Hence...Why "It Means So Much"

Writing a blog when there is a “part two” to a story is difficult because the postings are out of order, and “part two” is listed ahead of “part one”.  I know I could reorder the posts but I am trying to be true to my order of writing even if I’m a bit off my schedule of writing one a day!

The posting entitled “’It Means So Much’” is “part one” in this instance so, if you haven’t read it, please do before reading this one.  The “part two” story, this story, is about Faye Crow.  She has such a special chapter in her story that I want to post on its own.

As you read in “It Means So Much,” Hayes Barton Baptist Church means a lot to Ches and Faye Crow.  They, more than most, have experienced the love of the church given the trials and tribulations of recent years.  Recall the David With mention of the Crows being tested like Job, and you have a quick understanding of what I’m writing about.

Given my involvement at Hayes Barton Baptist Church for the past two years, I had known about Cheslun’s illness, Mrs. Crow’s illness, and the house fire that displaced the Crows for a good bit of time.   What I did not know about, though, was a terrible accident that Faye had while walking across a downtown Raleigh street after work several years ago. 

Likely blinded by the sun, the driver of a truck struck Faye.  While injured, Faye had not lost consciousness.  So, picture this, Faye is laying the street and calling Ches who is working at the museum in Fayetteville, telling him she was just hit by a truck.  “I could hear the EMS siren in the background,” recalls Ches.

While frantically driving back to Raleigh, Ches encounters every possible delay along the way, from traffic to road closures.  Faye, in the meantime, is asked by the people tending to her, “What church do you belong to?”  Of course, Faye says, “Hayes Barton Baptist Church.”

Someone then calls the church, and Henry Warren, a member of Faye and Ches’s Sunday School Class, happens to be at church and hears about Faye.  Henry and then youth minister Mike Strickland go to the hospital and are there with Faye when Ches finally arrives.  Another Sunday School member, Dave Mobley, also shows up.

Hence, as written in “It Means So Much,” why the church “means so much” to the Crows.  “We are like part of a family here,” says Faye.  Being a member helps Faye, in particular, rely upon a Scripture that is special to her, Philippians 4:6 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (NIV).  If anyone could be excused for being anxious, it might be Faye has she lay in the street.  But she wasn’t.  She said her church was Hayes Barton Baptist Church.  And, hence, that’s why “it means so much.”