“One Day Out of Seven”

One day out of seven my parents in their earthly love, gave birth to me and made for me a home;
I went from babe to lady there, like flowers in their season I in time also came to bloom.
They trained me well, my early years, I grew to know my place in life, in stature, in God;
They spared no good thing from my youth, not gifts or nourishment, nor even love’s correcting rod.

One day out of seven God joined me to a man – I dressed for him that day in finest cloth and lace;
We two became one in love, in law, and walked together our ordered steps by Him who saved us by His Grace.
With children we made quite a life: Franklyn, Judith, Joel, Percell, Hardy, Leanora, Naaman, Todd and “Brucie” too;
Our earthly castle stands upon a hill in Bimini, while on Christ the Solid Rock our souls are standing true.

One day out of seven while looking in a mirror, time and chance so ordained that great-grandma was staring back at me;
My children had grown children who had children – wow – I raised my hand in thankful praise for such a bless-ed age to be.
Yet in the midst of all this joy, time and chance along with aches and pains would bring an unfair blow;
The man who was my better half in life and love had finished all his earthly work and to God’s home he had to go.

“One day out of seven” I would say, “The Lord will call me too and no more misery I would have to bear;”
I’d sing the hymns and cry and dream, “I will meet you in the morning” “Just over in the Glory-land” “Tell mother I’ll be there.”
My friends and loved ones tried to cheer me up and find good reason why I should not long for one day out of seven;
Now perhaps you’ll understand, my day has come – please do your very best to join us where everyday is never-ending happiness in heaven.

© 2007 Faith M. Hall
Penned for:
Mama Jo-Anna Rolle

Home-going Tribute

SAMUEL THEODORE GRANT, affectionately known as “Teddy” was born on the 6th day of October, 1918 to Ceva Wilchcombe and Manasseh Grant of West End Grand Bahama, The Bahamas. He was the 7th of 8 children born out of that union.

From his earliest years, Teddy Grant was always ambitiously striving, fun loving, and oh so full of life. He left quite a legacy from his youth in West End, the quaint, sea-side boating and fishing capital of Grand Bahama. Not only was he known for his exceptional skills in carpentry but Teddy was a premier fisherman and yachtsman, and was equally considered the premier catch for some lucky lady.

In 1949 or there about, Teddy met that special lady who would change the rest of his life for the better. It was in the meeting and marrying of American born, Verneda Hall, the daughter of the preacher and the missionary, Moses and Madeline Hall that he was led into a new life in Palm Beach Florida and eventually, a new life in God and the Church.

It was his boating and fishing, and business skills that immediately secured a comfortable life for he and his young bride in Florida. However, soon after Brother Grant discovered that like his father in law, his real life’s work was a call to Christian Ministry. And so after committing his life to the Lord, in 1955 starting as a Deacon and Sunday School Superintendent, Rev. Grant launched into what amounted to 45 years of dedicated Ministry in the Church of God, the better half of his 88 years of life. He is listed as serving additionally as State Youth Director, Pastor, District Overseer, Bishop, Member of State Licensing Board, and most recently, he served on the committee for the coordination of Senior Citizen Services.

Possessing incredible business acumen, as demonstrated through his ownership and management of Grant’s Laundry Mat on Old Dixie, Highway, Riviera Beach, the hierarchy of the Church of God soon identified Rev. Grant as a builder. His ministry therefore, took on the pattern of continuous movement. He would be sent to what seemed the most struggling church, where he would grow it to unprecedented success, financial stability and membership only to soon thereafter be moved on to the next vulnerable location.

Although this practice seemed sometimes unfair, Rev. did not mind, he viewed it as an honor and a privilege. Wherever they sent Rev. Grant he became a blessing to every member he met and by this gained more and more spiritual family members. For his obedience and faithfulness he was bestowed by his peers in The Church of God with the rank and title of Bishop. Over the course of his years, Bishop Grant shepherded at Dania Church of God, Ft. Meyers Church of God, Boynton Church of God, Pt. Salerno Church of God, Opa-Locka Church of God, and 35th Street Church of God. He spent his final years assisting wherever necessary at his home church, 5th Street Church of God.

Through it all, while God remained first in his life, Teddy Grant held an unwavering commitment to his family. He will be remembered best as husband to the love of his life, Verneda, Daddy to his beloved daughter Pamela, devout brother to his siblings, godfather to his many godchildren and as Uncle Teddy and moral anchor to a host of nieces and nephews.

On Friday February 9, just before leaving to attend to the gardens of the Grace Estate as he did three times weekly, Teddy Grant suffered a massive stroke. Exactly three weeks later on Friday March 2, Bishop Samuel T. Grant made his final and complete ministerial move. He has gone on to receive his crown of glory and has joined the heavenly host in their eternal praise to our Lord and Savior, God through Jesus Christ.

MAY HIS SOUL ENJOY ETERNAL REST

He is survived by: his wife, Vernada Hall Grant; daughter, Pamela Grant Williams and son in law Lenwood Williams.
1 brother, Wilbert Grant; 2 Brothers in law, Levi Wesley Miller and Grover Hall; 4 Sisters in law, Emma Grant, Delphene Miller, Christine Hall and Anna Hall.
18 Nieces, Muriel, Beulah, Aldeese, Alsette, Virgill, Mucine, Cynthia, Archilee, Duvella, Florida, Lonnie, Pamela, Dolly, Lois, Rossilyn, Blondie, Natasha and Faith.
11 Nephews, Nicholo, Shogi, Plato, Vascoe, Dugal, Joacum, Wesley Jr., Kevin, Peter, David and Damien.
God Children, Issie, Dashwood, Nette, Sheryl, Bernice, Zernobia, Vantrice, Cecil, Sheldon, Derek, and others.
God sisters and brothers, Geneva Martin, Minette Cooper, Mary Storr, Wilton, Glen and Clarence Bartlette.
A host of other relatives, spiritual family and special friends too many to name, and the church family of 5th Street Church of God.

40th Anniversary, Bahamian Majority Rule Day (Jan. 10, '07)

Just Before Entering ...

We must give it to the Hebrew people … their oral and written testimonies of God’s favor, faithfulness and redemptive power gave birth to the three major world religions, and thousands of years later, continue to influence political, theological and social realities, the world over. Even here, in The Bahamas where so many Bahamians flock to give their praise, time and money to our various churches, it is their reflection of God as the God of Moses and Abraham and the major and minor prophets in the history of the Jews, which inspires this devotion. But it must be noted, and theological emphasis must be given to this most important fact: God is also the God of Bahamians; God is the relevant and very present God of a right now Bahamas, a God whose favor, faithfulness and redemptive power has also brought us safe thus far. However, unlike the Hebrew people, we have failed miserably in our written and oral accounts of God’s glory, weakening our significance in the world, and threatening the true nature of the power of who we really are, CHOSEN.

January 10, 2007 will mark the 40th Anniversary of one of those significant, historical manifestations of our relationship to and with our God. The 10th day of the first month as it was for Moses and the people of Israel so it is for Bahamians. In 1967, this day heralded a new reality not, as it is so emphasized for Black Bahamians only, but for all Bahamians, as that much needed segment of Bahamian society, the average, the ordinary, the majority gained full rights to participation in Nation building, thus making Bahamian society in general, resemble more closely true humanity, true civility. We had on that day been liberated not from evil white men, NO! We had been liberated from the crippling effects of a twisted consciousness possessed by some and accepted by the rest, that somehow privilege (back then, money and power) vested in the few, gave inherent license to deny the less privileged fundamental freedoms and opportunities. We were to go from a reality where few owned and few ruled to a reality that guaranteed that all would own and all would rule by virtue of the fact that by citizenship, all belonged.

Perhaps because initial commentary made this milestone about the dynamics of race only, and not the dynamics of power, somewhere in this paradigm shift, we got lost. Black leaders through the very tool which brought about victory, partisan politics, got lost fighting to wield illusive political power. White leaders and not so white leaders just got lost (went underground), while holding on to economic power; and by not adequately regenerating the true essence of the cause of the movement, Bahamians as a people have found ourselves, some better off than others of course, lost, wandering aimlessly without a concrete collective consciousness and mission as to who we are, where we are, from whence we have come, and where we need urgently to go.

Well, progress is now upon us, all of us, with a fury more intense than that of the three hurricanes combined, which ravaged Grand Bahama not long ago. This Country, by its geographical positioning and make-up can no longer contain its investment potential and has become the envy and interest of the rich around the World. While they are coming in droves and buying and developing our birthright and subsequently owning more and more of our economy, we as a people are busy gearing up to massacre one another politically, and busy perpetuating the various destructive life philosophies born out of our divisive past, which focus on selfish gain over fraternal collective love. Our chance to fully own this Country, of going from care-takers to becoming real stake-holders, that opportunity of the ordinary majority becoming full participants, as was the promise is dwindling before our eyes. But all is not lost, the time of possession is now or never.

Forty years after wandering in their wilderness, a handful of Israelites and/or supporters of the movement, risked everything to catch a glimpse of their own promise that had drawn their fore-parents out of bondage. Upon returning to their leader, most concluded that the struggle to become and possess what God had promised was an impossibility. Focused on their limitations, and focused on the gigantic hurdles standing in the way of destiny, fearful because of the absence of a clear cut plan to victory and constrained by a divided people who had lost sight of the vision long ago, the then advisors tried to convince the appointed leader to settle for present reality … Needless to say with the right leadership, records reflect that in spite of their challenges, the Israelites eventually crossed over and embraced their promise, and their story convicts us today even as it did generations immediately following.

Just before entering a significant historical era of a Nation, leadership, influenced by those who would venture even where the brave dare not go, and convicted by a God who if one is obedient, always keeps His promise, remains focused. Leadership must decide even in the face of nay-sayers and the threat of peril, to at last, bring about that culminating great thrust toward the promise, (for Bahamians, a paradigm shift of heart and mind). And just before entering, real leadership points the way ahead, and inspires a people to follow. In this our 40th Anniversary of liberation and wandering, might I, the one unafraid of the future and the giants, remind our leaders along with my sisters and brothers on this journey that the way is still FORWARD, it is still UPWARD, it is still ONWARD, and the means by which we attain it is still by doing it TOGETHER! Majority however, must not just rule, it must be prepared to serve.

Faith Hall, LL.B (Hons).
Author

Happy New Year Folks!

I have started the New Year lost for words so I figure a baby with sunglasses and a cigarette, chillin’ out, with eyes of hope and expectation says it all.

Yeah, we’re in for trouble (smile).

God bless and keep you all this year. 7 is an historical, significant Hebrew number. It is said to represent completion – ending of a cycle, beginning of another. So I wish you all the beginning of a new cycle of good fortune and plenty. For many, dreams will unfold as the longsuffering of “the promise” will finally come to pass. For many, the various forms of famine will have ended, drought will be replaced with showers of miraculous blessings and the weeping of the long night will turn to shouts of joy in the morning light. In all these things remember to keep God first in your lives and acknowledge Him as the author and finisher of cycles.
Love etc.,
Faith

Mush mush, Mush mush, my Sister!