New Beginnings

A Strange Way to Save the World I'm sure he must have been surprised At where this road had taken him Cause never in a million lives Would he have dreamed of Bethlehem And standing at the manger He saw with his own eyes The message from the angel come to life And Joseph said Why me, I'm just a simple man of trade Why Him with all the rulers in the world Why here inside this stable filled with hay Why her, she's just an ordinary girl Now I'm not one to second guess What angels have to say But this is such a strange way to save the World To think of how it could have been If Jesus had come as He deserved There would have been no Bethlehem No lowly shepherds at His birth But Joseph knew the Reason love had to reach so far And as he held the Savior in his arms He must have thought Why me, I'm just a simple man of trade Why Him with all the rulers in the world Why here inside this stable filled with hay Why her, she's just...

     Last night was Halloween, and I spent the evening handing out candy at my mother in laws. There were at least several hundred kids on the street. My mind had several flashbacks, two years ago I was waiting on Home Health to show up to help me with taking care of Matt, I was in no mood to  be bothered with Halloween. Last night bought back many memories. The last time I went trick or treating I was 12 and I took Sharon out. I got lectured to by adults saying I was too old to go out. The next year my parents wouldn't let us go out anymore.  I saw teenagers last night trick or treating, I just gave them the candy, may have been up to something, and some just wanted to have fun. One year I took Rihanna to tailgate Halloween in downtown Beckley. I worked that event for many years as well.      I mentioned "The Heavenly Harvest" in the title because that's what I did every Halloween from 1987 - 1999. "The Heavenly Harvest" was conceived...

     One of the greatest blessings and burdens that I have had in my Christian walk is teaching Sunday school. Over the years I have taught students from ages four to adults in their 70’s, The adult can be somewhat intimidating, especially when you have senior saints such as Minister Margaret Copney and other saints like her and Elder Ricky Lewis. Both of them have since gone home to be with the Lord, but there were others. When you had to teach the adults you knew that you had better study the lesson that you were going to teach. There was no half stepping with them. I never wanted to be embarrassed enough to stand before them unprepared.      When I was thirteen, I came to Sunday school and there was a young person teaching our class. It was Youth Sunday, from then on I wanted to be a Sunday school teacher. I love to watch people as they connect with what you are teaching. I was about 22 years old when I started teaching on a regular basis. Before th...

The class of 1975 made it through the Pomp and Circumstance” getting our high school diplomas. June 6, 1975 seems like so long ago, but at the same time it seems like it was only yesterday. SO many decisions that were made that would affect our lives forever. I don’t think that we should hold decisions made by an 18 or 19 year old accountable for the rest of their lives. I was 17 when I graduated from high school and I was a very sheltered 17 year old to say the least. I had never dated. I didn’t date until I was 21. It wasn’t a religious thing, it was more like my mind and my age finally caught up with each other. Some of our class would go to college, some would work and some went into the military. Some would do well in college, some would leave home and go wild, but would eventually settle down into a career, some would marry and divorce, others married later, some would have children and some didn’t. This will cover my first year after graduation, what I did. Some of this some ...

     Looks like we are closing in on the finishing line, as the class of 1975 entered their last year of high school. It had been a long journey since entering school in 1963-64 to now. We were all excited. Graduating meant a rite of passage, freedom to make your own choices, some would choose college, some would go into the workforce and many like myself were really unsure of what we wanted to do.  1974 was the year that Patricia Hurst was kidnapped, President Nixon resigned. We had to watch it on TV, “because it was history being made” is what my parents said. At my house, any time the President came on TV we had to watch it. It didn’t matter if he was Democrat or Republican, he was the President, and so we watched. Then we had President Gerald Ford and, we all followed Susan Ford, because she was our age.  There were articles in Seventeen magazines that talked about taking a year off before entering college. Some took the year off. In my case it was six month...

     1973 was a good year for me. I had learned the halls of Woodrow Wilson High School and my 10th grade year was successful. September 1973 started with a crazy man on radio station WWNR. Larry Dale, he made mornings fun. He had good music, humor and SES “School Emergency Service” that is where you listened for school cancellations.  Larry Dale and Dan Blanney gave me my first break in radio in 1977. As a young impressionable 15 year old I really enjoyed Larry Dale; “This is Larry Dale saying this is Larry Dale”. I am not sure what prompted me to want to be in radio. My dad wanted me to go into nursing. His logic was that way I would always have a job; I should have listened.  What I listened to was Harry Chapin sing “I am the morning DJ at WOLD.”.      Halfway through the tenth grade, I wanted to try something new. I wore wigs from eighth grade until my senior year of high school, when I finally said enough is enough. I am wearing my natural ...

     In September of 1972, the class of 1975 started high school. Back then, the powers that be passed what was called “The Uniform School Rule” which meant school started the day after Labor Day and was finished by the first week in June. I am sure people wish that ruling was in effect this year. Some of the people that we went to Junior High with moved away. Once again, we had to make the adjustment to learn how to go to school with people that were once considered rivals, when we were in junior high:  Park vs Beckley, Beckley vs Stratton, Stratton vs Park etc. East Beckley kids verses East Park kids, church rivals Mt. Zion vs New Hope.      We all now went to one school. There were two buses that ran in our neighborhood bus 117 which was the early bus and bus 110 that came around 7:00AM. That meant getting up at 6AM for me. This would be a trend for the next 35 years, getting up early to go to school or to go to work, I rode bus 110.  Whi...

The Wonder Years I was eleven years old at the time I entered Park Junior High School. I tried to act older than I was. Seventh grade was horrible for me, but as I got older I realized that seventh graders are horrible people. I remember once someone thought it would be funny to put in the school paper under the cutest couple section me and someone named Robert Marsh. I didn't even know Robert, much less like him. I'm sure he got teased a lot about this. I used to teach them in Sunday school, and I thought "did we act like that?"  Looking back, we did. I went to Park Junior High, the principal was Mr. Thomas Evans, who looked at me in his office and said “your mother was such a good student, why didn’t you take after her?” I was going through being 12 or 13 at the time. I got in lots of trouble that year. I couldn’t fit in with the popular kids, so I started hanging out with the trouble makers. I cut classes, and smarted off with teacher because they treated me ...

The Class of 1975 When I heard about our 40th Class reunion, I decided to go to this one, simply because it has been 40 years since high school and a lot of us didn’t make it to see the 40th reunion.  This became apparently clear as I remembered that call I received on Saturday December 8, 2012, telling me that Randy Warden had died of a heart attack overnight. He was supposed to work at WJLS that day. He was 55. A very sobering moment and a reminder to us all that life is not promised to us. As I pondered the reunion; many memories came to mind, our hopes, our dreams and plans and I thought about this song “ The Class of 57” for a moment look at the word and change the numbers around: Tommy's selling used cars, Nancy's fixing hair Harvey runs a grocery store and Margaret doesn’t care Jerry drives a truck for sears and Charlotte’s on the make And Paul sells life insurance and part time real estate Helen is a hostess, Frank works at the mill Janet teaches gra...

     As Mother's Day rolls around, I am reminded of past Mothers Days There are so many to think about. Mothers Day 1975, my mom got a bedroom suite from Home Furniture. Someone sold it to her for two hundred fifty dollars. It was an antique quarter sawn oak sled bed with the six foot head board a dresser and a nightstand. It now sits in my home today.  I remember us painting the bed and using antique white and staining and I took an art brush and painted the scroll work green., It looked like leaves and this was 1975 It was painted again in 1987 and in 2004, my husband and I stripped all of that paint off of the bed back to the oak finish.      Mothers Day 1982- As a young woman in my 20's I was invited to speak at the Mothers Day program at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. The program was Celebrating Mothers, past, present and future. I represented the mother of the future. I had made up my mind that I wasn't going to have any children until I go...

     As most of you know, I am in the process of obtaining my MBA from Liberty University. Why at my age would I do this? I am the type of person who has learned to keep their options open.  The last five years have been an incredible lesson for me.  Some doors closed others opened. Life sometimes gets to be  full of unexpected twists and turns and you have to be able to roll with the punches. If you are someone like me with the personality that I have change does not come easily.  I am basically an introvert. I could be a hermit and never leave the house. I enjoy my own company, but God has placed a calling on my life and I can't hold up in the house. I have to get out and meet people..  Last fall in my Organizational Behavior class as an assignment we had to take the Myers Brigg Personality Test. This is what happened; I am : I Introvert S Sensing F Feeling P Perceiving The Artist As an ISFP, your primary mode of living is f...

     There is a poem that I heard this evening. It reminds me of life experiences its called "The Comfort Zone" The Comfort Zone by Anonymous I used to have a comfort zone where I knew I couldn't fail, The same four walls of busy work were really more like a jail I longed so much to do the things I'd never done before, But I stayed inside my comfort zone and paced the same old floor I said it didn't matter that I wasn't doing much, I said I didn't care for things like diamonds or furs and such I claimed to be so busy with the things inside my zone, But deep inside I longed for something special of my own I couldn't let my life go by just watching others win, I held my breath and stepped outside to let the change begin I took a step and with new strength I'd never felt before, I kissed my comfort zone good bye and closed and locked the door If you are in a comfort zone afraid to venture out, Remember that all winners were at one time fill...