In The Shadow Of The Lighthouse

Up extra early this morning to do exciting things to my website, www.cowart.info . It may not sound exciting to many other people but as a writer interested in preserving the history of my hometown, I got a thrill out of doing it.

I uploaded a history of Mayport, Florida, to the Jacksonville History section of the site.

Whoot!

Tuesday evening I called Pete Floyd and Beth Gammill, (they both live in Mississippi) and they gave me permission to post an excellent local history book which their mother, Helen Cooper Floyd, wrote several years ago. It’s called In The Shadow Of The Lighthouse: A Folk History Of Mayport, Florida.

I’ve only seen one lone copy of this book and I feared that if it were not preserved, it would be lost. So it was important to me to see it posted online so Mrs. Floyd’s research would be available to students and others interested in Jacksonville history.

Mayport is the most easterly section of the city, right at the mouth of the St. Johns River. In ancient days Indians inhabited the area and in the 1500s French and Spanish colonists fought over the strategic site.

The homes of Ms Gammill and Mr. Floyd both suffered extensive damage when Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf coast and they are still enmeshed in repairs.

Ms Gammill said that before the hurricane she only had a few copies of her mother’s book stored away and she’s not sure if those few copies survived the storm or not.

Therefore I’m particularly happy to play a small roll in preserving the book.

I scanned the text and photos as an Adobe file and it takes a Looong time to download the 149-page file but, for a person interested in Jax history, it is worth the wait

I’ve asked my brand new daughter-in-law, a computer guru, to take a look at the file to see if she can revamp it to download quicker. We’ll see what happens.

Anyhow, I’m as tickled as can be to add this to my website.

In sadder news, yesterday I received a call from North Carolina asking prayer for Reba, a young lady who attempted suicide over the weekend.

She did considerable damage to herself. Apparently this was a serious attempt and she nearly died; it was only the happenstance of God that her landlord chanced upon her body and called rescue.

I have no idea how to pray in such a case. She’s a friend of a friend and I have never met her in person. I find it difficult to pray with any intensity or seriousness for strangers. Maybe that’s because I have no vested interest in the outcome and am too self-centered to seek the good for others outside my own little circle.

I treat such prayers as a duty but my heart is not greatly in them.

I’m still learning about intercessory prayer.— and everything else in the Christian life.