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Cards and a prayer

Shortly after I took the pictures of the cotton field I got a cup of coffee and sat down at a table in the club car across from an African American woman who looked to be in her fifties. She turned out to be 68, which I learned later.  Another couple mentioned playing cards and she expressed an interest. The couple left and didn’t come back. He lady, whose name was Marla, had been reading out of her Bible, the book of Isaiah.
     She said she would teach me how to play two person solitaire.  I suggested that was an oxymoron. She suggested I was a smart Alec. We played one game, which she won. Then the conversation turned to my asking her about herself. She said she ran a house cleaning business and was busy in her church in Jackson, Mississippi. I told her I was a pastor so we talked church stuff for a while. I asked her about her family.  She is the second youngest of ten children. Her younger brother called while we were talking.
     When she ended the call,  she asked if I had siblings. I said two sisters much older than I.  I told her I was an accident and my mom at first thought I was a tumor.  She started laughing. The same thing happened with her younger brother she had just been talking to. In fact, Tumors is his nickname.   She could not believe there were two of us. She called her brother back right away and told him she was sitting across the table from another tumor. I suggested we could form a club and make jackets. That got a really big laugh.
     The conversation went on and then she told me her oldest son had died after complications from injuries he had received when he stepped in to rescue a woman who was being beat up by a man   He was shot for his trouble and ended up in a wheelchair. Before that her husband had become abusive after he returned from Vietnam She had to divorce him. By this time she was nearly in tears so I suggested that I pray with her which she allowed me to do.
     We arrived at Jackson and she had to go. We never exchanged last names or phone numbers. It was just one of those special times one can have if one looks for the opportunity.   God was good.

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