CALLAWAY WOODS & LAKESIDE HOA
Greetings Neighbors,
The summer issue of The Eagle marks year 2, or volume 2, of our quarterly report. This issue is full of information about your Homeowner’s Association, including the minutes from our first board meeting and our recent annual members’ meeting.
The Gold Rush was written by me 31 years ago. In 1994, after receiving a miracle healing from our Lord, I began a quest to better know and serve Him. In that same year, while praying and fasting, the Lord showed me a vision that I am sharing with you in my story, “The Gold Rush.” I have never shared the vision with anyone until now.
I created this issue’s cover picture, as well as the two photos in the story, using Artificial Intelligence, or AI, using my Shutterstock account. Shutterstock’s design tool allows users to design and create their own art, as well as the option to purchase stock prints. This was my first time using the AI service. It was exciting, and frankly fascinating, to discover that you can type into the AI portal and the AI technology can produce your image. I also took the liberty of creating a picture for Bud’s story, “When the Spirit Came To Our Woods.”
alfredrbarber@gmail.com
(706) 442- 8100
482 Dakota Trail
Officers:
Al Barber President, alfredrbarber@gmail.com
Randy Burt — V. President, r.burt@mchsi.com
Burton Keller Treasurer burton@deltadatasoft.com
Carol Hiller Secretary, carolh1219@aol.com
Directors: Al Barber Chairman
Randy Burt Vice Chairman
Burton Keller Director
Carol Hiller Director
Dale Askins Director
Dr. Mark Oliver Director
John Cunningham Director Ken Janke Director
Pat Diaz-Verson Director
Renee Esten Director
Architectural Review Committee Jay Stelzenmuller, captainjgsiii@gmail.com
Building and Grounds Committee Ken Janke, janke02@bellsouth.net
Communication Committee Dr. Mark Oliver, markolivermd@gmail.com
Compliance Committee Renee Esten, Reneebeenee@aol.com
Education Committee Dr. Sandi McCann, sandi.mccann31820@gmail.com
Finance Committee Dale Askins, askd57@gmail.com
Legal and Governmental Affairs Committee John Cunningham, jec1945@gmail.com
Nominating Committee Burton Keller, Dr. Mark Oliver, Ken Janke
Social Committee Lindsay Norton, Lindsay.w.norton22@gmail.com
“Where the Eagles Soar” is a Special Edition Published in the Fall of 2020 which contains the rich history of our community.
Contributing Writers: Bud Paepcke Al Barber “The Eagle” is a Quarterly Report for CW Property Owners
“Plain Talk” is another Special Edition scheduled to be published in late summer or early fall 2024. Plain Talk will help our homeowners navigate through what can be complex legal jargon in our covenants, bylaws and rules and
Publisher: Al Barber
Editor: Dr. Sandi McCann
Graphic Artist: Matt Blaxton
By Al Barber
The Spirit of the Lord came upon me and carried me out in a vision to a very desolate and dry place in the middle of what seemed to be a desert. I asked the Lord where I was, and He said, “Listen to the one crying in the wilderness.” I heard a very loud voice crying, “They found gold,” and again the voice said, “They found gold.” As he continued to cry out, I saw many people beginning to head in the direction of the voice: people of all races, ages, and genders.
I, too, began to head in the direction of the voice, and as I traveled, I saw some of the people along the side of the road who had died while on the path to the gold rush. It was a road of death and heartache. This road was narrow and full of obstacles: large mountains, deep valleys, and long stretches of desolation.
I continued until I saw the man who was crying in the wilderness, and I asked him why he was in the middle of the wilderness crying out. He answered that they had found gold, and everyone was rushing to the site so they could also become rich. I continued to the place in which the man said that they had found the gold. When I arrived, I saw tens of thousands of people. There was a lot of confusion and fighting. The people were separated into both small and large groups, and they were all in search of the gold.
Some told me that they had found gold, and that I should join them down by the creek, where they had found the gold. It was very confusing, as each group tried to convince me
that only they had found the real gold, and that others had found only fool’s gold.
I watched as people were searching for the gold up and down the creek. Some people had pans, and others had picks, all having tools of sorts to help them to find the gold. There were hundreds of houses built up and down the creek. They were all in the same creek searching for the gold. Every once in a while, you could hear people scream out with joy, saying they had found gold.
I decided to start at the bottom of the creek and work my way up. I wanted to see what everyone was doing and who had found the most gold. I hoped to join one of the groups and to become rich.
The first house I went to had been there for a long time. It was the first house that had been built on the creek, and the people there were the first to lay claim to the gold. The number of people was few compared to the others on the creek. Yet this group seemed to know more about the history of the creek than the others did.
I asked the people there if they had found any gold, and they said yes. They began explaining how they had found it lying at the bottom of the creek bed mixed in the sand. That with a pan and the running creek water they were able to sift out the gold. They said they had found almost all the gold in their part of the creek. They suggested I might have better luck further up the creek.
Again, I began to travel upstream in hopes of becoming rich and becoming part of this exciting way of life, searching for gold. I soon came to a house with many people. They were all in the house, and only a few from the group were out in the creek in search of the gold. When they found some gold, they would bring it into the house and divide it with all the other people. I thought it was strange that only a few were in the water and the rest were just waiting for them to bring in what gold they could find. I could not see how I could just sit and wait for someone else to find the gold, bring it into the house, and divide it among so many people. I decided to move further up the creek to continue my search.
also found some gold. I did not want to get into the middle of a dispute over property. My only desire was to find the gold.
I moved on up the creek to the next house and found a house like the second house I had visited. The people there told me that they had begun looking for the gold at the same time as the second house I had visited. They told me that at one time they were members of the second house, but that they had problems agreeing on who would be in charge, so they had left. They said that the second house wanted one person to be in charge, and they wanted each small group to pan for the gold on its own.
The next house I stopped at was also large, with many people coming in and out with shouts of joy saying they had found the real gold. They said that the first two houses that I had stopped at no longer were finding any gold; that I should join them then I could receive all the riches I desired. They also told me that they were in dispute with the other two, especially the first house I had visited, over property claims to the creek. I really did not feel very comfortable there, even though I could see that they had
They also told me there was a dispute over who had left the original house. I again felt that they had found some gold, but I really felt I should go farther up the creek to hear what the others had to say.
When I got to the next house, it too was large and full of gold that had been panned from the creek. This house was a little different: it had hundreds of small groups, each running their own search for the gold. It was very...
confusing because each group kept swapping members back and forth. I really felt that maybe here I would be able to fit into one of the groups and begin my search for the gold. It was not too long after that I realized that there must be a better way. There was too much fighting and confusion, and it was not worth the small amount of gold that they were finding.
I began to think that maybe if I went all the way to the beginning of the creek, I might find the source of the gold; maybe I would find the motherlode. I began to tell people who were members of my group that I believed we should go farther up the creek and possibly find the source. “Let us go find the motherlode,” I exclaimed, but they said they would stay where they knew it was safe and accept the occasional finding of gold. I guess I really could not understand why there was all the fighting and confusion. I mean everyone was panning for gold from the same creek.
I started my quest to reach the beginning of the creek in hopes of finding the motherlode. On the way, I passed two more established houses both claiming, like the ones before, to have found the gold. I really did not see much difference in these last two by comparison to the first five. I continued past the last group and the creek began to get deeper. I was at a point where I could not make it any further without getting rid of some of the tools the people had given to me to help me to find the gold. I first got rid of a couple of the pans and a shovel. However, I still had too much baggage to continue. I started looking at all the things I had accumulated, and I had to make a decision.
If I wanted to continue, I would have to drop all the tools to lighten my load. Then I would be able to finish my journey in the deeper waters. It was not easy deciding what to
keep and what to get rid of. All the people had told me that each item would be necessary in my search for the gold. I was upset to think I would have to continue without these tools, but I had no choice. I had to get rid of every heavy object I was carrying to be able to make it.
When I got to the top of the creek, I saw a waterfall that was coming down over a large cliff. I thought to myself, maybe if I search around the waterfall, I may find the source of the gold. I looked all around the fall and found nothing. Behind the waterfall was the only place left to look, but that meant I would get wet. The water was not falling too hard, so I decided to look and see what was behind the waterfall. To my surprise, there was a very large rock behind the falls. I could see that it had gold all around shining through. Jumping for joy, I believed that I had just found the motherlode. Hurrying over to the rock was my only thought, though it was only a few feet behind the fall. Water was falling over the rock, making it shine. I grabbed the rock to see how heavy it was to determine how I was going to move it. When I grabbed the rock, it stood up as a man and the waterfall rushed water over the cliff, as it had never fallen before.
I was so excited I thought I was going to drown, but I could not let go of the rock. The water kept coming, rushing over the rock so fast that fire began to come out of the water. The water and the fire both were falling on me, but the fire did not burn me. The man who stood up from the rock said He was the Christ Jesus and that I should not be afraid. I began to cry out that I was afraid of the fire in the water. I looked up, and when I did, the water entered my body with the fire, and I was afraid, but I felt no pain.
The water had passed over my tongue so fast that when I opened my mouth, I began to
speak with a new tongue. I had never heard this language before that day. The water ripped off every stitch of clothes on my body. I saw that I was naked. Then Jesus said that I needed a new covering, that the old one could not hold the water and fire. He then placed a white robe around me, and it was on fire, but the fire was not consuming it.
Then Jesus said that He was the Lord of Lords, that He was the gold that all had been searching for up and down the creek. I asked Him who all the people I had passed on my way up the creek were. He said the first house was the Jewish House, the second was the Catholic house, the third house was the Muslim house, the fourth house was the Eastern Orthodox house, the fifth was the Protestant house, the sixth was the Mormon house, and the last house was the Jehovah’s Witnesses house. He told me to go back and tell all the people to come out of their houses, get in the creek, drop all their manmade tools and come up the creek closer to Him. Jesus said to tell them to come to the waterfall and receive Him as that rock of gold and to receive the baptism of fire and water. To receive the latter rain, this is greater than the
first rain. Jesus said to tell them to come up to the waterfall and receive healing from all their sicknesses and diseases; to leave behind all their old tools and come to receive their new robe. This new robe was especially made to hold the fire in the water; not a garment that a man has made, but the one your father in Heaven has prepared for you.
As I left, I began to tell all that I had seen, and to tell everyone what had happened to me; for them to get rid of all their manmade tools and heavy burdens and to find the rock and receive the baptism of fire and water.
The land we now call Callaway Woods was once owned by the Boy Scouts of America and consisted of 600 acres straddling Standing Boy Creek and bordering both sides of Whitesville Road. For 70 years, thousands of boys utilized our woods, while learning valuable skills to enrich their lives and their nation. Jon, who is now in his late 40s, was one of those scouts, and I recently enjoyed hearing him reminisce about some of his memories of this wonderful place.
After joining a Columbus troop in early 1986, Jon attended a week of summer camp with his troop in our woods on more than one occasion. During his first summer camp, he had lots of fun, passed requirements for rank advancement and earned a few merit badges, while being forced to overcome a little homesickness. Halfway through the week, Jon unfortunately cut his finger with his new pocketknife, and though it was a painful experience, he believed it taught him knife
safety the hard way. That incident also gave him a personal lesson in "service to others" when one of the older scouts in his troop demonstrated to him what a "Good Turn" looked like by physically carrying him to the first aid station.
Having become more acclimated to the Scouting program by 1989, Jon was thrilled when he was "tapped out" at summer camp for membership in the Order of the Arrow (OA), a special brotherhood of campers. He was then required to endure his OA Ordeal, much of which took place during a weekend at Camp McKenzie. Part of his Ordeal involved performing strenuous service work with others to help maintain the dam on Mobley Lake at Camp Callaway.
By 1990, he had been selected to be the troop's Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) and was to lead the troop to another week of summer camp here in our woods. To help prepare the boys for that summer experience, the troop utilized their assigned campsite for a weekend one month before. The campout was to
include a Saturday night campfire program to which all the troop's families were invited. The troop’s campsite (Campsite #2) was located at Camp Callaway (just west of what is now Burnt Hickory Way); the troop’s campfire was planned for the amphitheater at Camp McKenzie (on land that is now #307 Troop Drive). Already involved as an active high school thespian, Jon organized the campfire program. While the younger scouts were working on camping skills with the adult leaders and familiarizing themselves with the campsite, Jon and other senior scouts built an impressive tepee and log cabinstyle campfire structure and straightened up the amphitheater.
After supper at Campsite #2, the troop hiked to the McKenzie athletic and parade field and stood by to welcome their families. Many of the troop's families showed up and parked their cars in the field. Since the campfire program could not begin until after dark, everyone waited patiently for the sun to finally drop below the horizon. As the darkness covered Camp McKenzie, the scouts carefully escorted their
families to the amphitheater for the show. Silence took over, and senior scouts and adult leaders began to clearly recite the 12 points of the Boy Scout Law, giving an explanation for each.
As the SPL, it was Jon's role to act as master of ceremonies, and he stepped out in front of the crowd and raised his arms toward the sky above the firewood structure and spoke slowly and loudly with a clear voice: "Oh, Great Spirit, we need your help this night. We humbly ask you to use your power in this place to give light to our campfire!" Here’s Jon’s description of what happened next: “While I was still pointing my hands upward and looking toward the heavens, the crowd was suddenly awed by the appearance of a little spark of flame at the base of the fireplace. The flame grew larger and brighter, as it rose and crackled and started to consume the tepee inside the log cabin. Darkness was replaced with the blaze of a cheery and warm campfire."
For the next ninety minutes, patrol skits were performed, songs were sung, thrilling tales were told, and an old tattered American flag was respectfully retired and consumed by the fire. The campfire ended with the recitation of the traditional Scoutmaster’s Benediction.
Though everyone marveled at the mysterious lighting of that campfire at Camp McKenzie, Jon and the other senior scouts declined to give any explanation other than to give sincere thanks to the Great Spirit for helping with the fire. However, Jon admitted to me that it was he and his friend, Matt, who actually coordinated the magic. Matt was lying hidden under a dark
tarp on the far side of the fireplace. When Jon called on the Great Spirit to light the campfire, Matt struck a match and carefully placed it against some small strips of pine stump "fat lighter," which instantly produced the small firelight. Then, as the campfire program progressed, Matt slowly slithered along the ground with his tarp until he was in the woods and out of sight of the audience. According to Jon: "It was a brilliant piece of theatrical showmanship, and I'm still pleased that our plan worked out so perfectly.”
Perhaps the spirit of Almighty God also had a hand in making Jon’s plan go so perfectly that night in our woods, for I firmly believe that God is truly the giver of every perfect gift.
By Carl “Bud” Paepcke
