Musings

By Pastor David Holland And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the...

By Sean Dietrich Christmas Eve night. The mountains of North Carolina were giant silhouettes in the darkness. Sheriff Andy Taylor sat on the bench outside the courthouse, watching the stars. It had been a hard year. Maybe the hardest of his career. The sheriff was downhearted, which didn’t happen often. But...

By Matthew Vanderford Being a part of a community means different things to different people. As a public insurance adjuster, being a part of the community means being present for businesses, property owners, renters and contractors who’ve experienced damage, suffered loss and need assistance in reaching a fair insurance claim...

By Sean Dietrich It’s a few minutes until Thanksgiving. I thought I’d stay up and watch the clock change. I’m sipping tea, listening to gentle music playing in the background. I think it’s Bing Crosby, or maybe Nat King Cole. The volume is too low to tell. Either way, it sounds...

By Pastor David Holland “I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.” (Psalm 37:25-26, NKJV) There I stood in Capernaum, where Jesus once provided bread for the multitudes and...

By Pastor David Holland “So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:19-20 (NIV) As a little...

By Sean Dietrich This is not my story. It was told to me. In fact, I’m hearing it for the first time, just like you are. The year was 1982. The old man climbed out of a rust-red Ford. He was ancient. He walked with a shuffle as he hobbled into...

By Pastor David Holland But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away,...

By Sean Dietrich These aren’t my stories, but I’m going to tell them. Let’s call her Dana. Dana was going for a walk near her home. It was a dirt road. Her high-school reunion was coming up, she was getting into shape. A truck pulled beside her. He slowed down. He rolled...

By Pastor David Holland But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. Luke 15:31-32 The young man hated mucking out the stinking pig stalls. But he snuck some slop for himself occasionally to avoid...