Well, if you’re readin’ this, I reckon somebody told ya, “You gotta meet this fella,” or you just stumbled across it lookin’ for somethin’ worth your time.
Either way, hello.. Name’s Emmett Jackson.
I ain’t famous or anything. I drive a school bus in the mornings and cut hair in the afternoons. Been livin’ in the same county my whole life, and truth be told, I don’t have much ambition to leave it. We got everything a person needs right here.. a grocery store that still sells rag bologna, a Baptist church with one good pew and two broke air vents, and folks who’ll bring you banana pudding even when you didn’t ask for it.
I’m married to Brenda. She’s a school teacher, and the smartest person I know. Got a tone in her voice that can stop a child, or a grown man dead in his tracks. She’s the glue that holds this whole thing together, even if I don’t always tell her like I should.
We got two young’uns, Levi and Bobbi Jo.
Levi’s eleven, and has the energy of a raccoon in a fireworks stand. He’s got a good heart, buried under a layer of poor decisions and pocket lint. Bobbi Jo is younger but acts older. She runs the house and knows it.
We also got a blue tick hound named Blue. Not real creative on the name, I know. But he answers to it, and that’s more than I can say for half the folks I went to high school with.
We go to that Baptist church I was talkin’ about. Our pastor, Pastor Bo, preaches the truth and sweats through every dress shirt he owns. He’s a good man, I trust him, and that’s sayin’ somethin’ these days.
I don’t have a degree in nothin’. But I’ve seen a lot. Sat through funerals, held babies, lost my temper, asked for forgiveness, and changed more mower blades than I care to count.
So if you’re goin’ to stick around, you’ll hear some stories. Some are funny, and some are dumb. But they’re mine, and they come from tryin’ to follow Jesus the best way I know how.
Pull up a chair. I’ll put the coffee on.