Our Village Blacksmith, Scott Smith, stewards an age-old tradition (as his last name suggests his forebears once did).

Pounding and bending and twisting in Magnalia’s Village Blacksmith Shoppe, featuring an 1850-style forge that fires up to x degrees using hunks of oak and pine and mesquite wood, Scott uses mostly discarded metal to bring to life pieces admired for both form and function. And he uses his craft to tell a story that’s connected to his own story.

Scott was a special forces operator for the U.S. Army. He has been through some hard times. Blacksmithing has been a way to remember that he has things to create, to bring into the world, for the glory of the One who created him, and is working on him in the forge of life. These words from Longfellow’s poem, The Village Blacksmith, are on the Smithy walls:

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
      For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
      Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
      Each burning deed and thought.

To make the point of stewarding a legacy still more poignant, Scott was mentored by our founding Smithy, Matt Bray, who designed The Village Blacksmith Shoppe at Magnalia. Scott’s ministry has impacted scores of veterans who are pressing on through the hardships of transition into civilian life after military service.

Turning discarded pieces of metal into re-fashioned garden tools, culinary implements, knives, hatchets, swords, hammers, bottle openers, crosses, hangers and jewelry is — well, redemptive work. The Smithy door handles they’ve fashioned this past week brought a tear to me eyes: I asked for something fitting for an old castle door, and they created something nothing less than EPIC.

People created in the image of God are made to do good work.

We are honored by the presence of people like Matt and Scott and others who work the forge here, and who’ve helped serve the Smiths who do. You know who you are, and we thank you. : )

#ShoutoutSeptember