Little Things Add Up
I love this time of year! The spring flowers are in full bloom, the grass is emerald green, and the birds are bedecked in their finest feathers. Even the trees are blooming to attract pollinators necessary to produce seeds, fruits, and nuts and the recent rains have accelerated the beautification…
Boundary Stones, Witness Trees, and Iron Stakes
I found the article in Monday’s paper about Washington, DC’s boundary stones very interesting. Having just spoken about such things the day before in Sunday worship, it was especially enlightening to see how the early surveyors and planners took great pains to carefully align and place forty rocks around the…
God’s Manufacturing Process
Before becoming a fulltime pastor, I taught Agriculture for fifteen years at Central High School. One of the privileges I had during that time was to take students on various field trips throughout Shenandoah County and beyond. I always believed that students learned more “out there” than they did in…
Who Are We Pleasing?
Spring Turkey Season in Virginia begins with the special youth days this weekend and the season opens for all next Saturday. I’ve been looking forward to this time for several weeks and am anxiously anticipating listening to one the most awesome sounds in the Virginia woodlands: a wild turkey’s gobble!…
God’s Triple Play
Spring Training is over and the 2018 Major League Baseball season is underway! The boys of summer have begun their pitching, catching, hitting, and running and the first games are already in the books. This year’s edition of America’s favorite pastime has officially begun! The fascination with baseball has held…
Gethsemane’s Crushing Press
As we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, our thoughts should also involve the events leading up to it as well. It is impossible to have a resurrection without a death and that’s why we must pause at the cross before rushing to the empty tomb. Looking ahead 800 years to…
Praying On Signal Knob
On the northern end of the Massanutten Mountain, Signal Knob stands likes a sentinel watching over the town of Strasburg and the surrounding countryside. Its stately summit can be seen from many miles and was used by both sides during the Civil War as a strategic lookout and communications post.…
The Eternal Divide
Over the last few weeks, winter storm after winter storm has rolled into the northwestern US and blown across the country dumping feet of snow and inches of rain from west to east. As I write this article, yet another threatens to add several additional inches of snow to the…
Two Train Wrecks From Our Past
One hundred and forty-two years ago this coming Tuesday, the Shenandoah Valley was shaken from its slumber about midnight. A twenty-five car Baltimore and Ohio train carrying people, livestock, and freight tragically crashed off the Narrow Passage trestle and plunged ten stories into the chilly creek below. Eleven human lives…
Coffee’s Transformation and Ours
I still remember the first time I ever tasted coffee. It was a freezing cold night at a Central home football game and I was a scrawny elementary kid. I was desperate for some warmth and my sister, Judy, compassionately and willingly shared her java with me. That sip, however,…