My brother-in-law Paul lives in the tiny town of Piedmont, SC, population just over 5,000. Now retired, he begins every day by taking his German shepherd, Catfish, for a walk, where he’s always finding something interesting or beautiful to photograph. Here’s a story he posted on Facebook last week.

Catfish and I noticed this old tombstone laying next the sidewalk on our early morning walk the other day, so we drove back to it in my truck, scooped it up, and yesterday we took it to the Piedmont Museum, which is operated by our local Piedmont Historical Preservation Society. Dr. Anne Peden used some gravestone rubbing paper to bring out the aged, illegible writing. The rubbing revealed the decedent was named Henry Turner and he had died as an infant in 1903. Anne then used “Find a Grave” and discovered that the stone had been removed from Rose Hill, the old cotton mill cemetery in Greenville County, more than a mile from where the stone was found. The next phase of the repatriation of the granite marker is to contact Jane Woods McClain and her husband Mark to access their extensive knowledge of the Rose Hill cemetery. Soon this stone should be back in its rightful place. Thanks to all involved. – Paul Porter, Facebook, January 29, 2025.

I’m amazed that Paul lives at a leisurely enough pace that he can (1) notice the gravestone, (2) take the time to pick it up, and (3) take it to someone who would know what to do with it. It may be unlikely that anyone would even notice that the gravestone was missing from an old cemetery, 121 years after young Henry died, but Paul thinks it important that the gravestone be where it belongs.

Some of us (me!) tend to move so fast that we miss opportunities to serve in small, perhaps unnoticed ways. My friend and Navigator mentor Skip Gray used to say that Jesus had a 3 mph ministry. “He didn’t go jogging through Judea, sprinting across Samaria, or galloping in Galilee. He WALKED wherever he went.”

Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth. John 9.1, NKJV)

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. (Matthew 9.9, NKJV)

Jesus saw a man…because he was moving slowly enough.