“SERIOUS BUSINESS”

Sabine County Courthouse – Hemphill, Texas

The Sabine County Courthouse was originally at Milam, Texas and was built in 1875.  In 1906 the county seat was moved to Hemphill and work began on a new courthouse.  The courthouse was damaged by fire by fire in 1909 and the clock tower and dome were destroyed.  When the damage was repaired the tower and dome were not replaced.

The courthouses in Texas are places of serious business.  I have a friend who is an attorney.  He told about an experience he had at the Sabine County Courthouse.  He was in trial one day and when court adjourned for the day, he stopped in the restroom before heading back to Jasper.  When I first moved to Jasper, I was told that when 5:00 PM arrived, everything closed…which means be gone at 4:45.  Well, my friend John, made his visit to the restroom and when he tried to leave.  The doors were locked.  As you can see from the above picture, the entrance is on the second floor.  With everyone gone, John was unable to get the necessary attention to be freed from the courthouse.  John is a man of action, so he opened a window on the second floor, dropped his briefcase to the ground, and dropped to the ground wearing his best trial suit.

 Domino Game on Courthouse Square

Cedar Tree Giving Shade for the Domino Game

Not all the business carried on at the courthouse is serious business.  Unless you are a true domino player.  So it depends on who is placing the level of importance on the activities at the courthouse.  I’ve played dominoes all my life, so I know that to the men who played under the cedar tree on the square daily…..it was serious business.  For many years you could pass through Hemphill and witness the marathon games of dominoes.

Jasper County Courthouse

When I first moved to Jasper, I worked for a CPA firm in the Belle Jim Hotel (now a bread and breakfast) across from the Jasper County Courthouse.  There was a daily game of dominoes under a shade tree on the courthouse square.  Domino players are really serious about the game.  One day the local theater caught fire.  It was on the other side of the courthouse square from the “game.”  As smoke began to spread across the square, the “game” moved into a portable building nearby.  Players, table, chairs, and dominoes quickly moved out of the smoke and the “game” continued.  Now that is “serious business.”

We need to always be about serious business.  We must be serious in our responsibilities to our families, our jobs and/or business, and our Lord.  There is no separating these different areas of our life.  It is not possible to separate the secular and the spiritual.  You may disagree momentarily…until you think about it.  But, God’s Word tells us that whatever we do, do it unto the Lord.  So, whatever we do in this life is serious business.