Negative Space

by   March 10, 2025 with No Comments

By Ronda Sassano

Negative Space.  Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?  Anything that starts with “negative” gets such a bad rap these days.  But to an artist (😇) negative space is an important part of the design and can be extremely valuable to the composition.  Negative space, in case you aren’t sure, refers to the “blank” space on the canvas or paper.  Negative space is the unpainted, untainted white area that gives the eye a chance to rest as it processes a busy piece. Without a blank area or two, a work of art could become overwhelming and the beauty, lost.  Negative space increases the power of the colors, just as the quiet of night emphasizes the volume of the day.  

Negative space isn’t found only on paper or canvas.  It can also be found in a moment of rest when a long day has come to an end.  When a day off happens unexpectedly.  When that appointment I was running to suddenly cancelled.  Or in the moment of something simple, like putting toothpaste on the brush, or stirring a boiling pot of pasta to keep the noodles from sticking together.   Yes.  Negative space can definitely be found IF I look for it, if I seek it out, if I’m aware and watching for it. 

Recently, I added a layer to looking for negative space.  I began to practice being open to the Lord during any negative space I happened to recognize.  At one of these points, I was musing about some negative circumstances and how valuable they can be to make my heart more sensitive to the Spirit and what He’s trying to do in my life.  Of course, that’s not what always happens when challenging circumstances arise, and probably not even what usually happens.  What usually happens is that I get angry and blame and accuse the Father and hide my heart from Him.  But, this time  heard Him say, “Yes.  When negative circumstances arise, many times, I use them to answer your prayers for a sensitive heart, the prayers for a deeper intimacy with Me.   It’s in the valley of the shadow that you have greatest opportunity to discover who I really am and how much I really do love you.  Yes.  I allow challenges,  I allow pain and grief and even emotions that are so big and intense and heavy that you don’t know what to do with them.  But I never leave you hurting or angry,  I never want you to stay in the tragedy and trauma.  But sometimes you walk away.  Or push Me away.  Or hide from Me.  In My infinite knowledge of you and your heart, I desire for your circumstances to be the catalyst to seek Me out. To want more of Me.  If you will trust that I have purpose for every hurt, every wound, every trial, nothing will be wasted.  Not even one tear goes unnoticed…they are so precious to Me.  They are a sign of a humble heart realizing a need for help that only I can give.  A bruised reed I will not break.  A crushed heart I will not abuse or manipulate or scorn or despise.  Come to Me all you who are heavy hearted.  And I will give you rest. I am in the negative space.”

if you are in a spot like that, pushing the Lord away or angry or just holding your heart back from Him, He invites you to release your anger.  Release your heart to trust Him. He never fails.  Even when I fail to trust Him, He never walks away.  Never rolls his eyes in disgust or sighs in disappointment.  He only longs for me (and for you) to press into Him in the pain.  And He waits. In the negative space.  

Meeting Needs & Sharing Hope

by   March 9, 2025 with No Comments

By Ashlie Miller

The remarkable thing about reading God’s Word daily is that you never know when your surroundings or current events will align with the passages. More than serendipity, it is like a tactile learning opportunity God ordains to deepen the lesson. 

Last week, my husband and I attended a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse event in Colorado called “Sharing Hope in Jesus’ Name.” While there, my Bible reading plan had me in Isaiah 55:1:  “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” Then verse 6-7: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way; and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” 

The ESV Study Bible notes point to the “urgent tone and universal scope of the invitation.” What hit me most was the comment, “Thirst is not a problem but an opportunity.”

You likely have lived in North Carolina long enough to know that these organizations operate in this way. Both are often first on the disaster scene. The “orange shirts,” as Samaritan’s Purse trained volunteers are called, arrive early on the scene. Meeting physical needs is a conduit for them to bring the hope of the gospel of Jesus. “Blue shirt” chaplains from Billy Graham’s Rapid Response Team connect with people to meet spiritual and emotional needs.

It opens my eyes to how I teach my children what helping our immediate community should look like. Yes, we can and should deliver meals, help our neighbor pick up limbs after the windy storm, and step in in numerous ways. But do we ever share the “why” behind the actions? What moves Christians to do these things as compared to just another NGO? Offering water to the thirsty is a nice action that can refresh temporarily, but Jesus offers water that quenches an eternal thirst (John 4:14), and Christians alone are those water-bearers. 

 Helping during the aftermath of a disaster makes us feel good and does a great deal of good. The days and weeks after Hurricane Helene were evidence of that. With that adrenaline, we can all do hard things. It’s rewarding. But if Christians miss the open door that God presents to them, it’s just another need someone else can meet.

God calls the thirsty, “Come.” Christians have access to the soul-quenching water that many do not quite realize they also need. Physical needs, moments of crisis, and disaster provide needs to meet but often expose deeper anxiety that a person has spent a lifetime trying to self-soothe unsuccessfully. The crisis is not a problem to solve; it is an opportunity for something more.

The next time a neighbor has a crisis or a disaster hits close to home, will you be able to see the difference between the need and the opportunity?

Ashlie Miller and her family live in Concord, NC. You may contact her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com.

My DECA Students

by   March 8, 2025 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            Last week started out great. My supervisor asked me if I would do a presentation for our precollege students. She wanted me to teach them how to present themselves when they go into a group setting. We called it, “how to work the room.” It was a lesson on how to dress, smile, shake someone’s hand, and participate in a conversation. I had a great time presenting to the students.

            I left that presentation and went to Greensboro, where I helped with the officer elections at the State DECA competition. There were 37 students running for 6 offices. The competition was going to be intense. Each year when it is over my hope is always renewed in our future. These students demonstrate an understanding of the responsibility of leadership. They know that true leaders are called to serve, not be served.

            I am always given an opportunity to talk with the candidates for a few minutes. I tell them about my experience running one of my students for state office. My student was edged out in one of the closest races I know about in NC DECA history. I also share a story that I am familiar with of a young man who ran for a National DECA office and won.

            I help with administering the test and the interview process. A committee of about 8 students interviews the candidates to determine if they will be eligible to be on the final ballot for their office. It is a tough interview and the students on the committee give each candidate a fair evaluation of their performance. Seeing both the candidates and the committee members, who are all students, acting so maturely strengthens my faith in the future of our country.

            I came home riding on the clouds. I shared the evening and my special day with my wife. I had plans to retire early after such a full day. I took a moment to check my social media, only to discover that a former student had posted that he had said good-bye to his cousin. I became alarmed because I taught his cousin earlier in my career. I desperately looked through the posts for some confirmation about the meaning of his post. Sadly, I discovered that his cousin, my former student Chad Winebarger, had passed away. My heart was broken! I wrote a note expressing my sorrow to my former student.

            Chad and his cousin Ike were both in my class at Elkin High School. They were active members in my DECA Club and competed in competitions.  Chad, Ike, and four of their friends made it to the National Competition in Denver, Colorado. My wife and I chaperoned these six guys on one of the best trips I have ever taken.

            The six guys pulled a number of great pranks on my wife and me. They gave us memories for a lifetime. They were the most respectful & polite group of guys, who kept us laughing the whole trip. They all won proficiencies at the National competition.

            Chad was a tennis star in high school who continued his winning streak in college. He was a smart and respectful young man. He went on to become an attorney in Charlotte, fighting for people who had been hurt on their jobs. He was a young man of strong moral character. He leaves behind a wife, two children, a loving family, and at least one proud teacher.

            My supervisor asked me if I would do the presentation I mentioned earlier for our evening precollege students. I hit on two things heavily: character and kindness. When we consider our legacy and how people will remember us, people will remember how we treated them. People will remember the way we acted and our behavior. They will remember if our words were kind and filled with compassion and understanding. People never forget those who are kind and generous. Generosity can include our money, our kind choice of words, our time, our attention, which includes listening, and our warm smile.

            I want to encourage you to live each day as if it were your last. Treat people in your life with love and dignity. Make sure your family and friends know how much you love and appreciate them. Remember that kindness is worth more than money. I want to be remembered as someone who cared about the people in my life and that people knew that I was there for them. If the world had more Chad Winebargers, more DECA State officers, more people who were filled with love and kindness it would be a wonderful world. Rest in peace, Chad.

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

Reading Old Reading New

by   March 7, 2025 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

When younger, I never paused long enough to re-read a book because, charged by my youthful ignorance, I felt the need to rush on in an attempt to learn as much as possible. After all, as a child from the Mill Hills of North Carolina, I was a late starter and felt a strong need to catch up;  but recently I decided, for some unknown reason,  to re-visit some of my earlier, favorite reads. The first one that I removed from my library shelf holding special books was, All the Strange Hours, The Excavation of a Life, the autobiography of Loren Eiseley.  I was not disappointed in my re-reading and found much that I had forgotten and late in the book I read  Eiseley’s words that caused me to feel better about my decision. He writes in Chapter 23, The Coming of the Giant Wasps, “I  was getting old enough to want to rethink what I had learned when I was younger,” and “I have come to believe that in the world there is nothing to explain the world.” Perhaps those words resonate because they are late in the book, as I write, but nevertheless, I felt a bit of validation, and no less from such an intellect.

Having finished Eiseley’s great book, I must choose my next re-discovery. The  paperback copy of Parallel Lives, Phyllis Rose’s grand examination of five Victorian marriages draws my attention, and I note that this copy is one purchased to replace the fine hardback that has gone the way of several books-given away or loaned to a forgetful friend. It carries no marks of mine, so it sits, waiting to be read as a new copy and studied.

However, because a sister and dear friend are engulfed in their own choice—how to live as they fight their personal cancers- I wonder if I should explore once more a well-worn hard back, Intoxicated by my Illness, which was published two years after the death of its author, Anatole Broyard. I thumb through the copy, seeing my margin tics and underlining and wonder if examining Broyard’s words will enable me better help my sister and friend? I think it may when I read this un-marked sentence of Broyard: “The important thing is the patient, not the treatment.” I may not re-read the book just now, but I’ll remember his wisdom as I try to form feeble words for her and him as poison cocktails are pumped into their bodies.

While Broyard writes of life and its shared end, Patrick Lane in What the Stones Remember, writes in this memoir how he, at the age of sixty,  spent his first sober year in his British Columbia garden. It would be easy to write that Lane’s garden is simply metaphor, but he writes, “My garden is a living place, not just a showroom for flowers and plants.” His memoir offers a poet’s prose examining life and how it should be lived. A good re-read for sure.

Yet across the room are two shelves from which several books, fiction and non-fiction, call. One that I used to teach to high school juniors and seniors is A Gathering of Old Men, by Ernest Gaines. The novel recounts the story of a sheriff who, upon arriving at the murder of a white farmer at his father’s Louisiana sugar plantation, encounters a young white girl, over a dozen old, Black men holding ancient shotguns, and a murder to solve. Over the course of the novel the reader hears the story of each of those old men that explains why he is the one who shot the young overseer. In an era when White Privilege is denied, it seems like a good time to re-visit Gaines’ searing story.

Not wanting to seem like a literary prize that publishes a long or short list, I will cease my ramble around my modest shelves. However, this musing has helped my decision. Eiseley gives good advice, and I will heed his words. I will, for the first time in my reading life, read two books simultaneously—one an old favorite and a few ones that are unexplored. Well, simultaneously is not quite correct: I will spend most of my time with the favorites and sprinkle in the new ones. After all, Eiseley warns that no explanation is to be found here, but I will enjoy the journey into what Rufus Jones describes as “the awe and the wonder of the beyond.”

Catawba Runner Among Nation’s Elite

by   March 6, 2025 with No Comments

By David Freeze

Catawba College track and field senior Winfred Porter has garnered national attention by qualifying for the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships in Staten Island, N.Y. Porter, from Loxahatchee, Florida, will compete in the 60-meter dash after running 6.71 seconds for the distance. There are 21 entries at the Ocean Breeze indoor track facility that includes other top college and professional athletes including an Olympic medalist.

Porter’s event will be shown on NBC Sports. He is scheduled to run his preliminary event at 1:19 p.m. on Saturday with the finals set for 2:54 p.m. at the Ocean Breeze indoor track facility. Jason Bryan, Catawba’s head coach for track and field/cross country, said, “We want to get this out there and let people know. This is huge for Winfred, our program and Catawba College.”

Back home, we have just worked through another cold snap with some winter weather this past week. Here are some great reasons to continue to run or exercise outdoors during the winter. Cold weather makes for better endurance, but we have to remember that hydration matters just as much in the winter even though we don’t always think as often of drinking water. I can tell on my early morning runs that heat and humidity are just a fleeting memory, or a future problem. A good chilling walk out the door makes for quicker starts and better cardiovascular output, along with the ability to work out longer. I have added distance to many of my runs recently.

Better sustained energy levels are another benefit of the cold weather. Cold air can also improve oxygen uptake which improves performance. In fact, you’ll soon realize that the workout begins to provide comfortable warmth if dressed properly. In winter running, a good rule of thumb is to dress as if the temperature is 20 degrees higher than the actual air temperature. On most days, unless wind is a big factor, you will still warm up and sweat some but not overly so by following this formula. You’ll likely burn more calories due to a higher metabolic rate.

Exercising in the cold makes for better immunity during cold and flu season. Moderate cold-weather running can reduce the likelihood of respiratory infections otherwise.

Cold-weather running or walking also aids in improved mental health as it has been shown to alleviate depression and anxiety. Running in general has long been called the best free mental therapy available. Endorphins released during the cold improve mood and focus, especially since the body isn’t having to work to battle heat and humidity. Persevering through less-than-ideal conditions in training can prepare you to cope with any forecast come time for your next workout. It is easy to get a sense of being mentally tough with a can-do attitude and a burst of confidence from conquering your own hesitation to do the workout that afterwards makes you glad you did.

Midday cold-weather exercise will add to the absorption of vitamin D, a nutrient that most of us need to supplement during the winter and one that can be a difference maker in mood and overall wellness.

Once the run or other exercise is over, the effects of the cold weather effort will aid in reduced inflammation and improved recovery, allowing for less muscle soreness and the need to plan easy days.

The upcoming beginning runners class begins on March 11 at the Salisbury P.D. at 6 p.m. Sponsors are Salisbury Parks and Recreation, Salisbury Rowan Runners, Novant Health and the Salisbury Police Department. Our next race locally is the Mt. Hope Church Run for Missions 5K and Fun Run at Salisbury Community Park on Saturday, March 29. Look for more information on these and other upcoming events at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org.

Gotta Run: Catawba runner among nation’s elite; good reasons to exercise in the cold

Lynna’s Letter “F”

by   March 5, 2025 with No Comments

By Lynna Clark

“For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” -2 Timothy 1:7

I used to live in fear. Even though I knew the Lord, I allowed fear to control me in every aspect of my life. Eventually I went to counseling and a very wise man pointed out this verse. For if fear is not from God, then where was it coming from? Was it of my own making? Or maybe the very pits of hell.

Hebrews 2:15 reveals that when Jesus died for us, He set us free from the fear that has kept us captive all our lives. Finally it dawned on me. Why would I choose to be a slave to fear when Christ has set me free?

Fear is a stalker and can easily rob us of rest. Instead let’s choose faith: the confidence that God truly has our best interest at heart. According to our verse for today, that is also the key to a sound mind. Wouldn’t that be nice!

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