Old Pictures

by   August 13, 2022 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            I went to my mom’s recently and she had a box of old photographs for us to look through. There were many family pictures from when my siblings and I were little and all at home. There were many pictures of relatives that I didn’t know or had only met a few times. Mom told me who they were and how I was related to them.

            There was a picture of my mother as a child with a small dog, but she said she couldn’t remember ever having a dog. There were other pictures of my mother and her brother when they were teenagers. It is hard to imagine your parents were ever teenagers.

            My mom and dad were high school sweethearts. There were pictures of them together and it was interesting to see them. There was a picture of Mom and Dad on the night of a big dance they attended. Mom described her dress in detail. My dad was a good-looking young man, especially in the suit he wore that night.

            There were pictures of my parents as young parents. There weren’t as many pictures taken back in those days because you had to pay to develop the film. Most of the pictures of the four kids were taken at Christmas, birthday celebrations, or when we were on vacation. I did find some pictures of the first day of school. Those were required photos when we were wearing our new “back to school” outfits.

            Most of the pictures had dates, so we could figure out how old we were in them. The ones that didn’t required extra thought to determine our ages. There were pictures of some of our houses through the years, which brought back memories from living in those places. We talked about how some of our houses were laid out. We also talked about when I shared my bedroom and when I got my own room.

            It was fun to walk down memory lane with my mom. It was really fun to hear her tell stories of when she was young and the fun she had growing up. I know my parents grew up during some very difficult times. They didn’t have all the possessions we have but they were able to find pleasure in the simplest of things. It was fun to listen to Mom’s perspective on her youth and on our family. There were some old classic stories and many new ones that I hope I can remember and treasure the rest of my life.

            There are many things that we treasure. I think about all the special things we have for the holidays. We have some very special Christmas ornaments that are real treasures. I consider my books to be treasures. I own beautiful pieces of pottery. I also have wood turnings that were made by my best friend, which are treasures. Naturally, our own pictures are treasures.   

            While we all treasure things mainly because they trigger good memories, we need to consider where our most precious treasures are stored. All of our earthly treasures are wearing out. But if we store up treasures for ourselves in heaven we are promised that those treasures will never rot, spoil, or wear out. Those are the kinds of treasures that I want build up.

            How do we build treasures for heaven? When we support our local church by bringing our tithes and offerings, we are building treasure in heaven. When we serve others in the church, God promises to reward us in heaven. When we give in any capacity to those in need, we are building treasures in heaven. When we find ways of serving and helping the elderly, you can be assured that God notices. When we plant seeds of faith in children and help to train them in the way that they should go, we are doing God’s work. When we reach out to the lost with God’s love He will help us and remember our work.

            I want to encourage you to build a great retirement in heaven where the value of what you have will not depend on the stock market. Investing in the Kingdom of God pays out-of-this-world dividends. God remembers everything you do for Him. Be diligent to invest in your heavenly destination. Your devotion and hard work here will pay incredible eternal treasures for you to enjoy for all eternity. Where are you most precious treasures? I hope in heaven!

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

A Day Went Well

by   August 13, 2022 with No Comments

By David Freeze

  Last night, I went to bed with a lot of uncertainty. Not sure if the predicted heavy rain was coming, whether I needed a room for another night, how I could schedule everything for sightseeing and how to proceed down the river on Tuesday.
  I have poor cell service here and had trouble making calls yesterday, but I decided to walk this morning to Mark Twain’s cave first, then catch the sightseeing tour and finally the riverboat excursion. It was supposedly just a mile walk to the cave which turned out to be closer to two. Late for the cave tour, I took the truck sightseeing tour first and an immediate cave tour afterwards. Both are done from the cave site, yet had I been on-time for first cave tour the timing wouldn’t have worked.
    Both the cave and the truck tour were first class and an hour each. I walked back to town and had an extra ten minutes before boarding the boat for another one hour tour. The day was again warm and steamy here so I especially enjoyed the boat ride up the river and into the breeze. All three tours were just what I expected and full of information about Mark Twain, the river and the history of Hannibal.
     Left with about an hour to walk around downtown, I did that and noticed a sign that Missouri was on the Great River Road yet I had not seen anything about it. I called the visitors center and was told, “Yes, we have a brochure on it!”
   Finishing my downtown tour consisted of two things. I had to whitewash Tom Sawyer’s fence and did so with the brush and paint can provided. I met two new friends who did the photography of the event, but also asked about my cycling history. We talked for quite a while and shared how so many “God moments” had happened on my bike rides that He had to be riding along. Two more happened within minutes when I met this couple, his name was David too, just moments after I saw the Great River Road sign.
   The second thing is a bustling general store in the downtown area that offers free cones of ice cream, one a day per person. I got my vanilla, walked around a while in the historic area to see Huck Finn’s house and take a photo of Mark Twain’s house.
   With my time running short, I walked to the visitors center and picked up the map of the Great River Road all the way to New Orleans. I honestly didn’t know such a thing existed and now had found the answer to my worry about how to proceed on this adventure. Particularly good is that the road is depicted on both sides of the Mississippi and shows bridges that I can cross. So, now I have a plan, but will decide by tomorrow when is the time to cross to Illinois and see some of the other side. Following these roads will lengthen my trip by several days. And there are long stretches where the Great River Road doesn’t get close to the river on either side, but at least I now have options put together by knowledgeable people.
    Lots more happened on one of my best days ever on the road. I am right across the road from Unsinkable Molly Brown’s house, made famous when she took a ride on the Titanic. This was only the second day, the Grand Canyon being the other, that I took a day off the bike for sightseeing. Now it is back on the road tomorrow and nothing but hills on the two ways out of town. Like the cave tour guide said, “Missouri is known for it’s hills!”
     Sponsoring again this year is Luis Villareal of Gear for Races from Raleigh. We’ve had a long-time  wonderful business relationship with running shirts and gear.
     Back here again tomorrow. Hope you’ll be here too!

Hope

by   August 12, 2022 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

Two articles from last week’s reading resonate with me—one from a religious magazine written by a minister and the other in a major newspaper written by a columnist.

The columnist writes about “feelings of hopelessness and self-hatred [that] can leave you to live with a smoldering rage.” He writes that the problem facing Washington, D.C. is not one of moral failure but “public health problems coming our way at the point of a gun.” He asks, “But what are we doing about what we already know about the forces driving violence?”

The minister shares her need for heaven, but not the heaven “beyond clouds, harps, and chubby baby angels.” She objects to “Our culture’s images of heaven [that] are so saccharine, so sentimental, so boring.”  What she wants is for us to have a heaven with the “possibility of actual peace, reconciliation, and abundance for all.”

Both writers want the same thing—an assurance for a better world, one free from hate, poverty, chronic pain, violence, and more. They both want a world of justice, one full of hope. But how do we give hope to those who suffer from the massive violence of our country-the violence not only of guns, but the violence of injustice, the violence of a low-paying job, the violence of chronic pain, the violence of addiction,  the violence of believing that this is all there is? If we can give citizens hope, then they will more likely be equipped to fight the obstacles of modern-day life.

One writer’s obvious way to combat the ills she faces in her personal and cultural life is her religious faith and “The hope of heaven is the glimmer of steady light that guides and protects me in the valley of  the shadow of death.” Her hope drives her days.

However, the newspaper columnist tells us that “The exposure to violence does something to you.” It is that violence lived and seen daily that probably causes there to be “no hope in the future to drive the day,” so why not gravitate to the easy path of drugs, guns, wanton sex, and alcohol that make life something not cherished but something cheap and expendable?

How do we give hope to such a life as that? We can’t by ways of large government programs. They can help, but we should have learned that large government won’t succeed because we have tried for years to give hope to downtrodden members of our communities through that channel.

I grew up in a single parent household during the segregated south of the 1950’s and 60’s. My mother hemmed washcloths in a cotton mill and reared 6 children. We were poor. We were White. But we were not trashy because our mother demanded of herself and us children. She once told a sister that she, a fine-looking divorced woman, could have spent every weekend at the beach, but she stayed home with her children, doing the hard work of a single parent. She made us go to church, and she had expectations  of us. She parented us. She was not perfect, nor were we, but we all grew into professionals who contributed to society. She showed us “hope in the future to drive the day.”

Governmental programs, as churches and schools,  help individuals succeed. However, when an individual faces the brutality that some of us do each day, that person needs an adult to guide him or her as if lost in a dense forest. A map of that forest is like governmental programs—it can help, but it can’t offer encouragement at each step and turn the same way as that of a guide. The guide not only leads but gives hope, and that kind of hope can only be built from the intimate involvement of an adult who gives unconditional love at each  step on the path through the dense forest. We all need maps, but we also need guides who will help us, not hinder our journey. And the best guides are parents like my mother who did the difficult work of guiding and encouraging.

This kind of hope comes from a belief that there is more to life than what is seen. It comes from a belief that there is something larger than self—call that something whatever suits you, but real hope comes from believing that each of us is a part of a larger existence. This kind of hope will give a future to drive each day.

Honesty 101

by   August 11, 2022 with No Comments

Here are four stories of people who live honestly. We could all use some honesty in our lives because sometimes we slip… Steve Hartman enrolls his kids to help get the message across. Enjoy………..

No Concern

by   August 10, 2022 with No Comments

By Ed Traut

John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

  • So often and so easily our hearts are troubled by so many things in life.
  • We have to really work against getting stressed, anxious or troubled in our hearts.
  • We trust in the Father God Almighty and in Jesus who never lets us down.  We will depend upon Him.  Trust is blindly dependent upon the one you are trusting.

Prayer:  Lord I do trust in You and decide to continually trust in You regardless of how things look.  I will leave my life in Your hands and know that the outcome will always be according to Your purpose and plan.  Amen.  


Ed Traut
Prophetic Life

Background Check

by   August 9, 2022 with No Comments

By Lynna Clark

So, what’s your story? Where have you been? When was the first time you realized that you couldn’t be good enough to earn Heaven? Who helped you understand that you needed a Savior, Someone to cover the unsightly details of your life when you stand before a holy God?

Let me give you a little peek into my story. I was brought up in church, but didn’t get the whole “You need a Savior” business. I figured I was decent enough. Once when we were headed home from church, we passed the Baptist parking lot. They were gettin’ outa Dodge, and we nearly got run over. My dad said, with his dry humor, “You have ta watch out for them Baptist. They think they know where they’re going when they die!” I never dreamed it was true. Who could know such a thing?

One night, my boyfriend asked me to a youth meeting at a friend’s home. Lame, I thought. Oh well, there’s nothing better to do on a Thursday night. So sitting on a carpet square, singing “Give me unction in my gumption, let me function, function, function,” and … all together now, “Give me wax on my board, keep me surfin’ for the Lord…”, I understood for the first time that I actually needed Jesus to stand for me before His holy Father. The youth pastor, with a gentleness I had never heard, explained 1st John 5:13, and I knew for the first time that I could know… just because I asked Him to save me. So I did. While guitars played, and some dude thumped a cord hooked to a pole on a washtub, I raised my hand to say that, yes, I am trusting. I want to be Yours dear Lord. And with that, I became his daughter forever.

Thank the good Lord, my then boyfriend, later became my now husband, and we have skipped happily through life together ever since! … Well except for the skipping part. So anyway, are you willing to tell your story? Someone needs to hear it. The section in Nehemiah we covered yesterday gave a few stories in all those numbers. That’s the interesting part. You have a story and you are loved. The Lord is honored when we tell what He has brought us through. And, it helps us know He will get us through whatever comes next, because we are His. Consider telling or writing your story this week. You’ll be surprised how it will help you speak to others about the Lord. Today, ask the Lord how to use your unique background to praise Him.

Lord, strengthen me to be honest about my past. I bring my hurts, and victories, to You, and ask You to turn them into praise. Strengthen me to continue my story for Your glory.

More: 1 John 5:13; John 20:31; Titus 3:5,6

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” –Psalm 107:1 KJV

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are!” -Romans 8:18,19

Field of Dreams…

by   August 8, 2022 with No Comments

By David Freeze

Since about four years ago, when I passed through Iowa briefly on the way to visiting all 50 states, I have wanted to visit the Field of Dreams near Dyersville, Iowa. It wasn’t easy but I made that visit today. I left Dubuque about 8 a.m. after dropping the rental car off at the airport. I had the bike onboard and the things I thought I might need. As soon as I went out of the room this morning, lightning struck close by and rain started.

I went to the airport anyway and found a number to call at the Budget desk. I was told to drop the keys in a box and just leave the car. Immediately I started pedaling toward Dyersville. Clouds were threatening but the rain didn’t start in earnest until nearly 11 a.m., with plenty of lightning. At the time I was riding on the Heritage Trail, a packed crushed limestone old railroad bed that isn’t nearly as hilly as the surrounding area. I hope the hills lessen some as I head south because those today had some doozies mixed in.

A solid downpour had just lessened a little as I rode into the Field of Dreams property. I was soaked, but so were lots of other visitors. Plenty of workers in the process of setting up the Major League field that will be used for a game between the Cubs and Reds got very wet too. There were hundreds of workers, lots of trailers to bring in goods for the game, and another field pretty much ready to be used. The famous field shown in the movie is not the one the game will be played on. I naively thought it was but the MLB field is about 500 feet away through the corn. The stands there will seat about 8,000 fans next week. Last year’s game between the Yankees and the White Sox was the most watched game ever.

I was told touring the site is free, but found that visitors are asked for a $20 or $40 donation. That covers everything except a tour of the house, which is scheduled ahead of time. I didn’t get to see the inside of the house but got to stand in the batter’s box, run the bases (there’s a video made by a new acquaintance) and a few photos of a ghost player (made by another new acquaintance) who looks like me coming out of the corn. Just the same as the old White Sox players did.

The field is left open for anyone to throw, hit and run and plenty were doing just that in the light rain. Mrs. Rahe, yesterday’s Welcome Center lady, is part of a neighboring family that plants the corn and organizes regular ghost player games.

I rode about 64 miles today, enough to make me eat a huge meal as I write this. Tomorrow, I will head south and try to follow at least part of the Great River Road. Today was all about baseball and tomorrow will be about the river. “People who know baseball aren’t better than everyone else, but everyone else would be better if they knew baseball.”

Keep riding along. Today was good despite the weather and the hills. I am excited about tomorrow and hope you are too!

Happy Anniversary to ME!

by   August 6, 2022 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            Thirty years ago this week, I went down to meet with the editor of The Stanly News & Press and asked if she would consider letting me write a column. She looked over some things I had written and decided to give me a shot. Thirty years, four newspapers, five books, and two websites later I am still writing. I have never made enough through my writing to support myself, but if the Bible is right, I have laid up some treasures in heaven.

            The journey began with the simple desire to write. When I first started writing, I just wrote about any topic that I found racing around in my mind. It was one of the typesetters at the paper who told me that I needed a signature to my writing. I needed something that set me apart.

How did I want to be seen? I asked her how she saw me, and she said that I am always so positive and encouraging. The word encouraging stirred deeply in my spirit. That’s how the opening line to my last paragraph was born…I want to encourage you…

            There are two writers with which I wish I could share my columns and books. Both writers took time to encourage me when I was starting out, but they have since passed away. The first is Og Mandino. He was an internationally known best-selling author. I loved his style and I met him at an author signing when I was in high school. I asked him tons of questions, and even wrote him a letter. He graciously responded, and ended his letter to me with, “Go get ‘em, tiger.” 

            The other writer was a friend of a friend of mine. He was a columnist in many papers around the country, and took an hour one evening to talk with me on the phone. He was the one who told me that I needed to get some experience, and that I should try to write for a local paper. His advice pushed me to try my craft and to hone my skills as a writer through my weekly column. I went to his grave a long time ago to express my thanks and to plant some flowers.

            Through the years I have met some of my own fans. It always takes my breath away when I walk into someone’s office and see one of my columns hanging on the wall. It humbles me when someone tells me that my words helped to bring comfort. Some have said they wonder how I knew exactly what they needed to hear. If you have written to me, I still have your letters, and they are treasured.

            Writing five books has been a magical dream. I have even been able to share my books with some well-known people. I gave one to Elizabeth and Bob Dole. Elizabeth wrote me a nice note of thanks, which is one of my treasures. I also gave one to Carol Burnett and had the opportunity to talk with her for a few minutes.

            I enjoy keeping up my personal website where I post my columns and links to everything weather. I really enjoy keeping up the EncouragingU.com website. I hope to find more writers who will join our little group. We are also working on another book.

            I am so thankful for the opportunity to write. I am also thankful for readers like you who continue to read. I have had so many wonderful experiences because I write. I am not sure how much longer we will be able to meet through newspapers, but if you will keep reading I will keep writing. I still have stories to tell and hearts I hope to encourage.

            I want to encourage you to keep reading and sharing your stories with me. The truth of the matter is in our Christian walk I need you and you need me. The same applies to writing this column. I enjoy writing, but the reason I do it is to encourage you in your spiritual walk. We all get discouraged in life and need a helping hand to get back up. Sometimes I am the lucky one who gets to lift you up through my words. But sometimes when I open an email or a letter from you…you get to do the same thing for me. Isn’t it amazing how God works through each one us? He knows what we need and sends His word to strengthen and encourage us. Thank you for reading, sharing, and encouraging. See you next week. Bless you one and all! Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

My Modest Library

by   August 5, 2022 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

As a life-long reader I was interested in a recent article in a major, national newspaper that focused on how nine contemporary authors arranged some of their bookshelves. I looked at the photographs and read some of the text. But I became disinterested because I had never even heard of any of the writers much less read any of their books. I pasted a copy of the article to my four sons and two never responded and the other two laughed at (with?) me. So, I placed all the communication about the article in my trash folder and forgot about it until this morning.

My modest library holds a vast range of books that are arranged by topic. The religion shelves hold books by Thomas Merton, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Elaine Pagels, C.S. Lewis, and other examiners of our spiritual selves. The western section is loaded with Wallace Stegner with many other lovers of that land such as Terry Tempest Williams. The shelves dedicated for Black studies have books by Gloria Naylor, Langston Hughes. Ernest Gaines, and other writers who are brave enough to investigate race in America. The four-tiered lawyer’s bookcase holds prized first editions and some are signed such as the treasured  copy of W.S. Merwin’s last book, Garden Time. Next to that collection is a closed cabinet with English writers. Some loved first editions of Thomas Hardy’s poetry sit on the top shelf beside a modest collection of J. L. Carr. There is shelf space for nature books and political ones and biographies. It is a small, personal library, but I am pleased with it and continue to add to its growth.

So what’s the rub concerning those nine writers and their libraries?

While I did enjoy reading some of their explanations for how a  particular shelf was arranged it still rankled me that I had never heard of any of them, so I went to Google and read of their successes and awards. It should be an humbling experience not to recognize the name of a best-selling author, but I felt none of that. In fact, I felt no negative sense for not ever having heard of any of the nine. I began to wonder if I am illiterate concerning current, popular authors. Am I a snob in by reading choices?

None of us,  I suspect, want to be illiterate about anything and never to be accused of snobbery. But what does this self-examination of my reading choices say about me? Discerning. That fits! We all are given gifts by our Maker and discernment is one of those gifts. So, while I may not know of or have read any of the nine authors in the article, that fact says nothing about them and their writing, but it reveals that I am a discerning reader who unlike other readers does not choose to “try anything” to read. But then,  there is still the chance that sometime in the future I will pick up a book by one of them and bring it home, read it, and find it one to keep and place it on a shelf in my modest library.

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