I woke up last Tuesday morning at about 3:00 a.m. with a severe sore throat. I know the pattern for it has happened two or three times a year for as long as I can remember. It is a sore throat and then followed by hoarseness. With the lectureship coming up the next week, I thought I would get ahead and go to the doctor early. I went to Dr. Ken Cargile who is the resident doctor at Freed-Hardeman. Ken and I grew up together in the Ripley, Mississippi church of Christ. His mother, who now lives in Henderson, was one of my early Bible teachers.

As usual, I had to wait for about thirty minutes before I could see him. As someone has said, "You are suppose to wait. That is why we are called patients." There was a young lady just ahead of me. I started a conversation by asking her where she was from. She got my attention when she said she was from Aberdeen, Miss. My second preaching work was near Aberdeen in Monroe County. The preacher at Aberdeen, Jeremiah Jones, was a good friend and preached there for over forty years. I attended his funeral a couple of years ago.

Jennifer told me her maiden name was Allmond. I told her I was doing research on Hugo Allmond from Mississippi who was a gospel preacher who died in an automobile accident many years ago. Jennifer said her great-grandfather was a preacher who was killed by a drunk driver near Aberdeen many years before she was born.

As it turned out, we were talking about the same person. I have pointed Jennifer to the Web site I posted about her great-grandfather at http://freed-hardeman.com/HugoAllmond.htm. She had never seen the article.

The lesson: The next time you meet a complete stranger, ask them a simple question like where are you from. You may be surprised where the conversation may lead you. In John 4, Jesus made a simple request and the conversation changed the lives of many people.

--- Tom L. Childers