There is an unwritten rule in Christianity requiring men’s prayer meetings to be scheduled for O-dark-thirty. No problem, I am one of those annoying “morning people” who wake up before their alarm goes off, bright and cheery, ready to meet the day. So, in my present role as lead pastor at COMPASS Church, I scheduled our weekly leadership prayer meetings for 6:30 am.
I have always had an interest in history, and mythology and when I was in elementary school. I read every book my school library had regarding myths and mythical creatures that make up the culture of many nations. I was also brought up in a Judeo-Christian Church and home and loved the Bible stories as well – which some, not me, believe to be mythical stories. And, I’ve also had an interest in Nostradamus, a French astrologer, apothecary, and physician who made predictions – and I give Nostradamus the same weight as I give a horoscope – none. But it is still interesting. I wish my Bible study teachers had put more weight on all the predictions otherwise known as prophesies in the Bible – because they actually come true. My column this week may be considered “religious” but I’m going to be as factual as possible and even include a historian that wasn’t a believer.
Garrett Bagley is the right coach to lead the Navarre football program into a new era.
It’s why I was thrilled to see he got the job after Jay Walls stepped down as head coach after announcing he was taking a head coaching position in Georgia.
Residents in the southeast corner of Santa Rosa County regularly debate two evergreen questions: Should some combination of Navarre, Navarre Beach and Holley incorporate? And second, should the county dredge a channel to the Gulf of Mexico?
The note addressed to my wife was curt and accusatory, castigating her for an oversight that was unimaginable in its ramifications – it appeared that we had run out of peanut butter. The judge was my oldest brother; he and his wife were visiting us from Venezuela. “No Bannon household should ever be without peanut butter,” he chided. It was a Sunday morning; my wife and I had left early for a morning full of ministry responsibilities at church. My brother and his wife were having a late breakfast and had promised to join us for the last worship service of the morning. His breakfast plan? Toast with peanut butter, but after searching every shelf in the pantry and every cupboard in the kitchen, there was no peanut butter in sight. It was in the refrigerator.
If someone has it out for you, there are many ways they can try to destroy you and/or your reputation. If you were a business, it used to helpful to call to the Better Business Bureau, which still exists. At least the Better Business Bureau would do their best to get both sides of the complaint and resolve it before it becomes public knowledge. Now people don’t bother going to the Better Business Bureau – they just take it to social media where they don’t have to have proof of any supposed transgression. They can just lob word grenades and “suppose” and “conjecture” without facts. And apparently, now it just takes an anonymous complaint to your local fire department that corresponds with an annual requested fire inspection.
I received a message late Wednesday night. The person sending it was informing me that Navarre head football coach Jay Walls was taking a job in Georgia.
This inside source wanted to make sure the ‘Navarre guy’ had the opportunity to break the news first.
I come from a very large family – nine kids – and the mealtime rule in our house was you ate what was put before you. If you refused to eat it, well, you didn’t eat. If one of us asked for something else to eat, my mother’s stock answer was, “What do you think this is, kid, a restaurant?”
Saint Patrick’s Day is this Sunday and the Shamrock Stroll 5K Fun Run/Walk and Pet Parade and Costume Contest is this Saturday on Navarre Beach from 8-10 a.m. There is a registration fee, but you can get there as early as 7 a.m. the day of the event and register. The next holiday is Easter. Easter Sunday is the last day of March on the 31st. Santa Rosa County Schools (and UWF) are out for Spring Break the week before Easter. There is a large concert, Spring Jam, going on at Juana’s on March 24, the Sunday before Easter. Okaloosa Schools have Spring Break March 15-22.
In February, Santa Rosa County commissioners approved letting RaceTrac install underground fuel storage tanks in a wellfield zone that supplies clean drinking water to about 100,000 residents. On Monday, Commissioner Colten Wright, who voted to approve the variance allowing the tanks, proposed updating the wellfield protection ordinance to address issues raised during the RaceTrac debate – including what to do about existing underground tanks in the area.
