What is it about Macon that grabs hold?

There’s something about Macon that just draws people in.

Don’t get me wrong. Our city has its flaws, from a school system that has struggled to blighted communities to gang-related crime. Despite all that, though, the land that was once home to Otis Redding, Little Richard and the Allman Brothers has something special.

As a graduate of Mercer University, I look around at the city’s various boards and organizations and see people who, like me, came here for college and either stuck around or came back. People like Josh Rogers of NewTown Macon, Alex Morrison of the Urban Development Authority and Stacey Harwell-Dye of Centenary United Methodist’s many wonderful ministries all grew up elsewhere but found something in Macon that made it home.

Others did grow up here and either stayed or returned later, such as Bibb County school board President Lester Miller, former board President Thelma Dillard and many others.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m married to a Macon native and graduate of both Central High School and Mercer — her classmates may remember her as Jessi Ford — but that’s not the only reason I’m drawn to the area. Maybe it’s the downtown area that has always held so much history and potential. Maybe it’s the convenience of an urban or suburban lifestyle so close to the natural beauty along the Ocmulgee River.

More likely for me, it’s the local food establishments that I won’t mention for fear I’ll leave someone out. But there’s at least one of these restaurant owners who knows me by voice and knows exactly which sauce to put on my chicken. You just don’t get that kind of connection everywhere.

Just before I left Macon in 2010 for a job in South Carolina, my wife and I were at our church singing “God of this City.” Even though I spent most of my childhood in the area where I was about to move to, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling that I was leaving home, a place where I belonged.

That song, if you’re not familiar with it, contains the line “Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city.” I couldn’t avoid the feeling that I wanted to be a part of the greater things here, and yet I felt like leaving was the right thing for my career and my family at that time.

A little more than four years later, the opportunity to come back presented itself, and here I am. What’s more is that not only does Macon still feel like home, but it’s improving by leaps and bounds.

Greater things are still to be done here in Macon, folks, and we can all be a part of that.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 4:16 PM with the headline "What is it about Macon that grabs hold?."