A Walk Down Memory Lane

Since I don’t get to Mobile that often and especially since I don’t have much free time when I do, today has been special.

Cynthia and I slept late this morning (Wednesday). Can’t remember the last time we were able to do that! And we were in bed last night before midnight too—can’t remember last time we did that either. It was another glorious morning on the bay. We actually forgot to do something we had planned to do; we were enjoying it so much. Hey, who cares; we’ll do it this evening!

I had an appointment downtown at 1:00 p.m. I dropped Cynthia at her mother’s so she and her sisters could send the afternoon doing girl things. So, after my meeting, I walk around the area where I spent a lot of time years ago. I stood on the corner of Dauphin and Conception Streets, at the edge of Bienville Square. This is the corner where I preached for the very first time. There was a “Brown-Bag-It In Bienville” festival in swing in the Square—lunchtime music with picnic tables for the downtown crowd. It was certainly loud! Bienville Square has been there since the turn of the twentieth century—one memorial dates to 1906—and serves as a centerpiece of downtown. Now the area is experiencing a come back, there is a lot of activity going on.

During my last two years of high school and through my college days, in the late 1960’s, I worked at the Mobile Rescue Mission (I went by it today, too; now it is called the Waterfront Mission), and I regularly trekked this area, passing out tracts and preaching on the street. In fact, it was on that corner of Dauphin and Conception where I learned to street preach! It was at the Mission where I first preached inside a building. There was too much commotion for me to try a hand at preaching there today but I did hand out tracts to almost everyone in the park. Brought back good memories. I walked by the fire hydrant where I once knelt with a man as he trusted Christ—after he had tried to rob me at gunpoint. Most of the old haunts are now gone, giving way to new developments. But the fireplug is still there!

As I walked up Dauphin Street I came upon a sign outside of Mama’s On Dauphin touting “homemade gumbo”. Claiming the title of “Downtown’s Best Soul Food,” I couldn’t resist. Add a Dr. Pepper (yea, almost every place here has it) and lunch was a real treat. The place was just a hole in the wall, maybe 15 tables, but the business was still brisk even after 2:00. Mama’s doing okay!

I got back to my in-law’s house and checked my email. 143 in my box. So, I guess I’ll have to go back to work whether I want to or not. But the afternoon was a pleasant walk down memory lane.

I try to remind the men we train that in order to take such a walk you actually have to have the memories! That means you need to be doing something now that you’ll be happy to remember later. I’m glad I got saved early—at 15 years old—and that I was encouraged to take it seriously early. As I walked by the mission I could still hear Brother Reynolds’ words to me: “Ricky, you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, so take it personally!” I’ve never been sorry I took that advise to heart.

Maranatha!