A Second Harvest

by   August 3, 2024 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            My garden has been weighing on my mind. With all the hot weather I haven’t wanted to work in the garden. The recent slightly cooler temperatures encouraged me to get out there. The weeds had taken over in two of my raised beds. I wanted to take back my garden beds and get them growing vegetables again.

            I got two wheelbarrows full of weeds and spent vegetables out of the garden. I did get a small harvest of potatoes and butter beans out of the weeds. I was glad to get something out of that space. Once the weeds were gone I planted seeds in hopes of getting a nice fall harvest.

            Most years I try to replant my garden around the beginning of August in hopes of getting a second harvest. It is normally hot so I will work late in the evening when it is cooler. I have actually been out there as late as midnight, weeding and planting my garden. I worked until about dark getting the two beds cleaned out and planted.

            Last fall we got some of the best green beans that I have ever grown. We are hoping for the same result this year. I always plant some sunflowers for the birds. I have tried some broccoli and lettuce. I tried some pumpkins a couple of times but they weren’t ready for Halloween. One year I had a good crop of peas and beans but lost them all to an early freeze.

            I never know what will produce and what won’t before we get a frost. Some years I have gotten lucky with some late tomatoes. It is hard to imagine cold weather when we are so hot. I have been lucky with late gardens in recent years, but gardening is a game against Mother Nature. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

            I am not a big gardening gambler. I will wait until the average last day for frost before I plant and I will use sheets to cover plants if a frost is possible. Sometimes I take chances, especially with a fall garden because I like to watch things grow. Planting seeds and watching them pop through the soil stirs hope inside me.

            It should be the same in our spiritual lives. We should share our faith in Jesus with others. When we do, we are planting seeds in their lives. No one knows which seeds will grow and produce a harvest. We don’t know if our words or actions might be the thing that helps a person turn and accept Jesus as their Savior. We know the results if we don’t share our faith.

            The trouble is that it is hard to share our faith. We take the risk of being rejected or ridiculed, or called a hypocrite if we aren’t perfect. Since we know that we aren’t perfect then the risk factor increases substantially. The other factor is that the enemy whispers to us that we aren’t worthy of sharing our faith. We know ourselves, so we sometimes listen.

            We have to take our eyes off ourselves and look to Jesus. Do you want anyone to miss eternity in heaven with Jesus? I don’t. That means I have to swallow my pride and put all those worries and concerns out of my head. I need to be willing to take the risk, open my heart, and share why I believe in Jesus. There are so many ways God has come through for me in my times of need. Those stories are my testimony to God’s love for me. Those undeniably true stories can penetrate the darkness and hard hearts that I hope to reach.

            Your journey of faith is a story that reveals the hand of God in your life. It reveals His faithfulness. It illustrates His mercy and forgiveness. It tells of His grace. It magnifies the depth and breadth of His love. It exposes His compassion and tenderness. Your story, my story, is worth repeating to anyone who will listen. It can melt the hardest heart and bring light into a lost person’s dark world.

            I encourage you to share your story with people. To those of us who are saved, it encourages us as we deal with the daily struggles of life. To the lost it offers hope that there really is a God who cares deeply about our needs and wants. So many people see God as being far away when in reality He is really close. Our stories illustrate God’s love in vivid detail. Take the risk; you never know whose heart might be ready to respond to God’s love.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

Dream City Dreams

by   August 2, 2024 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

            At the peak of Dream City Church’s roof sits a gleaming cross, that symbol of Christianity. The mission statement of Dream City Church is: “At Dream City Church, our mission is to lead people into a fully-devoted relationship with Jesus Christ by loving people, cultivating community, and inspiring hope.” On June 12, 2020 the church released this statement:  “Dream City Church confirms it will be renting its facilities to Turning Point Action for their Phoenix event. Turning Point Action contacted Dream City regarding use of its facilities for a student event. Dream City prayerfully considered and then agreed. Turning Point Action subsequently informed Dream City that the President planned to speak at the event. Dream City’s facility rental does not constitute endorsement of the opinions of its renters. Each facility rental is a means to generate funds so that Dream City may continue to carry out its outreach vision – to reach the hurting and needy in the community for Jesus Christ.”

            Both the Dream City Church’s mission statement and cross on its roof are symbols unless supported by action. The cross is an empty symbol when left on a roof or steeple or when worn around a neck. Until it is brought to the midst of humanity and used for good, it remains an empty symbol. The same applies to the quoted mission statement professing love, cultivation, and inspiration. All three of those words are useless when used as nouns and in order to do the work of Jesus, they must become verbs. Action is required.

            In its statement explaining the rental to Turning Point Action, the church states that it “prayerfully considered” before agreeing to rent its space to TPA. Only after agreeing was the church told President Trump would be speaking at the event. But the church only rents its space to generate funds to carry out its outreach vision.

            All of this may cause Christians to believe that Dream City Church will “prayerfully consider” any request to rent its space because the generated funds will help it in its mission of loving, cultivating, and inspiring. And we are assured that “Dream City’s facility rental does not constitute endorsement of the opinions of its renters” which is good because the TPA crowd and its main speaker roiled the sanctuary with racist chants.

            I have gone online to the church’s website but have yet, on the afternoon following the event, to see a  posted apology for what occurred in its sanctuary.  Until I do, I will believe that Dream City Church is pleased with its thirty pieces of silver and the rants full of hate. And the dream that that hate engenders.

More State Parks

by   August 1, 2024 with No Comments

By David Freeze

More State Parks!

   My second day of visiting state parks was a last-minute decision, although I was prepared. I realized I had a free day on July 10th and headed north again right after my early morning walk. With local highs predicted around 95, I once again headed for the mountains.

    I started out with the 1800-acre Rendezvous Mountain State Park near Purlear, one of the oldest state parks and first established in 1926. The Civilian Conservation Corps built a road in, a cabin and some trails in the 1930s. The park was then transferred to the NC Forest Service, then transferred back to the state park system in 2022. The park’s name comes from the Revolutionary War period when the Overmountain Men patriots used Rendezvous Mountain as a meeting point before heading to the 1780 Battle of King’s Mountain. 

    Rangers were meeting in the park office when I visited. There is a Talking Tree’s Trail of .6 mile but none of them mentioned anything to me. Another short trail up the mountain found the 1936 Aeromotor Fire Tower loaded with various antennas for communication purposes. Although tower access is prohibited, it isn’t locked. The CCC cabin appears in great shape. I saw only two other visitors while there.

     The New River State Park Wagoner Access Area is near Laurel Springs and is part of 3,323 acres. New River is considered one of the five oldest rivers in the world and is unique in that it flows north. A 26.5-mile segment of the 320-mile river is part of the park system. I walked the Fern Nature Trail which loops through a natural area, the canoe access point along the river and one of the finest camping areas that I have seen in my travels. A huge bathhouse and shower facility is central to the campground. Three other trails in the park include the strenuous four-mile Riverbend Back Country Trail.

       Other access areas are located on US 221, another full amenity point, and at Elk Shoals, a smaller area where tubing and a beach area are the main focus. Three other areas don’t have road access and offer less amenities. They are located at Allegheny, Prathers Creek and Riverbend.

       The New River has a gentle current flow and is generally shallow, perfect for all abilities. Canoes, kayaks and tubes are available from local outfitters and fishing is good on the river. I have never considered canoe camping but left the area with that thought in mind. 

       Next was Mt. Jefferson State Park, also 3,323 acres, and named for President Thomas Jefferson in 1952. Jefferson’s father, Peter, owned and surveyed the land in the 1700s. Mt. Jefferson became a state park in 1956 after area citizens acquired the minimum acreage to qualify for that designation. The peak is 4,683 feet of black metamorphic rock. Legend holds that slaves traveling the Underground Railroad used the mountain hideaways.

     The entrance road has little to see until reaching the small park office and maintenance area. I found it unattended, as I was told to expect at New River State Park. I found a small map/brochure and the passport stamp that I required in a little birdhouse looking box on an outside wall. I saw only one worker in the park, yet it was beautiful and well-kept while focusing on overlooks and several hiking trails.

    The Sunrise and Sunset Overlooks are spectacular, especially the rock facing of the Sunset one. It was a great place for pictures for those who dared to step out on the rock overhang. The entrance road ends near the summit with a huge picnic area and a large pavilion shelter with fireplace. Restrooms are available there, and also at the park office.

      I chose to walk the .3-mile Summit Trail, labeled as strenuous although I called it disappointing. The trail was smooth gravel and did reach the summit and another communication tower, though all views were more or less blocked by trees and bushes. Other trails from the summit include the 1.1 mile Rhododendron Trail and the .75-mile Lost Province Trail. Notably, at the summit, I experienced a midafternoon temperature of 73 degrees. The park is considered a wilderness natural area.

     My final park visit for the day was the 4,423-acre Elk Knob State Park, at the end of the some of the most winding mountain roads I’ve seen. Constant switchbacks going up through beautiful mountain country ended on Meat Camp Road at the entrance into one of the newer state parks. First established in 2003, the park’s name comes from the elk that once wandered the area in the 1700s. Meat Camp Road gets its name from the local area that was home to a meat packing house used by hunters before the Revolutionary War.

     Hiking is the main attraction at the park and a nearly full trail parking area suggested that Wednesday was a busy day on those trails. The half-mile Maple Tree Run trail was the one I hiked and read that it is used in winter for snowshoe and cross-country skiing, though never wide enough for two skiers to pass easily. The 1.9-mile Summit Trail accesses the two Elk Knob overlooks. Elk Knob tops out at 5,520 feet, aiding the cool 67 degree temperature I enjoyed. A backcountry group camp and primitive camping sites can be found on the 3.8-mile Backcountry Trail.

     Seven parks visited and 35 to go, because the correct total of state parks is now 42 after Rendezvous was added back in.

Gotta’ Run: State park visits begin!
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