In spite of the weird vibes sent out by the “universe” (aka technology and the devil), some of you saw the previous post where I asked for prayer for David. I’ll include it below in case you didn’t. Thank you so much for praying! He started chemo, which is a three day process, every other week, on August 19. The Lord graciously kept him from nausea and a great deal of the terrible side-effects. During that week he was tired and droopy as his mother would say, but was able to function fairly well. The following week he felt much better and was even able to do his normal stuff. Just wanted to let you know how well he’s doing, especially for someone with stage four colon cancer. He’ll have his second round of chemo starting this Wednesday, and finishing on Friday. Oh how we appreciate all your prayers!
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer!.” -Psalm 19:14
PS:
The following is the post sent out previously. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong, but before that a different one also went missing. Hope this one sticks. From August 20-
Dear Praying Friends, Just wanted to let you know that my beloved David has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. He started chemo yesterday and so far has done well. Would you make a special effort to pray for him? It would mean so much to us both. I had a whole blog written about how good the Lord is in the time of trouble, but it disappeared. The gist of it was that bad things happen to everyone, whether we serve Jesus or not. But the Lord is wise and has a plan to love us well.
But I bet you know that. So anyway, pray for strength for us both. In the meantime, we will “go in the strength that we have.” from Judges 6:14.
By the way, I’m not on Facebook, but you can leave a message in the comments below, or on his Facebook page. It feels good to know folks are praying.
We all have moments when we are down and in a bad place. Maybe we did it to ourselves, maybe something happened to us. It is in those moments that we need someone to help us up. We need a friend. We need just one person to believe in us. Watch this story by Steve Hartman about one person who makes a difference…
Let me be honest. Last week, when I read reporter Elisabeth Strillacci’s Opinion piece from the Salisbury Post “Where were you?” I stopped and reread this paragraph: “I heard something heartbreaking this week. Apparently our younger generation does not know what 9/11 is.” Did you also stop to reread that?
How could that be? It just happened…wait, it wasn’t just a few years ago? No, it was a young generation ago. And besides, I know my teens and children know about it. We discuss it annually, as each age is able to process it on their own level. In fact, my high schoolers’ current unit study is on the U.S. military and events around that day of terror.
But, Strillacci is right. This past Wednesday, a young lady whom I mentored and who is deeply affected by death and tragedies – she is old enough to remember the day but young enough to have grown up in a world of uncertainty, fear, and change – texted me. She sets aside time each year to reflect on that day in our nation’s history. She feels a sympathetic weight of the day as she listens to stories and testimonies of those who recall the tragedies in their lives from that day.
She shared her thoughts with a peer of her own age and was met with casual indifference that it was just another day in history and many in other countries are continually experiencing tragedies. I imagine the response to her text is a common feeling today, not just among the young who can only vaguely recall the day or for young students for whom 9/11 is merely a couple paragraphs in a history textbook. Have we who lived that day, if only through our television sets or radios, let memories fade and slip into the past?
Sadly, it is not just another day in history. The residual effects continue to this day. We are all well acquainted with the reports of those who have died well since 2001 – from cancers, respiratory, and digestive issues, to name a few. Some reports say that the numbers are now higher than those who died upon initial impact. Staggering!
My young friend is sensitive enough to think about the entire fire station crew who lost every member and children (now adults with children) who grew up as orphans. Those families are still working through life with grief.
It is up to us adults to recall and recount the past. Although we can see 9/11 pretty clearly in our rearview mirror, the current and coming generations cannot.
It reminds me of the scriptures that speak of our duty to teach the coming generations so they will not forget – because it is possible. In Deuteronomy, Moses warns Israelites to keep their soul diligently and remember what they have seen lest they forget and depart. While at it, they should also make these things known to their children. Why? As evidenced in Judges 2, just one generation after Joshua, Moses’s successor, passes, a generation who does not know the Lord or what He had done for their ancestors arises. Yikes. Ancestry and religion were vital to their identity as a people. How could parents and grandparents forget to share things this important regularly? Maybe they assumed someone else would do it for them?
Forgetfulness is a companion to ingratitude. Ingratitude leads to pride and entitlement or – to put it plainly – sin.
By forgetting to recall huge, life-changing events like 9/11 and passing down stories, are we guilty of leading a generation towards ingratitude, entitlement, and pride that leads to great downfalls? By forgetting to share our faith and what God has done, are we leading to something far worse?
Take time to recount, recall, and share. Even if an event’s anniversary has passed, the lessons are always timely.
Ashlie Miller and her husband Chad raise their family in Concord, NC. You may contact her at mrs.ashliemiller@me.com.
I was walking into work this morning, chatting with a co-worker about the nice weather. I hope we are saying good-bye to the 90’s for this year. The air was crisp, not cold. The sun was shining brightly. The hot weather has its place and purposes, but I am always glad when the cooler air of fall overpowers the hot and humid weather that persists so long here in the Carolinas.
The cooler weather bids me to come and enjoy lunch on the front porch and to get busy on the many fall chores. I have pulled multiple wheel barrels full of weeds from the vegetable and flower beds. I want to trim some trees before it gets too late. I am also hoping to clean and straighten up the shed before cold weather sets in.
We still have some time before the leaves fall. I am still holding out hope for a few fall veggies before the frost puts an end to the gardening season. A few of the neighbors have put out their fall decorations, which can only mean that we are only weeks away from the stores putting out their Christmas decorations. I wish they would hold off until mid-November.
Some friends have asked me what kind of winter is on the way. The almanacs are predicting a milder winter. It looks as though we will have a La Nina winter, with a catch. The last few winters we have had either a strong El Nino or a strong La Nina. This winter looks like it could be a weak La Nina, which means it might follow a different pattern. One long-term forecaster suggested that a weak La Nina might give us a colder than normal winter. The thing to remember is that each winter is unique and that various weather phenomena can impact what ultimately unfolds. As most of you know, I am hoping for some snow.
For now, there is plenty of time to enjoy the cooler fall weather, and we know that winter will ultimately provide some cold weather. Whether we get some snow or not is yet to be determined. Many forget we are still in hurricane season and we need to remain vigilant. My plans are to enjoy the onset of fall and prepare for the upcoming winter.
We were reading a story in class today about a young guy who wished his life away thinking that the next stage of life was going to be wonderful. The trouble was he never enjoyed any stage of his life because he was always wishing for the next stage. Sometimes we can all fall into that trap. We miss the joy of the moment because we are focused on things ahead. We worry about tomorrow and forget to look around and take in the wonder that is today.
It’s easy to do. Sometimes on my walks I will catch myself staring down at the road. I fail to look around at the beauty of the Carolina blue sky or I miss the flowers that are blooming in someone’s yard. I fail to enjoy the cool breeze that caresses my face. There are some birds singing and I missed it because I was stewing about something that really doesn’t matter. The worst one is when I get back from my walk and realize that I didn’t recognize that my Heavenly Father was walking with me. How did I miss Him?
It is important to plan for our future but we have to learn to live in today. We aren’t promised tomorrow. As I get older I realize that days, weeks, and months pass by so quickly. We have to learn to be present in the present. Enjoy each person, each interaction, each moment that God gives us. Appreciate and enjoy the beauty and the wonder of the world around you. Look up at the stars. Breathe in the fresh air. Taste and appreciate the good food God has provided for you. Hold a loved one close for just a moment longer. Listen to the symphony that’s outside your door.
I want to encourage you to live in the moment, to live the life you are given today. Enjoy the people who surround you. Look and see the beauty that God created for you. Be thankful for the big and little things in life. It is important to be prepared for what’s ahead, but don’t miss the here and now. While I am curious about the winter that will soon be upon us, right now it’s time for my walk and I want to go out and enjoy Him and His creation.
During my forty-year career in education I witnessed too often the damage of peer pressure. In order to “belong” to a group, a student would adopt behavior and dress to demonstrate they had reached the threshold of being “one of us.” This pressure was mostly negative and even dangerous because it required a student to follow imposed mores and not his or her own morality. At times this acquiescing to demands made by a group could result in serious circumstances, such as when a young female would “give it up” so that she would belong to the group of cool.
We all want to belong; to be a member of something larger than ourselves. Belonging to a group gives us a sense of worth, a sense of safety, and a sense of justice. If we become a member, then we become validated by the group and whatever price paid for membership becomes secondary to the belonging. This herd mentality, we hope, will lead us to herd immunity, the place where all members of our herd are protected by our experience and exposure.
When I coached a high school wrestling team, I had team tee shirts with “Iron sharpens iron” printed on the backs. I told the wrestlers that they were to help sharpen their teammates during every practice. I explained that they were each responsible for helping their teammates become better wrestlers and people. Iron sharpens iron. While the wrestlers were part of a team, a herd if you will, or a tribe, even, they were individuals most of all. They were parts of the whole, but they were required to be individual wrestlers, just like the individual strands of a rope. If they were not independent wrestlers, the team suffered because they were not being the best that they could be. Iron sharpens iron. The phrase I used comes from Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
But if one becomes trapped in herd mentality then he or she relinquishes individuality and is not sharpened by others. Instead of challenging and making each other sharper, the easy life of following the herd takes over. The price does not matter anymore; all that counts is the sense of belonging to the group. The aspiring member will now do anything to belong to the herd–even expose his or her children to possible infection of a disease that is rapidly spreading. Such illogical acts feed the self-serving aspirant. Membership in the herd has now taken over.
The trap of herd life is all around for Christ followers, and always has been. However, we are reminded to be wary of false leaders and ideas. The 1st Century Christians had to battle against tempting ideas such as Gnosticism. They had to use the discernment we are all given. They had to be aware! And we are to be aware as well for temptations that come in attractive packages. Such temptations are not only of the flesh, but of the lure of power, money, and belonging to a herd that offers only the allure of riches. After all, we can never be fully immune to any evil. That is perhaps the biggest lie of all.
On Sunday, August 18, I headed east to get three parks about as close together as any group in the state. The first stop was at Raven Rock State Park, known for a large rock facing toward the Cape Fear River. Stretching for more than a mile and as high as 150 feet, the rocks were sculpted and carved out by water over millions of years. Ravens used to roost in the rocks, but no longer do. An Indian legend says that a Tuscarora Indian named Raven was captured by another tribe and confined to the high ledge, only able to survive because Indian maiden White Fawn supplied him with food. They were later allowed to marry.
The park is located closest to Lillington and has 4,810 acres. The park was busy early on Sunday with lots of hikers, many of them on the same Raven Rock Loop Trail of 2.6 miles that I used. The Raven Rock site is more spectacular than I expected. Hiking trails in the park total 11 miles, most of it easy and moderate except for the long stair steps down to river level. Bridle trails total eight miles, and mountain bike trails add another 32.
Interesting fish caught in park waters include oddities like longnose gar, American eel, chub, shiner, darter and pirate perch. There are backpack and paddle-in campsites, camper cabins and 15 campsites for tents and trailers, plus nine for RV’s. There is also a first-class motion activated exhibit hall and a Native American exhibit. This is a wonderful park with lots to see and do and was one of the busiest I had seen on any early morning.
Carvers Creek State Park is one of the newest state parks, and currently it has little development. The park has 4.530 acres and is nearest Spring Lake. The entrance road is next door to Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, and the sound of large and small round firing was a constant while I was there. However, the signature item in the park is the Long Valley Farm which was the retreat of James S. Rockefeller. The 1,240-acre farm site includes a large millpond where fishing is allowed. The two trails in the park include an easy, flat walk to the farm from the park welcome center called the Rockefeller Loop Trail. The other trail is the Cypress Point Loop Trail, good for closer viewing of the large millpond which actually sits in front of the Rockefeller house.
The house is fenced off pending future work, as is some of the property behind the house. A springhouse is on the property, as is another old house, a grist mill and a small shed. A sign says Long View Farm used scientific farming methods early on. The Rockefeller family purchased the farm in 1927, and the house was built in 1938. The 100-acre millpond was created around 1850. The livestock and crops supported many tenant farmers and their families. The farm was donated to the Nature Conservancy of North Carolina and then shown to all as part of Carvers Creek State Park when opened in 2013. Plans are in place to eventually make the house the park office and meeting center. The park plans to purchase additional land and to add camping and other recreational facilities.
Weymouth Woods State Park and Sandhills Nature Reserve includes 915 acres and is nearest Southern Pines. The largest part of the park, once the Weymouth Estate, was donated to the park by the Boyd Family in 1963. The park’s main focus are stands of tall longleaf pines throughout the park. Many of these trees are 250 to 400 years old.
The visitor center has lots of interesting activities planned for school and family groups. Throughout the three sections of the park are eight hiking trails totaling 4.7 miles and one equestrian trail of 2.6 miles. All walking trails are rated easy.
Advertised in my guidebook and on the park map is the oldest living long leaf pine in the world. When I stopped at the visitor center, I asked about the tree and how to find it. The visitor center is in the Weymouth Woods Track of pines and walking trails. The desk attendant told me to just put the Boyd Tract in my GPS, and I did, finding Den Road as a dirt road with large homes and equestrian jumping farms. I parked in an open spot next to the Round Timber Trail. Very sandy and obviously frequented by ridden horses, I saw that the oldest tree would be on the left of the trail. I saw huge pines yet couldn’t find my tree. I turned and headed back downhill to look again.
There was my tree! I had missed the famous tree on the way by, but this time noticed a small path had been worn to and around it. The huge tree was just as the attendant described, especially the odd-shaped base of it. The top has unusual, small and curved limbs and a strange butt that is misshapen. The tree has been tested to be 476 years old, and for many years remained in second place to a longleaf pine in Florida that reached 499 years before its death.
Now with 22 state parks complete, I will soon head for 19 more.
