In the summer of 1984, I rolled into Lauderdale County at the age of 25 to become sports editor of The Meridian Star. In my mind that job was nothing more than a pit stop on my way to becoming a Major League Baseball beat writer, but that was before my heart had its say.
After a short-lived marriage of two years had ended earlier in the year, I viewed true love as a hoax and decided to wed my job instead. But less than three years after making that fateful move to Meridian, I found myself standing at the altar on March 8, 1987 pledging my eternal love to Barbara, who has now been my wife for 35 years.
The changes that have occurred in our lives have been many since we began a family that consisted of her, me, and a 4-year-old boy named Ryan Satcher.
Barb’s mother and father, and my dad have all passed away. We added another son, Bradley Bishop, a daughter-in-law Cassidy Satcher, and two grandchildren — Harper and Easton— to our family in the past 35 years.
Although We have lived on the same piece of property for the entirety of our marriage, I have been the sports editor of at least nine weekly papers (I truly have lost count), the Meridian Star three times, and we now own the Kemper County Messenger.
And it doesn’t stop there. I have been host of a daily radio sports talk show, done baseball radio play-by play for high school and junior college teams, and have now been a pastor for more than 11 years.
All of those things were passions of mine, but nothing has compared to the blessings Barb and I have enjoyed as man and wife.
It may sound trite or cliche’ but nothing has changed my life for the better, other than submitting my life to Jesus Christ, more than saying “I do” to Barbara.
I was recently asked if I regretted cutting short my dreams of covering Major League Baseball for a living in exchange for raising a family in Lauderdale County. My answer was quick and sure — NOT FOR A MINUTE!
Those were just dreams. What took place 35 years ago at the altar at the Daleville Baptist Church was a God-Ordained change of direction and fulfillment of a promise.
While I had given up on love, love — and more importantly God — had not given up on me.
Both Barb and I have changed for the better of the last 35 years. She likes to say I have “stretched her” tremendously, while I quickly post out that she has kept me in orbit.
As I finish this column Barb is asleep in bed as I once again work deep into the night taking care of “newspaper business.” That’s been true for the totality of our married life.
Who knows what the future holds for us, but one thing is for sure — it will be a journey neither of us would want to miss.
We are both thankful for the memories and excited for the future. You just can’t be blessed much more than that.
Austin Bishop, AKA The Old Sports Dude, has been covering high school, college, amateur, and professional sports since 1975. He is currently pastor of Great Commission Assembly of God in Philadelphia, Miss. He may be contacted by email at starsportsboss@yahoo.com or by phone at 601-938-2471.
