I have said, and I reaffirm, that being born again (saved by trusting in Christ Jesus) is the single most important thing any person can ever do on this earth.

It’s Bible School week. One sip of strawberry Kool-Aid takes me back to VBS snacks on the creek bank behind Belfry Baptist Church in the early 70s. We lined up outside, the girls wearing dresses, then marched in to “Onward Christian Soldiers.” We said pledges to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible.

I was getting ready for work Monday morning and I went to put on my favorite necklace. It has two necklaces joined together, one shorter than the other. One of the strands has a heart on it, and I love hearts. That is why this is one of my favorite necklaces. When I got it out of my jewelry drawer, it had a knot in it.

Several years ago, while serving in North Georgia, I made visits one hot Spring afternoon. I drove to the home of a lady who visited the previous Sunday. She lived a mile or two off the main highway. I located her house, knocked on her door, and no one answered. I left my card with a note, returned to my car and noticed a loud hissing sound. My tire was going flat.

Praying for God’s will is the best thing.  The wisest thing.  The hardest thing.  One of the most difficult lessons of my life.  It happened on July 20, 1994-30 years ago, this week.  It was a Wednesday.

I love being around water. I love everything about it. I especially love the beach! I love the sound of the ocean, the smell of the ocean, the wind and the waves. The crazy thing is I don’t like to get “in” the ocean. I am just an observer.

Eddie Drinkard is a member of Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, a real estate broker who focuses on selling property with large acreage, and a very gracious Christian gentleman. One of the things Drinkard does to serve his church is to maintain the grounds, including doing whatever landscaping is necessary, and providing pine straw whenever it is required.

In August of 1971, sitting side by side on a brown couch in Jerry Bottom of Huddy, KY, my sister-Teri, and I gave our hearts to Jesus.  We were baptized together, went to Sunday School together and Training Union on Sunday nights.

Have you ever been down and blah and you just can’t put your finger on exactly why? Have you ever felt like there was a heavy cloud over you and you just can’t seem to get out from under it? Or maybe you have been stressed because you just felt like you couldn't do enough and give enough to make a difference?

I’d never heard of Grant Holmes until the 28-year-old pitcher made his Major League debut on Father’s Day at Truist Park against the Tampa Bay Rays. His appearance highlighted an 8-6 Braves loss as Holmes pitched three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits.

I don’t know about your household but since it’s summer the talk is all about swimming and pools at my house. Unfortunately, we do not have a subdivision pool, which has been VERY disappointing to the four little girls living with us.

The Fourth of July is one of my husband’s very favorite holidays. He loves the colors red, white, and blue and loves to fly the flag.

We now live in a world and society of skepticism. Most people no longer believe the Bible is true or that it is God’s Word.

“God is not surprised.” It’s what Sara Robinson said at Radiant (Pastor’s Wives Retreat) when speaker Christine Hoover’s plane had been delayed time and time again. We prayed and rearranged the schedule. A substitute was mic’d, ready to step to the stage. But, a few moments before her exact time to speak, Christine pulled into the parking lot and walked right to the podium.

We were at the beach last week for our family vacation. It's always an adventure when the adults are outnumbered by the kids - five adults to seven children under 14 keeps you on your toes, and I might add can be quite exhausting, but that's another story.

Listening to the morning sounds in the mountains, I hear birds tweeting and greeting. They call across the hills, “Good morning! It’s time to get up.” God didn’t have to make birds sing. But He did.

I was recently hiking on the Appalachian Trail in north Georgia with some friends. One of my companions was Jack, a 25-year-old young man from Nashville, Tenn. I was told Jack had just checked his compass when he called out to me, “What direction are we going?” It’s an important question while navigating the AT, you don’t want to become disoriented on the trail.

Just after my family moved to Prestonsburg over 20 years ago, Leah Dane, one of our older deacon’s wives, made us a loaf of banana bread. The small bundle was wrapped in foil. Opening it up, we found it already sliced for our convenience.

My husband is the king of “made up” games for the grandkids. They play “fish bait,” where he throws an empty lotion container, which is the bait, in the middle of the bed and the kids try to get it like fish. They play their own version of click list (which is quite entertaining) among other crazy made-up games like restaurant ordering, hair salon etc.

Former Minnesota Twin Harmon Killebrew died May 17, 2011. The Hall of Fame slugger, 12th on baseball’s all-time home run list with 573, once shared, “My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ ​My dad would tell her, 'We’re not raising grass. We’re raising boys.'”

Some of Jesus’ last words were “Go, go, and be.”

Our granddaughter, Mattie, is playing travel softball this summer. She has played rec league for the past couple of years and decided this year to make the move to travel ball. On her team the girls …

Last week, we were visiting my sister and her family in Bowling Green.  On Sunday morning, we joined them at Hillvue Church.  The pre-service music was playing.  People greeted and mingled.  The five-minute timer was ticking down.  My heart began to stir in anticipation.  

School is out! This means that my granddaughters' main goal each day is to find a pool to go to. I wish we had a subdivision pool but unfortunately that was not on our list when we moved to Jefferson.

​Cleaning out my desk, I found my “Handyman Club of America” sticker. I remember the day I received it. This piece of junk mail caught my eye, I opened it, and my self-esteem received an immediate boost.