Good Thursday afternoon!
Hope you are well on this rainy day! I know the grass is – and the trees and the flowers and the birds and insects and the animals – and us too! Our prayers are with all those who are experiencing flooding and storms…… but, at the same time, what a nice thing to hear the rain on the roof!
So, Sunday IS comin’. But Saturday comes first. And I am so excited about our planning retreat. As you know, it is from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM at Jim and my house.
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A good Friday afternoon to everyone!
It’s a beautiful day – cool and overcast and breezy. It’s almost a perfect day…… I’m still praying it’s going to rain! That would make it perfect!
Perfect as far as the weather goes. I don’t think any of us have felt this week that anything is perfect. When I heard about the school shooting in Winder I immediately thought of a couple in my church in Pine Mountain. About three years before Jim and I got there, they lost their son to a school shooting. Jamie was a professor at Virginia Tech – a brilliant, kind, funny, sweet boy who grew into a wonderful man who was there one day and gone the next. His parents were devastated. And every time they hear about yet another life lost to gun violence, their grief is multiplied over and over. There have been 416 school shootings since Columbine. The shooting at Apalachee in Winder was the 23rd in 2024.
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Hello Everyone!
It’s Friday….. but Sunday’s comin’!! And this Sunday is our “get back to normal Sunday”. It’s been a great, great summer, a fun and spiritual campmeeting summer. A Pentecost summer! Now with September comes our (little bit) more formal service. We will be visiting the book of Mark this fall, learning what Mark must teach us about the life and teachings of Jesus. And we will challenge ourselves to keep on growing toward Christ, in all we do and all we say – even in all we think! It’s gonna’ be a great fall!
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Good Friday Afternoon!
Well, we have officially made it through our Campmeeting Summer! I have loved it! I hope you have too! Great gospel music from The Walkers, the informal services, the music, the Bingo and cornhole, the patriotic Sunday, the guest speakers, the WACUM Sunday, the movie night, the walk through the first part of Acts as we looked at the early church. It was all great! And I think we enjoyed each other’s company and that we honored God in some exciting ways.
But wait, there is more! (Sounds like an infomercial, doesn’t it?)
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Happy Friday!
Didn’t we have a great Homecoming Sunday last week…. that August rite of passage in the church!
But before we can turn around, it’s going to be September! Little bits of crisp air and apples and new school clothes….. and FOOTBALL!!! I love fall, always have. It is the season when I was born into this world. It always brings back wonderful childhood memories. And I still love it……….. even though around the church it means meetings and paperwork and reports that must get done.
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Good Morning
Hope everyone is well and having a wonderful Wednesday! I heard somewhere that we are as happy as we allow ourselves to be! Here’s an example. Jim left this morning before daylight to go to Montgomery. He called me at 7 to share with me that he had seen the most amazing sunrise in his rear view mirror. He said the sun was RED! And it made him realize that no matter what……. This is a beautiful world! And all is well! He made me smile!! Like I said, we are about as happy as we allow ourselves to be!
Love you all!
Rev. Martha
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Good Saturday Morning!
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the world is tossing me,
like a ship upon the sea,
thou who rulest wind and water,
stand by me.
Charles Albert Tindley wrote this song in 1905. I learned it out of “The Green Book” while I was pastor and Sonny (whose face I can see but whose last name I cannot remember) was choir director at Redwine UMC in Hart County. It came to mind a little after 8 the other night when I was sleeping in front of the TV oblivious to the outside world….. and all of a sudden I was awakened to absolute darkness and a feeling that something just wasn’t right. And indeed, soon the firetruck was parked outside the house, a yellow ribbon cordoned off Spring Street, and, it was true…… something was not right. I looked down the street and saw the power lines at a 45% angle from where they should have been. A huge oak tree had fallen across the street in the raging wind. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But it would be 12 hours later when the power was back.
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Greetings Whitesburg UMC!
I’ve spent the afternoon watching the opening ceremonies for the Paris Olympics. I didn’t mean to. I just meant to turn it on for a minute. But I got completely engrossed! It was beautiful! The youth, the athletes, the strength, the flag, the torch, the music, the city, the Seine River, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the history and emotion all played out in a rain that would not stop. For about two weeks every four years, we have the opportunity if we choose to take our minds off politics and war and division and the little complications of life……………… and turn it toward hope and strength and determination and FUN! We get to see athletes from all over the world, of all colors, of all nationalities, of all genders, come together and do what they love to do, to compete in the sport in which they excel.
We get to be a part of a vision of peace. Even if it’s only for a little while.
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