New Beginnings

     I was reading the paper this morning and it was talking about Marshall University playing a road game on November 14. The paper says that they haven't played a road game since 1970, when a DC-9 airplane crashed killing 75 , including team coaches and broadcasters.  All of a sudden I was transformed back to a 12 year old kid, who wanted to be in radio...      November 14 1970, was an ordinary day at our house. On Saturdays we cleaned house, got ready for Sunday School and church the next day.  On Saturday evenings from 5PM-7PM, I listened to American Top 40 with Casey Kassem. I would have my Channel Master transistor radio and my cassette tape recorder side by side hoping to record the latest music on cassette. Later I would practice introducing it and doing interviews with my friends and neighbors.  I was listening and recording Stevie Wonder's "Heaven Help Us All" when it was interrupted by a sounder that said "Bulletin, Bul...

  I have been on quite an emotional rollercoaster of sorts. Storms of life  are something else. There you are in a comfortable groove, with school and work, and the extra money that is coming in from part time is helping you fix up some things around the house. You say to your husband, "You need to go to the doctor and get tests done, because you are at the age where you need to have tests done".  Then within a few weeks things change, they change so drastically that you can hardly catch your breath.  When the colonoscopy is done the doctor tells you they found a polyp and they don't know what's is up with it. Then you are referred to a surgeon who says that this is beyond my ability. Which I appreciate his honesty. I really do. He wanted Matt to go somewhere else.  Appointments are made and they work him in at UVA to get him in as quickly as possible. There was another appointment in Morgantown in October. which was weeks away.    Life becomes a ser...

     People ask this question a lot "why Do bad things happen to good people?" I don't really know how to respond to that. All I can do is cling to the promises in scripture like this one "I will Never leave or forsake thee" or I know the thoughts that I have toward you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope". These are scriptures I have clung to a lot in life and I guess I will be clinging to them during this current storm.      There are the songs as well Karen Peck  and New River Sustaining Grace , Mike and Kelly Bowling :"Your Cries have Awoken the Master; and Taranda Greene singing "When God Has Another Plan", and "Break Every Chain" Tasha Cobbs  these are the songs that have gotten me through the storms in my life and many more.       Right now Matt is facing a very big storm in his life. The surgery that he will have to have will call for some major adjustments in his life....

     Today marks another terrible day in our nations history. 9/11, when two planes flew into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and one heading for the White House went down in Pennsylvania This day is forever etched in my mind, many things changed on this day or because of this day. Some good  changes  and some bad.      You never know what a day will bring. It pays you to love hard, laugh hard and live as best you can and be prepared. I was listening to the news this morning talking about all the memorial services to be held in different. My mind went back to Todd Beamer and the people on flight 93. As it was headed for the White House. People knew something had to be done. It would have been easy to not do anything, but Todd and a group of passengers rushed the cockpit. The famous phrase "Lets Roll". I think of the children he left behind two of them are young men now.  I wonder if they understand what a great thing their ...

     I was reminded of a scripture recently "There is a way that seemth right, but the end thereof leads to destruction". I am in the process of taking Evangelism Explosion  and part of the class is learning to give your testimony, without using all of the "Christian terms" that we all ore so familiar with. People in the part of the country can use all of those terms better than the Christian person can. They know what to say, to keep you for asking certain questions. The most quoted saying is "God knows my heart". Well yes He does, and if you are just saying that to get someone who is trying to show you the way to Jesus Christ, He knows that as well.  The next one is "I have a relationship with God". That is great if you  have a relationship with God. It is wonderful!! But is it an excuse that you use to keep people for asking you to go to church with them.  My relationship with God is real and personal. He talks , I listen and try to do what He...

     The past few weeks have been a kaleidoscope of events that had my head spinning. Some days are better than others it seems. I do know that God is in control.  Some days you feel like a puppet with someone else guiding the strings.  Some days you feel like something is blocking you from stepping out as God commanded. The Bible tells us not to worry, I try not to worry or to be anxious about anything, but as you get caught up in life you find yourself worrying. Some call it being concerned, but it is still worry.      A few weeks ago I talked to Jeff Steele. We go back a few years. I met him in Mullens back in 1995. At the time me and Gary Hosey were doing MC work at concerts. We had been invited to MC a concert.  Jeff has had some really good songs "We Want America Back" < "God Kept His Promise", For The Sake of the Children, most of the went to number one nationwide. He has been to Beckley.  I hadn't heard f...

     I have to ask a question of you. Can I get out of the box now?  You are saying what do you mean. Well, here is what it means. Just because you have done something for a long period of time and you do a good job at it people tend to think that is all you can do. When you try to move on when that opportunity is not there, people won't let you, all they can think of is what you used to do or how good  you were at that particular thing. This is what the entertainment world does to child stars from Shirley Temple to Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Some have managed to move on to other things even though their work is on films everywhere.  Just think if Ron Howard hadn't been allowed to move from Opie Taylor to Ritchie Cunningham to the director he is today what a waste it would be. People like Richard Thomas who is still known as "John Boy" he has embraced this and moved on to do movies and other things. He does the voice work for Cadillac and ot...

A few weeks ago, I came in from church and the Lord gave me this message. A Sunday afternoon, I lay across my bed reading and looking these scriptures up and this is what He gave me.  I also worked on it last night. When I finished I got the news about the verdict. This wasn't planned or anything. It was God working through His humble servant. I am not perfect, not by a long shot, I operate sometimes in doubt and fear, but take a monument to read this and we Need to PRAY Scriptures 1 Corinthian   1:10-13                  1 Corinthian   12: 12-25   1 Corinthians 1 10-13 reads Now I beseech you, breather, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared unto me of you, my breather by them which are of...

     There are some dreams in life you have to let go of. Even though letting go is as painful as having a tooth pulled or a minor surgery, you just have to let go.  I used to have a dream of working with youth. I had to let that go. I did that because the young people in my own life didn't want to listen or have anything to do with me. I helped with an awesome group of young people back in the 1990's . I taught Sunday School for the seventh grade at Memorial Baptist, I helped Charlie Scott. When he left to go on a mission trip I became the permanent teacher for that class. I taught there for almost two years. I have four of them as friends on Face Book. Which I find as a huge compliment that they remember me and friended me.  Several of them went into full time Christian service. After those two great years, the church got a new pastor and single people were pushed aside and the class was combined with the eighth and ninth graders. I saw those kids a few m...

    I am sitting here thinking about the events of one year ago today. I am thankful that we came through it without much major damage.  One side of the deck is gone, the storm loosened it, so I told Matt to take it down. June 29, 2012 , started like most days back then. I wasn't working, Matt was out of town with his job. He was due to come home late that evening, So I did laundry, cleaned up the house and finished painting the cabinets. The cabinets were on the deck, so I put them back in the kitchen and put the stuff away. I cleaned up the paint and listened to a book on tape.  At that time I was doing the weather forecasts for the Calvary Assembly Radio station. I looked at the forecast and they had a severe weather warning.  I was thinking all we are going to get is some bad thunderstorms and maybe hail. I also began to pray, because Matt would be driving home in that. Ever since the wreck that Matt had in 2006, when the weather gets bad and it pours t...

     Today is Fathers Day, and I went to church with my dad for the first time in a long time. It was bittersweet as the past meets the present and future.  I grew up in Mt.Zion Baptist church, my dad serves as a deacon there, my grandfather and grandmother were very active there, as well as me and Sharon and my mom.   Mt.Zion began in its present location in 1968.According to the church history Rev. Nelson Staples Jr. and Mrs. Staples and Deacon Billy and Susie Lewis were standing on that land when the power of the Holy Ghost few on them.  This at one time was a place where drunks hung out. It was called the "Crow Pole".  Rev. Nelson Staples Jr. began to be impressed of the Lord to build a church on this location.  After checking into some things, the property was owned by a Methodist Church,  ( I found this out later) That people had to be tracked down to sign the deed for the property, and my grandfather Joe Thornton  was o...

     From this title you would think something is missing. There isn't anything missing. I have more than what I need as far as material things are concerned. I am not missing any meals. I went to the doctor and my weight is the same as it has been, maybe not a good thing, but I haven't gained either. Then you would say what's missing?      I miss some of the work I used to do. I miss going to and working with the groups to promote concerts. I started doing that back in the 1980's and loved it. Of course I made a few mistakes along the way, but that's how you learn. I remember the very first concert I had a hand in promoting . It was 1987 at the Ramada Inn. They wanted to promote their indoor mall. They had the concert in the indoor courtyard. I remember asking for advice on who to get and a lot of people like "Buzz Keller" were just interested in promoting gospel music., so he donated his time and resources and the Patton's from Oceana, who had...

     Recently I have noticed some things about myself. I don't like to travel much, in fact some days I don't like leaving home. Some days I don't even leave the house and I wonder what in the world is going on with me.  Someone said that is a sign of getting older, but I know some spunky 80 year olds that travel all of the time. Take a person like Emma Jean Barnes and a few others who have been everywhere on mission trips. I have to admire someone who can do that. So what is going on? I wrestled with this on yesterday and here are some conclusions that I have come up with.      This started happening about three years ago when I lost my job. I got tired of explaining to people what happened. I was embossed, so I begin to stay in and do schoolwork. I would go to class and come home. I didn't have to leave the house , except to go to the store. I didn't have to leave the house to shop. I could order from QVC and they bring it right to the do...

     I watched as my niece graduated from college yesterday. All of us went out to dinner afterward. I am indeed a proud aunt. Many doors will be opening for her. She isn't quite sure what she wants to do. She also faces the dilemma of most college graduates. When you go for a job, people want experience. How do you get the experience in your major, without a job. I am in the same dilemma myself, As I watched her go across the stage, my mind went back to the time she was little.       She used to spend every weekend with me, especially after the twins came. I was the first one to take her to Sunday School, and a lot of other places. Many memories flooded my min. Like when she first started climbing my steps, I had top go to a program at church and I told her we had to go, she started screaming, and I finally told her that she could come back some other time, that I was late. We did all kind of things together.  We would dance and play,...

     I am teaching a Bible study tonight. Yesterday while the power was off, I had a chance to work on this. God woke me upon on Monday morning to find this book "Experiencing God". I took the class in 1995. I took the class twice, the second time I took it with my mom. After the class, it was very evident that God was calling me into ministry. Everybody thought I was over reacting to the class. It is funny how when you want to completely give yourself over to God, people think you are going overboard. They don't say anything when people paint themselves in their favorite sports teams colors and run around dressed like a clown, or other extreme behavior. When it comes to the things of God, is when people say you are crazy.  This class changed many lives.      About seventeen years ago I took a class that basically changed my life. It was “Experiencing God”, Henry Blackby and Claude V King came out with a book and classes that if you take...

     We paid our car off. This is a milestone and a cause for celebration, because it has been a hard road paying this off. It all started on June 30, 2006 when I found out I was going to need eye surgery for a condition called kertaconas. We had dealt with the fact that I would have the eye surgery. I was worried, because I wasn't sure if I would be able to work again. The surgery was scheduled for August 15, 2006.  So most of the summer was spent worrying, and praying about the surgery.      Matt goes away in July for his Navel reserve weekend. I am at home and he usually calls. I get a call about 9:30PM that night and the first thing he says is "I'm OK'. Then he tells me about the accident he was in. He was going toward the reserve center and he drives through Nitro. It had been raining for several days and that stretch of highway drains badly. Someone going too fast for conditions passes him, and splashes him. He can't see, so the ...

       Its Mothers Day once again and it is a hard day for those of us who have lost a mother. My moms birthday and Mothers day always were around the same time.  I really miss my mom, I don't have anyone to shop with, or anyone as a sounding board to talk to. She always had some good advice. I am like most kids, sometimes you didn't listen, because you thought she was being old fashioned.  What it was , she was young once and she knew what it was to be young, so she tried to stop you from doing something that you would later regret.      I used to think my mother was the meanest person in the world, making us do housework and all of that other stuff. Now I am glad she did make us do all of the things she did. Both me and Sharon are productive citizens.  I am sure at times being our mother wasn't easy and I am sure that some of the things we did as teenagers hurt , but she stood by us. We couldn't drive, so she took ...