Seasons and Sadie

by   May 2, 2025 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

        Seasons and Sadie

            Sometime last week I first noticed the seasonal changes on the mountain. Working in the raised flower garden, I went to the shop for some pruning shears and on the way back, I glanced to the saddle just south of Edinburg Gap. Yep, there was a light touch of yellow, gold, and specks of red. Since that day last week, the change has spread along the ridge, causing the mountain to take on an array of colors like those of an artist’s palette.

            However, before the cold and snow of another winter arrives,  we have weeks of sharp, vibrant colors to enjoy. Not only have leaves begun to turn on the ridge of the mountain, but I have seen some sugar maple leaves turning.  It is indeed a magical season that seems to have arrived unannounced, but I know that lack of awareness  is about me and not the seasonal cycle. Yet, we all are often taken aback by how quickly the change of seasons happens. On the last day of September, while working on a doll house in the shop, I opened the large doors that face the mountain so I could see the same saddle from last week.  I glanced up often to marvel at  how the colors had increased. Not only had the ridge taken on more color, but also the base shone with a dull orange tinge that announced the coming change. Sanding and painting the intricate parts of the doll house, I thought how as this seasonal change has come  many of us in the valley have continued on with our daily lives—the joys, the sorrows, the squabbles, and the mundane, without taking heed of the dramatic change happening on the mountain and around us. Then I thought of Sadie and her words to Mary Ann, my wife.

                        When Mary Ann and I first met, one of the first people in her life about whom she told me was her long-time friend, Sadie, who now lives in Gettysburg. Attending the same church, Sadie and Mary Ann had shared much in their lives until Sadie was called to counsel violent, male prisoners in the Pennsylvania state system. Over the years of her prison counseling, Sadie came to realize that, until she became an ordained minister, she would be limited by the restraints of the state prison system. So, this  spunky lady in her late fifties enrolled in the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg so that she could do more for “her” violent prisoners. After years of hearing about her and her work in the prisons with the men that she said had been forgotten, I was finally going to meet her.

                        Sadie and Mike, her husband, invited family and friends to her ordination. It was a lovely service in an old Lutheran Church near Gettysburg. However, what struck me was how much energy flowed from the small frame of Sadie. Like many celebrations, her ordination was over a weekend, but her glass-framed, smiling face seemed to be in all places with all her family and friends. With her ordination, her prison outreach expanded, and we began regular trips to Gettysburg to race the local marathon, see the historical sights, and share time with Sadie and Mike.

                        Sometimes we would share time with both, but on occasion  Mike would be out of town, so we had Sadie to ourselves. She showed us interesting, seemingly unknown parts of her hometown, she shared with us her work in the prison system, and her work as an assistant pastor. She told us how the men she ministered to had done horrible, unspeakable things, but also how they were human beings who had suffered abuse. She could sit over a meal and tell of these men without  judging; she acknowledged their horrific crimes and their humanity. And always, she was cheerful, bright, wise, and kind. Then  three years ago she shared, over a light salad, how she was having discomfort and could not eat much. That discomfort progressed into cancer.

                        Tears. Treatments. Pain. Fears. All of it and more, she and her family have gone through  much. Yet, like some people, Sadie has somehow continued to smile and radiate energy—until this week when she told Mary Ann, “I knew this would happen (her decline). Do what you have to do…it happens so fast.” The vibrant, loving lady who went to seminary late in life in order to serve humanity now has only about an hour of energy each day.

                        Change is happening on the mountain and in our lives. In the midst of all that change,  we are occupied with the ordinary concerns of life. But, are we living or just going through the motions? Perhaps we should heed Sadie’s words-”it happens so fast”-and do what really matters.

WRBTA & May’s Races

by   May 1, 2025 with No Comments

By David Freeze

WRBTA and May’s Races

       In last week’s column, I inadvertently left out a very important paragraph. The WRBTA 5K and Fun Run, held last Saturday at West Rowan Elementary School, set a major Rowan County record. The race raised over $40,000 in proceeds and it had 450 registered participants. All of these proceeds benefit the Bible teachers in West Rowan Elementary, Middle and High Schools. To donate or for more information, please contact Deb Gusler at 704-902-5237.

      May is loaded with races. The first one on May 2nd is the 20th Annual Teens with a Mission 5K and Fun Run with a new home and course. After many years of holding the race at their church, First Presbyterian, this time the event will use Overton School as headquarters. Since TWAM remains a Friday evening run, organizers this year will use a Glow Run theme to enhance the experience. Organizers will provide the “Glow.” As the first race done on the new Overton course, spectators can see the runners three times during the event which uses most of the former Bare Bones/Greenway course that previously finished at Knox Middle School. All proceeds benefit First Presbyterian Church teen mission trips.

     The next morning, May 3rd, will be the latest Girls on the Run 5K at Salisbury Community Park. About 300 girls will graduate the GOTR 10 to 12 week program by running the 5K cross country course around the park. More a celebration than a competitive race, most of the girls, each with a designated running buddy, will complete their first 5K. Community runners are allowed to participate in the event.

      Then on the next Friday evening, the China Grove Main Street Challenge 5K takes center stage. Officially owned now by the Town of China Grove, the race has a new date and an earlier start time. The kids’ fun run and tot trot kick off the fun at 7:15 pm near the China Grove Fire Department. The 5K course, starting at 8pm, has the official designation of having the state championship fastest time for a 5K. Donnie Cowart ran the fastest official 5K time in NC of 14 minutes and 6 seconds in June 2022 on this out and back course.  

       Then it is on to another popular race, the Ed Dupree 5K on another fast course at East Rowan High School. The May 17th race starts and finishes on the track while honoring Dupree, long-time Salisbury Post sportswriter, runner and coach. Proceeds benefit the Ed Dupree Scholarship.

      And finally, the venerable Bare Bones 5K and Fun Run will also use the Overton course. Owned by the Salisbury Rowan Runners, this race originally started when a significant title sponsor dropped a race two days before the event. All this happened 24 years ago when SRR stepped in to still have the race as a thank you to our running community. Now, one of the area’s oldest races and renamed the Cathy Griffin Realty Chillin’ to the Bare Bones 5K and Fun Run, the event benefits Relay for Life. All participants, volunteers and sponsors get free ice cream at the finish. Wayne Crowder, one of the best runners in NC history, will serve as race director and is available for a no-charge photo opportunity during and after the race.

     Other Bare Bones sponsors include Novant Health, Lazy 5 Vets (providing the ice cream), Carter Law Group, CT Overton School and City of Salisbury.

      Look for more information on all of these May races at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org

     The 126th Boston Marathon is set for Monday, April 21st and will be covered by ESPN2 again. Just over 24,000 runners have qualified for the race out of 36,000 applications received. The first of a series of races goes off at 9:06 AM in Hopkinton, Mass. If you have the time, this is a great event to watch and usually the international competition for the win is amazing. All runners competing must have beaten a qualifying time based on age and gender.

Lynna’s “N” & Blessings Piled On

by   April 30, 2025 with No Comments

By Lynna Clark

Nahum is an obscure little book in the Bible. But one of my favorite verses is found there. Nahum 1:7- ” The Lord is good, a Stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows the ones who trust in Him.”

Dear sweet Lord, this crapstorm is heavy. I really don’t love the things we are going through. But You are good, and You know how we feel. Today I choose to trust in You. You alone are my Stronghold.

Sometimes in life we get the feeling that it’s one bad thing after another. Like being on the bottom of a bunch of players scrambling for the football with everyone else piling on. It’s suffocating down there. According to my very knowledgeable husband, there may even be some uncouth activities going on in the bottom of the pile. This little story is to tell you about the opposite of that. How even though our only vehicle blew a head gasket when we needed to make numerous doctor visits, our nephew stepped up with a spare car. “Use it as long as you need to,” he assured us back in October. “We just keep it in case someone needs it.” Who does that?

Then there’s another young relative who sent a giant Food Lion gift card because they heard we’d started ordering groceries to be delivered. An older lady we’ve never met who heard through her Sunday School class that we’d both been very sick, sent a card with a check to help us through hard times. Along with it was the reminder that God is working all things for our good. Not only does she truly believe that, but she also doesn’t mind contributing to His care.

Then there’s the neighbor who dropped off a card with a hundred dollar bill in it with the promise not to bother us, but also the assurance that she is there if we need her. Also a niece who made homemade chicken broth and bread while I healed from a second surgery and David endured chemo. Nothing says “Get well soon,” quite like that. It is also the Southern version of “I love you very much.”

Others text and call, but most of all pray; enough that I know I can count on their prayers! Faithful ones who drive us to appointments, wait during infusion, pick up meds, or stop by and clean out the guttering: yes, that really happened. We are just amazed at all the care the Lord is giving us through His people. That’s not even counting the daughters who’ve spent hours on the road, stayed with us overnight in the hospital, watched each others kids in order to free up the caregiver, and countless other “little things” so that our many needs are met. It reminds me of the verse in John 1:16. “From His abundance, we have all received one gracious blessing after another.” Piled on, but in a very good way.

Grace heaped upon grace! That’s how our Lord Jesus gives.

In case you didn’t know, David was diagnosed with stage four cancer last July. A short while later my intestines ruptured requiring emergency surgery, as well as a follow-up hospital stay and another surgery in March. It felt like we were being piled on then, but now, nearly a year out from his diagnosis, we are seeing just how faithful God is through others. One more sweet story then we’ll save the rest for another day.

David had been so sick and so weak for such a long hard time that I had no strength left at all. My sister happened to show up at just that time to help me navigate applying for a financial grant to help with medical bills. Instead we ended up sitting on the back deck as I wept through just plain grief for my beloved husband who could not catch a break. She held my hand as we both cried. No words were spoken, no audible prayers were prayed, no advice was given. She just held my hand as long as I needed. Again it felt like the very Spirit of Christ was there to personally comfort me.

Did I say one more story? I meant two, and this is my favorite. We have a neighbor who rides his mower over and cuts our grass on the days he cuts his own. He did this last summer and has kept it up ever since. He is a quiet unassuming guy who never slows down to let us thank him. Last week I was determined. I waddled out back as he zoomed by the picnic table and flagged him down. “Oatmeal cookies!” I held up the zippy lock bag in his direction. He cut the motor as I thanked him for all he’s done. “How’s David?” he asked. I couldn’t speak, but tears began leaking from my traitorous eyeballs. I shook my head and tried to answer, but what do you say? I was embarrassed for the poor guy who was just trying to mow and get out of dodge. His quiet voice surprised me with an old hymn.

“When we all get to heaven…” he sang. Then he zoomed off on his mower, cookies in hand, as I thought about entertaining angels unaware. How many folks have loved us so well during this very difficult time? How many prayers have been sent up by saints who only know of us, but care enough to breathe a prayer on our behalf?

Yes. We have been “piled on.” I guess you might say on both ends of the spectrum. For today at least, I will bask in all the wonderful ways God has heaped grace upon grace.

Last June when we took this picture for our 50th anniversary, we had no idea how many people would love us so well. Praise God and thank you!

Our wedding day. Time sure flies when you’re having fun!

Out of the Ashes

by   April 29, 2025 with No Comments

How do you recover after a fire takes your restaurant business? Steve Hartman tells the story of how something came out of the ashes and it brought hope. ENJOY!

The Savior on the Road

by   April 27, 2025 with No Comments

By Ashlie Miller

My grandparents had a print of the painting Road to Emmaus by Robert Zünd hanging in their living room for as long as I can remember. You may be familiar with this painting, which I understand was a popular print in the 1960-70s. However, if you are not, it features two men walking alongside and listening to the risen Christ. The scene is idyllic – a forest with large trees, a small stone bridge over a brook, and the faint image of a village ahead in the distance. 

Religious art used to frighten me as a child – “Can He (God) see me?!”. I would steal glances at this particular painting and wonder about it. When I finally was old enough to understand its significance, the print became more of a treasure to ponder than something to fear. 

The story behind the scene Zünd captures is so beautiful: a risen Savior walking with disciples – not those disciples (Peter, James, and John) or even the other eleven. Rather, they are disciples we may otherwise know nothing about (see Luke 24 for context). What a Savior – to reach the lesser known. Don’t you love that He took his time with them while they were on a walk? We know they were leaving Jerusalem and headed towards Emmaus. Likely, they were leaving after the Passover and all that ensued that Holy Week. They had tarried long enough to hear reports from women regarding Jesus’ body missing, angels confirming Jesus had risen, and men double-checking to make sure these women weren’t crazy (because women were not considered reliable sources for testimony). Yet, that must not have convinced these two wandering disciples. They needed a divine encounter to fully grasp the Word given to them.

Why was Jesus walking away from Jerusalem towards this town? He appeared to have a mission – to make what the previous week was all about abundantly clear. All the words of the prophets they had read from Moses and beyond – every Scripture points to Himself. The Word in the flesh (Jesus) was revealing the Word (Scriptures) to them. No wonder their “hearts burned within” them, as they later remark. 

Jesus does not stop there, though. They long for more, and He meets more intimately with them, breaking bread until they finally recognize Who He is. Then, just like that – He disappears! These disciples are so excited that they are ready to make the trek back to Jerusalem to be with the other disciples within the hour! Seven miles. Based on current data, the average person walking at an easy pace walks a mile in 20 minutes, give or take. These disciples had already made the journey once that day. But this news prompted them to get back to join their brethren quickly!

What a kind and loving Savior to take the time to go down the road and even a little further to make certain all His disciples truly understood – not just those disciples. 

Going for a walk often helps clear my head. Often, I hope God will meet me in my thoughts, songs, or Scripture I am listening to, or even encouraging talks with my husband. Walking with the Savior will not look like that painting by Zünd, but it will surely be just as intimate and clear. Have you had a moment like this where God opens your eyes to see Scripture with more clarity? Insider tip – this begins to happen only when the Holy Spirit dwells within you, removing spiritual blinders from eyes and hearts.

Church Grandparents

by   April 26, 2025 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            I was invited by a reader to come and speak at her church’s community senior’s group. Mt. Gilead church is located near Sophia. They invite local seniors to join their members for a nice lunch and a guest speaker. I was honored to be invited as their speaker. Actually, I was scheduled to speak back in February, but we got snowed out.

            It was a beautiful day to drive out to the church. It was down some twisty roads in the rolling part of Randolph County. The drive was so peaceful and the people were so welcoming. I spoke before we ate so I kept a close eye on the time. The aroma of the food wafting from the kitchen made my mouth water.

            I started off my presentation by honoring a man, Tom Watson, who was buried not far from where I was speaking. I had never met the man, only talked with him on the phone years ago. He took about thirty minutes of his life to listen to my dreams about writing and encouraged me to contact a local paper and begin writing to build my skills. If it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t be writing as I am today. I wanted to honor him.

            Next, I told them about a time when I was looking for a new church. I told them about some churches where no one spoke to me or welcomed me to their church. I talked to them about the importance of having greeters at the door. I also reminded them it is everyone’s responsibility to make visitors feel welcome. Why would someone want to join a church where they didn’t feel welcome when they walked in the door?

            The main message I shared with my listeners is the need every church has for spiritual grandparents. I explained to them that God does not have a retirement plan. In the room that day sat incredible wisdom, life experiences, and testimonies to God’s faithfulness. I told them that there were people in their church that needed to hear their stories. Your story can change someone’s life. We just have to be brave enough to share our experiences with others.

            I illustrated my point by talking about the stages of life. I asked them to remember being newlyweds and having their first argument and how it felt like the world was going to end. I asked them to remember what it was like to have your first baby and all the worries. Then consider the terrible teen years or becoming empty nesters. These were just a few of the many stages of life they had all navigated and survived. Their stories could help others.

            Speaking of survival, I told them that I knew there had to be some cancer survivors in that group. I asked them to remember the devastating day when the doctor told them they had cancer, but here they were survivors. I told them that there were people in their church who either recently received or would receive that same news and how their testimony of survival could make a huge difference in those people’s lives.

            I encouraged the older men to invite the younger guys along on a fishing or hunting trip. There is so much that can be imparted in a casual, relaxed environment. Just being in fellowship opens the door of opportunity to pour into each other’s lives. I told the older women that the younger women needed their guidance on how to balance work, family, social, and church life. I told the women that younger women look up to them and because of their experiences might find it easy to talk with them about life’s ups and downs. All retirees can be great role models for younger folks, a source of encouragement, and powerful prayer partners.

            If you find yourself like me being put in the category of being a retiree or a senior, then let me encourage you to step up and offer your stories of God’s goodness and faithfulness to the next generation. Your stories need to be told. People need to know that God still comes through for us. He’s still in the saving business. He’s still in the fixing business. He still forgives and restores us. He cares, listens and works on our behalf. We have to have faith and trust Him. He is the all-powerful God of the impossible! Nothing is too difficult for Him. No one is beyond the reach of His love. We all have stories and testimonies to share. Let’s open our hearts and lives to others and allow Him to use us.

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

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