Ready to Rest?

by   August 9, 2021 with No Comments

By Ann Farabee

I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the young mother whose T-shirt was imprinted with the words, “I’M SO TIRED.” Her six month old son had the words, “I’M NOT TIRED” on his T-shirt.

No matter the stage of life we are in, there is always a need for rest – even if we think we are okay without it.

Here are some examples about rest in the Bible:

*Exodus 3:17 – In six days God made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

*Mark 6:31-32 – Jesus took his disciples in a boat to get away from the crowds and to go into a time of rest.

*Matthew 8:24 – A great storm arose in the sea. The ship was covered with waves. Jesus was asleep. Yes, Jesus was resting in the middle of the storm!

Jesus demonstrated the importance of rest by resting, showing us that rest was refreshing and … restful.

So, what is rest? Definitions include:

  1. A bodily state characterized by minimal functional activity. (Sitting or reclining?)
  2. Freedom from labor. (Doing nothing?)
  3. A state of being motionless. (Perhaps a nap?)

Charles Spurgeon stated, “In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less.”

Convinced? Ready to rest? It will take dedication and commitment, but there are quite a few RE-wards when we  RE-st.

We can:

*RE-fresh

*RE-member

*RE-store

*RE-direct

*Re-lax

*RE-juvenate

*RE-cover

*RE-group

*RE-vitalize

*RE-connect

Ready to rest?

Let’s intentionally make time for rest and see how we like it!

As a teacher, I daily worked at home on lesson plans and grading assignments. I felt God leading me to commit to setting aside Sunday as a day of rest – and I did. Yes, I am talking about working six days a week and resting on the seventh day. (Not only did I stop doing schoolwork on Sunday, but housework, as well!) It allows more time with family, more time in worship, and I am rested and ready for the week ahead. It may very well have been one of the most helpful steps I have taken in my Christian life.

If you do not feel you can ‘jump’ into that commitment, how about a daily time of rest?

Take 10, 20, or 30 minutes daily where you do whatever you feel is restful.

Create your plan and schedule it into your day.

You deserve it.

God set the example.

Jesus set the example.

That’s enough for me.

Ready…Set…REST!

Back to School

by   August 7, 2021 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            It seems like summer barely begins and they are running back-to-school ads on television. Teachers and students need a break and time to be refreshed before the new year begins. The last couple of years have been challenging for teachers and students with the pandemic. The hope is that we will have a more normal school year this year. With the Delta variant spreading fast, school systems are announcing masking requirements. Let’s hope it works so students can be in school with their teachers and classmates.

            When school let out this year I caught up with a former colleague to see how his school year went. We talked for several hours, and he shared about the impact of COVID on sports and the classroom. It was amazing to hear how cooperative the students were about wearing masks. The students preferred to be in school, so wearing a mask was by far better than taking classes virtually. 

            It was so good to hear about my former colleagues from East Davidson. I miss being at school and around the students. It is also interesting to hear about leadership changes around the county. My friend concluded that I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed teaching the last two years with the pandemic, and I am afraid he is probably right.

            My friend is a coach so I asked how that worked out. Outdoor sports worked better than indoor sports. The seasons were moved around because of the pandemic. Most of the sporting events did not allow for spectators, which had to be different for the student athletes.

            I like to listen to my friend share his coaching philosophies and techniques. He has a unique approach to coaching which has led to growth and successful seasons. There are always those tough years when all your best athletes graduate and you have a young team. Being a coach is a challenge, because you have to help students think about the good of the team and not just individual performances. You also have to help students through personal challenges.

            Listening to him share reminded me why I liked sponsoring DECA. You can only connect with students at a certain level in the classroom. When you take students off to DECA events you have the opportunity to get to know them better and to share more of yourself with them. It’s also great when you can help students win competitive events and teach them how to handle losses. These life lessons are different from classroom instruction.

            Students in high school do not realize that learning is a lifelong process. Some think that when they graduate from school they will know everything. I learned more during my first year of teaching than in four years of college. Learning is an ongoing process in our personal, professional, and spiritual lives. Even now I realize there is so much more to learn.

            I am constantly trying to grow spiritually. I have lost count of how many times I have read the Bible, yet it seems that every day something new jumps off the pages at me. I get new insights, new perspectives, and my journey with God deepens. God is so big and infinite and our minds are so small and finite that no one could possibly know everything about God.

            We don’t get to graduate from our spiritual school until the day we go home to be with the Lord. Something inside of me says that even then our learning will not end. I think that even in eternity there will be things about God and His ways that we will be learning. He is awesome, too marvelous for words. His ways we can’t even fathom.

            There are many ways you can learn about God. The first place to begin is reading His love letter to you, the Bible. Next, connect personally with God through prayer and talking with Him. You can also learn a great deal about God through other people’s experiences with God. He reveals Himself uniquely to each of us and that different perspective allows us to learn more about Him.

            I want to encourage you to get yourself ready to go back to spiritual school. There are always new things to learn about Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. We each have a limited knowledge and perspective on God. That means we need to keep working, growing, and maturing in our walk with God. This school never closes and the Teacher is great!

Doug Creamer has a new book at Amazon: EncouragingU: Summer Stories. Contact him at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

A Bit of Leaven

by   August 6, 2021 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

When former national security adviser Michael Flynn was presented with an AR-15 assault rifle, he responded, “Maybe I’ll find somebody in Washington, D.C.” The crowd laughed, whistled, and cheered. The presentation took place in the Church of Glad Tidings in Yuba City, California, which hosted Flynn on July 16. Dave Bryan, a pastor at the church, led the service.

On Sunday, July 25,  Gary Locke told his flock during his sermon in Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee., about 20 miles east of downtown Nashville, that if “You start showing up [with] all these masks and all this nonsense, I will ask you to leave,”  His statement was followed by cheers and applause. “I am not playing these Democrat games up in this church,” he added.

 I thought of these two recent actions that took place during Sunday services as I was reading Samuel S. Hill, Jr,’s  seminal book, Southern Churches in Crisis.  Dr. Hill writes that “sect-type forms of Christianity are meant to be minority movements (his italics), both within the larger Christian realm and within human societies.”  As thought provoking as this quotation is, I think his note to this statement more powerful. Dr. Hill’s note quotes Pastor John O. Mellin: “More harm has been done to the church and the gospel by a majority approach to life than anything else. We are a minority, a mustard seed, a leaven, a saltiness which flavors the whole—not because we take over the city but because it takes over us.”

Now you may not agree with either Hill or Mellin, but I think they both raise a worthy question for all Christ followers: When are we most effective as Christ followers? As I ponder that question, I think of the 1st Century Christians and their struggles. Not only did they have the Romans to contend with, but they also had internal disputes, such as circumcision.  Their story and struggle can seem relatively easy as read from the comfort of 2021, but it was a chosen life rife with danger. But, as we know, their struggles and suffering led to our sanctification.

It is when I read accounts of such church actions as I mentioned above that I fear for some of us as having become too large and too worldly. It seems to me that such acts as presenting a convicted felon with an assault rifle (followed by cheers) or telling a congregation that anyone wearing a mask will  be asked to leave the church go directly against our Christian belief. Is our mission  such that we must become that immersed in our culture? Can we be effective Christ followers when we exhibit such behavior and speak such words?

Growth for any church is great, but if it grows too much it may have to face the danger of its own power. Bigger means more money and more people who agree with each other so deeply they will not hear the voice of a prophet. As Dr. Hill writes “Self-fixation can lead only to frustration, irrelevance, and disobedience.”  A church that has grown too much and is too big may take on non-Biblical challenges becoming frustrated with its lack of influence in its culture. A church like this will try harder to influence change, become so caught up in its non-Biblical charge that it is viewed as irrelevant by it surrounding culture and then becomes desperate and even disobedient to God’s will.  A church such as this will eventually die as its members suffer frustration with its lack of success, leaving one more empty church building to be sold.

We Christ followers are told by John and Paul “to be in the world but not of the world.” If we Christ followers heed those words and view ourselves as a bit of leaven for the large loaf, we will be more successful in our  joyous task.

.

Day 4

by   August 4, 2021 with No Comments

By David Freeze

More than expected happened on an important day

  I had a plan to attack big heat on the hottest day yet. My goal was to cross the desert at its most famous point, from Brawley to Palo Verde. That is about 70 miles from my motel. Part of my Adventure Cycling map is an elevation description and I didn’t expect today’s ride to be as hard as the last two.


  My heat plan was to start riding in the dark at 4am when the low for the night was 87 degrees. I left the motel in Brawley and had ridden a  couple miles but  wasn’t sure which way to go. I asked an employee for the Department of the Interior, who said, “You certainly are not  going now, are you? It’s dark out there and there are cows and plenty of speeding vehicles”.  I just told him I was going now because the expected high was going to quite hot.


    i rode holding a great little flashlight and just missed hitting a possum, but no cows got in my way. The first 25 miles went perfectly and I saw a wonderful sunrise. Through this area is a big Naval Reservation where I heard planes and gunfire for hours.


  I stopped in Glamis when I found a store open that was supposed to be closed. Had a nice talk with the store owner about all the cyclists she has met. The owner gave me a bag of ice too, good for keeping my water cold for about 10 miles as the heat rose.


Just before Glamis was six miles of huge sand dunes, something that locals celebrate with a beach store. And just after were miles and miles of the Chocolate Mountain range. The heat was really up full blast as I pedaled for miles over rollers that the locals signed as “Dips”. Up and down, some hard climbing involved, even though my maps didn’t show it.


  Next came my first ever sight of a Border Patrol Station, with all vehicles required to drive through. I stopped after pedaling  though and seeing a sign that said, “Don’t stop”. Then I sat outside under the overhanging roof for precious shade.


Thinking it a long shot, I decided to knock on the door and get some cold water possibly. Border Patrol Agent Fraser was most accommodating and filling my bottles with ice and water. He told me that local agents were working hard and were away today while processing illegals and that a very large amount are trying to get in.
  On a day that my face and ears were burning out in the desert, I made it though, well sort off. I will explain this tomorrow along with a short ride and part of a rest day.


  Let’s don’t forget Skinny Wheels Bike Shop as one of the trip sponsors. They boxed and shipped my bike perfectly this time. No damage! Eric and Scott are a wealth of knowledge concerning all things bikes.


  See you tomorrow!

Grains of Sand

by   August 2, 2021 with No Comments

By Ann Farabee

Grains of Sand

Sand. We love it. We hate it. Mostly love it. The times I hate it are when I am trying to get to my spot on the beach on a hot day while barefoot. Sand gets hot – sometimes up to 130 degrees.

For those who may be walking on the sand barefoot, here are some tried and true recommendations that may help us not get our feet burned:

*Run from shade to shade – like to a lifeguard stand or beach umbrella.

*Put plastic bags on our feet.

*Wet our feet or wet the sand.

*Walk fast.

*Stay on lighter colored sand.

*Wear shoes.

Sand. It changes as the day goes by. The tide and waves move it around. People move it around. In the evening, walking on sand is cool and comfortable to the feet.

But the incredible thing about sand is the quantity of sand in our world.

Is there a way to count the grains of sand? That seems impossible and would only be something God could do.

Scientists have given it a try though. One way was to count how many grains would be in a teaspoon, and then multiply it by all the beaches and deserts in the world. That would give it around seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains. That sounds like a lot of sand.

That number, which is only an estimate, is not even understandable to most of us. That makes Psalm 139:17-18 even more amazing!

Verse 17:

How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God!

How great is the sum of  them!

Precious means to be of great value or high price jewels.

His thoughts unto us means that we are on his mind.

A sum is adding together to get the total amount.

‘Great’ means magnitude beyond the usual or to an extensive degree.

Verse 18:

If I should count them, there are more in number than the sand.

So, if we take all the grains of sand, and add to get the total, God’s thoughts of us are more than there are grains of sand.

Grasping that concept could be a lifesaver.

Lord, help me to remember that You are thinking of me – always. May I live peacefully and joyfully in that truth. Amen

The Garden Season

by   July 31, 2021 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            How is your garden doing? I went out the other day and checked on my potatoes. I have never learned the proper time to dig potatoes. I wait until the plants have died back and it doesn’t look like there will be any more growth. My timing can’t be all wrong. I got one of the best potato harvests I’ve had in several years.

            We’ve had several meals of green beans and butter beans. We got a few ears of corn, but the squirrels have really enjoyed them. We enjoyed some squash, until one night the deer noticed that I had forgotten to close the gate and they ate the squash leaves. I didn’t know deer would eat squash plants. We’ve been enjoying tomatoes for the last couple of weeks. I have a few watermelons and cantaloupes coming along, and I discovered the turtle in that part of the garden the other day. He was just checking to see if they were ready.

            It’s time to get things replanted if I want to get a fall harvest. I need to clean out where things are done. I have the seeds already, I just have to pick an afternoon and go for it. I don’t think I am going to grow the squirrels any more corn. I am definitely going to plant more beans. I have sunflower seeds. It’s too early for broccoli, but I might try some more squash. Whatever I decide, I better get busy or I am going to run out of time.

            We are at about the midpoint of summer. We are facing the hottest few weeks ahead. It is hard to keep the garden watered in these hot, dry times. Soon gardeners will be facing tropical storms and their remnants. There are always challenges, between the weather, garden pests, bugs, and diseases. Then you will face frosts. No matter what the conditions, I am still going to fight to grow things in my garden.

            The thought that runs around in my head is that I don’t want to run out of time. I have to get out in that garden sooner versus later or I will run out of time. Time is an element in all of our lives. My pastor has been teaching us about eternity. He tried to talk to us about forever the other day, but that is a concept that none of us understands. Our whole lives have been related to time. We are going to be with Jesus forever. We can’t understand forever, but we will experience it.

            I am looking forward to whatever heaven will be, but I still have more gardening and writing that I want to do while I am here. The more I think about it, there are lots of things that I still want to do, including traveling and spending more time with family and friends.

            With the pastor talking about eternity and what heaven and hell are going to be like, I feel a stirring in my spirit that I want to make sure everyone I know and meet will find their way to heaven. I don’t want anyone to be separated from God’s love, and that is a very biblical thing because God feels the same way. He wants everyone to come home to heaven, but He leaves that decision in each individual’s hands.

            Our eternal destination is our choice. The invitation has been sent to every heart. If we discard it or ignore it, then we have made our choice. The doors are open while you have breath in your body to accept Jesus as your savior or to walk away from an eternity with Him. I hope that everyone whose eyes fall upon these words will make their choice to be forever with our savior in heaven. You don’t need to understand everything or have every question answered, you just need to trust Him and make your decision sooner rather than later.

            I can assure you that God wants you to be with Him in heaven. So I encourage you to make that decision now before it is too late. I know some people who believe that Jesus is coming back in our lifetime. The Bible tells us that no one knows the day or the hour of His return except God Himself, and He hasn’t even told Jesus. But the Bible also tells us that we can know the signs of His coming. Some signs are pointing in that direction. Our personal clocks are ticking and biblical prophesies are suggesting that the end could be close.  Make your decision soon. I want to see you in eternity.

Doug Creamer has a new book at Amazon: EncouragingU: Summer Stories. Contact him at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

The Trip Begins…

by   July 30, 2021 with No Comments

By David Freeze

Editor’s Note: David is making a trip across the Southern US on his bike. His adventure will be chronicled here. Come back daily to see where his adventure takes him.

My flight west on Monday morning went very well until just before the initial descent into San Diego. A passenger collapsed just as he passed my row of seats. Quick reaction by several medical personnel onboard revived him and EMTs got him off the plane once we reached the gate.


  With a direct flight, I was on the ground well ahead of scheduled arrival time. Bernie’s Bike Shop opened and as soon as the display bikes got put out, Roger Lovett went to work on mine. He put on two new tires that I brought with me and while he worked, I repacked the gear into the panniers and got the bike ready to go. Yasuko Lovett sold me a new multi-tool and a pair of leather gloves. I asked them both about the route and what I needed to see. Roger was more focused on the days ahead and so was I. He gave me excellent pointers and told me that riding the first mountain was too much for Monday, but we both thought it was a good idea to get a start on the dreaded climbing.


  I decided to think about when to start as I rode over to the nearest beach at Ocean Beach State Park. Officially, I had to get the start photo, only properly done when that new rear tire got wet in ocean surf. A nice young lady took the photos and we laughed as the surf chose to make the next wave bigger and soaked my shoes. The same thing happened at the start of my other west to east cross country ride back in 2013. I will count it as a sign of good luck ahead since that other trip turned out very well.


    With my feet wet and sand on the bike, I decided to wash off the bike and start riding east. The Adventure Cycling map called for following bike paths, not my favorite thing. Bike paths protect the rider from excessive fast moving traffic, but they also limit contact with locals and scenery. I followed the bike path for a while, then jumped on the main roads and ended up in El Cajon. I rode an extra three miles to save $40 on a motel, something I consider part of the game. This afternoon’s ride was 28.5 miles, a large part of it very hilly as I climbed east of San Diego. The first big climbing day comes tomorrow, as I will have another short day filled with extreme climbing.


    Just before finding a Motel 6 with some dollars saved, I met my first special person in Santee. Steve Bradley was intrigued by my bike and gear, and my plan to go to Florida in 6 weeks. Steve weighs about 300 pounds and is hard at work on dropping some weight. He was on his second ride of the day when we met.


  I have a couple minor gear issues to work on tonight and decide from what point I will attack the climb to Pine Valley. And I had discounted how challenging the climbs set for the next day will be. I should spend three days in California, working hard to complete it ahead of entering Arizona.   


  I saw regular gas for $4.73 per gallon an hour ago. Prices are higher in general than any state except Alaska and Hawaii.


  Primary sponsors for this trip include Frank and Janis Ramsey, Father and Son Produce, Vac and Dash, Dick and Jean Richards, Leonard Wood, The Trophy House and Gear for Races.


    Check back for updates online and in the printed Post on Thursday. Thanks for riding along once again. We’re going to have fun!

1 … 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 … 174