God Moment - 9/22/2020

God Moment - written by Richard Rohr, shared by Judy McManus - September 22, 2020

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Some simple but urgent guidance to get us through these next months.

I awoke on Saturday, September 19, with three sources in my mind for guidance: Etty Hillesum (1914 – 1943), the young Jewish woman who suffered much more injustice in the concentration camp than we are suffering now; Psalm 62, which must have been written in a time of a major oppression of the Jewish people; and the Irish Poet, W.B. Yeats (1965 – 1939), who wrote his “Second Coming” during the horrors of the World War I and the Spanish Flu pandemic. 

These three sources form the core of my invitation. Read each one slowly as your first practice. Let us begin with Etty:

There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too … And that is all we can manage these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves.

—Etty Hillesum, Westerbork transit camp

Note her second-person usage, talking to “You, God” quite directly and personally. There is a Presence with her, even as she is surrounded by so much suffering.

Then, the perennial classic wisdom of the Psalms:

In God alone is my soul at rest.
God is the source of my hope.
In God I find shelter, my rock, and my safety.
Men are but a puff of wind,
Men who think themselves important are a delusion.
Put them on a scale,
They are gone in a puff of wind.

—Psalm 62:5–9

What could it mean to find rest like this in a world such as ours? Every day more and more people are facing the catastrophe of extreme weather. The neurotic news cycle is increasingly driven by a single narcissistic leader whose words and deeds incite hatred, sow discord, and amplify the daily chaos. The pandemic that seems to be returning in waves continues to wreak suffering and disorder with no end in sight, and there is no guarantee of the future in an economy designed to protect the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and those subsisting at the margins of society. 

It’s no wonder the mental and emotional health among a large portion of the American population is in tangible decline! We have wholesale abandoned any sense of truth, objectivity, science or religion in civil conversation; we now recognize we are living with the catastrophic results of several centuries of what philosophers call nihilism or post-modernism (nothing means anything, there are no universal patterns).

We are without doubt in an apocalyptic time (the Latin word apocalypsis refers to an urgent unveiling of an ultimate state of affairs). Yeats’ oft-quoted poem “The Second Coming” then feels like a direct prophecy. See if you do not agree:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Somehow our occupation and vocation as believers in this sad time must be to first restore the Divine Center by holding it and fully occupying it ourselves. If contemplation means anything, it means that we can “safeguard that little piece of You, God,” as Etty Hillesum describes it. What other power do we have now? All else is tearing us apart, inside and out, no matter who wins the election or who is on the Supreme Court. We cannot abide in such a place for any length of time or it will become our prison.

God cannot abide with us in a place of fear.
God cannot abide with us in a place of ill will or hatred.
God cannot abide with us inside a nonstop volley of claim and counterclaim.
God cannot abide with us in an endless flow of online punditry and analysis.
God cannot speak inside of so much angry noise and conscious deceit.
God cannot be found when all sides are so far from “the Falconer.”
God cannot be born except in a womb of Love.
So offer God that womb.

Stand as a sentry at the door of your senses for these coming months, so “the blood-dimmed tide” cannot make its way into your soul.

If you allow it for too long, it will become who you are, and you will no longer have natural access to the “really deep well” that Etty Hillesum returned to so often and that held so much vitality and freedom for her.

If you will allow, I recommend for your spiritual practice for the next four months that you impose a moratorium on exactly how much news you are subject to—hopefully not more than an hour a day of television, social media, internet news, magazine and newspaper commentary, and/or political discussions. It will only tear you apart and pull you into the dualistic world of opinion and counter-opinion, not Divine Truth, which is always found in a bigger place.

Instead, I suggest that you use this time for some form of public service, volunteerism, mystical reading from the masters, prayer—or, preferably, all of the above.

You have much to gain now and nothing to lose. Nothing at all. And the world—with you as a stable center—has nothing to lose. And everything to gain. 

Richard Rohr, September 19, 2020

God Moment - 6/2/2020

God Moment - Blake Daniel - 6/2/2020

Not all God Moments are cheerful. Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, God meets us in situations of deep pain and difficulty. Such is the case in Scripture. Such was the case for me last week, when I learned of the sudden death of my friend, the Rev. Michael Richard Boone.

I first met Mike at Duke Divinity School in Durham, NC around 2009. He was a year ahead of me in the M.Div program — and he was hard to miss. Big and blonde, Mike was the embodiment of joy. He was funny. He was brilliant. He had a zeal for life and kind eyes that expressed warmth and concern in an educational atmosphere that was notoriously competitive and stressful. As fellow southerners, we bonded especially over college football and conversations about the challenges of faithful ministry in the Bible belt. We weren’t the closest of friends, but he was in my inner social circle as a confidante and faithful brother in Christ, for which I’ll always be grateful.

After I left Duke, I took a two-year pastoral call in Raleigh, and Mike came to visit me. Ostensibly he was on business with Cokesbury (with whom he was working at the time), but really he just wanted to check in and catch up. We would sit in my cramped little pastor’s study and talk about life before going out to eat a big meal together (he was especially fond of The Pit bbq). An ordained Anglican priest himself, Mike had much wisdom to share — but most of the time he would just listen. Those conversations were sacred to me, a sweet reminder of the camaraderie of seminary carrying over into the “real world,” with our friendship bridging the gap.

A year after my family and I moved to Sylva in 2015, Mike came to preach for me. I put out a call for pulpit supply to my friends back in Durham, and he was the only one to respond in the affirmative. So he drove out and preached on October 23, 2016 amidst the changing leaves and lovely fall colors. Erin and I were honored that he would take the time and effort to come all the way to the mountains, and I was especially proud to show off our new church family. There can be something scary, risky, and a bit lonely about moving and starting off in a new place, and, once again, our friendship helped bridge the gap.

After years of discernment and transition, Mike accepted a call to be pastor (technically, dean of the cathedral) of St. Charles Anglican Cathedral in Washington State in 2017. Serving as a pastor was a role he was born for, that he had trained for, that God had assuredly called him to — and I know he served the people of his congregation well as he fell in love with life in the Pacific Northwest. We saw each other only one other time, I think, before he moved and we did not see each other in person again after that. Emails and texts were our primary means of communication, and I took comfort in knowing that he was right where he was supposed to be.

And then, last Wednesday, a mutual friend called to tell me that Mike had died. Suddenly and unexpectedly. He was 35 — my age. He was at his home in Washington. At the time of my writing this, no cause is known and no foul play is expected. He is simply gone. His funeral service is this afternoon. To add insult to injury, it will take place online due to virus precautions.

The news hit me like a ton of bricks. In the midst of an already heavy week, with the pain of racism and protest and the ever-looming threat of the coronavirus, I was bowled over. Surely this couldn’t be the case. Surely such a thing couldn’t have happened, not to any of my friends and peers but especially not to my old buddy Mike. I was devastated. What about his congregation? What about his girlfriend (soon to be fiancee) and other family members left behind? What about the decades of life he had left to live? It was too much. Nearly a week later, it still is. I can’t believe the world is so broken. I can’t believe he is gone.

Over the weekend, wading in grief as I processed everything, I pulled up the sermon that Mike preached for us in Sylva. We keep audio recordings of our sermons on our church website, and I had forgotten that Mike preached on the sixth commandment, “you shall not kill,” during our sermon series on the Ten Commandments. It’s a passage that’s especially relevant today, in our culture of fear and division. As I listened to it, I heard Mike’s familiar voice. I heard his love for Jesus. I heard his knowledge of Scripture. I heard his prophetic witness and his call for the church to live a cross-shaped life. I heard all these things and was reminded of something Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, that we need each other to be reminded of the truth, to bear witness to the Word of God; for our own hearts might be weak, but our brother’s heart is sure.

And so my God Moment today is my friend and brother Mike. I remember the ways he bore witness to the Word of God. I give thanks for the ways he was my friend, and for the legacy he leaves behind. And I wait in groaning hope for the time when we will see each other again in God’s kingdom come.

We live in tumultuous times. The world can be confusing and sometimes even frightening. But we are the people of a risen savior who conquered death and blazed a trail for us to follow. The world is in desperate need of such people. Not just in theory, but in practice. In our families, in our workplaces, in our communities. We must be the people who bring the peace of Christ into the middle of a world that is often at war with itself. We do this by our words, by our actions, by our attitudes. Only through carrying this peace into the world can we be the people Christ calls us to be. And if you are following the risen Jesus, and if you’re committed to carrying your witness to that out into the world on a daily basis, then you will be a gift to those around you. It is a challenge that we all have to embrace… [God’s mercy] can come to life only as you and I carry it into the world each and every day. Thanks be to God for such merciful opportunities to witness to the One who has shown us mercy. Amen.

— Rev. Michael Boone

God Moment - 5/28/2020

God Moment - Gloria Stockton - 5/28/2020

My God Moment — to open the mail on Wednesday morning, midweek, and find the uplifting “FPC Weekly Update”.  Hearing and seeing on YouTube, Pastor Blake commending to us the Holy Breath of God — it comes right along with my prayers this morning — for Renewal, Revival and Pentecost for our families, community, state, country and world – and for the Mighty Breath of God, the Holy Spirit — on all!

Seeing and hearing Margaret’s video and hear her playing for Becki’s sweet singing of “His Eye is on the Sparrow” — another precious God Moment for me! I saw Margaret and the family in those pictures — wonderful!!  I do love that song!

Because of the PRMI (Presbyterian Reformed International Ministries) invitation and outreach, for the past few days and up to Pentecost Sunday, I agreed, and set my cellphone to remind me three times a day to pray for Revival, Renewal, and Holy Spirit empowerment on all who look to God.  It has become sweet praying time for me, a blessing in this Covid 19 response quietness.

If you find yourself praying for revival too, for the Holy Spirit to come — set your cell for three times a day and pray a simple short prayer, and see the blessing of His welcome presence in our lives.

God Moment - 5/15/2020

God Moment - Blake Daniel - 5/15/2020

Several weeks ago I read a tweet from an author named Andy Crouch that really resonated with me. Andy wrote this:

Why are we so tired during quarantine? Because of how much work it is to not live as embodied, relational creatures.

I don’t know about you, but I think this describes how I’ve been feeling lately. As Andy reminds us, we are made for relationships. Even introverts like myself need things to do and other people to do them with in order to flourish. God created us to live both vertically (in communion with him) and horizontally (in communion with others) to experience his shalom. So it’s no wonder that social distancing — while so important right now — makes us feel zapped. We have literally minimized an essential component of what it means to be human beings: our relationships.

In that same tweet, Andy shared a link to this article by Dr. Curt Thompson that takes the idea even deeper. Dr. Thompson makes the connection between our need for relationships and our own physcial bodies. He says:

One of several things that COVID-19 has revealed is that our thinking minds are not able to make up for what our bodies—and our bodies alone—were created for. Our bodies, in fact, are looking for the presence of other bodies, as it were—and they’re not there. But that doesn’t mean that the anticipation mechanism that expects someone to be there in an embodied fashion stops working. Rather, like a cell phone that keeps “looking” for cell service that isn’t there will drain the battery that much quicker, so we are much more tired when our bodies can’t find each other in real time and space.

In other words, we don’t just need each other emotionally; we need each other physically, too. All those handshakes and hugs and pats on the back that we previously took for granted actually do something. Like sunshine on a rosebush, they help make our bodies more fully alive.

In the same way, we don’t just need God emotionally (or spiritually); we need God physically, too. Standing up and sitting down on Sunday mornings, singing on Wednesday nights, opening up our Bibles, breaking the bread, drinking the cup… it all plays a part in our life in Christ.

And all of this connected with a book I’ve been reading called Pauline Dogmatics, written by a former teacher of mine named Douglas Campbell. (Bear with me.) In that book, Dr. Campbell connects this to the doctrine of the Trinity, which reminds us of our God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Campbell says:

[Each] person within the Trinity is constituted by relationships with the other members of the Trinity, from which we learn that to be a person is to be a fundamentally relational being — something created in, by, and for relationships with other people. We live as people by means of other people, and without them we lack full personhood. Never were truer words uttered then when John Donne wrote, “No man is an island.” (p. 50)

I remember in class when Dr. Campbell drew a collection of dots on the whiteboard to illustrate this point. This is how we imagine ourselves, he liked to say: a disconnected set of self-contained individuals, like marbles bouncing off each other! But what if we’re more like stars or flowers, each person in relationship with another, all bearing witness to the great dance of God?

Lo and behold, that very illustration was on the next page of his book:

Dr. Campbell, Dr. Thompson, and Andy Crouch are right. God made us for connection — for embodied relationships. And during this time of social distancing, I lament their absence and long for their return.

God Moment - 5/14/2020

God Moment - John McCall - 5/14/2020

Note: John McCall is a missionary in Taiwan supported by the Presbytery of Western North Carolina. I (Blake) have had the privilege of spending some time with John and think highly of his work in ministry. Perhaps you will enjoy reading his reflection from the other side of the world.

Dear Friends,

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the concept of space recently. Living in Asia for over 20 years has transformed the way I look at space. Taiwan has almost the population of Australia living on an island the size of Maryland and Delaware combined. Most of Taiwan’s landmass is made up of sparsely populated high mountains, so the bulk of the population lives in tightly-packed cities along the west coast. When walking on a sidewalk in Taiwan, it is hard to practice social distancing. Even during this pandemic, with 1.5 meters distancing lines on the floor of the grocery store, there just isn’t room to find adequate space while waiting in line to pay. In spite of the close quarters, the government here has done an excellent job of containing the spread of the virus, and schools and businesses have remained open. 

Taipei crowds walking by signs reminding them to keep one meter distance.

I was talking with a friend from Africa and a friend from the U.S. yesterday about how this period of quarantine is affecting introverts. My American friend said that his sister, an introvert, loves it because she lives alone and does not have to spend so much time interacting with others. My African friend said that homes in his country are small and introverts are suffering because they are required to stay at home with so many family members. Space shapes life.

While I live in the teeming city of Taipei, just 20 minutes up the mountain from my home on the campus of Taiwan Seminary is a beautiful national park, called Yang Ming Mountain. Often you can leave congested roads in the city and quickly be hiking on trails where you rarely see anyone. This open space so close to the city is amazing. Many of Taiwan’s aboriginals, with whom I have enjoyed serving over many years, live in high mountains. One of our former seminary students from a high mountain village never quite adapted to the population density of Taipei. Occasionally, he just had to return to the mountains to breathe the air and walk on isolated mountain trails. His identity was shaped by the space surrounding his village.

Taipei high rise apartments at the base of the Yang Ming Mountain National Park.

When Taiwanese travel to other parts of the island for a weekend trip, they find security if there is a 7-11 convenience store near to the place where they are staying. These convenience stores are much different from the ones in the U.S. You can pay your parking tickets or electric bill and get a good cup of coffee or a bowl of noodles. This “city in the country” brings peace to city dwellers when they travel, for they know that they will find what they are accustomed to eat or drink. For the city dweller, too much open space can be frightening.

The first of four books which I have written, which have been published here in Mandarin, is called Giving God Space.  Now obviously, this title is somewhat misleading, for we do not first give God space.  Space is always a gift from God.  Space for beauty.  Space for relationship.  Space for growth.  But in the dramatic changes we have seen and experienced around the world this year, space has been closed in lock down.  Parks, movie theaters, and churches have closed their spaces. Folks have been limited to the space in and around their homes.  But space has also been opened up.  Friends, who have not talked for years, suddenly find space and time to nurture relationship.  The space in our backyards suddenly seems filled with the beauty of nature.  For some, the quiet has led to space for God.

In art there is a term called negative space. In a painting often the space surrounding the main focus of the painting is empty.  If all the space in a painting or a room is full, it is hard to appreciate the beauty. 

My book Giving God Space.

So much of my work here over the years in Spiritual Formation with churches, seminary students, and pastors has been to allow God to open up space for us to see with new eyes.   One of my best friends here is an aboriginal school principal. The three schools he has served as principal, including his current school, have largely non-aboriginal students. They are students who come from the majority Han population. And my friend, Libunu, using his aboriginal vision as he enters a school, seeks to create space. Taiwanese work hard under great pressure. The students are focused on getting into a good university even in primary school.  Libunu, as he arrives at a new school, looks at the buildings and the campus. He seeks to use local art related to the setting of that school. His first school was near the ocean and he commissioned an artist to create wooden flying fish on the walls of the school. But even more important than the art, is the way he gives the teachers and students space. He is a Christian and his faith shapes the way he creates a culture of acceptance at the school. When a student is sent to his office for punishment, he asks the misbehaving student two questions. First, “did you eat breakfast this morning?”  Second, “what time did you go to bed last night?” Many of the students come from challenging backgrounds, and Libunu wants to create space where all are accepted and affirmed.

Space is where we meet God and where we meet one another.  Space is where we come to know ourselves as God’s children.  May God give you such space in these challenging days.

Warmest blessings,

John McCall

Connect:
Email: john.mccall@pcusa.org
Read more online: pcusa.org/john-mccall
Thank you for reading about John’s ministry.

God Moment - 5/7/2020

God Moment - Beth Baxley - May 7, 2020

This is the April 29th devotion from "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. For me it was so powerful in this moment in time that I go back and reread it every day.

God Moment - 5/4/2020

God Moment - Linda Burgin - May 4, 2020

I experienced a really strong God Moment recently. While going through files on my computer, I stumbled upon this photo that I took years ago at my hometown church (Dorland Memorial Presbyterian in Hot Springs, NC). The Holy Spirit directed my attention to the anchor and reminded me that God is our anchor in this storm! He remains in control as the guardian of our souls. Praise be to God!

God Moment - 4/30/2020

God Moment - Becki Veach - April 30, 2020

I wanted to share my God moment with you after attending online church this past Sunday. I can totally identify with the sermon this morning. I understand what I have been doing as a result of listening to the sermon.

Just like Peter denied Jesus three times, I have been betraying those that I love and that love me. I have betrayed them through pretending to be someone I'm not. I have been trying to prove myself to show that I'm worthy of love. I feel like the reason I have been doing this is because I never was convinced that God loved me or Jesus could love me. I believed that I was flawed from birth. I thought that because my birth parents had abused me and rejected me that everyone else on earth would have to do that too.

This year God has been showing me how loved I am and that I no longer have to pretend to be someone that I am not. I really started to understand how deep the love of God is. He hasn't rejected me because of my sin. Because I'm discovering that truth, now I'm starting to love myself. Then as I learn to love myself, I can grasp what it really means to love others as well. As I stop misrepresenting myself to God and in my own mind, I can also not be afraid to be genuine with other people. I also realized this morning that my mission field is not overseas or the church as much as it is in my own AA fellowship.

For a long time, I thought that I had to please others in order to be loved. I thought I needed to take action by going to seminary or going into full-time mission work. Now I am starting to see that I am a missionary, only it's not the way that I once thought I needed to be.

I am feeding Jesus' sheep through showing love to my friends that might not ever see Jesus any other way. That is my God moment for this week.

God Moment - 4/9/2020

God Moment - Beth Baxley - April 9, 2020

I stopped off at UCM yesterday to donate food items, an easy and safe thing to do with the procedures they have set in place now. There, on the front lines, faithful as ever, was Betty Foti and her wonderful cohorts, true disciples. 

There are so many in our church family ministering every day, in many ways. Some are on the front lines caring for those in need as Betty is. Some are caring for the sick in hospitals, at home, in the community. Some are running errands and doing chores to assist those who are fragile or at risk. Some are calling or writing notes of encouragement. There  are so many ways the Lord is moving our people to love and serve, some that only only He and His servants know.

In this unparalleled time, how wonderful to see that our church family is living our church mission: to make disciples who love Jesus Christ, love the church, and love their neighbors as themselves.

May we continue to listen and obey as the Lord guides us in how to love and serve.

God Moment - 4/8/2020

God Moment - Judy McManus - April 8, 2020

Staying home, doing more around the house and in the yard, I’m starting to tackle projects that I’ve let go for years.

The hydrangeas and the raspberries were what I chose to attack most recently. They had spread and grown together into a wild tangle. The raspberries especially had really spread out. Last year we had so many berries that we are still enjoying cobblers from berries we froze. The vines had filled and area so large that the berries in the center could not be reached.

New growth was coming out already so I was a little fearful of deep pruning because I’m kind of new at raspberry farming, but it seemed like the only way. I dug the small rooted vines form the perimeter of the patch and pulled them out of the hydrangea, which I also pruned severely. Making my way to the center of the patch, clearing away the dead wood, I found that the original vine I had planed was dead.

This was a wild raspberry vine that we dug up at the Community of the Cross on the day we buried our son Bryan’s ashes. So much healthy, abundant growth is connected to that dead vine. And it made me think: there is so much healthy growth in believers whose lives Bryan had touched. I’m not just talking about myself or his dad, though he definitely brought us closer to Christ. And I’m not just talking about his children either, though they are lovely and being raised to know who Christ is. He touched so many lives with his Christ-like attitude, some I know and many I probably don’t. It continues even though he’s been gone for years with a scholarship set up in his name to help college you attend a PRMI training course, connected to Upward Challenge. Where these young people come for a closer walk with Jesus.

And as for the deep pruning, it is necessary sometimes. It almost feels like a metaphor for the way this pandemic has cut us off, trimmed us back.

This is one of the God moments staying home and having more time helped me see. As I stay home and stay turned toward Him, I know there will be much much more from my Father who loves me. He loves you too.

God Moment - 4/7/2020

God Moment - Ian Pritchard - April 7, 2020

Today, my health care is provided by a variety of medical specialties—from neurology to urology, supported by skilled technicians using advanced diagnostic tools. When I was growing up on a farm near Alcove in the 1930s and ’40s, my health care was provided mostly by the one doctor in general practice then, H. J. G. Geggie, MD...

My earliest memory of Dr. Geggie was an unannounced visit to our one-room schoolhouse at Alcove when I was probably eight or nine. He came with a little black bag from which he produced a glass syringe with needle, large by today’s standards, plus two bottles. From the first bottle he loaded the syringe. The other was used to sterilize the surface of the needle after each student’s vaccination. All of us had been previously vaccinated for protection against smallpox, but on this particular day we were being protected against diphtheria. As my older brother was having his turn the needle broke, so the doctor had to return the next day with another needle to finish his task.

Many families did not look far back to remember tragedies caused by diphtheria. My own aunt Anna died of it as a child. Any doctor alone in a rural area kept an eye on the community for infectious diseases such as typhoid, cholera and tuberculosis, but the deadly diphtheria was probably foremost in their mind. The sting of the needle was soon forgotten, and the memory of that vaccination did not resurface until after my 16th birthday, when there was another unannounced visit by the same doctor.

This time it was to the Wakefield high school, where Dr. Geggie simply took throat swabs from those students with sore throats and sent them off to a laboratory. My results came back positive for the organism causing diphtheria. Somehow I had become a carrier posing danger to others and was quickly sent off to quarantine. That vaccination years before likely had just saved my life. I felt fine, but that month of quarantine mucked up my senior school year. The time was spent sharing a cross-cut saw with my brother, cutting logs in the swamp. It was a great experience in learning to get along with each other.

(Click here to read more about Ian and Dr. Geggie.)

The Pritchard family in the spring of 1935

God Moment - 4/6/2020

God Moment - Kathy Patten - April 6, 2020

Our daughter in Greenville (under the name Mrs. Foggybottom) is homeschooling her 4 children for the time being (they’re 7, 7, 5, & 5) and this was one of the 5-year-old’s papers.  The application is, “I feel safe!” — I thought this was a good God Moment. The verse used was from Psalm 36:7 (NIV), “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

God Moment - 4/3/2020

God Moment - Clark Pearson - April 3, 2020

For those of you who are fans of Beethoven 9th Symphony, this video is of The Rotterdam Philharmonic. They teamed up with a Dutch healthcare provider to film the finale of Beethoven’s 9th with all the musicians playing their parts by video from their homes.

It’s an extraordinary achievement, overwhelming in the final minutes. Enjoy!

God Moment - 4/2/2020

God Moment - Tim & Barbara Boyer - April 2, 2020

Hello from the sands of Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  We are now in Week 3 of distance learning.  Presently, we are in a 21-day lock down state in which we have a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. that we must stay in our homes.  Even during the day, we are not allowed to be in large groups in our neighborhood-which is good!  There have been no restaurants, malls, or other type of stores open now for 2 weeks. Grocery stories and pharmacies are still open. No buses, taxis, Ubers, trains, or airplanes moving.  We are to be still...

So we think about the scripture that says to "Be still and know that I am God!".  I like to think of it as being still and being mindful of God's presence. We all find it difficult to be still.  Long hours on the computer, trying to help families continue with their educational program is really tough for everyone, but God is ever presence and we find ourselves talking to God out loud!

We have a community of believers here and we have been meeting in a home to share prayers, scripture reading, and supporting one another, which we will now do virtual and we are grateful.  We have a prayer group in What's App...people I don't even know...and we pray for one another.

So we pray for everyone, especially for our health care providers who are truly on the front lines of this.  We wish we could do more!

Kindly,

Barbara and Tim Boyer

God Moment - 4/1/2020

God Moment - Linda Burgin - April 1, 2020

My God Moment happened while photographing these spring flowers. Their fragrance was a balm for my soul. Their delicate beauty lifted my spirits and filled me with joy. As I looked through the camera lens, what came into focus was so much more than the flowers. It was God’s intense love for me and I felt very grateful.

God Moment - 3/31/2020

God Moment - Sara Beth Foti - March 31, 2020

1. I have to postpone my vocal chord treatment. I will lose most of my voice probably. But God came through and blessed me, my doctors, and speech therapy team. My doctors are able to use current dosing that works and I don’t have to start all over. God also helped my speech therapy team to come up with exercises that will lessen the voice loss.

2. In all of my working life I’ve never been on unemployment. God showed up by encouraging me to do it and let go of my pride. In doing so, God placed a friend/coworker to help me and support me in this unknown process. 

Be blessed,

Sara Beth Foti

God Moment - 3/30/2020

God Moment - Erin Daniel - March 30, 2020

My word to myself for the week ahead is this: it's OK to live in the tension.

I don't know about you, but I was telling my husband over dinner that just today alone, there were moments I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me (when I read the latest death toll in Italy), and moments I laughed so hard I cried, and moments I lost my cool over (rare) 8-year-old tantrums, and moments I felt so tired I was sleepwalking through normal conversation.

My point is, we are all processing this pandemic so uniquely that it requires exponential grace for myself and for others. It's OK to live in the tension between sadness and joy, between fear and hope, and between discontentment and gratitude. There is so much outside our control about what the next few weeks and months will look like, but on the other hand, there is so much WITHIN our control, too. Here's to week three and living in the tension, with abundant grace.

God Moment - 3/27/2020

God Moment - Lynda Parlett - March 27, 2020

“Beauty in the Midst”

I’ve always been an animal lover. My Dad called me “Ellie Mae” (as in Ellie Mae Clampit from the Beverly Hillbillies television show) when I was young. So, when I moved here from eastern NC nearly 9 years ago, I was thrilled to have a home from which I could observe so many of God’s furry and feathered creatures.

Visitors to our yard regularly include turkeys, chipmunks, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, bears and lately, even deer. Since the start of our social distancing here on our mountain, I have enjoyed spending time observing nature even more. And God has provided me with new delight to show me the true beauty of his creation in the midst of such a challenging and unusual time. For the first time this spring, there are two pairs of bluebirds nesting in our birdhouses. We’ve always had chickadees and wrens and last year even had tree swallows who were dislodged from their previous homes by the clear cutting of a stand of pines. But we’ve never been graced by the presence of these beautiful and melodious bluebirds.

Job 12: 7- 10

7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of every human being.

God Moment - 3/26/2020

God Moment - Courtney Umphlett - March 26, 2020

I have often heard it said that God takes the bad and turns it into good. Although I use to think technology had some benefits, I honestly saw it has something pushing us apart and distracting us. Who knew that would be used by God to bring us together during this time. On Sunday, churches around the world live streamed their services. In our home, we were able to participate in our church’s service but also “visit” a church that was just started by some friends of ours. Humans are stepping up at a surprising rate to bring life and joy to people through technology. Cc and I love to dance and it hasn’t had to stop. Yesterday, I did a Zumba class with others live online and the American Ballet Theater has offered free live classes for kids under 5. Companies are offering subscriptions to their online platforms to continue education. Bible studies are meeting online via Zoom. And every day there is more good coming from technology to keep us together during a time when we must stay apart.  It has been incredible to see how God has used something we worried would pull us apart to bring us together as a human race. 

God Moment - 3/25/2020

God Moment - Jae Crawford - March 25, 2020

I fondly remember when we could gather together and pray, play, and praise.

Now we are doing things by ourselves, with family or online. What a difference a few weeks make.

Pictures from "social camp out" from 2019. God moments. 

Second, hiking with Susan, hiking with Honey, hiking with my grandson, David, and picking collards with Tom.

Third, my sister from Wisconsin staying in touch. Hugging her chicken, as we cannot hug friends.

Blessed to get to go outside and enjoy God's  beautiful world. A friend had too many collards and wanted us to get bunches. Manna from God, as we had no part in the work to produce them.

Grateful for family that keep a sense of humor and make me laugh. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Jae