Christmas Edition 2009 Inspirational Stories by People You Know 828-263-0095 MyFreeDining.com
The Question That Changed My Life
“B Photo by ASU Athletics/Keith Cline
Cortez Gilbert
Father To The Fatherless
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oving to North Carolina probably saved my life! At least when I think back on it and the path my life has taken that’s the way I see it now. I was only six (6) years old, living in a rough part of Detroit when my mama stopped to get gas for our car. As she went to pay her bill, a man got into our car with
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uzz, there is a question you need to answer. Where do the kids and I fit into your life?” I was in my second year as head coach at Appalachian State University when my wife, Jan, laid that question on me. It was a question that changed my life. Nine years earlier as an assistant coach at App, I had set a goal for myself of becoming an NCAA head basketball coach by the age of 32. I had made it. Now my goal was to coach a major college team that could contend for an NCAA championship. The only way I knew to get there was to outwork the competition. I was in my office or on the court from 7:00 in the morning till 11:00 every night. My wife and kids were seeing very little of me. Jan is my best friend and the backbone of my life so when she asked me that question, I knew I couldn’t blow it off. With just a little bit of self- Photo by Coastal Carolina Athletics evaluation I realized I had made
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Coach Buzz Peterson
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a gun and asked me where my mama’s purse was. He got away with the purse. Not long after that, my mama decided then and there to move to North Carolina. Her sister lived in Fremont so that’s where we moved. I believe it wasn’t just to get away from Detroit, but so my mom could get some reinforcements to help in raising her three children of which I was the oldest. To go from living in a drug infested, rough part of Detroit to a place where my aunt took me to church every Sunday was a welcome change. Hearing about God and His love made a strong impression on me. Early on I began to play sports and I still remember how I felt when I saw the other kid’s parents come to their games. It made me long for a Father like they had. I remember distinctly when I was twelve years old reading my Bible and seeing God described as a Father. At that very moment, I asked God if He would be a Father to me and something happened in my heart that changed me. As I watched my mom work to support us and go to college where she got, not one but two degrees, it inspired me. I got my work ethic and my passion to succeed and not give up from my mom. That’s what paved the way for me to get a scholarship to play football here at ASU. I wish I could say I stayed strong in my Christian faith when I came to ASU as a freshman, but that’s not what happened. I didn’t stop loving God, but I did stop serving Him. The party scene became a part of my life, but was an empty part. After doing that for a while, I realized in my heart this was not the path for me. It was at about this time that Coach Moore introduced me to a person who would offer me an opportunity that has brought real change in my life. The man’s name was Ricky Jimmerson and the opportunity was working as a counselor at a Summer Athletic Camp for inner city kids.
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The work I did at that camp that summer was rewarding and fulfilling. I saw kid’s lives who had come from rough neighborhoods like the one I came from change for the better. We taught them about the life of Christ through sports and we gave them the kind of positive role models that they needed. As I invested in these kids’ lives I realize that the reason I could do this is because of the investments people had made in me. I’m grateful for my mom and my aunt and the Christian influence of the church she brought me to. I’m grateful to Coach Moore and to be playing on a team where many of the guys love God too. I’m grateful for the opportunity that Ricky Jimmerson gave me to be a counselor at this camp. And I’m particularly grateful to my mom who set an example for me to follow and for having the wisdom and courage to do what was best for the family.
Cortez Gilbert All-American Football Corner Back Appalachian State University
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Merry Christmas 4 Seasons Vacation Rentals...........17 AA Boot Store................................7 Appalachian Brian Estates.............30 Appalachian Manufactured Stone.26 Appalachian Party Rentals............12 Ashe Abattoir................................20 Ashe ADAP...................................22 Ashe County Ford........................32 Ashe County Garage Doors..........17 Ashe County Pregnancy Center....14 Ashe Custom Frame Shop.............16 Badger Funeral Home...................24 Bald Mtn Baptist Church...............7 Barr Insurance..............................13 Basic Finance................................27 Belladonna...................................17 Blue Ridge Air..............................15 Blue Ridge Electric.......................29 bluemoon Guitars..........................5 Castle The Store...........................21 Community One Bank..................4 Current Chiropractic...................28 Day’s Body Shop..........................27
From These
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High COuntry Businesses
Dr. Charles Jones..........................9 Dr. Joel Yates Dentistry.................3 Dr. Pepper.....................................9 Faith Fellowship..........................16 Foothills Mortgage........................27 Gambill Oil..............................1, 27 Golden Corral..............................11 Guardian Insurance......................29 H & W Oil....................................8 Hardee’s.......................................14 Heather Burgess............................6 High Country Stone.....................24 Hobby Barn..................................17 J & J Guns and Ammo.................24 Jefferson Rent-All.........................11 Jones Hardwood Flooring.............21 Lewis Construction......................30 Libby’s..........................................27 Liddle’s Plumbing.........................25 Magic Video.................................23 Margate Health Care....................14 Meineke.......................................16 Melissa Gooman, CPA...................5
Mountain Advantage Landscape..23 Mountain Aire Seafood..................9 Mountain West Builders..............15 My Free Dining...........................19 Mystery Hill................................13 Parker Tie..............................10, 31 Pollard Glass...............................15 Precision Cabinets.......................21 Precision Printing........................15 Regency Properties......................18 Scott Brothers.............................18 Sears............................................21 Sheets Brothers............................23 Sonya Tedder Photography..........17 Sunlife Sunrooms..........................7 Taylor’s Collision.........................21 Tis The Season.............................16 UPS Store....................................16 Villages of Ashe..............................3 West Jefferson Bus. Association....17 West Jefferson Chevrolet................2 WKSK.........................................17 Yamaha........................................16
I love a good story! That’s why we take the time to find interesting people from all walks of life who are willing to share their stories through this publication. As we enter into this Christmas Season, may your hearts be warmed by the love of God that each of these folks have experienced. -Ben Cox, Owner Main Street Marketing
5 (Continued From Front Page) basketball my god. My number one priority was basketball and somewhere down the list was my family and my relationship with God. I had grown up going to church regularly. I had known some very strong believers who both talked the talk and walked the walk while I was playing basketball at The University of North Carolina. And, I had married a woman whose faith is the anchor of her life. I had been exposed to the Christian life enough to know my priorities were out of order and that I needed help. I decided to call on a local minister, Bud Russell, to lead me and the team in a Bible Study and we ended up studying a book by Patrick Morley called The Man in the Mirror. The book caused me to do just that – look at the man I saw in the mirror. But even more, I began to learn that my priorities in life needed to be God, first, then my family, and then my career. I began to make significant changes but not everything straightened out over night. Instead of working in the office until late at night, I began to take work home. That was an improvement but it still wasn’t what God and my family needed from me. Finally, I began to leave my work at the office so I could devote time to my family and being the spiritual leader of my home. That year we went on to win 21 games and made it to the finals of the Southern Conference Tournament. The next year we also won 21 games and the following year we won 23 games and secured a berth in the NCAA tournament. That was nine years ago. Since then I’ve chased the dream of being a big-time college basketball coach. I’ve had success and I’ve had failure. Through it all my wife and my kids have stood by me. The last two years
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I have worked behind a desk for the Charlotte Bobcats, owned by my old college roommate, Michael Jordan. While it was a great opportunity, there was something missing for me professionally. I realized that what I love to do, what I was made for, was to coach. While a big part of coaching is developing winning basketball teams, I have come to realize that the greater value for me personally is found in preparing young men for life. I often think back on that day when Jan asked me the question that changed my life and I wonder, if she hadn’t put that challenge to me, where would I be now. It scares me to think where I might have ended up. Thankfully, I didn’t have to find out. I’m blessed with a relationship with a great God who loves me, a wife and three kids who mean everything to me and the joy and privilege of coaching basketball again at Appalachian State. I plan to work every day to keep my priorities in that order!
Buzz Peterson, Head Basketball Coach Appalachian State University
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Our Lord Has The Last Word
hen a friend asked me to describe the experience of raising a child with disabilities I thought of an article I read recently. It compared the anticipation of the birth of a child to planning a trip to an exotic destination like Italy only to find when the plane lands that you are in Holland. It’s not that Holland is a bad place – it has its own charms - it’s just a different place. The language is different. The sights are different. You meet different people who speak a different language. That’s my life raising Leah. It all started on Mother’s Day weekend, just 2 weeks after my youngest son, Sam, was born. I was supposed to sing in church that Sunday morning but had to excuse myself because Leah, our 23 month old daughter, came down with a fever that ended up lasting 3 weeks. At first the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. They treated her with antibiotics but she didn’t get better. Every day, it seemed, we were taking her to the hospital. After a couple of weeks, Leah was sent to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem where they did a spinal tap to check for meningitis. The tests said there was none and we came back home to Boone where Leah continued to get worse. She had a continuous fever that ranged from 100 to 103 degrees. The third week of her illness we were sent back to Baptist Hospital. Following an x-ray of her head, a shunt was inserted to relieve pressure. Leah was admitted and ended up staying there for 3 weeks. I was able to stay with my infant son, Sam, at the Ronald McDonald House nearby during that time. What a wonderful blessing that place is. During the whole ordeal Leah would often rub her cheeks right below her eyes. We never thought anything about it at the time. The doctors had told us Leah couldn’t have a sinus infection because sinuses aren’t fully developed in a child her age. We had no reason not to trust our doctors but it turned out they were wrong. She did have a sinus infection which was why she was rubbing her cheeks. As it went untreated it grew and blew up into her brain causing
meningitis and even some mini-strokes. By the time the infection was cleared up, Leah had incurred serious, long-lasting damage to her health. At this point she was in a vegetative state. The doctors gave us no hope for improvement and advised that we institutionalize her. They said she would be this way for the rest of her life, but I still remember my mama saying to them, “Our Lord has the last word on that.” There was no way my husband, Dana, and I were going to put Leah in an institution. If you know Dana, you know he was going to do something. He immediately began treating Leah himself with water-therapy in a warm water pool and we also had a professional therapist working with Leah. And things did improve. Within only 10 days of bringing Leah home we were able to remove the feeding tube that doctors said Leah would need for the rest of her life. I began feeding her cream of wheat. After about a month she finally managed her first smile since she got sick. She began to recognize people once again and began to respond to stimuli. At 4 years old we enrolled Leah in the Hardin Park center for exceptional children. This is another one of those blessings we would never have experienced if our lives had gone the way we had planned it. The people there were wonderful caregivers and teachers. Leah learned so much. She went from there to Watauga High School and since graduating from there has continued her education at Watauga Opportunities. Leah still can’t care for her daily physical needs. She can’t walk, or talk or feed herself but she is just like anyone else in many ways. She is very aware and responsive to what goes on around her. There are people she likes and people she doesn’t. Don’t talk to her like a baby or pat her on her cheeks unless you want to make her mad. She’s 25 years old and wants to be treated and spoken to like an adult. I wouldn’t wish what we’ve been through on anyone. Raising a child with disabilities is very hard on a marriage and a family. But I also know that we - my whole family - wouldn’t be the same people we are if not for Leah’s sickness. I don’t know how people who don’t believe in prayer make it through a crisis like we have gone through. It was the prayers of hundreds of caring family members and friends in this community that brought us through and still give us strength day by day. If not for those prayers who knows but that the doctors’ original prognosis might have been right. But like my mama said, “Our Lord has the last word.”
Martha Addison
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Looking For the Good in People
y first experience with controversy happened at the church I attended when I was growing up. Rumors surfaced, accusations were made and pretty soon the preacher was thrown out. As I watched the actions of the adults in that church I learned a valuable lesson from my parents that has guided me my whole life. Rather than join with those who threw out the preacher, I saw my parents offer him their friendship and forgiveness. This was a pattern of looking for the good in people that I saw over and over again in the lives of my parents. Later, when I entered high school, the baseball coach encouraged me to try out and I was fortunate enough to make the varsity team as a pitcher. This coach had a lot of positive influence on me. He is the reason I am in education today. Unfortunately, once again the rumor mill started turning, accusations of inappropriate conduct were made and the coach lost his job. And once again, I saw my dad offer friendship and forgiveness. In fact, my dad even gave my coach a job.
He was always looking for the good in people. What I have found is that forgiveness sets the foundation for working in education. As the principal of Green Valley Elementary School, I often have to deal with children, parents and teachers that are upset. Sometimes they are even very mad. If I didn’t have my Christian faith to guide me in dealing with people, I’d probably go around reacting to everyone else’s anger. Instead, I try to follow the principles of forgiveness my dad demonstrated. I try to look for the good in people. When confronted by an angry parent or teacher I try to put aside the urge to blame someone and instead try to focus on solutions. The hardest time to do that is when I see children being mistreated or neglected by the adults in their lives. When that happens I ask myself the question, “Who is going to step up? Who is going to help? Who is going to put something in place to keep the mistreatment or neglect from happening again?” I like to be a part of the solution. The reward comes when you can see that you are being a positive influence on those around you. In 1999, I was in my first year as a principal at Trenton Elementary School down near the coast. That was the year Hurricane Floyd hit the North Carolina coast causing massive flooding. Our school was inundated with eight inches of water resulting in us being closed for three weeks. Many of the families in the community were wiped out. We learned from that what it meant to deal with disaster. The next spring we heard about a school in Georgia that was devastated by a tornado. Since we had just dealt with a similar hardship our school decided to do what we could to help those folks in Georgia. We encouraged people in our school and community to give what they could and they responded. I remember very vividly one little girl named Annette. One day as we were collecting money, Annette came to me and gave me a little ring box with 46 pennies in it. It was probably all she had. I’d like to think that I played some part in the beauty of little Annette’s action. She has since gone into social work and I would like to think that I had some influence on her life, much as my high school baseball coach had on mine. As a reminder of the goodness in people’s hearts, I kept the ring box Annette gave me. It sits on the desk in my office at Green Valley so that everyday I can look at it and remember to look for the good in people.
Phillip Griffin, Principal Green Valley Elementary School
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Mama’s Homecoming
y dad, Ross Harless, wasn’t real close to his brothers and sisters growing up so when he and my mom, Edna, got married Dad made a vow that his kids would learn to know and love each other. There are ten of us kids and whenever any of us got into an argument we had to end it by making up and giving each other a hug. We didn’t always like it but it did make us close to one another. Mom and Dad had a wonderful marriage that lasted almost 60 years before Dad passed away last January. Every night they would kneel at their bedside and pray before getting into bed. While Dad was dying from leukemia and its complications, Mom had her own health problems. She had diabetes for several years and just 3 years ago had bypass surgery, so after Dad died we didn’t know how long Mom would last. By July, Mom had become very sick. A week before she died she went to the hospital but her doctor said there was nothing they could do; her kidneys were shutting down. We brought her home and for a few days she felt pretty good but by Tuesday evening she could no longer eat or drink or take her medicine. For the next two days she just lay in bed unable to acknowledge or recognize us. Hospice was there to help us and on Friday the Hospice nurse told us she probably wouldn’t make it through the weekend. Seven of us kids had gathered around Mom’s bed on that Friday when, after two days of laying there, unresponsive, all of a sudden Mom sat upright in bed, looked right past us and said, “Where have you been”? She was glowing and had the biggest smile on her face. We all knew she wasn’t talking to us. I don’t guess we will know for sure until we get to
heaven but we all think she was seeing and talking to Dad. Then she lay back down and whispered for a few minutes. We couldn’t understand everything she said but I remember her whispering the words, “Me, too”. I think maybe she heard Dad say to her, “I love you,” or “I’m glad you are here.” She also whispered the names of her sister, Dorothy, and her my brother, Lane, both of whom passed away years ago. She lay quietly for about 15 minutes and then she sat up again. This time she extended both arms and said, “Come and get me.” She seemed so happy and at peace. Once more she lay back down, her breathing got more and more shallow and in less than two hours she was gone. One of my brothers said, “If you ever had a doubt about heaven, she just put it to rest. There is no doubt in my mind about heaven, now.” Some people might think it is morbid to talk about my mother’s passing being such a peaceful event but I don’t know how else to describe it. Just knowing that she got to take a look into heaven where maybe she saw my dad waiting for her has given me peace about knowing where they are. There’s a song that says, “Lord please send your best angels for my mama; I don’t want her to make that journey all alone; would you send the same ones you sent for daddy; to make sure that my mama makes it home.” When I think about my mom’s passing I think about the words to that song. When God sent his angels for her, my mama sat up in bed and said, “Come and get me.”
Patsy Mash
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The One Lost Sheep
back in jail on new charges. This time I couldn’t meet was born and raised in Kansas and began getting into bond so there I sat in the Ashe County jail sobering up. trouble at an early age. By the time I was 14 or 15 years My wife had also been arrested and my parents came to old I already had a problem with drugs and alcohol. take my three daughters back to Kansas. It was March, Later on a new preacher came to our town. He took a 2004. real interest in kids and teenagers, especially those like Every Tuesday a certain preacher came to the me. After I got into some trouble, this preacher reached jail. He brought me a Gideon Bible. I knew I had lost my out to me. I got saved and was baptized and things got family and my freedom. I expected to be sent away to better for a while. I was making plans to go to college prison for years. Sitting in jail I had no when I met my wife. We started a drugs to run to and hide behind. I had family but unfortunately, little by to face the consequences of my last 10 little I began to slip back into using years. I started seeing the preacher methamphetamines, cocaine and every Tuesday just to get out of my alcohol as well as just doing a lot of cell. I had thousands of questions and wrong living. he would always try to answer them. I knew in my heart I needed Visiting with the preacher made me to change, so in 1996 we decided to feel a little better. I started reading the move to North Carolina where my Bible which gave me some peace. I set dad was from. For a while I turned a goal for myself of reading the whole things around. But then I began to Bible. Every evening I would read the slide back into my old behaviors and Richard Bare Bible. Often I would read because I drug use. Before long I was in quite a couldn’t sleep. bit of trouble. I was arrested several times in 2003-2004. In July 2004, I was offered a plea bargain and On one of those occasions I was at home when I saw the sentenced to 2 years in prison. The laws at that time were sheriff’s deputies coming down my driveway. I looked in my favor. By the end of that year they were changed down at the gun that lay beside me. My life had become and the consequences of my crimes would now be much utterly hopeless and I actually thought about going to the more serious. It’s another of God’s miracles that I’m not door with my gun and shooting in air in order to force the doing life in prison. officers to take me out. That’s how hopeless I was. I felt I From jail I was taken to processing in Salisbury had no chance of having a normal life. As I sat there with where a big, muscular guy came up to me and said, “You the gun in my hand I felt God saying to me, “Put the gun want to buy some pot?” I gave him a long, drawn out down. You need to go and face whatever happens to you.” “no” answer about how drugs had cost me everything and Naturally, I was arrested and as I was being fingerprinted I didn’t want to go down that road again. Apparently, my at the jail, one of the officers said to me, “I didn’t like what answer made him mad because he looked like he wanted I saw with that gun.” Since the officers coming up the to fight. I didn’t think it was even a question of “if”. It driveway couldn’t have seen me when I had the gun in was a matter of “when”. At this point in prison life if my hand, I believe there had to have been an officer in you stay out of trouble for 2 weeks you go to honor grade the woods with a scope looking through the window. I – which is a much better place to be. I really needed to believe God was watching over me to make sure I didn’t avoid getting into a fight but I didn’t see how that was do something to coerce the officers into shooting me that possible. That night in my cell I got down on my hands day. After I was taken to jail, I met bond but soon I was
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15 (Continued From Pg. 12) and knees and asked God for help. The next day, right before supper, the big guy asked me, “How much money do you have on you?” There was a limit as to how much money you could have in prison. If you had over $40 the whole amount would be confiscated. Then the big guy asked me to hold a dollar for him because he had too much on him. I figured it was some kind of scheme to justify a fight with me. Moments later, though, the guards came and searched him and he was taken away. I never saw him again. In less than 24 hours God not only answered my prayer to stay out of a fight but also gave me a dollar to boot. I never did figure out what the big guy’s scheme was. Whatever it was, he may have intended it for bad, but God worked it for good. Prison was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. During my 2 years of incarceration God answered many other prayers. When I was wishing for large print Bible, a friend told where to get one for free. Once again, God provided. I was able to meet my goal of reading the Bible through. I got out of prison on March 18, 2006, but I was on intense probation and had $10,000 in fines to pay. God was still looking out for me. He provided me with a job and He helped me get probation instead of prison time for some additional charges I faced. Within 2 years I was off probation and my fines were all paid. I have truly turned my life around. Beginning in January I will be taking a full schedule of classes at Fruitland Baptist Bible College in Hendersonville. Some day I would like to do mission work. I can’t say enough about how much God has taken care of my every need. My life went from utterly hopeless to filled with promise. I have paid a high price for my rebellion. I lost my family and all my possessions but I still have my life. I feel like God literally plucked me out of a hole. Jesus talked about the shepherd leaving 99 sheep in the pen to go look for one lost sheep. That’s me. I’m the one sheep that Jesus left the 99 in the pen to go after and save. As a result, I want to spend the rest of my life learning how to serve Him better.
Richard Bare
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Finding Hope, Sharing Hope
never really knew my mother. She died when I was 2 years old. That set the stage for a rather unhappy childhood. When I was 11 years old, I began drinking to cope with the pain. There was a history of alcohol use in my family so it just seemed like the normal thing to do. My cheerleading coach in high school was a Christian. She often invited me to church and I usually refused until one day I finally accepted an offer to go to a drama that was being presented. That was my first introduction to the hope that can be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. I was given a book called the “Book of Hope” which radically changed my life. The “Book of Hope” is a harmonization of the four gospels telling the story of Jesus in a chronological sequence. Overnight I became a different person. I quit drinking. I no longer went to the parties where alcohol was served. I even gravitated toward new friends. As graduation preparations were being made toward the end of my senior year in high school, I was asked to sing a duet during the ceremony. My faith in Christ had become a vital part of my life so I asked our school principal if I could also say a prayer. I was told in no uncertain terms that I could not and that if I did pray at graduation I would not be allowed to graduate and that I would be arrested. Shortly afterwards, I even received a letter from the school district’s lawyers emphasizing that I was not to pray. It became quite a controversy. The American Civil Liberties Union got involved in the fight against my prayer and the American Center for Law and Justice became involved in the fight for my prayer. The topic was discussed all over school and was even debated in some classrooms. At that time my dad was even against me. He was embarrassed by the whole ordeal and said that if I prayed, my family wouldn’t come to the ceremony. When graduation night came and it was time for me to get up and sing I said, “I’d like to say a prayer.” Immediately, my microphone was cut off. Everyone knew what was going on. Some shouted encouragement for me to go ahead and pray, which I did. Others shouted “No”.
Before long my mike came back on. After the prayer and song the principal got up and denounced me. She received a lot of boos for that. And, as it turned out, my family did attend. After it was over my dad cried and said to me, “I’m so proud of you for standing up for what you believe.” Two years later a speaker came to our church to talk about missions. I couldn’t resist the call and soon I was a 20 year old missionary taking the “Book of Hope” to children around the globe. For the first time in my life I witnessed real poverty and persecution. Over the next nine years I ministered in 35 countries in some of the most hopeless places in the world. I took the message of hope to children like Dennis in Uganda who had been abducted and forced to become a child soldier. And people like Vesa in Kosovo, a war-ravaged country of devastated towns and bombed-out buildings. I asked Vesa if she had read the “Book of Hope” we had given her the previous day. “Yes,” she said. “I couldn’t put it down. Jen, do you really believe that what is in this book is true? Why has no one ever told us before?” It was a heart-breaking question that I couldn’t answer. I could only tell her that we were there telling her now. Our ministry literally took us around the world. During the day we would speak at school assemblies and invite the children to an evening outreach event featuring testimonies, dramas and, of course, the “Book of Hope”. Each week our message reached tens of thousands of people who had come to us without hope. In nine years on the field it is no exaggeration to say that I had the opportunity to touch the lives of millions of people. Looking back on all my experiences, I am continually amazed at how God can take an ordinary small town girl like me and touch millions of lives. Someone helped me find hope when everything in my life seemed hopeless. The rest of my life is dedicated to sharing that hope with others.
Jen Smith
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A Tribute To Grandma
y grandma, Mabel Smith, has always been a part of my life, so it’s hard now that she is gone. Grandma died at about 10:30 on a Tuesday morning, last April. In two more weeks she would have been 95 years old. At the time of her passing she was the oldest charter member of Round Knob Baptist Church in Boggs. Grandma didn’t have an easy life. She gave birth to 8 children and it was while she was pregnant with her last one that her husband, my granddad, was killed in a construction accident on the Blue Ridge Parkway. She did a great job of raising her kids by herself, though. Two of her sons, including the youngest, are in the ministry. For 28 years Grandma worked at Roses in West Jefferson. For 5 of those years she used to walk every day from Boggs into Mabel town for work and back home again. By the time we grandkids came along, it was my mom who was working so we spent a lot of time at grandma’s house, which was only about a block away. She used to take me and my cousin skating or bowling or wherever we wanted to go each Saturday night. She instilled good Christian values in us. We never had a family vacation without Grandma and Thanksgiving dinner was always at Grandma’s house. On her 85th birthday we took her
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to the lake in Wilkes County and took her out in a boat. All she could say was, “I’ve poled across this river many a time.” I think she was thinking she was back on the river in Boggs. The morning Grandma died she rolled the covers of her hospital bed down and then back up and then she asked for the Bible. Her speech was slurred from the stroke she had suffered two days before so I asked her, “Do you want the Bible to read?” She said she did so I handed the Bible to her. As I did it fell open on her lap to Matthew 18 and I asked her, “Grandma, can you read it?” “Sheep”, she said. Thinking she said, “Sleep”, I looked at the page where she was looking and there in verses 12-14 was Jesus’ story about the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to go look for the one lost sheep. I finished reading verses 13 Smith and 14 out loud to her. She rolled her covers back down again and gasped for breath. We called for a nurse. Then Grandma took about 4 hard breaths and she was gone. Just before her funeral I was trying to find those verses I had read to Grandma on her death bed and I just couldn’t seem to find them. I wanted to have them printed in her obituary card. Finally, I went back to the hospital, to the room where she had stayed and when I opened the Bible
21 in that room it opened right back up to within 2 pages of where it had opened for Grandma - Matthew 18. It turns out those verses were probably very special to Grandma. My daddy remembers his daddy, before he was killed in the accident, singing a song to his children based on those verses. It seems like Grandma taught me everything I know. She was such a wonderful Christian lady. She brought all her children up in the church and it encourages me in faith to know that right up to end she still wanted to read the Bible.
Priscilla Wood
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December 2009
Of All The Lives She Touched
ain was shooting through my chest and shoulder. I thought I was having a heart attack so I drove myself to the hospital. The doctors there fussed at me for that but after thorough testing, they couldn’t find any heart problems or anything that would cause chest or shoulder pain. However, they did find an aortic aneurysm in my stomach, a dangerous, life-threatening condition if allowed to grow untreated. I may never know what caused the pain in my chest and shoulder that day but I am thankful to God that I had it because if I didn’t the aortic embolism might never have been found. Ironically, it was a similar situation that allowed the doctors to find my wife’s cancer. About 3 years ago Peggy was having some abdominal pain. As the doctors were checking her out they found a small cancer called a leiomyosarcoma. It turned out that her abdominal pain wasn’t related to her cancer and the pain eventually went away. Unfortunately, the cancer didn’t go away but the fact that it was discovered early gave Peggy more time. Originally she was given a year to live but that one year turned into three and in spite of her sickness, it was three of the best years we ever had. It was amazing to see the way Peggy held up. God used Peggy’s illness to touch a lot of lives. Whenever she went for treatment, she was always witnessing, helping and giving hope to the other cancer patients she would meet. After Peggy died last March, I couldn’t help but wonder, with just a little bitterness, why would God take away such a wonderful, godly woman. Peggy and I loved studying the Bible together. Sometimes we would just sit at the table and read it aloud to each other. Other times we would take retreats, just the two of us, to go away and study the Bible. I always knew Peggy as a godly, church-going woman. On the other hand, even though I had been saved years earlier, I could always find an excuse not to go to church. That never kept Peggy from being faithful in her attendance and faithful in her prayers that God would touch my life. Some
of our neighbors attended Bald Mountain Baptist Church which was nearby and they often invited us to attend there. When Bald Mountain built their new sanctuary, I became interested in seeing what was going on there so I talked Peggy into going with me. The first time I walked in I could immediately feel God’s Spirit. Peggy and I began attending there and became more and more active in their ministries. During Peggy’s illness, the people at Bald Mountain were wonderful to us. Since Peggy’s passing, I have become even more involved in serving God and have seen him work miracles over and over. Last summer we had a missions team preparing to go to Nicaragua. That team didn’t include me but when, with just 3 weeks until departure, a spot opened up on the team, they invited me to go. Getting everything together in time appeared impossible. I didn’t even have a birth certificate, much less a passport. I quickly applied on line for a birth certificate. It arrived within one week. I sent that off with my application for a passport. Incredibly, the passport arrived in only 10 days. The week prior to our departure I was with our youth at camp. When camp ended I had to leave from there to go straight to the airport to catch our flight. All the pieces fit together perfectly – one of God’s little miracles. Another time Peggy and I were driving to WinstonSalem for a treatment that needed to take place before the end of the year. It was December 30. Just the fact that the doctor would make room in his schedule at that time of year was a miracle but there was more. We had just gotten to Wilkesboro when I realized we had forgotten Peggy’s medical charts. We had to have them so we had no choice but to turn around and go back home to get them. That put us about an hour behind schedule. We passed through Wilkesboro for the second time and not too far down the road we came upon a 26 car pile up caused by ice on the road. I am firmly convinced that had we been on our original schedule we would have been right in the middle of that pile up. I could tell stories all day of how God has protected us like that. Peggy loved music. She sang in the choir and played the piano and organ when needed. Her favorite hymn was “Great is Thy Faithfulness”. Throughout her sickness Peggy never doubted God’s faithfulness. Her own faith was incredibly strong. So many people have told me what an inspiration she was to them and there is no doubt that her faith rubbed off on me. I still don’t have the answer to the question of why God took such a godly woman from this earth, but as I look back on our life together I see that of all the lives Peggy touched, there was none she touched more than mine.
Larry Allen
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December 2009
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December 2009
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December 2009
A Visit From Jesus
thought I was gone – dead. I was headed home on the evening of January 5, 2008, when my boyfriend, who was driving my car, lost control and began to fishtail. We crashed and I was thrown 30 feet from the vehicle. I felt my neck break. That’s when I thought I was dead. I remember not being able to feel my body. I remained conscious for a few moments before blacking out. When I came to my dad was there. He had heard about the accident on the scanner and was the first one to arrive. He even arrived before the first responders. I was transported to Ashe Memorial Hospital and was then taken by helicopter to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. For 4 days I was in traction with screws in my head to keep me from moving my neck. The doctors told me I would be paralyzed for life, never being able to move anything from my neck down. That was a diagnosis I couldn’t accept. After I got out of traction, while I was still in the hospital in Charlotte, I had a dream. In my dream I felt as if I was floating above my bed. There was a flash of light and then I saw the figure of a person. As the figure got closer I realized that it was Jesus. He wrapped his arms around me and told me that everything was going to be okay. When I woke up I just cried but almost immediately - within five minutes – I began to get some feeling back in my arms and legs. I spent 2 weeks at Carolinas Medical Center before being transported to the Shepherd Center, a rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, specializing in spinal cord injury. At the Shepherd Center I spent 4 months in intensive therapy and I had several experiences of being visited by angels. These visits reinforced my confidence in Jesus’ words to me in my dream that everything was going to be okay.
I’ve been home for over a year now. I go to therapy in Lincoln County twice a week, I have regular exercises I do at home and just as Jesus promised, I continue to improve. The bone in my spine has grown back where it was crushed and it has been determined that my spinal cord was not actually severed but was compressed, instead. Now the doctors believe, with me, that someday I will walk again. Since I grew up going to church every Sunday and Wednesday, my faith has always been strong and has been a very important part of my recovery. Before the accident I was in my freshman year at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee, where I was playing softball on an academic and athletic scholarship. Obviously, the accident completely changed my life and while some might become angry or bitter or even lose faith, my faith is 50 times stronger than it was before. Not that I don’t have moments when I am in a bad mood or have feelings of anger or bitterness but I choose to focus on the positive. I am alive. I am much more appreciative of my family now and value the time I get to spend with family members. Someone asked me if I ever get angry at God but I could never do that. I know God didn’t plan for this to happen to me. God never wants his children to go through suffering. He knew that my accident would happen, though, and he prepared me for it. For instance, the athletic conditioning I received playing college softball strengthened me for the physical challenges I would face. The way I see it, God has given me a second chance at life and that is something for which I am very thankful.
Tiffany Jones
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December 2009
“You’ve Got a Heavenly Father”
y earliest memories in life are of not being wanted. Before I was born my grandma actually wanted my mom to drink turpentine thinking that would cause her to spontaneously abort. I never met my dad until I was 27 years old. As you can imagine, I felt pretty insignificant growing up. When I was 4, a man came into our house. I remember his face as if I was looking at him today even though that was 33 years ago and I’ve never seen him since. He picked me up off the bed, set me on the floor and then raped my mom in my presence. A year later my mom adopted an alternative lifestyle and we moved in with her lesbian lover. Physical abuse was common at home and it only grew worse as I got older. Things at school weren’t any better than they were at home. One day after being bullied at school I sat down under a tree in my yard and cried. Our landlady happened by and came over to talk to me. I still remember what she said, “Carl, you don’t need a daddy. You’ve got a heavenly father.” Those words still bring comfort to me. When I was about 14, I began to withdraw and pull away into all kinds of evil. At 18 I was arrested for setting fire to an occupied dwelling. Somehow, I got off without having to go to jail. After that I joined the Army. While stationed in Colorado I got word that my mom was sick. I got a pass to go see her and eventually got a discharge so I could take care of her. Eight months later she died. Mom’s partner kicked me out of the house. Now I was homeless. Soon I got a job, though, and met a girl. Her dad was a preacher so I started going to church. One night on the way home from a Wednesday service I felt so convicted of my sins I pulled over and gave my life to God. I married the preacher’s daughter and we had two kids together, but I never learned how to have a relationship. I was on the road a lot, driving a truck, when I found out my wife had been cheating on me. She tossed me out of the house so for a while I was homeless again. On our 10th anniversary I got drunk. Somehow I broke my leg. I don’t even know how. I just woke up the next morning with a broken leg. I remember that next day feeling absolutely useless. I just wanted God to take me home, whatever that meant. Just this past summer, though, I found a church where I saw God move in extraordinary ways among ordinary people. I had never seen the love of God being lived out like it is at Faith Fellowship Church. I have
learned from these people that love is something you do, not something you feel. The number one lesson I have learned is that all Christians are called to love one another. I still struggle from day to day. In these times of high unemployment I have had trouble finding work. Often I don’t know where my next meal is coming from but God has never failed me. I have claimed Isaiah 41:9-13 for my life where God says He has chosen me and hasn’t rejected me. He will strengthen me and help me. He will uphold me with his righteous hand. I have learned to depend on him every day. It’s like the Hebrews picking up manna in the desert. There’s always just enough for each day but never any extra. Because I am often out of work, I get behind on my bills but I don’t worry because God always provides. I just remember that landlady’s words, “Carl, you don’t need a daddy. You’ve got a heavenly father.”
Carl Spangler
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December 2009
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I
A Glimpse of Heaven
t happened on February 5, 2004. My parents had a flower shop and on that day my mom and I were delivering flowers to a church in Grassy Creek for a viewing. The forecast called for bad weather so we were anxious to deliver the flowers and get back home. On the way back, as we came through the curves at Shatley Springs, I turned on my wipers which made a smear of ice on my windshield. I was only doing about 35 but I said to my mother, “Mom, we’re in trouble.” Just then the van began sliding. Fortunately there was no one coming the other way. I was able to get the van to straighten up but as soon as I did it began to slide again. This time we slid off the road and hard into a bank. The van flipped in the air and landed on its top. I distinctly remember hearing my neck pop three times. In my mind I was sure my neck was broken and that I was going to die. Then I blacked out, but as I was out I had the most amazing experience. I began to drift into a peaceful state of mind. I saw the
December 2009
most beautiful, green rolling hills under a clear, blue sky. There was a gentle breeze and I was just floating along. It felt so good, better than any feeling you could imagine…no pain, no troubles, and no worries. It was just exactly what you might picture heaven to be like. Suddenly I heard my mom hollering for me. She had hit her head, too, when we slammed into the bank and had blacked out for a few moments. When she awoke, the van was smoking and she quickly climbed out. Fearing that the van would catch fire, Mom was hollering for me to wake up and get out. Moaning and groaning, I climbed out of the upside down van. The first person on the scene of the accident was my old high school band director, Scott Turnmyre. He was the first person I saw as I climbed out of the van. Then I blacked out again. When I woke again there were lots of people around. Amazingly, I had no serious injuries. I was banged up
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a bit and had a little whiplash but other than that, not even any cuts. The van, on the other hand, looked like it had been t-boned. It was as if God had surrounded mom and me with a cushion of protection inside the van during the crash. My dad is a preacher so I had grown up going to church. All my life I had been taught about a beautiful place called heaven. For those few moments that I blacked out, I believe God gave me a glimpse of heaven. I didn’t say anything about it to anyone except my mom. She, too, had experienced a deep peace while she was knocked out, but she didn’t see what I saw. Finally, after about a year, I told my dad about the beautiful green hills, blue sky and how I floated on a gentle breeze during my unconsciousness. Dad said, “You need to be telling that. That’s something God wants you to share with others.” Ever since then I have told people about my glimpse of heaven. I can’t answer the question of why God chose to let me have a little peak at what heaven is like. All I know is that it gave me a reassurance that there is life after death and that heaven is the most beautiful, peaceful place you could ever imagine. And who knows, maybe my glimpse of heaven will lead someone to put their trust in God.
Rebecca Jones
December 2009
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I
December 2009
God Can Still Use Me
grew up in a Christian home. My dad was a preacher since I was 5 years old. We were in church every Sunday. In 1981, during a spring revival, I made a profession of faith and asked Jesus Christ into my life. I was 12 years old at the time. Later I got into things I didn’t have any business being in. I got away from God. All the while, though, I knew I was saved because I received chastisement from the Lord during that period. Like the Prodigal Son in the Bible, I knew there was something better in life for me and that’s what brought me back to God. I finally came to a point of realizing that this is not my life. It belongs to God. I rededicated my life at church and God cleaned me up just like 1 John 1:9 says. Six months later I announced my call to preach. That was on February 15, 2005. I now pastor the Phoenix Baptist Church in Lansing. I’m still human. I still make mistakes. But God can still use me. Being in the automobile dealership business gives me the opportunity to meet and witness to lots more people than I otherwise would. The business gives me the flexibility to take care of my pastoring duties and the folks at church are very understanding about my job responsibilities at the dealership. We have built our business on Biblical principles and God has blessed and honored that. Soon after I became pastor in 2006, God spoke clearly to me that we were supposed to feed Thanksgiving lunch to the needy people in War, West Virginia. War is the second poorest county in the United States. I presented the idea to my congregation. I didn’t know where in the town of War we were supposed to provide
this meal or how we were supposed to do it. I just knew God wanted us to feed those folks. I began calling around to the churches in War and it turned out God was working at the same time in a church there that was looking to connect with churches outside their community. We met and eventually joined up with several other churches from our area to take 35 food boxes to needy people in War. We went back at Christmas and had a Christmas party for the kids there. Since then we’ve had the opportunity to go back several more times providing food and school supplies. I am so thankful to God for bringing me back to him and blessing me with a godly wife and two beautiful children. It is a great privilege to serve the Lord and preach the gospel and I am grateful for it every day.
Jeff Dollar
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December 2009