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.

When I was younger, Memorial Day was the holiday that truly marked the beginning of summer. I was oblivious to those who decorated graves, never wondering how the cemeteries were suddenly covered with brightly colored flowers. Decades passed. Now I understand the import of the holiday.

What if? How many times have you lived in the “what if” world? I find myself there quite often. "What if" is a question that we ask ourselves where we imagine what “might” happen or what “might have” happened.

My beloved and I recently had the opportunity to explore St. Augustine for a few hours, knowing it was the place Ponce de Leon reportedly discovered the Fountain of Youth. We found it. The park, that is, and did the thing you do: took a selfie at the entrance. I texted friends that I had found the Fountain of Youth and was bringing some back to all of them. One said to get a gallon.

Let me just say that if you have not had the opportunity to take a 10-year-old to school every morning you probably have not engaged in the “random” conversations that I have. I was taking “4th grade” Liza to school this morning and as she is in the back seat she says, “You know Mimzy I am not looking forward to the first day of 5th grade."

When Jack Brown’s son Adam graduated from high school, the father decided to write down the most important things his son needed to know as he started college and stepped into life’s next chapter. ​This going away present contained 511 reminders about how to live a happy and rewarding life.

A verse in Genesis 41 gave me chills last week when I read it. It just hit different. In our youth Sunday School class, we have been unpacking, digging in, breaking down, or whatever you want to call it, the story of Joseph. We’ve studied it so much that the guys and girls could take an ACT about it.

We have a staff prayer meeting every Monday morning. The person leading the prayer meeting this week opened up by asking, “What is taking up your bandwidth today?” The room went silent but you could look around at the faces and know that every single person was probably dealing with something that was taking up all their mental and maybe physical bandwidth. Some probably more than others but everyone had something.

The prophet Elijah knew plenty about the ups and downs of following God. We can draw strength and encouragement from his true story. We can be reminded that through good times and bad, God is still with us, and will help us in staying the course.