Hallelujah! We Are Not Alone

My Mamaw Pine lived to the age of 97. She spent the last couple of years of her life in the Nursing Home where she had a habit of trying to get up in the middle of the night and risk falling. The family was concerned for her safety but didn't want her to be restrained. So, they arranged to have someone stay overnight in the room with her. For a while, I was privileged to stay a couple of nights each week.  During this time, I heard many stories of family members I had never met and tales of her younger days.  As much as I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with her in her latter years, I'll always be the most fond of the memories I have of visiting her as a child. Mamaw  was always excited when Wonder Jo (Wanda Jo) and the girls came to visit. She loved to cook vegetables from the garden and the fact that Amy and I didn't turn our nose up at the okrie and squarsh , as she called it. We would finish the meal off with candy from the cupboard. I specifically remember th...

We have an Issue with spiderwebs on our front porch. I’m not afraid of spiders but I’ve told Rusty several times that I wanted to spray for them because I’m tired of dealing with their webs. He says to leave them alone  because they help with bugs. One day, I was completely frustrated when I walked out the door, down the ramp, and right into a thin spiderweb. As I picked the web out of my hair, I told Rusty… “Those spiders have to go. They may be your little friends, but they’re no friends of mine.” He thought it was funny and said… “At least it blends in with your gray hair.”  Does anyone need a husband? All jokes aside, it’s easy for us to sometimes get caught up in things that we should stay out of. How we handle sticky situations is a direct reflection of our Christian walk and is especially important when it pertains to the church body. In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul wrote about this to the church in Ephesus.   He not only gave instructions for Christian living but...

Root Beer giving rides at VBS Courtesy of The Church in the Dirt It warmed my heart last weekend to see old Root Beer lined up with the ponies' giving rides to the kids for opening night of VBS. As I watched the kids climb into the saddles, I was reminded of a trail ride from many years ago.    I had considered getting a horse but had never really ridden one before. My friend Sonya's brother-in-law had a couple of gentle ones that his family would ride on a dead-end gravel road near his home. He told Sonya that we could come over and ride one day so that I could get a feel for it. He saddled them up for us, gave a few instructions and directions, but said that the horses were used to the frequent trips and would know where to go.  We mounted the large animals, and they began to gently walk out of the yard and alongside the paved road making their way to the nearby gravel one. Just as he had told us, they knew exactly where they were going. All we had to do was hold t...

I  was cutting grass in the back yard recently when I felt rain drops falling.  Since they weren’t heavy, I continued on. As I made my way to the front yard, I thought it had stopped because there was no rain up front, but when I returned to the back, it was still raining. The clouds were situated just so that only part of our yard was being rained on at the time. Eventually, the clouds moved and the entire yard received a light shower. The dry front yard was now just as wet as the back.   As I finished my yard work, the phrase... it rains on the just and the unjust  kept coming to mind. It's part of a Bible verse that we often hear repeated when someone is going through what seems to be unfair or troubled times. We use it as the answer to the question... Why would someone that lives a righteous life face the rain like everyone else? Read in context, it means something more.  Jesus speaks about loving our enemies in the latter part of Matthew Chapter 5....