Sand Spur Sunday School

A childhood memory written By Dr. Johnny Pope:

When I was ten and David was twelve, our father was taking us down to our swimming hole at Lake Hollingsworth. We had just crested the hill and we could see the lake. Dad would not let us get in the water unless he could see us. We implored, “Daddy, may we run for the water?” He said, “Go ahead boys!” We ran lickety-split for our delightsome destination. 

While racing barefoot though the grass, we encountered sand spurs! As soon as one foot was filled, we put the other foot down to pull them out, then the second foot was filled, so we had to sit down to attend to both feet and now we felt pain in places we would rather not mention. 

Soon Dad sauntered up to us, dressed in his normal preacher clothes, dress shoes, shirt and tie (he went casual that day; he left his coat at home). Evermore the teacher, he said, “Boys you are going to have to learn to walk circumspectly.” He then commenced taking off his shoes, then his socks. Those white feet had probably not seen the light of day for thirty years (...How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel!...Rom. 10:15). Then as nimble as a seasoned stag, Dad began to negotiate the sand spur infested field. He said, “Here’s how you do it, you slow down, don’t run. You must look very carefully. Ah! there’s a clump of spurs, I’ll just step around them. And there’s some more; I’ll now step over them. Well, my, my there’s another batch, I’ll back up and go this way.” The old master didn’t get one spur, not one!

Then he said, “Get those spurs out boys and follow me!” As we walked together, he said, “Watch me boys!” Pretending the clump of spurs were dangers in life we were to avoid, he continued as we walked down to the lake, “Uh-oh, there’s a juke-joint (city-dwellers call them night clubs); step around that place boys, don’t ever go there! Look out, look out, there’s some beer, step right around that poison! Don’t touch that, not a drop! And my, my there’s a temptation for tobacco, jut step right over that one, leave that nasty stuff alone. Look out sons! There's a pretty gal, but oh she’s loose; she’s wicked, don’t get near her, just back up go another way!” Then before we got into the water Daddy quoted, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15). David and I learned what it meant that day to walk circumspectly. We never forgot.

Dad did a great job at fulfilling Deuteronomy 6:6,7, which says, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”