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Shall We Gather at the River?
Plannig a mission trip takes weeks of preparation. My sweet friend, Nan Jones, kindly accepted my invitation to post on my blog this week. Thank you, Nan, for blessing me with the much needed time and blessing my readers with your words of encoragement. Shall We Gather at the River? by Nan Jones Photo by Sally Matheny The mountain air gave us goosebumps. It was chilly for the first day of June. Overcast skies and occasional mist decided an even chillier river. As the water tumbled over river rock and brushed against grassy banks, the chill couldn’t dampen the hearts of the people gathered for the baptism. Tom*…
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Are You Stretched to a Numbing Ineffectiveness?
by Sally Matheny Embarrassing ineffectiveness The day I sashayed into the church with the back corner of my dress firmly tucked inside my pantyhose ranks in the top five of my most embarrassing moments. Before the morning worship service, I corralled my two toddlers and I into the restroom. Anyone with toddlers knows this is no easy feat. After chasing the youngest down the sanctuary aisle, we finally settled into a pew. Immediately, a sweet teenage girl quietly slipped in the pew behind me informing me of my predicament. If I could crawl under the pew and slither out, I would have. My four-year-old daughter’s squeaky voice pelted,…
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Pushing Children Out of Their Comfort Zones
Comfort Zones. We all love them. As adults, most of us have discovered the value of stretching beyond our self-imposed barriers. But, how comfortable are we with pushing our children out of their comfort zones? Maybe we need to ask ourselves a few questions. Do We Want to Build Character? When I was growing up, I don’t remember getting out of something my parents deemed important just because I was not “comfortable” with it. For example, at age nine, stacking firewood in the heat of August was not an enjoyable event for me. I didn’t like the yellow jackets, the heat, or hard labor. However, my daddy said it was…
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John Tesh Concert: Talent, Testimonies and T-Shirts
A few years ago my sweet hubby and I attended a John Tesh concert. This was our first time hearing John Tesh and his touring ensemble. We were enthralled. Kicking off the concert was the webmaster for www.tesh.com. This guy had the voice and enthusiasm of a high school cheerleader. He pumped up the crowd about the website and a special promotion for the evening. If the words “tesh.com” were mentioned, and if the crowd cheered, the webmaster would appear and throw T-shirts out to the crowd. A great deal of laughter ensued after he explained his limited budget. Apparently, he made the T-shirts himself. They were Fruit of the Loom, large, white,…
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Titanic Survival Story- Emily B. Ryerson’s and Mine
by Sally Matheny This is really a comparison of two survival stories. One is about Emily Borie Ryerson, a survivor of the infamous Titanic ship. The other is about me, Sally Matheny, a 2012 survivor of the Titanic Camp at the S.C. State Museum. At an overnight Titanic Camp in Columbia, S.C., before entering the Titanic exhibit, each person was given a “boarding pass.” On each pass was information about an actual passenger aboard the steamship Titanic in the year 1912. We assumed their identities as we traveled through the exhibit. At the end of the event, museum participants have gathered information to discover the outcome of their Titanic passenger. Boarding passes…
