GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 6:2
Hometown Surprise
Born on January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin on the banks of a small creek in Tennessee, she was the fourth of twelve children. Her father worked as a tenant farmer, tobacco farmer, and day laborer to support the growing family. Dolly Rebecca Parton’s mother cared for the growing family by carefully guarding every penny her husband brought home. Dolly credits her mother’s love of singing for her own musical skills. Growing up in a cabin with no electricity or running water, she found that her high-pitched voice and country roots were dismissed early on. Determined, however, she pressed on to establish a famous musical career and business empire. A hometown girl who made good.
On February 24, 1955, an unwed woman gave birth to Steven Paul Jobs, and she immediately gave him up for adoption. As a youngster, Steven struggled through school. After high school, he enrolled in college, but he had trouble functioning in a traditional classroom and dropped out after just one semester. His adoptive father, however, built him a workshop in the family’s garage where Jobs and his friend Steve Wozniak began tinkering with electronics, eventually helping to invent the personal computer. The college dropout eventually had a worldwide impact. A hometown guy who made good.
After ministering in and around the seaside city of Capernaum, Jesus and his small band of followers went to visit Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. “When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many, when they heard, were amazed, saying, ‘Where did this one get these things; and what is such wisdom which is given to this one; and what are such miracles which are coming about through his hands?’” (Mark 6:2) Reports of Jesus’ ministry and teaching had undoubtedly made their way back home, but when the hometown folks saw and heard him, they had questions: “Where did he get the things he taught? Where did he get such wisdom? And how was it possible that such miracles came through his hands?” Here was a case of a hometown boy whose success startled many.
Talent, innovation, and self-sacrificing ministry still push hometown guys and gals to success.
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