Spring Spruce Up

by   April 12, 2025 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

Spring Spruce Up

            Our church has two Saturdays each spring when we get our members together to do some spring cleaning and sprucing up. There is usually a crew that works inside the building and then a crew that works outside. I am always on the outside crew. We will weed, trim bushes, plant flowers, blow off the parking lot, and put some fresh pine needles down. We share a good time of fellowship while we work together.

            I prefer to work outside, weather permitting. A few years ago, we replaced all the landscaping out front and planted new foundation shrubs. It was a big project and the new shrubs looked so small. They are growing well and needed some trimming this year. We shaped them up nicely. There is still some more to do for the next workday, but things look so much nicer outside.  

            We normally schedule our two workdays before Easter. We want to make a positive impression on our guests. The inside crew is doing the same thing for the inside of our church as the outside group is doing for the outside. They are working to make our church feel warm and inviting.

            Making a positive first impression is important for every church. Sometimes we get used to how things look and forget that guests might notice things if they appear a little less than inviting. It is important to make the parking lot, shrubs, and flower beds look attractive. Then you have to think about the foyer, Sunday school classrooms, bathrooms, and the sanctuary. We all want visitors to feel like they are being welcomed into the family of God.

            While making a positive impression inside and out is important to making guests feel welcomed to our churches, there is something else that I feel is important. There was a time when I was looking for a new church. I visited a number of churches that looked attractive. But the big thing that kept me from going back was the simple fact that NO ONE spoke to me. No one greeted me. No one shook my hand. No one made me feel welcomed. It was like they didn’t care if I was there or not, so I decided I didn’t want to go back again.

            I know we all like to see our friends at church, and that is great. We should spend time in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But when we see an unfamiliar face in the crowd we ALL have the responsibility to speak to them and make them feel welcome. If someone sits on your row that you don’t know, speak to them and let them know you are glad that they came to your church. Let them know they are welcome in the family.

            To my readers who are looking for a church home, please remember there is no perfect church. In our church, many of our members have a T-shirt with these letters printed really big on the front: PBPWMGINFWMY. Those letters mean: Please be patient with me, God is not through with me yet! No one is perfect. We all need the grace of God. My church is full of wonderful, loving, God fearing people…but we are all far from perfect. So guess what? You can fit right in with us! Most churches are that way. You will discover imperfect people.

            I think of it this way. I believe it is important to make a positive impression with the outside and inside of our churches. Our churches should be clean and inviting for everyone, members and guests. But churches are really spiritual hospitals. Churches are places where broken people can come and find healing and restoration through a relationship with a loving God who sent His only Son to die for us. The Good News of Easter is that He rose from the grave! He stands ready to welcome all who will receive His free gift of love, hope, and a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

            I want to encourage you to welcome people who visit your church on Easter Sunday and every Sunday. They may not look or act perfect, but that’s okay because God’s not finished with you yet, either. He can do amazing things in people’s lives if we open the doors to our hearts and our churches to them. He will use you and me to make them feel welcome into His family. I believe people will visit our churches on Easter Sunday. I hope they find a place that makes them feel welcome so they can receive the grace, mercy, and love of God. 

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

God Will Strengthen & Protect You

by   April 11, 2025 with No Comments

By Ed Traut


2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

  • Everyone goes through challenges and storms.
  • We can be sure that God is faithful in all things and that He will strengthen us.
  • We have this confidence that He shields and protects us that the devil can do us no harm.  God is our fortress. 

Prayer:  My Father today, regardless of what I am going through, I look to You because I know that You are faithful and that You will strengthen me and I will not be focussed on the difficulty but on Your goodness.  Amen. 


Ed Traut
Prophetic Life

What if your Training isn’t Going Well?

by   April 10, 2025 with No Comments

By David Freeze

What if your training isn’t going well?

    Not seeing results in your efforts toward any health and fitness goal is frustrating, especially if you have been diligently working to get faster, lose weight, gain muscle or work toward any other health-related goal. Before you give up, consider the following areas of concern.

   Sleep is our best recovery tool. If you miss out on good and consistent sleep, you could sabotage your results and not even know it. I struggled for years with this one, and oddly after my accident sleep has improved.

    My best learned tips include winding down an hour before your projected bedtime. Things not done can be listed to be completed the next day. Stay away from caffeine and eating too much too late. Make your sleeping area comfortable, cool and dark. Put a pad beside bed if you often awake thinking of things to be done. Write them down and go back to sleep. Shoot for eight hours but strive at least for more than you did previously.  

    Are you working out without food being eaten overnight, first thing in the morning or without a small amount of good carbs, fat and protein 60 minutes before training? You can still train some while in a fasted state, but likely it won’t be fun.

    Hydration is key as well. Replacing sweat means you need to add water and electrolytes, or you will see a significant drop in performance during your workout and feel horrible afterward. A good sign of hydration loss is an easily recovered weight loss upon rehydrating.

   Make sure you are also eating well after the workout session. You need protein to help your muscles recover, but you also need carbs to rebuild glycogen stores to be ready for the next workout.

   Are you working as hard as you had planned each day? Make sure you have a plan, so you don’t wonder what to do next. Sometimes a trainer or coach can help. Technique matters whether you’re running, swimming, lifting or other workouts. A coach can assess your form and technique.

    A lower-intensity workout may be the best answer for a day or two. When training hard, there will be a top end limit that will require a rest or cross training. Sometimes as soon as I made it to the end of the driveway early in the morning, I knew it was time for a rest day. Pay attention to a sudden increased heart rate as a good sign of the body needing a rest.  

     There are good days and bad days when it comes to training. Instead of evaluating your performance daily, consider longer-term periods such as weeks, months or even years. Note the pattern instead of the daily spikes or dips. Keep a journal of how you eat, sleep and train each day. When you have a perfect workout day filled with new personal records and other progress, look back at the previous 24-36 hours, as you may find a blueprint to repeat your performance. When I hit a hot streak, I often mimic what might be working.

   Good performances are usually tied to how you slept, ate, hydrated, worked or rested the day prior and how you feel. You may also find what not to do if you have one bad day that makes you question yourself and your routine.

    But the best thing to do is to keep at it. I heard a radio pastor last week say something that has settled with me since. We have about 4,000 weeks on earth. Let’s make good use of them.

     April 5th brings the West Rowan Bible Teachers Association 5K which is developing as one of the largest 5K’s and Fun Runs in Rowan County in recent years. The race starts and finishes at West Rowan Elementary School. Bible teachers aren’t funded by the state but the proceeds from this event all go to that purpose. The race course arguably might just be the fastest in the county.

    Look for this event and others at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org

Gotta’ Run: What if your training isn’t going well?

Lynna’s “K” & What a Fellowship

by   April 9, 2025 with No Comments

By Lynna Clark

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!” -Isaiah 26:3

Perfect peace…. complete trust…. a mind set on the truth of His Word…

What a gift!

Bonus verse: “Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps His covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes His unfailing love on those who love Him and obey His commands.” -Deut. 7:9

Oh what a wonderful God we serve!

Back in October when I had emergency surgery I fell into a deep dark hole. It was a hard place to dig out of. I think the combination of pain, drugs and election coverage sent me to a very bad place. Sheesh. It was not a happy field trip. This time I was determined to think of things the Lord advised as I slipped off to sleep. Apparently someone needed to check a vital and I startled from my happy slumber. No more lambs carried by Jesus. But somewhere in the background, guitar music played old familiar hymns and my heart sang along. The Savior led me like a Shepherd and my heart was tuned to sing His praises. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on those everlasting arms. The light went off, the nurse left, but the music continued.

“Is this too loud mama?” my sweet daughter asked. That would be Stephanie. She plays guitar and had found a playlist to drown out some of the commotion that comes with every hospital room. “No honey. It’s good. I thought I’d died and gone to Hobby Lobby.”

After that, we made it a habit to play old hymns during the night. I know it made a significant difference. Right now, I’ve got a lot of things to worry about. I won’t list them here. God knows what they are. Instead, I’ll do my best to think on these things: “Whatever is pure, lovely, of good report…” check out the list in Philippians 4:8,9. Apparently it’s the way to fix my thoughts. May the Lord give you strength to do the same with the things you carry as well. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Photo by my daddy, Seabert Pittman, back when sailing was a little smoother.

A Unique Talent

by   April 8, 2025 with No Comments

Everyone has some talent or gift they can offer the world. When I say that some people doubt it. I believe that God makes every person and He gives each one a special something to make the world a better place. Steve Hartman tells the story of one such boy. You are going to love it. ENJOY!

Very Good

by   April 7, 2025 with No Comments

By Ann Farabee

 Very good

Recipes? Where do you keep yours? Only in your mind? Or do you have a recipe box or recipe drawer or recipe book? I have all those!

In the 1960’s when I was growing up, our kitchen in our mill house was loaded with cabinets and drawers. My favorite was the recipe drawer.

My dad cooked a lot, but he was not a believer in recipes. He just kept tasting what he was cooking to see if it met his expectations. If not, he added something – I think he referred to it as a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Does anyone remember a grease can?

Yes, he had one where he saved grease for the next scrumptious delicacy he prepared.

Making gravy was his specialty.

I am fairly certain we had gravy most days.

No special food was necessary to put the gravy on – any food would work.

Potatoes and gravy.

Meat and gravy.

Eggs and gravy.

You get the idea.

Cook it – put some gravy on it.

I have saved quite a few recipes, and I have a recipe box that definitely includes some memorabilia.

Recipes were written down – often in different places:

*Carolina Special Convention -Jamestown NC notepad

*Tithing envelope from church

*Cannon Mills note pads -Daily Cutting Production- from the Dye Department- in my mom or dad’s handwriting

*Note cards

*White’s Office Supplies note pad

*Post-its

*On the back of a bill from the Animal Hospital is a recipe for a casserole and a great dessert

*Index cards with recipes from coworkers, churchgoers, and friends

Some are in my handwriting, my mother’s handwriting, my mother in laws handwriting, my sister’s handwriting, and in the handwriting of my coworkers, and friends.

Some of the recipe cards were official since they were cut off the back of a box of food.

That recipe box! It holds more memories than it holds recipes!

The additions to the recipe box continue even today.

I did not know it at the time, but not only was I getting recipes, I was also making memories.

Even today, my adult children ask to look at my recipes.

We must admit – food is very good!

To me – the recipe matters.

The recipes came from coworkers, family members, and church friends.

So, when the recipe card is given, it also includes the name of the one who took the time to write it on a card for me. The recipe box has become worn and torn, but so have I!

It sure holds great memories – and great recipes!

My mother saved her recipes in the 3rd drawer in the kitchen.

I save my recipes in a box in the cabinet.

A few weeks ago, my adult daughter asked me if she could have my recipe box when I died. It made me smile. I had asked my mother the same thing.

My daughter really did not have to ask me that. It would have gone to her anyway.

Food is a gift from God. It strengthens our body, nourishes us, brings people around a table to eat together, and it gives us happiness.

Food is mentioned in the first chapter in the Bible in Genesis 1:29-30. It says, “Then God said, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the earth and every tree has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air, and everything that creeps on the earth, where there is life, I have given every green herb for meat; and it was so.”

Remember this account about food in the Bible? If you ever went to Sunday School, you probably heard it there –

Jesus had a recipe to share with 5000 people:

He took five loaves and two fishes. He looked up to heaven.

He blessed it.

He broke it.

He gave the loaves to his disciples.

The disciples gave it to the multitude.

They ate. They were full.

Jesus  multiplied it – and it was enough.

Genesis 1:31 says that God saw everything He had made and it was VERY GOOD.

No matter what we give to Jesus – time, talent, treasure – He can multiply it!

And He has the recipe to make it VERY GOOD!

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