Opinion

Papa Hop grew up a preachers son. See, Papa Hop’s dad, James Allen Weathers, my Great Grandpa, came to Hunt County Texas from Rome, Floyd County, Georgia in 1869 at the age of thirteen. He came with a wagon train and drove a team of oxen at this early age. His Father had died in the Civil War and it fell his lot to be the head of his family. So, after working two years as a drover and cowhand, he returned to Georgia and then brought his Mother, brothers, and sisters back to Hunt County and eventually moved to Floyd County, Texas, an area known as the Great Plains, the Llano Estacado. This is where he began his preaching career, riding across the Llano Estacado and down into the Palo Dura Canyon to ranches and community school houses where he preached God’s Word. Later in 1910, he founded the Meteor Baptist Church in Floyd County, near present day Aiken, Texas. Now seeing as how Papa Hop grew up a preachers kid, he was well versed in the teachings of the Bible which he passed on to children and grandchildren. One of the first lessons he taught us came from Matthew 5:16 which tells us to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”