Pope Francis: for the people

We have lost a good friend and the world has lost a great spiritual leader.  Pope Francis was the head of the Roman Catholic Church, overseeing over 1.4 billion members from his election in 2013 until his death April 21 – the day after Easter.

Visiting the Conley home place

Hoot Gibbs and I recently visited another old home place back in the woods. Gary Jones and his 5-year-old grandson Cutler Allen took us to the site of the Girdine “Gird” Conley home place, which is on the upper reaches of Jack Branch in the Bear Creek area of Graham County.

Tip of the cap to firefighters

The last two weeks of our local news cycle has been dominated by the Haoe Lead Fire, which was ignited by a lightning strike inside the dense wilderness of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest on April 12.

The solace of Christ's resurrection

* Final in a 3-part series A well-loved Easter song in my household proclaims: “Buddha is dead, Mohammed is dead, Ghandi and Haile Selassie are dead; Elijah Mohammed is dead – however, Jesus is alive!

April brings blossoms in the woods

When April arrives, woodland areas begin to join in on presenting spring blooms.  You may notice trees with white blooms appearing on mountainsides. This would be the serviceberry tree, a member of the rose family. You may hear some locals – especially older ones – call it a “sarvice tree.

Worship

Wonderful Lord God almighty which was, which is and is to come I worship and praise your name forever, for the great things you have done. You sent your son Jesus to save us, from death, Hell and the grave I worship you and you only, for only you can save.

He's alive!

As we approach Easter, hymns and songs about the resurrection of Christ from the grave fill my heart. I love the Easter hymns “In the Garden” and “Up from the Grave He Arose.”  The most popular Easter song is Charles Wesley’s hymn, “Christ, the Lord is Risen Today.

The comfort of Good Friday

* Part 2 of a 3-part series There’s a consolation that comes from philosophy, but there’s deeper comfort in God entering our fallen world and participating in our brokenness – not for empathy’s sake, but to defeat the one who holds the power of death over us.

'Great is Thy Faithfulness’

The beautiful Springtime brings to memory one of my favorite hymns: “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” written as a poem by Thomas Chisholm in 1923.

Farming time

In earlier times, farming got underway in earnest with the arrival of April.  Acres of land would be plowed for the planting of such crops as corn, burley tobacco and of course, the family garden and potato patch.