Maintaining the Temple

by   September 19, 2026 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

Maintaining the Temple

            It’s hard work to maintain our homes. They need repairs and updating. Time takes a toll on our homes and styles change. Regular cleaning takes time and energy. There are weekly chores and seasonal chores that require us to work around the house.

            Our physical bodies need maintaining as well. Some people love to work out and maintain their physique. I am not one of them. I do enjoy walking in my community and I like working in my yard. I am not interested in going to the gym or even working out on my own. I do try to take care of myself, just not by going to the gym.

            I fell a couple of years ago and have had back problems off and on since the fall. I have been fortunate that a massage therapist could help me when things were hurting. She recently told me that I really needed to get some physical therapy to help fix the root problem. My doctor made a recommendation, and against my wishes I had to start doing some physical therapy.      I found out after a couple sessions that my physical therapist is a doctor. I was her first patient to evaluate after being hired. She had just graduated and this is her first full-time job. She evaluated me and found that the muscles in my back were all tight. The exercises she has me doing are designed to stretch those tight muscles out and to strengthen my core muscles.

            She will demonstrate what she wants me to do. For some of the exercises I find them challenging and she has to help me keep my body in the right position to benefit. For other exercises I tell her that she has a twenty-something body and I have a sixty-something body that will not do what she just demonstrated. We both laugh and then she makes me do it. She has a great sense of humor and I attempt to keep us both laughing while I am there. I give her fake complaints and she tells me I can do it, which I do. She tells me that my joking around makes the time pass quickly.

            One day she had me sit in a chair and “try” to touch my toes. I tried but I couldn’t reach them. She sat beside me and easily touched her toes. I teased her that I probably could have done it when I was her age. Then a woman clearly older than me was asked to do the same thing and she also easily touched her toes, which had everyone laughing. The best laugh I got out of her was when I “complained” that she was trying to give me six pack abs.

            Like any good teacher, she gives me homework. She explained early on that I would have to do exercises at home if I wanted to make progress. The homework was challenging at first, but things have gotten easier as I continue to work at them.

            While we both like to laugh while I am there, I really appreciate her desire to help me eliminate the pain. The pain will not go away on its own. These same principles apply to our spiritual lives. We aren’t going to grow and maintain our spiritual lives if we don’t put any effort into it. Spiritual growth requires the hard work of self-discipline, dedication to reading the Bible and prayer, connecting with others in fellowship, persevering through the hard times, and building a more intimate connection with God.

            Maintaining our spiritual lives takes time and effort. The rewards are incredible because the God who made the entire universe wants to know you and to be known by you. He wants you to discover more about Him. He wants to guide you through the ups and downs in life. He wants to bring comfort and healing to the brokenness in your life. He wants to deepen your understanding that His ways, which are not your ways, are best.

            I want to encourage you to take the steps necessary to grow and maintain your spiritual temple. Connect with God because He deeply desires to connect with you. Read the Bible, starting in the New Testament, where you can discover more about Jesus. Pray and talk with God. Attend church where you can connect with others who are on the same journey as you. It will require some effort on your part, but the benefits will last you for all eternity.

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

Sing to Him

by   September 18, 2026 with No Comments

By Ed Traut

Psalms 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

  • God gives us a song in our heart to sing to Him on a daily basis. He is good and worthy of praise.  
  • We belong to Him and His people should be praising Him continually.  
  • People are moved and touched by our worship to God and our service to Him and will turn to Him to put their trust in Him, so let us continually praise Him.

Prayer:  Lord I do lift my hands in worship and praise.  I do want sing a hymn to You everyday to honor You and to constantly sing of all You have done and the goodness of God, because there is no one like You.  Amen.

Ed Traut
Prophetic Life

Watches for Cross Country Runners

by   September 17, 2026 with No Comments

By David Freeze

Watches for Cross Country Runners and More!

   The Salisbury Rowan Runners have been timing middle school meets in Rowan County for quite a while. And I have been around cross country meets for most of my adult life. Long called the purest of American sports, cross country draws kids who are competitive, willing to physically hurt in their training and often are still searching for their niche in sports. And they are usually good students. Some are already runners, but most are new to it as they begin running in middle school. And best-case scenario, they will remain runners for life.

    This year more than I ever remember, there has been talk about letting kids wear watches while they race. What is the benefit and why does it matter? Sports watches have progressed to the point where the best can do many things, but the most important of these things should be to tabulate the elapsed time, distance and pace. In its most basic form, runners don’t need watches to run and do their best, they just put the pedal down and go as hard as they can for the distance of the race. Watches can enhance that by showing the exact pace, how far you’ve been, which lets the runner also know how much farther he/she has to race. I suspect that most young runners these days get exposed to these time, distance and pace smart watches. They are addicting because of the available data including heart rate and much more.

     Erwin and China Grove Middle Schools have good teams and compete with several Davie and Iredell County schools. First meets have been completed with some of the kids wearing time, pace and distance smart watches. Coaches and athletic directors sought a ruling, watches or not?

    That ruling came by way of the president of the Tri-County Conference through National Federation of State High School Associations Track and Field/Cross Country Rules. It is specific and says that yes, a runner can wear a watch but using it for certain things is prohibited. Here is the ruling statement.

    .  The issue is with SMART Watches.  The NFHS restricts the use of electronic devices during competition under Rules 3-2-8a and 4-6-5d.  

  • No Communication: An athlete cannot use a smartwatch to receive live text messages, calls, or electronic coaching notes during a race or trial. 
  • No Unfair Assistance: A watch cannot be used to receive outside communication or data that gives the athlete an unfair competitive advantage or active pacing assistance from someone outside the race.
  • Passive Data Collection: Most official interpretations allow smartwatches (like an Apple watch or Garmin) if they are used passively to collect post-race data (such as heart rate or split times). The runner must not actively use communication features or receive pacing instructions through it during the event.

   It would be very difficult for a meet official to check every smartwatch screen to ensure GPS, pacing alerts, or cell data is turned off.  After consulting with the timing companies that are used in our conference, they have indicated that no runner may wear a Smart Watch while participating in a Tri-County Conference Cross Country race.  The meet director will check all runners at the start line to be sure this rule is followed.  This rule ensures that no individual has an unfair advantage.  Runners may wear a regular (old timey style) watch.

    With the ruling, we will check each runner at the start line and any runners wearing a smart watch will be disqualified. Those wearing an old-time watch or those with a stopwatch feature will be OK. I doubt that this ruling will be the end-all for questions, especially in an era of rocker-panel shoes that definitely provide an advantage to those runners able to afford them. In my opinion, that is a far bigger advantage than using a smart watch in a race. Cross country is still a wonderful sport, but technology will keep trying to overcome the purity of basic running.

     Our Beginning Running Class starts Tuesday, September 8.

    The Run for the Word 5K and Fun Run is just ahead on September 12th in Landis. The course is fast and this race helps provide funding for Bible teachers in the South Rowan area schools. Walkers are welcome!

    Look for more on the two events and other upcoming events at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org

Gotta’ Run: Watches for cross country runners and more!

Breakfast by the Sea

by   September 16, 2026 with No Comments

By Lynna Clark

What’s your default setting? Where do you go when nothing makes sense? Do you have a happy place that re-boots your psyche? Christianese would say, “Run to Jesus.” So how do you do that when the bills pile up, the pain is great and prayers seem to go unanswered?

A good friend of mine who struggles with depression will watch a funny movie. Another friend finds great solace in his deer stand. He can sit in the forest on a cold, frosty morning for hours. David will take a long ride on his motorcycle through the quiet countryside. He calls it therapy. Me? Take me to the beach. Give me a day watching the waves and suddenly I’m good for another couple months.

The sweetest story is recorded in the last chapter of John. Seven guys were together after witnessing the horrible death of their friend. Even though they had seen Him alive, and realized that God had raised Him from the dead, their future was very uncertain. Unmet expectations, fear of the unknown and the lingering question of “What now?” made way for hurt and doubt.

Peter reveals his default setting with “I’m going fishing.”

His friends joined him. But after fishing all night their nets were as empty as their souls. With dawn breaking a stranger called out to them the ageless question.

“Catching anything?”

“We’ve got nothing,” was their reply.

“Throw your nets on the other side,” came the familiar suggestion.

With nets suddenly full, memories of provision and care filled their weary souls. Once they hauled in the bounty, they made their way to the shore where Jesus was waiting. There He had a hot breakfast ready for them. Can He get any sweeter?

Here is the Lord of glory, Who has just conquered death, Who understands their fear and emptiness, cooking breakfast on the sea shore for His weary friends.

He’s kind like that. It wasn’t enough to call out a greeting; or to fill their boat with fish; or even just appear to them again in order to let them know everything would be okay. Nope. He cooked breakfast.

That is a picture of our Savior: Grace heaped upon grace.

Just when we cannot take another thing, He sends what we need to fill our empty souls.

Hold on my friend. He will be calling to you shortly. Don’t feel bad if you have to look to Him and reply, “I’ve got nothing.” He already knows. He’s cooking up something special that will be just what you need.

25 Years Later

by   September 13, 2026 with No Comments

By Ashlie Miller

Twenty-five years. 9/11 has literally been a lifetime for some who are too young to remember. It continues to affect the lives of many survivors; many are still losing loved ones or coworkers to delayed-onset illnesses or cancers.

Like you, I remember where I was as I watched the tragic events unfold on live TV. I was not supposed to be home that late in the morning; however, a rough evening the night before delayed my getting started. I actually can remember 9/10 because of what happened on 9/11. The details are unnecessary, but a personal crisis on 9/10 rocked my little 24-year-old world. I thought I was losing control of all that was within my grasp. My own security and structure. My plans. Was my world slipping away from me?

I woke up the next day to see what everyone else saw. Yes, the world everyone shared was still there, yet it didn’t seem like it would stay that way. Was the world slipping away from us? Were our eyes and hearts meant to take in all that we were seeing in real time?

The weeks following were filled with many emotions. After the uncertainty of “what is actually unfolding?”, the feelings of confusion, anger, sadness, and even despair, many Americans had strong resolve – to keep the enemy from destroying our way of life and live it as it should be lived, with rhythms of normalcy and even laughter. Americans putting their own lives at risk, helping strangers, rallying communities, and later sharing healing laughter showed me what resilience can look like.

While we as a nation were figuring out how to survive what would surely defeat our morale, I was also learning to move past a major trial as a young adult who had not yet experienced that personal level of seeming despair. Watching the towers fall challenged and changed what I would consider a crisis. No, God did not take away the things that threatened my security in that moment. Rather, He began to teach me where my security really was: He was my security. My soul was still secure. I could weather any storm with Him, because of Him. The odds before me were not insurmountable. God used 9/10 and 9/11 to teach me to lean in – closer to both Jesus and my husband; everything else was too shaky.

God taught me that my systems of supposed security did not have to be in place for me to be ok. Once my personal neediness was fully exposed and submitted to God, there was not much left to hide. I could be honest about my feelings of despair and frustration, and like a child, expect Him lovingly to carry me through – no one else could. September 11 showed us that survival still has many more stories beyond the pain, and twenty-five years have provided a long season to foster growth, dependence, and trust.

Looking back, I can see that insurmountable odds also exposed how deeply I needed to fully trust my loving Father more than having everything securely in place myself. In 25 years, I’ve still been learning the lesson. Our world may shake tomorrow, or maybe just my own little world. But the psalmist reminds us (see Psalm 46) that God is our refuge and strength.

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