Columns

Our good Lord works in mysterious ways! I had just left my son’s house at Cedar Pines Lake and started home to work in my yard, and something told me to go by and check on my friend and brother-in-law Louie Belk.
As I came up to his house, my phone ran, and Louie said, “Sherrill, where are you? I have fallen and I’m bleeding and I need to go to the doctor!” I told him, “Louie, I’m here at your back door now.”

The headline on this column is not a wish or an aspiration – it’s a statement of fact.
For years now, economic development people and politicians have talked about building the technology sector like it was the Holy Grail, and the Holy Land was Silicon Valley. With the help of some clever marketers who came up with cute names – there is now a Silicon Something sprouting up almost everywhere you look – Silicon Alley (New York City),  Silicon Shore (Santa Barbara), Silicon Hills (Austin), Silicon Mountain (Denver), Silicon Forrest (Portland), etc.

To the Indian Land community:
It has been less than a month since we lost our home to a massive fire. We are truly thankful that our family is safe, which is the most important aspect of this whole experience.
We would like to express our thanks to the Indian Land community for all of the support during this difficult time. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you for all of your generous donations of time, household goods, clothing, money, gift certificates and the like.  

One of my favorite children’s books is Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” which chronicles the life of a child growing up beside a tree.
It is a story of how the tree provides for the boy throughout his lifetime. First the tree offers apples, then climbing branches, finally shade and rest for the older man as he reflects on his life. In this tale, the tree is the teacher or coach, the boy is the student. Viewed another way, the tree is the community, the boy its citizen.