7/22/2008
<br>Author: Devin Pickard
<br>Title: Mr. Brown
<br><br>The year was 1914....Ford Motor Company announces eight hour work days and a minimum wage of $5 for a days labor....U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs the Mother's Day proclamation....Baseball legend Babe Ruth makes his major league debut with the Red Sox....and the first shot was fired signifying the beginning of World War I.  I dare say that very few who read this were even around at the time to know that any of those things had taken place.  The Fairfield Church of Christ is blessed to have a few folks who could say they were born in a time when the 1800's were just in the rear view mirror.  They can tell you of a galaxy far, far away....a time where there was no television, cell phones or Internet.  These folks from the Lost Generation, as Ernest Hemingway calls it, can remind those of us who are spoiled 21st century citizens that there was an age in which most folks had no running water, no electricity, and when the word  facilities was mentioned, it simply meant a little wooden shack at the end of a well traveled path out back behind the house.  <br><br>This past Sunday, one of God's finest servants, Carl Brown Rivers was laid to rest in the family cemetery down on Lowe's Bend.  Bro. Rivers was one of those special people who came from such a time as mentioned above.  God allowed Brown to hang around long beyond the four-square years that we read about in the Bible....you might could even call him and his peers modern day Methuselahs.  Mr. Carl was not unlike most of his generation....he worked long, hard hours on the farm, raised a fine family and had a life centered around Almighty God.  He would be the first to tell you that he gave the credit for all the good things in his life to the Lord.  He was blessed to be able to marry his sweetheart Mary in 1936, and in the years following become daddy to 3 girls, Gelene, Jeanette, and Linda.  When Mrs. Mary passed away in 2004, she and Carl were just 2 years shy of being married 70 years....yes....70.  Mr. Rivers was from a generation that meant what they said and whose word was golden whether it was to God or man.  When Mrs. Rivers became sick, her knight in shining armor became her main caretaker and was faithful to her to the very end.  He understood that the for better or worse and till death do us part sections of the equation of marriage and life were not just words....but rules to live by.              <br><br>A few years ago, Mr. Rivers daughter, Linda, wrote a short biography about her daddy's hands.  She mentioned all of the things that she and her sisters had witnessed those hands do over the years....plant crops....sling bales of hay....help bring new calves into the world....swing a switch to the bottom of an unruly daughter on occasion....and cook a meal, just to name a few.  Linda even mentioned that he, along with his neighbors, once helped dig graves for several members of a local family killed in a mass murder.  I'm satisfied those hands saw a lot during their 94 year existence....experiences that could produce a novel.<br><br>Besides Mrs. Mary, Mr. Carl was also preceded in death just a few months ago by daughter Gelene.  He now rests in peace next to she and his lifelong bride.  The last time I saw him Sunday, those worn-out hands were gently folded in rest.  Wouldn't it be neat if we could hear those hands talk now?  If so, I'm sure they would speak of holding the hands of a wife and daughter....oh, and by the way....the Creator of the Universe.  <br><br><center>May you rest in peace Brother Carl</center><br><br><br>Go the extra mile - Devin