Arising from Ruin
The accolades and remembrances keep pouring in for Rev. Samuel "Bush" Burton. I wonder if I am the only one who noticed the halo around Rev. Burton’s head, in the remarkable photo by Virginia Hart that I posted on Monday?
More sharings:
"We from the Medina UMC Church are very sorry to hear of the loss of Reverend Burton. Most of us met him in June and he was included in the Video project from our local paper. The link is:
http://photo.medina-gazette.com/projects/stories/august2006/pearl/pearl.htm
We will continue to hold Pearlington in our prayers and we have a group from our church coming back down in March to Waveland and possibly Pearlington."
God bless all of you.
Doug Herr
"What a loss for people of this town. Bush was "an institution." Because of early involvement with Bush a group of people from my hometown was building him a home (Tommy Broom and the Society Hill Baptist Church.) Their lives were enriched by their involvement with Bush, his rare humor, his gentle spirit, and the indomitable power of his spirit, so the question is who ministered to whom? Donne was right in his poem that "no man is an island, each is a part of the continent, a piece of the main...."
Charles Holmes
Disaster Response Director
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Mississippi
Many of us have greatly enjoyed the southern lunches at Rev. Rawl’s First Missionary Baptist Church and were both dismayed that the historic church was destroyed in the storm and excited that it was going to be rebuilt.C.O.D.R.A. Member Agencies Walls of Hope and Hickory Hammock Baptist Church are leading the rebuild and Walls of Hope’s Gene Butterfield sends the following. If you can help, let me know and I will provide the appropriate address:
"Would you get the word out that within the next few weeks we will be breaking ground on the new church facilities for Pastor Rawls. Doug Pennington [Hickory Hammock] and myself will be coordinating most of the construction on this project. To date the church has approximately $125,000.00 for the building from insurance and a few grants. We are projecting the costs not to exceed $250,000.00.
After all the support Pastor Rawls and his members have given with regards to feeding over 100+ people per day for lunch, I believe it is time to share our thanks. If any teams or organizations would like to support and or donate funds, they can be sent to First Missionary Baptist Church of Pearlington.
We are looking forward to some tremendous times this year."
God Bless, Gene Butterfield - Walls of Hope
posted by Jon White @ 9:26 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hello Jon
I first heard the story of Pastor Burton durning my family's first trip to Pearlington. I heard of this fraile looking man who held onto a tree for hours waiting for a boat to come by and rescue him, his nephew and his dog. The young man who was telling us this story was a very strong looking man and he ended his telling of the story by saying, "I don't know how he held on for so long. He was old and fragile."
Pastor Burton was able to hold onto that tree - not because he was so strong - but because God held him lovingly in that tree until help could come. His faith in God will be missed.
As I looked at his picture and saw the "halo" as you called it, I thought of the conversations that Pastor Burton and God might be having. The words that I think pastor heard from God were, "Well done my son and welcome home."
Pastor Burton's new home will never be destroyed by a Hurricane. He can rest in the loving arms of the God he loved.
I am thankful of the effect that he has had on my children and the kids in my 5th grade class. I will be sharing Pastor Burton's story again with my class on Sunday and we will pray for his family and for Pearlington.
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