and pray for their campus and the world. It was an amazing display of unity, and a reminder than in spite of the stereotype that students are self-centered and apathetic, many of them not only believe they can make a difference in the world, but care enough to get busy accomplishing just that. Looking at the group of future community leaders gathered around the flag pole on Wednesday, I have to say, the future just might be in good hands after all. Thank you.

Jon Smith
Director
Baptist Student Union
Here's the story from the Globe:

'A noticeable presence'The Joplin Globe

By Rich Brown

rbrown@joplinglobe.com

Carter Hulsey bowed his head early Wednesday morning, and prayed for his school and his country.

"I honestly don't understand everything that is going on in the nation, so I just pray for the leaders that God will give them guidance and discernment as to what to do," said the Joplin High School senior.

"I pray that the people who God has put into authority are blessed with wisdom."

It was the 15th straight year for "See You at the Pole" at JHS, and youths at many other area schools were gathering for the same reason. The annual student-run event gives youngsters the opportunity to pray for their schools, teachers and staff, classmates and the nation.

"This is just another chance to meet, and praise God and ask for his help in our nation," said senior Galen Rea, a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes' nine-member leadership team at JHS. "We pray for the president, national and state representatives, teachers, administrators and students."

The half-hour event, which began with a Christian song and ended with students breaking up into prayer groups, drew an estimated 60 participants, said Torrie Epperson, FCA teacher sponsor at the Joplin school.

Epperson said the school's FCA chapter, which sponsors the prayer gathering, has seen a big increase this year.

"We have been running between 100 and 150 members," she said. "It takes an amount of boldness to take a stand with FCA. They have to be strong."

Kevin Deems, who played a drum in the opening song, said he geared his prayer toward just such boldness.

"I prayed that all the people here have the faith to stand up in school and show what they are all about," said Deems, a member of a local Christian band who has attended the event all four years he has gone to JHS. "I try to make a Christian impact, and always be happy and not do anything wrong."

Although the students met at an early hour before the start of school, their activity still drew attention.

"This is outside so it is a noticeable presence," said Barry Sanborn, president of the Area Wide Youth Ministers' Fellowship and youth minister at First United Methodist Church. "You have people driving by who notice what is happening."

Rea said he hoped people would be encouraged by what they saw.

"I think our praying is stirring a lot of questioning and wondering in people's minds and hearts," said Molly Collins, another FCA leader who has participated in the prayer event since the seventh grade at Memorial Middle School. "It makes them ask, 'What's going on? What makes these people come out in the morning?'"

A related event, the "See You at the Pole Rally," sponsored by the Area Wide Youth Ministers' Fellowship and Christ in Youth, was conducted Wednesday night at Memorial Hall.

Prayer Frog

So, last night before going to sleep, Mandi and I took a moment to pray together, which, BTW, is a habit common to strong Christian relationships. Anyway, before praying we were talking about our relationship and came to the realization that we don’t laugh together nearly as often as we used to. Of course, we could have spent several hours psychoanalyzing this unhappy trend, but it was late and we were tired, so we decided just to pray about it. Our prayer, just before curling up to sleep was that God would help us to laugh more.

I KID YOU NOT, within 5 minutes, as I was in that odd stage between awake and asleep, I felt a wet PLOP! on my face. Now, I don’t know about you, but I personally do not have a fondness for wet PLOP! at any hour, let alone the moment I am nearly asleep. Perhaps your different. If so, your are a freak. Get used to it. Anyway, a moment after feeling the wet PLOP! land on my back I also felt it begin to move. Then, with reflexes and coordination that would make an Olympic athlete jealous I did three things simultaneously. First, I efficiently informed my wife through a gentle scream, that something was amiss. Second, I reached up, grabbed the PLOP! and hurled it across the bed. Third, I began fumbling for the lamp next to the bed. After a moment of fumbling I reached the switch, and in that same moment I felt another PLOP!, this time on my back. I froze. The PLOP! moved. I turned on the switch and urgently asked Mandi what was on me.

MANDI: Huh?

JON: WHAT IS IT???!!!
MANDI: A frog.

JON: WHAT?!

MANDI (giggling): There’s a frog on your back.

JON: WHAT THE…?! GET IT OFF!

MANDI (Handing me the frog, and out right laughing now): Here. Don’t hurt it.

I dropped the frog. Then I chased it halfway across our bedroom. By the time I had it, we were both laughing. I left it outside on the back porch.

How did a tree frog happen to be in our bedroom? I have no idea. Does God answer prayer? You’d better believe it.

Fishing

YesterdayI had the unexpected privilege of fishing Indian Creek with Steve Patterson (SRBA DOM). I was thoroughly outfished, but then again, I brought the wrong tackle, which didn't help. Still, it was a beautiful day, beautiful water, good company and the fish were definitely biting. Between the two us Steve and I landed 72 fish, all warmouth and smallmouth bass. I kept a string of the warmouth we caught, and my last catch (number 21 for me) was a nice 14-inch smallmouth. We used weedless plastics that imitate hellgramites. Most of the fish were tiny (6-inches or less), but hey, they were still fish, and there were enough of them to keep us busy. Indian Creek is a beautiful, pristine, crystal clear stream with tons of fish; aside from what we caught I saw plenty of stone cats and suckers. Anyway, it was a great day of fishing, worthy of rememberance.

I can't vouch for the integrity of the links on this page. They're the best I found without really looking. The one on Indian Creek, in particular, is sketchy. The strech we fished was definitely not navigable other that wading, and that would be true regardless of season or rainfall...

Labor Day at Lake Eufaula

THE SMITHS AT LAKE EUFAULA

We spent the last four days down at Lake Eufaula for the Trask Family weekend. Of course, 'Trask Family' has been redefined now to include all the in-laws, several outlaws and even me. A few memories: Angie Douthit falling in the Lake. Catching loads of crappie, daily. Watching Dick Potts' dock swarm with everyone under 20 trying to catch fish, and usually succeeding. Aunt Bobbie throwing her first attempt at Hillbilly Horseshoes into the aerial on top of Dick and Teats' house. Uncle Rod's bacon (it was good). My first attempt to smoke crappie and catfish (it wasn't good). Sitting around on Sunday as everyone with a talent of any kind performed, like it or not, in the 'church' service. The Old Farts kicking the tar out of the Young Punks at beach volleyball, where old age and treachery beat youth and skill once again.

Angie in the lake.

Alyssa and a happy puppy.

Nate's first catfish!

A few of the younger crowd at the party, from left to right: Kaylee Douthit, Ryan Trask, Matt, Aaron Trask, Shelby, KC Trask, Nikki Trask, Tim, Whitney Douthit, McKenzie Douthit, Channing.