The old man always sat in front of the five-and-dime, begging nickels, dimes & quarters from those who passed his way. The folks who saw him weren't sure how he got there most mornings because he didn't seem to have a soul who cared.
Saturday was the day the boy got to come downtown with a few friends and watch a black & white movie at the movie house on Main Street in Jackson, TN
The old man was ridiculed by most of the kids because he was so pitiful. "Hey Boy" the old man yelled on that first Saturday encounter. It scared the boy half to death. Because he knew the old man was talking to him.
Ivan Raley passed through small towns in Tennessee, South Carolina and the mission fields of Venezuela, Mexico, Belize and Africa on his journey to the ends of the earth. Ivan says he is forever on his way to the ends of the earth and his stories simply reflect that journey.
The story of how the old man picked Ivan out of a crowd is just one of hundreds that have unfolded on his journey; but perhaps none is more powerful, especially the way he tells it.
When you are able to communicate a story as powerfully as "the boy" can, people like me wonder how in the world he does it. The preacher boy is now Dr. Ivan N. Raley. On his way to the ends of the earth there have been several stints of overseas missionary duty to some of the poorest people on the face of the earth, and for the last 65 years he has been able to do the job he loves best: pastor a church. The stories are warmly & wonderfully woven into the sermons he shares. 1
Read more about the old man and what he wanted from the boy; and many more stories from Dr. Raley on his journey to the ends of the earth.
1 excerpt taken from Bob Hurley article in the Greenville Sun, October, 1997.
