People in the community always assume that because I write newspaper articles, I love to write. And while that assumption is partially true and I love to write articles, I have no intention to ever write a novel.

But what ultimately gives me a thrill in this job, apart from exciting crime scenes, is when I am given the medium, the space and the ink to report on what God is doing in our community.

In my first column I wrote in August I asked my superiors if I were allowed to maybe write about my faith in my columns. I was not only shocked they said yes, but even more astonished when they said yes so casually. They looked at me like, “why wouldn’t you be allowed to write about faith?”

The Times-Journal has truly been a blessing in my career to allow me and my colleagues to report on not just what things are happening in our community but also the news we should all be paying attention to — what God is doing in the lives of so many residents.

This week I wrote a story about the upcoming bass fishing tournament for Sav-A-Life. What I thought was going to be a typical “Come here on this day and sign up on this day” story turned out to be so much more.

Sav-A-Life is a local organization that ministers to young mothers who need someone to talk to. Director, Jennifer Dobbs, explained that over the course of the last year there were 17 mothers who were abortion-minded following a free pregnancy test at Sav-A-Life. After counseling, 14 of those mothers made their decision to go through with their pregnancy and have their children. Also, 74 who visited the center made decisions to follow Christ and become Christians.

When reporting on the fundraising efforts of the bass fishing tournament, the numbers were even more evident that someone of a higher power was in control and truly blessing this organization for their work.

More than $9,500 has been donated so far from local businesses sponsoring the tournament. Of 65 business all around the county and even in surrounding counties, when businesses heard of what the Sav-A-Life center was doing and how they were changing lives, no businesses have turned down the sponsorships. This is a rare occurrence in our economy today.

It is certainly not all about the numbers when reporting on what I interpret God to be up to in Selma, but I just wanted to share several things that caught me off guard in a great way this week.

The bass fishing tournament will be Saturday, Feb. 23 and I know the Times-Journal will have a great story to tell on that day about how God used a fishing tournament to be a fisher of men.