COMING SOON !!!

What do you think it is? I’ll bet you don’t guess this one correctly. Did you say Bank or possibly another development of new homes? I certainly would have. It appears that every new building going up is either a bank or a house – and a BIG bank building or a BIG house with lots of other big houses beside it. And I don’t understand that at all. For one – I keep reading in the headlines and hearing on the news all this talk about foreclosures, mortgage delinquencies, economic downturn, looming recession, etc. And yet, around every corner of the eastern panhandle there’s another bank or new house which means someone has money and someone is going to have a new mortgage. It simply doesn’t add up.

I also find these development names quite interesting. I didn’t grow up where every neighborhood had a sign out front. I suppose we had names to denote areas. They weren’t all that glossy though. What they were was history. There was Upper Elm – an addition to Lower Elm though the two were connected only by a foot path the youngsters took when they walked to school. Yeah – we could do that then. To this day you cannot drive from Upper Elm to Lower Elm directly. Wait a minute - this is very similar to our very own Route 9 east of I-81 is it not? Could a road ever be more disjointed from the normal flow of traffic? People have lived here for years without realizing Exit 12 is not an exit onto Route 9 which in fact runs through Historic Downtown Martinsburg.

Years ago we didn’t use the word ‘historic’ as much. Back in my childhood hometown, there was Old Calvert – the part of town around Draffen’s grocery (named after the owner) with its wooden plank floors and loft. Mr. Draffen gave piano lessons up in the loft. Imagine the pressure of doing your scales while the neighbors wander below buying their bread and milk. Here in the panhandle, I have a friend who recalls walking from school to the grocery in Hedgesville where he’d sit on a long bench at the window and wait for a ride. Sort of a modern day bus stop when it was safe to ride with just about anyone. Of course we knew most of our neighbors then too. Unfortunately, that building he sat in sits empty today. Yet, this was not so long ago even if it does sound like ancient times. Why is that? Is forty years a really long time? Do banks really need all these new branches so they can be the ones to provide the loans for all the new homeowners? What about the old buildings and the old homes?

Truth be told, I am neither a historian, nor an accountant or an economist. I am definitely not a banker. I don’t even pay attention to my receipts. It is very likely that I am looking at it all wrong. Therefore, if you wish, you may toss these questions I pose aside as mere ignorance, a state from which I am not immune.

I am an observer and I hope you’ll find what I have observed recently as an uplifting growth spurt. Yes. The very thing that sparked my attention is stuck there in the ground of what was previously an apple orchard. Yet there in there in the very spot an apple tree once grew and flourished sits a sign announcing the future home of… not a bank. Not a development. I am not even talking about the one for Target. Coming soon to your backyard is a new CHURCH building! YES. And it sounds like it will be BIG too! In fact, the sign reads “Future Site of the Ridge Road Campus First Baptist Church.” And as I became more observant, I have found there is growth in churches all over the eastern panhandle. Not too long ago when I would drive by The Victory Tabernacle on Route 9 in Morgan County, there was only an aluminum building with a gravel lot. That building now appears to be an outbuilding as there sits across the paved parking lot, a lovely brick church.

On Route 9, West of I-81, Independent Bible Church finished a monstrous addition just two years ago because according to Pastor Mark Johnson, they “ran out of room.” Their building now includes a “Welcome Center” which has a discipleship wing with classrooms and an “Outreach Center” where there is a gym and multipurpose space. Pastor Mark Johnson also told me we can look for more to come before the year is out. At the ever developing north end where Wal-Mart went in, they have plans for another church. The way I see it, with a drive thru garden center, area residents should have some time left over for more church related activities. Just south of there on Route 11, at the Berkeley Plaza, The Living Room has definitely seen attendance rise. They’ll be moving to a new facility on Rock Cliff Drive in the near future. I am certain the Ranson area, with their new Home Depot, Kohls and the like have or will soon have additional churches also.

This is a good thing. This should be making headlines. Maybe if it did more of us would be swayed to consider a positive uplifting outlook in lieu of the bleak disastrous one those other news releases create. My point is this. It is not all bad. There are encouraging developments and signs going up in our neighborhood that have nothing to do with commercialization. It is true. There is an indication of spiritual growth happening right here in the eastern panhandle and for that, we should be grateful. I know that I am.
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