b2 Publishing: What IS tha' Point.?

tha' Question

It threw me off the first few times that I heard it.

"What's alive in you?"

Not 'what's up', 'how are you', 'what do you do', or even 'stick-it-in-your-ear'.

It still causes me to pause. What IS alive in me? Why does this person want to know? What are the repercussions of contemplating such a question, let alone sharing my thoughts on the topic with another human being?

This simple inquiry has sent me on a journey beyond my wildest dreams.

A journey into my soul. An adventure through my psyche. A quest in my community.

And it all starts at tha' Point.

The point I am at right now. The point we are all at. Right now.

Where we start....

I was driving a truck for a construction company back in the early 90’s and I had to make my first of what would be many trips to Iuka, MS.

To get to Iuka, MS you first have to drive through Nowhere, Alabama.

Just a few miles outside of NOWHERE Alabama, I started to approach a big steel bridge that crossed the southern tip of Tennessee River and new I must be getting close.

That’s when I saw the sign………

BAIT…..ICE……BEER.

How can you possibly deny quality advertising like that?

I pulled my truck in and stepped inside.

There was a man in his nineties behind the counter sitting on a bar stool eating boiled peanuts.

Sir, is Iuka over that bridge?

Son, I’ve lived here my whole life…..I ain’t never been over THAT bridge.

Sometimes by choice, many times by circumstances, we find ourselves at a fixed point.

A point that does not seem to have any chance of changing, growing, or bringing added value.

Isn't that what we are often seeking? Added value.

Added value in our relationships, in our vocations, in our experiences.

So the question becomes, can their be added value in this point.