Monday 3/10/2008

We are very honored to be able to be used by the lord, it is a pleasure and an honor that we share this letter from Mary McCoy the wife of John McCoy a dear friend of Ronnie Barrett. John Works with Ronnie at Wesley Medical Center in the IT Department.

3/09/2008

Ronnie:

Can you handle some encouragement this Monday morning?

There is an elderly gentleman who works at our school as a handi-man & janitor. He travels from a small community just north of Picayune all the way to Hattiesburg every day and gets to the school before anyone else most days. He & I are usually the first ones at the school every day. What makes him so different from most of the janitorial employees we have had at one time or another are his high standards & kindness. Most janitorial employees that have been assigned to clean my room in the past seemed to begrudge doing any work, let alone actually cleaning a room.

Over the years and to this current day, John & I have befriended Mr. Al. we learned last year that his beloved wife (Ms. Ruby) had cancer and now know that it is terminal and her time is limited. We (My Class) have invited both of them to come to our classroom at various times & Events and they would come when Ms. Ruby was up to it. Our class would do special projects just for Ms. Ruby, including taking photos of them amongst the class. One photo in particular actually had Mr. Al smiling which is rare these days. Every week, our class sends letters to Ms. Ruby & according to Mr. Al she looks forward to them with anticipation every week. Per Mr. Al, she reads & looks at each, laughing & crying as she goes through them. These are simple, unassuming folks who would give you the shirt off of their backs & expect nothing back in return. They both seem almost over-whelmed with the attention as neither are use to it.

Recently, John mentioned that you had given him a copy of your band’s CD. He has always had a good ear for music & is usually on target when he says a band is good. He made me a couple of copies of your CD & asked me to push the band & just ask folks to give ya’ll a listen. Well, I did & folks are very high on you guys. One of the folks that asked me specifically to thank you for the CD was Mr. Al. He said he & Ms. Ruby loved the CD & were encouraged, touched with the lyrics It seemed to give them a better inner-peace with the inevitable & short time Ms. Ruby has left.

So having said that, your band has already touched the life’s of two very special people even if you never sell a single CD. While I don’t think that will happen, I simply encourage you to keep God at the center of you music & message and I feel certain the rest will take care of itself.

                                                                                                              Mary McCoy

We would like for Mr. Al and Ms. Ruby to know that we are humbled and honored. All of our prayers are with you and we are making plans to come see Ms. Ruby through our friends the McCoy’s. Special thanks to John and Mary for believing in us!