Give and It Shall Be Given To You

Aunt Nellie saved my life one Sunday night several years ago. Steve Miller was being considered to be the pastor of First Baptist Church of Butler. I stood up in a packed church and invited everybody to come to our house after church to meet the pastoral candidate. I thought it was a good idea but there was one minor problem.

I had not discussed the idea with my wife.

Kathy had no idea I was going to make that little announcement and she almost fainted when I did. We had not one drop of food in the house and not even a soft drink. And the house was not exactly in the presentable state you would want it to be in if you knew over 100 people were coming for a social gathering.

And believe me they came. Every last one of them.

I knew I was in trouble when I got that special look from my wife.

Aunt Nellie, who is my wife’s aunt, saw our dilemma and came to our rescue. She took off to her house and picked up a few frozen cakes, drinks and all kinds of stuff and brought it quickly to our house.

She also made a few quick contacts and got others to do the same and in a few minutes had organized a group to bring what we needed to our house to make it happen.

All this happened in a period of 20 minutes.

When the night was over we made it. We entertained over 100 people and I think everybody had something to snack on and something to drink. Thanks to Aunt Nellie.

I never forgot her act of generosity...and mercy.

Dee and Nellie Taunton of Butler, Georgia are special folks. Being in the funeral business for most of my life in Taylor County, I noticed something else about this couple. They would always be the first on the scene at a house when someone passed away.

You would always find Nellie in the kitchen. Cooking and cleaning. And using whatever she had to help others. And Dee would be doing whatever it took to support his wife in getting the job done.

Dee and Nellie have also been known to show up at our house with a big pot of fresh vegetable soup. They did that when we lived 10 minutes away and they have also done it when we lived 50 minutes away, as we do now.

They have a garden every year and there is no telling how many vegetables they give away every year to their neighbors and friends. They grow vegetables and freeze them and they do it for one purpose.

So they can give them away.

Give and it shall be given to you.

They are definitely good at growing vegetables. But they were also great at growing children.

Dee and Nellie have two sons and they have done pretty well for themselves.

One is a pharmacist and one is a doctor. Douglas and Stephen Taunton and their wives are the finest folks you would ever meet in your life.

And the grandchildren they produced are just as special.

The Tauntons are truly an amazing family.

They are amazing because all of their lives they saw their parents as people who were always putting others needs in front of their own.

Always giving.

Those kinds of trees simply produce good fruit.