To my children: Happy Father’s Day

My early years were filled with sunshine hopes grounded in lingering days when I did not own a watch and the joy of roaming the neighborhood and playing with friends could stave off any hunger pain signaling it was time to go home.

I can still feel the grass beneath my bare feet and savor the ebullient freedom experienced when any one of the gang decided to go swimming or play dodge ball on a whim or impulse.

Today, I wish to put away childish things. There is something I wish you to know. I will attempt to say it. What I say and how I say it may soon be forgotten, but please remember its essence. You must discover it and when you find this precious stone, live it.

We live in a world guided by the whims and winds of a conditioned relativism. No object seems to escape our desire to reduce it to our want.

By subjugating reality to will, we subjugate our life to impulse attempting power without regard to truth. We fall oblivious to the consequence into an abyss with no bottom. When we step away from God, we are tossed about into this impulsive sea unguided by conscience.

It is never enough to be against something. It is better to be for something. To favor the right thing is good. To know what is right, as truth guides us in the right, gives courage to the weak, hope to the least, peace to the restless, virtue to the sinner. And let us agree, there is a right!

For too long, I listened to the “they say” people among us, a god deserving of its subjects. I kept waiting as though there was an end.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “You cannot go on ‘seeing through’ things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window is transparent, because the street or garden beyond is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to ‘see through’ first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.”

But God meets us where we are. He met me along the way through angels — friends, family, your mother and you, my children. When I did not fully listen or comprehend, he met me in the hospital a heartbeat away. He did not wait for visitor’s hours.

There is an end to things and there we find a sublime quality expressed by an intent to forgive before forgiveness is needed, to hope without seeing through, to love as self and God with all of self. These are the flowers in God’s ‘opaque garden,’ the end that begins life anew. Cora Harris (from left), Merra Young, Lea McIntosh, Halle Woodrow, Harper Wallace, Molly Silvers, Mallory Silvers, and Molly Burnette play with sidewalk chalk at the second week of Tables Around Rome on Wednesday on Polaris

Community Chapel Baptist Church, 3773 Black’s Bluff Road, will host Vacation Bible School for first- through sixth-graders June 26-30 from 6-8:30 p.m. nightly. For more information call Phyllis Vice at 706-844-5638.

Old Dalton Road, will celebrate homecoming June 25 at 10:30 a.m. with special singing by Heartfelt. Lunch will be served after service. The church will host Vacation Bible School for kindergartners through adults June 26-30 from 6-9 p.m. nightly.

Branham Ave., will have a yard sale Saturday morning and the food plate sale has been canceled. For more information call 706-936-8722 or 706-676-0930.

209 E. Second Ave., will hold worship (casual/ business casual dress) Sunday at 11 a.m. Sunday school meets at 10 a.m. for a series titled “Called to Community.” Morning coffee is each Thursday from 7-9 a.m. For more information contact the Rev. Craig McDonald or the church office at romedisciples@gmail.com.

105 Oak Hill Road, Lyerly, will host Vacation Bible School for children of all ages on June 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch and snacks will be served. For more information contact Martha Tudor at 706895-2669.

Excelsior St., will host Vacation Bible School June 25-29 from 6-8:30 p.m. for ages 4 and up. If children need a ride, call Mindy Wright at 706-767-0204. Photo submitted by Emily Wallace of The Church at Rome

Terrace in Coosa. The community meals sponsored by The Church at Rome are planned around Rome on Wednesday nights during the summer. The next community meal will be June 21 at 1804 Gordon Ave. in North Rome. Groups meet at 10 a.m. In July, one service will be held on Sundays at 10 a.m. in the Garnett M. Wilder Center.

Ash St., meets for Holy Communion Sundays at 9:30 a.m. A nursery is provided. Morning prayer will be held Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. For more information call 706506-1241.

911 N. Broad St., offers Saturday Vigil Masses at 5:30 p.m. in English and at 7 p.m. in Spanish. Sunday Masses are 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. in English and at 1 p.m. in Spanish. Vacation Bible School will start Monday at 9 a.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic School on East Seventh Street. Late registration for any remaining VBS openings will take place in the school cafeteria starting at 8:45 a.m. For additional information on any church activities or programs, contact the church office at 706-290-9000 or at DeaconNeslin@smcrome.org.

106 E. Sixth Ave., will host the 100 Women in White 2017 program June 25 at 3 p.m. with First Lady Latrice Gardner and Holsey Sinai C.M.E. Church choir as the special guest. Men are invited to attend. Lunch will be served at 2 p.m. For more information call 770-608-0447, 706-295-3557 or 770-9103599.

Fourth Ave., offers services of Holy Eucharist at 8:30 a.m. in the chapel and 10 a.m. in the church each Sunday. A service of Holy Eucharist in Spanish is offered Sundays at 5 p.m. in the chapel. Midweek Eucharist services are held on Tuesdays at 12:15 p.m. and on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. in the chapel. For more information call 706-291-9111 or visit our website at stpetersrome.org. nightly. The Rev. Tony Cargle, the Rev. Jim Turrentine and the Rev. Michael Holt will be the speakers.

will host Vacation Bible School on June 25 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Ridge Ferry Park, 363 Riverside Parkway.

8536 Black’s Bluff Road, Cave Spring, will have Vacation Bible School June 25-30 from 6-8:30 p.m. nightly.

1981 Kingston Road, will hold a fundraiser June 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with inflatables, concessions and free games. Admission is $10 per child.

The

hold the annual Congress of Christian Education on June 23-24 at 6 p.m. nightly at Hopewell Baptist Church, 3527 Airport Road, Dalton. For more information contact the Rev. Steve Caldwell at 706-512-0925.

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700 Kingston Ave., will celebrate homecoming June 25 at 4 p.m. The church will host Vacation Bible School June 26-30 from 6-8 p.m. nightly. For more information call Janice Gibson at 706-6766332.

304 Coker Drive, will hold Holy Eucharist on Sunday at 11 a.m. Tuesday Travelers will meet at O’Charley’s, 737 Turner McCall Blvd., on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. On Wednesday, Al-Anon will meet in the parish hall at noon, and there will be a public service of healing with Eucharist at 6 p.m. An Alcoholics Anonymous women’s meeting will be held Thursday at 6 p.m.