The first graders shut their eyes, folded their hands prayerfully, and began to pray, “Our Father, Which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name…”
This was easily recognizable as a prayer and a spiritual moment, until one student could not contain her laughter. Everyone stopped and looked as she exclaimed, “God’s name is not Halloween!”
Oh, she may have heard — and repeated — the prayer before, but this time the word “hallowed” had obviously impacted her. Sometimes, spoken words can become repetitious and the meaning may become lost — or as in this case — the meaning was unknown.
The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer Jesus taught his disciples and one we can use as a pattern for our prayers. The words prayed are words of praise for God, of prayer for God’s work in the world, and are requests for our needs and for help with our struggles.
Our Father: Not just my Father, but our Father. He is ruler and He is majestic.
Our Creator. He loves us with a personal love — the love of a father and of a Savior.
Which art: Not just was, not just is or not just will be. He is all three.
In heaven: He is in heaven — but hears us on earth.
Hallowed by thy name: His name is Holy. Recognize His holiness. Praise Him and be aware of His Presence.
Thy Kingdom come: God has set eternity in our hearts. There is a longing in our heart to be with our Father.
Thy will be done in Earth: God’s reign in Earth is in the believer’s heart. His will in us. God’s perfect purpose.
As it is in heaven: God’s spiritual reign when evil is destroyed and a new heaven and earth is here.
Give us this day our daily bread: God sustains and provides.
And forgive us our trespasses: God forgives. As we forgive those who trespass against us: We are to forgive.
And lead us not into temptation: He will protect us. He will strengthen us.
But deliver us from evil: He will deliver us.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever: He is sovereign. He is all powerful. He deserves the glory — forever.
When it comes time to name a school building we all look for an inspirational person. Many want to choose someone famous… Others want to choose someone who accomplished something great… Steve Hartman tells us a story of a community that chose a wonderful role model for their school… Listen…. & Enjoy!
How do you make sense of the last 4+ years? Or let’s narrow it down to just 2024? Do you have more recent events in mind? Maybe you have been on edge with the political climate. Most of us are still very sensitive after friends and family have been devastated by Hurricane Helene. You may not even need to look further than your own address to find yourself asking God: “What are You up to? Why are you allowing __________? Why are you not intervening in __________?”
The psalmist King David had many opportunities to ask such questions. We read lengthy psalms of his ponderings, but nestled within the book of Psalms is a concise psalm that beautifully reveals a man who is calm in extreme realities for which he does not have answers.
Psalm 131
Verse 1
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
As we look at things happening in our lives, it is tempting to expect answers to our questions about complicated things. It can be all-consuming. We can become anxious or hardened when we cannot comprehend or find access to answers. After all, at least we seem to get a story or explanation – even if it is misinformation – for almost everything. Google or social media seem to have at least molded our minds in that way. But David can live with the unreconciled mysteries. He knows fully well that wrestling with some questions could still leave him wanting or unable to grasp peace and understanding.
Verse 2
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
David is poised with a presence of peace. How? He has learned to fully trust God, even when no answers are available or accessible for an undisclosed reason. He chooses to trust God – that reveals strength. It is not a lethargic, uneducated, unrefined blind trust. It is a response built on experience and relationship. Like a weaned child who has matured to the point of self-soothing and patience in the presence of his mother, David rests in what he knows is true about God’s love, care, and nature through his relationship with Him. That is all he needs.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
This may seem like a haphazard add-on to a psalm to the modern reader, but it is more than that. The king set the tone for the kingdom. Israel often lived in a holding pattern – a place of waiting and little explanation. Here, as in other psalms, David encourages the people of Israel to wait patiently and expectantly in the Lord because He has repeatedly proved Himself. While we wrestle with life’s hard questions and the mysteries of God, can we apply the psalmist’s lessons on His sovereignty?
Ashlie Miller and her husband, Chad, raise their family in Concord, NC.
Have you ever wanted to be in two places at one time? That was my situation last weekend. My brother’s father-in-law passed away, and naturally, I wanted to be with him and his family as they dealt with the loss of their family patriarch. On the other hand, my pastor’s daughter was getting married at the same time. I am very close with the pastor and his family and I am also close with the groom and his family. I wanted to be with their families as they celebrated the union of these beautiful souls.
I chose to be with my brother and his family. I wanted to be with them as a source of encouragement and love in their moment of grief. I know my sister-in-law’s family as we have spent many family gatherings together. My brother and his wife host many family gatherings at their home, including Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Those gatherings will include members of our family as well as my sister-in-law’s family. Those gatherings always included her parents.
I always enjoyed the opportunity to see her parents. They are both loving, kind, and welcoming. Mr. Sherrick always had a great story of some adventure to share. He and his wife were world travelers. You can hardly name a part of the world they haven’t been to in their travels. He could tell you about the places and the people. He was also a good listener as I shared my own stories with him.
Mr. Sherrick and I had one big thing in common. We were both Boy Scouts. We shared a love for hiking, backpacking, and camping. I was a little jealous of Mr. Sherrick as he had been to Philmont Boy Scout Ranch four times. I always dreamed of going out there for a great adventure. He had some wonderful stories of the boys he led on his trips. Mr. Sherrick served the Boy Scouts in various positions for over forty years.
I drove home from the funeral reflecting on my day with our combined families. I wasn’t far from home when my thoughts turned to the wedding I had missed. I was thinking about their special day. I looked at the clock and figured everyone would have departed. This little voice encouraged me to drop by the church. I decided to listen and could hardly believe my eyes when I pulled up to a packed parking lot.
I slipped into the room just in time to witness the first dance of the bride and groom. This was followed by the cutting of the cake and the toasts offered for the bride and groom. The toasts were heart-felt and warmly received. The reception room was fairytale in its beauty. The bride was both stunning and glowing. I was over-the-moon excited to see and congratulate the bride and groom on their special day.
I left thanking the Lord that He had allowed me to be in two places at once. I got to be with both families. I was able to celebrate the life and the departure of a family patriarch to his heavenly home and the joy of two hearts joining as one as they begin a new adventure together. It was a day filled with diverse emotions, family gatherings, and the love that binds us all together. The day included reflections on a 70-year marriage and the first day of a new one.
To say that my heart was full is an understatement. The day reminded me that the marriage supper of Jesus and us, the bride, will be happening very soon. We have all been invited to attend, but sadly, so many have not sent in their RSVP. Our admission is simply accepting Jesus as our savior. That makes us the bride of Christ. We will be a part of that great celebration, which is going to be a seven-year feast.
I want to encourage you to make the decision to accept Jesus as your savior so you can attend this great wedding banquet. Some may travel early as Mr. Sherrick did, while others will arrive at the final trumpet call. Either way, I hope you will be there for the most fantastic wedding in all of history. The joy on that day will be like that of my pastor’s daughter as she begins the magical journey of being a new wife. Oh, what a happy day that will be, please send in your RSVP!
Many years ago I spent a few days in Cape May, N. J. to see the historical town and its Victorian houses. One afternoon I joined a walking tour of the town and the knowledgeable guide told the history of many houses and pointed out all the details of each. I remember him telling the group the purpose of the intricate gingerbread was not only to decorate the eaves and porches, but also to cast shadows of its various shapes onto the house. Skeptical of his interpretation for the finely turned gingerbread, I took a walk-through town early the next day, and I found the treasures that he had described: Before that tour I had only seen the gingerbread of any house in one dimension, it was just a good decoration on various parts of a house, but after that morning walk on the quiet streets of Cape May I saw another reel of what I had thought I had seen many times before.
Since that time in Cape May, I have marveled at gingerbread on houses and building. For many years I lived in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia which boasts many fine examples of gingerbread. Now I live on Lake Norman in North Carolina and the modern homes here have no gingerbread. But one recent morning while riding my stationary bike, I saw in the light of dawn the best gingerbread ever.
Because of the recent cloudy weather, and the earth’s tilt, the dawn I witnessed was markedly different than other ones, even on the day before. Riding the stationary bike in the shadow of our home, the sun was out of sight as it rose over Lake Norman, but its rays shown on the tall poplar tree across the road. The leafless branches of the tree held streams of dawn’s early sunlight before it moved on to lighten the shorter trees and eventually the lower trunks of the tall pines. Before too many minutes on the bike, I saw that dawn’s light highlighted the crepe myrtles in Brenda and Bill’s yard across our road. Since their row of crepe myrtles had not been crepe murdered, as observed by the Grumpy Gardner, their branches flowed skyward in a graceful reach. But I remembered the Cape May guide, so I looked at and beyond the bare branches of the trees to see their shadows on the Brenda’s house. By so doing, the dawn had another dimension.
Many dawns have I seen. Once I took a group of high school seniors on a hike in the morning dark to a rock outcrop overlooking Shrinemont, a retreat center in Virginia. Settling onto the large stone, we sat watching the dawn come, trying to locate on the forested horizon exactly where the sun would show. Time in that stillness seemed halted, but suddenly one of the students said in a hushed shout, “There it is.” We each watched until it grew too bright in the surrounding dark to directly look to, waiting for it to clear the eastern edge of that dawn. We then stood, stretched, and hurried down the trail to the dining lodge for a breakfast of fired apples, sausage, and pancakes.
In Hold Everything Dear, John Berger writes, “A mountain stays in the same place, and can almost be considered immortal, but to those who are familiar with the mountain, it never repeats itself.” Since moving to Lake Norman and taking my morning rides on the driveway, I have become familiar with our pine trees and the trees in our neighbor’s yards, the lake, our quiet road, sunrises, sunsets, and walking neighbors. All are like Berger’s mountain.
Many dawns. Like Berger’s mountain, all are the same, but all different. Each dawn, like the gingerbread on a house or the people who live in the house, will cast a different shadow each day: The shadows of mountains, trees, lakes, people, and more will mark the day as the same, but never repetitious.
Many dawns, and each casting its own shadows and memories.
On September 17, I drove north to Hammocks Beach State Park near Swansboro. Established in 1961, this park includes 1,611 acres. I was excited by the description of the park and its three islands just offshore, but especially by the ferry service to the biggest of the islands. Just offshore is the Intracoastal Waterway.
The visitors center has a panoramic view of all that water off its back deck. In fact, I couldn’t remember another visitor center with such an outstanding view. The visitor center also had lots of displays about the park and its history. I got my passport stamp and asked the attendant about the ferry to Bear Island. Many visitors have taken their beach chairs and other gear to spend a day at Bear Island on the ocean. A bathhouse, restrooms, concession stand and 14 primitive campsites on the beach and inlet. The beach front is almost four miles.
The ferry has been closed this year as the island aquifer couldn’t handle the traffic. I was told by the desk attendant that the ferry should return next year. The only swimming and camping in the park is on Bear Island. In retrospect, I should have asked about canoe, kayak or paddle boat accessibility to the island, but regardless I plan to return to spend a day here.
The park includes 225-acre Huggins Island, an undeveloped maritime swamp forest with significant Civil War history. Dudley Island, a remote marshland with some beach front, and little James Island, another remote marshland. Nesting birds and marine life use these islands. There are four easy to moderate hiking trails near the visitor center and all are connected in the upland coastal forest.
My 42nd and last state park was one I had visited before during a bike ride on the inner and outer banks of NC. As a history buff, I love Fort Macon State Park near Atlantic Beach. Fort Macon was the second state park and was added to the system in 1924. Bought for one dollar from the US government with agreement that it could be taken back if needed, the park’s 424 acres were restored by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
The fort itself is the centerpiece of the park, but the large visitor center is the place to start for information, a map and a wonderful movie about the Fort. I decided to take the free tour given by a volunteer this time. Not on a time rush, I decided to learn all I could about the fort. The five-sided fort faces the Atlantic Ocean and sits next to both Bogue Sound and Beaufort Inlet, and it receives one million visitors a year, exceeded only recently by Jordan Lake State Park. On the Fourth of July, most of the cannons in the fort are fired by Civil War reenactors.
Fort Macon was built in 1834 as part of US coastal fort system. In 1861, Confederate troops took the fort and held it until the Union troops took it back in 1862. It served as a federal prison from 1867 to 1876. It was used again for coastline protection during WWll. Much of the fort living quarters and storage areas have been redone in galleries depicted the various time periods of the fort, with displays of weapons, clothing, and so much more.
Swimming, picnicking and fishing are available with lifeguards and a refreshment stand during summer months along with outdoor grills, drinking water, a pavilion and restrooms. I especially enjoyed watching the boats of all sizes using the Beaufort Inlet. For me, so much history and all the beautiful waterfront makes Fort Macon my favorite state park. No doubt, I could spend a day here easily.
This ends my summer tour of all 42 state parks, another exciting way to cross the state. I ran across the state and had two bike trips that crossed the area. Prior to these visits, I had seen less than 10 of the beautiful parks. A friend told me at Food Lion the other day that he had no idea about all there is to do at the parks. Honestly, neither did I! Already, I can’t wait to return to at least six of them for things I couldn’t do this summer. I want to hike over Stone Mountain, see the view from Mt. Mitchell without clouds, spend a day on the beach at Fort Fisher, ride the ferry to Bear Island at Hammocks Beach, go canoe camping on the New River and run at Lake James.
Few parks charge for admission, but that includes all the huge lakes for recreation and Chimney Rock. Low-cost camping is available everywhere and bicycles, canoes and kayaks for rent at most of the parks with water. Wonderful hiking trails are free and can be as challenging as you want. Rich history is abundant throughout the system. I visited all the parks during the summer and didn’t feel crowded anywhere, and I talked to a friend the other day who is on her second tour of the parks. Three new ones are in the works, and I will visit just as soon as they open.
Finally, the North Carolina State Parks Passport book with all the stamps inside is a special possession.
Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.
A deciding factor – when it comes to
helping people you don’t need much more information than simply – if I
can or able to do it.
Regardless whether the people appreciate it or not or it seems to be worth my while, if I can God will bless it when I do it.
It’s not Gods heart for us to withhold anything that we can do for others, even though it is not sharing in the same faith.
Prayer:
There is no one like You my King and I praise Your holy name. I lift
my hands up and rejoice in You because You are magnificent. Fill me
with this heart and love that You have and give me the ability and
continual awareness to help other people and to be that example I pray.
Amen.
Steve Hartman tells the story of a SUPER fan for one local high school. Being a loyal fan can mean more to the players then you might imagine. Listen to this great story….
I gave the sermon at our church last week. I taught about change. You can listen to our worship and enjoy the whole service or you can jump ahead to about 1 hour and 5 minutes…that’s when I begin my sermon. I hope you will listen and I hope it encourages you! Have a great day!
By now, you have heard of many creative ways to support Hurricane Helene victims in our state. Many artists have joined together to hold concerts or create an album to raise money for them. The devastation has inspired musicians and singers to write songs based on their sorrow and care for a place they call “home.” No doubt those who have or had a home in that tragically hit area have written the most touching songs.
I think the song that has touched me most is from a video shared on social media of an anonymous man in the Asheville area dressed in a dingy t-shirt, sweatpants, and a pair of slides covering his feet. After a relief worker brings the residents immediate aid, one recipient regrets that he cannot offer something to express his gratitude. Then he remembers what he does have – a gift of song. Grabbing his fiddle, he breaks into melody – perhaps a mixture of lament and overwhelming gratitude.
Thanks to autotuning and big collaborations with well-known writers, almost anyone can write or play a good song. The music from the heart, often a hurt heart, is most meaningful. This is not a new thing. One can open 1-2 Samuel in the Bible and read selected chapters in the Psalms to see the stories that prompted the greatest songwriter (King David) to write some of the most celebrated and sung songs. As I read the Psalms, I often skip past the chapter’s introduction (or song) to get straight to the poetry, but there is so much life in the simple notations (if your Bible has them). I am amazed at how many psalms David wrote while escaping the hand of Saul or other enemies, trapped in a cave, or even struggling with his own sinfulness.
David often uses his personal stories of God’s goodness in tragedy to set a pattern of praise that others can follow to write songs of gratitude and praise. It reminds me of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 where Paul says that because of God’s great love and comfort for us as believers in our afflictions, we are able to comfort others in any affliction – even messy, catastrophic ones.
We are already witnessing this in so much of our Appalachia family – stories (and songs) of grace and courage, sadness and woe, and hope and rebuilding. Many of them are still waiting to hear the music.
Do you have a song birthed from a storm in your life? It may be time to share it with someone currently in a storm or just coming out of one (literally or figuratively). Help them to find their song through your encouragement, even if you survived a very different storm.
Ashlie Miller and her family reside in Concord, NC but have many friends and family in western NC. Our prayers and support are for them now and down the road.
