The Journey - Winter 2007 by High Country 365

Christmas Edition: Celebrating the “Reason for the Season” in Watauga County.

Scared Religion Isn’t Worth a Plugged Nickel

hen I was 14 my Daddy taught me the meaning of work. He It was about that time I went through the motions of the church, went to needed me to help him, but he gave me a gift, whether he knew the altar, and was baptized, so I considered myself a Christian. I knew God it or not. It was a valuable gift for a blind man to find out I didn’t was the Creator of all things, but I thought of God as a tyrant who could kill have to sit in the corner. I was 14 when I started learning hard work. We you if you batted your eye wrong. Part of the time I would try to live the were cutting wood with a crosscut saw when a block came off and bumped Christian life. I would do something wrong and it would bother me, but it my shin, and I said a bad didn’t convict me to get on my word I won’t repeat here. knees and find what I needed to “Son, hold your temper!” really change. he said. “A man without one In 1966 my son Merle drove me ain’t worth a plugged nickel, to help the Flatt & Scruggs team to and man that’s got one and do an album. While I was there I don’t control it is worth woke up in the middle of the night less.” with pain I thought was food He was pretty wise in that poisoning. The next day I went to way. He had them temper fits see Earl Scruggs’s doctor and himself every now and then, found I had a ruptured appendix. but I didn’t dare say what I After the operation the surgeon was thinking. It got quiet for said, “We won’t know for sure a minute. I think he read my mind. Te m p e r whether this was successful or not, but you’ll know in three days.” I went fits and outright meanness are two different things: meanness lasts all the into the isolation ward and from what I could tell was going on, I knew I time, because the devil’s got you in his control. I’ve known people that I’ve was going to die. Then all at once I found myself, not in the ward, but in liked, but they let their temper rule them. Now Jesus had righteous the presence of God Almighty and his Son. I was suspended between the indignation when he run that bunch out of the temple with a whip. The world and eternity. I could almost reach out and touch them. It didn’t scare Bible says, “In your anger sin not” (Ephesians 4:26). Willful sin is when me, like He did when I was a boy. He was the Judge of the human race, but you don’t turn loose of your anger, you keep pushing it and turn it into with a love that can’t be measured. I said, “Lord, I thought I’ve been a something bad. Christian all these years, but you know I’ve not been. Please forgive me of (Cont. on Pg. 3)

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my sins. I know I’m going to die. I don’t want to be lost.” I was afraid to make a vow that I couldn’t keep. The strange part of it is my sins were lifted right then. And He gave me an extension on life - why, I’ll never know - but He knew the time would come when I would accept His mercy. About four and a half years ago I was listening to a Randy Travis album with a song called “Dr. Jesus.” Some of the words said, “Lord I need you to mend my heart, and save my soul. There’s so many out there who need you, do you think you could work me in?” I listened to that song about five or six times and the last time I realized I needed that Doctor just like Randy did. And something happened to me that had never happened before. Till then I didn’t quite understand what “coming to Christ” meant, but this simple song told me where it was at. I called on Jesus, and a door was opened. I was able to find the love of Jesus Christ and have His love enter my heart by the Holy Spirit. I’ve been in my heart a different man since then. God used some of my work even before I was walking with Him. I remember sitting on a bench in front of little old time church in Ashe county having my picture made for the Gospel album On Praying Ground. I prayed, “Lord, if this album will help save one soul, I don’t care if it doesn’t make me one dime, it will be worth millions of times the effort.” When I was on the road, people would come up and shake hands with me and say, “Your Gospel album changed my life.” It brought tears of gladness and my own prayer, “I need to be closer, Lord.” Another time God used me - I don’t know what made me to do it - I said to Merle one day, “Son, I’m not a good candidate to ask you this question, but how is it with you if death was to slip up on you?” He said, “Dad, I’m not afraid to die. I’ve been on my knees and I’ve made my peace with God.” That was three weeks before the accident that took him [in 1985 when his tractor overturned]. After he’d gone, it helped a lot, me and his mother both, knowing that. When Merle was born, they brought him to lay on my lap and his little

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feet were going like he was riding a bicycle— I’ll never forget that while I live. When he was two, I carried him many a time on my shoulders and he’d put his fingers on my earlobes. I walked down the road I knew by heart and I could hear where the bank was (back when my hearing was that good). If there was a mud puddle, he’d tug on my ear and say, “Go this way, Daddy,” or “Go that way, Daddy.” Bless his little heart, he was a sharp fellow. Thank God, I have those memories. I’ll go and see my boy one of these days. Even though it wasn’t until I heard Randy’s preaching in that song and it unlocked the door to my own salvation, the Lord was guiding me all along and helping me make right decisions. We’ll never know until we get to Heaven the full understanding of all the things that happen in our lives. But I know the bad things won’t be on the other side in Heaven. We’re here for a reason, and God gives us the chance to choose the good road and step off the worldly one we’re walking on before we’re saved. He knows when we’ll have that chance and whether we’ll ignore it and turn away from it. I don’t deserve what He did for me. Even though I’ve hurt Him, He pulled me out of death’s jaws. And He’s done that for millions. He is such a wonderful Savior and a wonderful Friend. He understands when I find myself dealing with even a little sin - like those little temper fits that last hardly half a minute, but it hurts my darling wife when I let go like with one of them - I can say, “Lord, why did I act a fool like that? Forgive me.” I’m thankful to the Lord I’ve got Him there to guide me. Every sermon, in my opinion, should end with an altar call fully explaining the tender, sweet love of Jesus Christ that leads us to salvation. You can’t scare people into the Kingdom: that’s fanaticism. My Daddy told me, “Scared religion isn’t worth a plugged nickel.”

Doc Watson, Deep Gap

The Journey is a publication of Main Street Marketing.

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A note from Ben Cox, of Main Street Marketing: This publication is called The Journey because those whose stories are written here have graciously consented to share parts of their spiritual journey with us. At this time of year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, it is my hope that these stories will communicate why Christmas is such a big deal for those of us who have chosen to be followers of Christ. Whether you are a Christian or not, I believe you'll be inspired by the love of God that has been experienced in tangible ways in the lives of your friends and neighbors from right here in Watauga County.

Mission Field: Boone

was blessed to be raised in a Godly home with a dad who taught me how to pray for God’s leadership in everything. It didn’t matter if it was big or small, we prayed about it and I always saw God at work. Therefore, I’ve never had a hard time believing that God was going to take care of me or any of my needs. When I was six years old, I realized that my relationship with Jesus was nothing. I didn’t really have a relationship with Him. I had been taught that when you accept Jesus as your Savior you also make Him Lord of your life and I knew I hadn’t done that yet. So, when I did, I meant it and I was willing to do anything for God. That song “Wherever He leads I’ll Go” was one of my favorites and became my theme. When I was eleven years old, I felt a definite call to be full time in missions. I thought that meant I would be a missionary on a foreign field. Little did I know that my mission field would be in Boone, NC in ways I had not anticipated. I see now how God had a mission for me as a teacher’s aid for over twenty years. From there I worked with Samaritans Purse doing logistics for all the doctors and nurses who went overseas. I see this now as an important part of my missionary call, but at the time I didn’t because I still thought being a missionary meant going to a foreign land. That “foreign field” mindset almost caused me to miss one of my most fulfilling

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missions because; never in a million years would I have thought my mission field would be at a Crisis Pregnancy Center. In fact, when one of the board members of Boone Crisis Pregnancy Center approached me to ask me to consider the director’s position I didn’t even want to consider it because it didn’t fit my plan. However, my husband prodded me to put into practice what my upbringing had taught me when he simply asked, “Have you prayed about this?” Once I began to do this, God’s direction came clear to me and the board confirmed it by hiring me for the director’s position where I served for the next ten years. During that ten year period, I knew I was in the full time missions call that God had spoken to me about as a small girl. From the beginning, God prepared me for the work I was going to do by speaking these words to my heart: “Ann, I haven’t called you to do anything but speak the truth in love and leave the rest to me.” It was amazing to me to behold the many ways that God worked in people’s lives as I simply trusted Him to “take care of the rest.” There was one time in my ministry there that I didn’t find out how God had worked in a young girl’s life until over seven years after the fact. She came to me as a junior in college to talk about the baby she planned to abort. I listened compassionately to her story and let her know I cared about her. I shared with her all the medical options for her to consider in order for her to make an

informed decision. After our time together, she said to me “I appreciate your time but my mom and I have decided that the best thing to do is to abort the baby.” That was the last time I had any contact with her until she showed up at my office over seven years later and asked to speak with me. She told me that she and her mom did go to the abortion clinic as they had planned and they took her to a holding room where she fell asleep and had a dream. In the dream, she saw a light coming towards her and she was frightened and began to scream for someone to come and get her out of there. As the light got closer she realized she was looking into the face of Christ and He was crying. He said to her “You are mine, this baby’s mine and I love you both. Please don’t do this.” Immediately, she went to the waiting room and told her mother she didn’t want to abort the baby. Instead she placed for adoption. Now, here she was over seven years later to tell me that she had just attended the birthday of the seven year old boy she had placed for adoption. She cried tears of joy as she told me how happy she was that she hadn’t gone through with that abortion. Now she is married with two young boys of her own and another child on the way. This was just one of the many examples of God “taking care of the rest” in the mission field He called me to at the Boone Crisis Pregnancy Center. In 2005, I retired as the director there, knowing that I had done what God had called me to do. As I look forward to the rest of my life with my husband, my two girls and my grandkids, I still have the “Wherever God Leads I’ll Go” mindset, but for now I know my mission field is Boone, NC. Ann Cook, Perkinsville

December 2007

Never “Sub-Normal” Again

hen I was eight years old I asked my dad what it meant to be a Christian. After he explained it to me, I’ll never forget kneeling beside a heater in my hallway and being led, by my Dad in prayer, to receive Jesus as my Savior. That whole time in my life was so very special to me because that same week my mom made a profession of faith as well, and together we were baptized. As I reflect back on this it reminds me how grateful I am to have been raised in such an environment of love. My parents’ love for Christ, for each other, for my sister and me and many others whose lives they touched has made a major difference in my life. After praying with my dad and being baptized with my mom, I remember being so filled with joy that I just had to share what I had experienced with others. For example, most of the sentences I wrote using the vocabulary words we were learning in school had to do with my new found faith. When the adults in my church would go on visitation to share their faith with others, I always went with them. For quite some time, I had a zeal, a passion and an excitement to share Jesus, but as I got older I observed that other people didn’t appear to have the same excitement I did, so I decided to tone it down. I stayed true to the faith, but I lost that zeal and passion I had at first. When I was in my late twenties and involved with my husband Wayne in his first ministry job at a church in Raleigh, I began to long for the zeal and the passion that I had when I first got saved. There’s a verse in the Bible where Jesus says that He came to give us abundant life not just eternal life and I knew there was more to the Christian life than what I was experiencing. I felt like there was something blocking me from the life that should be mine. About this time, Wayne and I moved from Raleigh to Winston-Salem so Wayne could serve as the associate pastor at the First Baptist Church there. In Winston I met other people who were experiencing the same longing I was and we began to get together and pray for God to work in our lives. One book we discovered that helped us a lot was Catherine Marshall’s book called Something More. In it she talked about the need to deal with unforgiveness we had towards others because that could be a major blockage to experiencing God’s love the way He wants us to. I began to pray and ask God to reveal to me any blockages I might have in my life and, I was surprised to find, there were many. I made a list and dealt with them one by one. Some were easy to forgive and release to God, but others were not. I called one of my fellow seekers and she told me how she dealt with the tough ones. She would take a red pen, because

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it symbolized the blood of Jesus that had washed her and forgiven her of her sins and she would mark that person’s name with the pen. She told me that somehow it helped her really forgive as she should. With those words of encouragement I went back to my list and took what she said one step further. Using the sign language that I had learned for my ministry to the deaf, I symbolically reached into my heart and lifted it up to God, and then I took the red pen and wrote across each name on my list, the words “I forgive you”. After a few days of doing this and working through issues I had that were blockages, I experienced a tremendous flood of the Holy Spirit’s love. It was to me like that old Drano commercial where the clog was cleared and the water flowed again. After this the Bible came alive to me in a whole new way when I read it. Hymns that I had sung for years meant more to me. The joy and zeal had returned and I was so grateful. As I have journeyed on from there the continual challenge is to keep the drain unclogged, which I’ve learned God will help you do if you’ll let Him. When I think back on that time in my life where conditions around caused me to tone things down, it reminds me of something an old preacher named Vance Havner used to say. It goes something like this, “As Christians we’re so subnormal that if we ever get normal, people will think we’re abnormal.” Now that I’ve gotten that joy back that I had at first I never want to be subnormal again.

Joy Brown, Boone

December 2007

Receiving God’s Love

was raised with a Christian upbringing. My dad was a Baptist pastor and my mom was a praying woman. I went to church regularly and remember being baptized in the Mississippi river as a young girl. If you had asked me if I was a Christian I would have said yes. I thought I was okay because I tried to be a good person and did the best I could. One time my sister, who we regarded as a Christian zealot, put a Bible in my car with this note: “May the Lord become real to you, is my prayer.” I got so mad at her for doing that because, as far as I was concerned, the Lord was real to me. Yet, it wasn’t until I was 37 years old that he actually did become real to me in a way that totally changed my life. Prior to this, I just didn’t understand what it really meant to be saved and to have a personal relationship with God. It wasn’t until I reached a breaking point in my life, that was brought on by too much stress in my job, that I finally understood. As the director of student financial aid and scholarships at Louisiana State University, I was the one primarily responsible for switching all our records to computers. I was working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week and I was exhausted. My home life was in trouble and I was totally miserable. One morning after pulling an all nighter at my office, I ran into a friend of mine at the coffee shop. He could tell how stressed out I was and asked me if I’d be willing to talk to a friend of his who might be able to help me. That friend was his pastor and, after he listened to me for a while, he began to talk to me about the grace and love of God in a way that made sense to me. For the first time ever, I realized that it wasn’t about how hard I worked or what a good person I tried to be, but that it was simply receiving in faith what Jesus Christ did for me when he died on the cross for my sins. What a tremendous sense of release, relief and peace I had as I surrendered to this love. Now that I’ve come to appreciate what it really means to be a Christian, I understand what it means to not understand, so I have great patience and understanding for those who don’t.

Esther Manogin, Boone

December 2007

From Liberia to Boone

moved to the United States of America when I was 5 1⁄2 years old. The nation I lived in was Liberia in West Africa. The reason I had to leave is because violent revolutionaries took over our country and I saw many of my friends and relatives killed before my eyes. Since I had relatives in Winston Salem, they sent for me. They knew this was no place for a child to have to live. Even though I was very young when the trouble started in my country, I can still remember the time before the revolution when things were peaceful and good. From an early age my parents taught me about God, and faith was an important part of our lives. I remember drawing on that when things started to go bad. One time one of the soldiers of the revolution put a gun to my head and demanded that I tell him where to find food. This soldier was only about 7 years old, because it was common for young children and teens to be used in the war. Food was so scarce I had determined not to tell him about the chickens I was hiding. As he cocked his gun to shoot me, the chickens got loose from their hiding place and my life was spared. Because of things like this and the people I saw die, I became hard. I became afraid to love people because of the hurt. I remember never crying unless I was mad. When I moved to the States I felt very alone. The children I met made fun of me because of my accent. Even though I knew 5 languages at the time, I decided to put all my efforts into improving my English so those kids wouldn’t make fun of me anymore. One thing that really helped me then was my mom reading me the story of Joseph and applying it to my life. She told me how God used all the hard things that happened to Joseph for good purposes and to help him fulfill his call. Whenever I would be going through hard things Mama would say, “Remember your call son, remember what God has for you.” It was things like that and my parents forcing me to go to church and a fascination I had for reading the Bible, that has helped mold me into the person I am today. When I came to ASU to play football, I had been a successful running back in high school and that’s what I wanted to do here. But the coaches wanted me to play cornerback, so I had to learn a new position which isn’t easy. As I think back on that now, I believe it was the tough stuff I’d been through before that helped me not only to meet challenges, but to become a starter for 4 years here at ASU. When I first came to college I got into the party scene, but I didn’t like it. I remembered my Mama’s words, to remember my call and I realized, it was not true to my character, to party. I made a conscious effort to rededicate my life to God and I started reading my Bible again. When I read the story

about Moses, one thing that stood out to me was how Moses was abandoned for a better position. It’s similar to Joseph’s story because God used a bad thing for a good purpose. As I think of how God has already worked in my life, allowing me to start for 4 years here at ASU, play on 2 National Championship teams and being a part of our victory over Michigan. I am grateful for all He’s brought me through. The sense of destiny that my parents instilled in me is a big part of where I am today and I’m looking forward to the good things God has for me in the future. Justin Woazeah, ASU

December 2007

Now Watch This

am the proud father of four wonderful daughters. The stork brought the first three and a 747 brought the last one. My youngest daughter Emma was as much of a gift of God to us as the other three and I know this because of how we came to adopt her. One morning my wife Cay and I saw a news report about the plight of baby girls in China. The nation of China, for the most part, has a one child policy. Since boys are preferred because they are expected to take care of the mom and dad in old age, baby girls are largely unwanted and often aborted, abandoned or given up for adoption. When we told our three daughters about this, it seemed like the whole family was burdened and felt like we should do something about this, even if we adopted just one girl. My wife and I began to attend seminars about adopting children overseas and were somewhat discouraged by the red-tape and expense involved, but we continued to think about adoption over a four year period. Every time we’d begin to lose heart or feel like the trail to adoption was growing cold, we’d encounter a family with an Asian child and become inspired again. In 1998 my wife found a website for a group called “Precious in His Sight.” They would show pictures of kids from foreign lands who were in desperate need of adoptive homes. It tore my heart out to see the desperate need and, therefore, I told my wife and kids not to show me these pictures anymore. One day, December 27, 1999 to be exact, my daughter Lindsay, who was thirteen at the time, asked me to go look at the computer. I said, “It’s not that site is it?” She kind of side-stepped the question, so I reluctantly went into the room and agreed to let my wife show me the pictures of the children they wanted me to see. There were five pictures of children from five different nations: China, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Russia and Guatemala. When I saw the baby from Vietnam I made what I thought was a flip comment: “That one looks like an Asian version of a Harkins baby.” As I was leaving the room I noticed my wife had tears in her eyes. When I asked her what was going on, she said that earlier, when she and the girls were looking at these pictures, every one of them said exactly the same thing. After the fact, Cay told me that every time she was tempted to bring up the subject of adoption to me, she felt as if God was asking her to be still and patient. When she and the girls saw that picture and they invited me in, Cay felt as if God said “Now watch this.” Immediately, I called my three daughters into the room and said we need to pray right here, right now to ask God for guidance. I also asked everyone to keep this in their prayers for the next three days and then we’d come back to discuss it. Three days later, we unanimously felt this was the direction we should take and from that point on it was amazing how quickly things fell into place for us to adopt this baby girl. The red tape was cut, an amazing amount of money was miraculously provided and on April 28, 2000, Emma Harkins was officially welcomed into our home, as much of a Harkins’s daughter as all the rest.

Andy Harkins, Boone

December 2007

Addiction Hurts Families

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and those who are crushed in spirit, He saves.” (Psalm 34:19)

here is not a heart more broken than that of a parent losing a child in physical death. That’s why this promise from God is so valuable in our lives. We, David & Cindy Blust, lost our precious “Prince Richard”, as we call him, to a drug overdose on June 6, 2003. Richard Blust was 20 years old and after a year-long struggle with addiction, left this earth with his first overdose. But our Heavenly Father who is rich in mercy and grace and goodness, comforts and sustains us by giving us the eternal hope that we will see Richard again in a “moment or two”. In the meanwhile, our goal is to take what Satan meant for harm and use it mightily for the saving of many lives. God has given us a wonderful outreach called “Richly Blessed” that ministers to groups, families and individuals in a variety of needful areas. The seduction of the world in our children’s lives often seems hopeless and we as parents often feel helpless. But there is hope and help through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have given ourselves to be used for His purpose of hope and life. Even for parents of young children, we offer this foundation priority: “Train up a child in the way he should go.” Be sure to keep you children in God’s Word, at home and in church. God’s Word will bring truth and salvation and from this, God promises that they will not depart.

Richard Blust

By our experience and God’s revelation, we are learning how to help other people. May we be of help to you?

(828)963-6440

David & Cindy Blust, Boone

The Blust Family

December 2007

Stumbling Over Daddy’s Prayers

December 2007

have a rich, yet very unique spiritual heritage. I was raised in a and we began to play in clubs. Though I didn’t get involved in the party Mennonite Brethren Church, whose members were predominately scene myself, we played the parties and clubs and were beginning to make African American, like me. The reason there are several Mennonite a pretty good living at it. It was in this time period that I married Alma, my churches in this mountain region like the one I childhood sweetheart. grew up in here in Boone, all stems back to a school We were happily married and I was making and orphanage that was started by Mennonites in good money playing music, but it seemed like the early 1900’s. It was started in Elk Park for the we could never get ahead. As I pondered what specific purpose of reaching out to black children was going on, I began to be convicted about because, at that time, it was actually against the providing an atmosphere where people were law to teach black people how to read. My mom getting drunk and high. Even though I knew I went to this school and became an active participant was saved, I remember my daddy’s statement in the Mennonite Church as a result. about “stumbling over his prayers” and I made My dad’s name was Rockford Hatton, but the correlation between the frustrations I was everyone called him Rock. When he was a young experiencing and my dad’s prayer. At this time, man he got saved and felt the call to preach. He not only did I renew my commitment to the became an evangelist through the Mennonite Lord, but I also felt the call to enter the ministry. Brethren Church, but he preached revival services When I announced this call to my home Church, in churches of all different denominations. He even I immediately became more active and compreached in white churches, which was unheard of mitted to my church. The NC district of the at the time. In fact, he preached more in white Mennonite Church took notice of what was churches than in black churches. When people heard that he was speaking happening and offered to pay my way to go to a Mennonite Seminary. So, somewhere, they would come from miles around to hear him preach. in 1975 with my wife and 2 babies I went off to seminary and we have been My dad was 61 years old when I was born. I was born as the youngest involved in some sort of ministry ever since. of his 3 children. Because he was this old when I was born, he told me he After years of ministry in several different Mennonite Churches and had 2 prayers for me. He prayed that he would live to see me grow up and having a traveling ministry as well, God has brought me back to the church that he would live to see me get saved. I was raised in to serve as pastor. It’s like I’ve come full-circle, but I believe When I was 9 years old I started taking piano lessons. My mom saw I the timing is right and I’m excited about what the future holds. was good at it and she made me keep taking lessons even though I wanted to play sports and do other things. As a result of learning to play, sometimes Morris Hatton, Boone I would go with my dad to revival services and play and sing for the congregation. One time, after playing at a service where my dad had preached, a man came up to dad and said, “Your son sure has a talent, but does he really have a commitment to the Lord?” I never will forget my dad’s reply. He said, “If Morris dies and goes to Hell he’ll stumble over my prayers.” That made quite an impression on me and when I was a senior in high school, I just knew it was time that I made a decision for myself to follow Christ. I knew I couldn’t rely on mom and dad’s faith or just going to church and having a Christian upbringing, so I asked Christ into my heart. When I graduated from high school I went to a Mennonite College in Hillsboro, Kansas. After attending there for 2 years, for some reason I just felt like I should come back to Boone. I’m glad now that I did come back, because I got to be by my Daddy’s side when he went on to be with the Lord. I remember being grateful that he and I had that time together and that dad knew his prayers had been answered. However, I didn’t realize at the time what else his prayers would mean to me. When I came back to Boone I formed a band with some of my buddies

December 2007

The Ministry of Dance

December 2007

ver since I was a little girl, my relationship with God and my cultures due to his many job transfers. involvement in church has meant a lot to me. As the youngest of 7 Our first move was to Honolulu Hawaii. While there, I took a great children growing up in Nashville Tennessee, I remember walking to interest in learning the ancient dances of the Hawaiians. When we were the Methodist Church 2 1⁄2 blocks from my house. My family was hard hit transferred from there to Okinawa, I made it a point to learn the dances by the depression of the 1930’s and everyone was having problems, of their culture too. Everywhere we have lived outside the US, so it was particularly meaningful to me to get involved with my from Hawaii, to Okinawa and to Italy, I have tried to learn the church in helping people who had it worse than me. dances of each culture and to teach dance and to hold dance The pastor of our church wanted to reach out to and take workshops as a way of reaching out to people. Every time care of children and families in downtown Nashville who we moved we sought out a church where we could were suffering. I remember one family in particular fellowship and that opened doors for is to use dance as a where the husband was very sick and the wife had health form of ministry and outreach. problems too. They had several children with nothing to When we were in Hawaii and Okinawa in particular, eat. Our church adopted this family. The young adult the church leaders that we worked with realized how fellowship of our church got the boys involved in our much dance meant to the people of those cultures and Boy Scout Troop, and the girls involved in our Girl encouraged us to connect with the native people in that Scout Troop. As a young adult I was the leader of the Girl way. When I was in Okinawa I particularly remember a Scout Troop. It was in the Scout Troup where I first man who came up to me after a performance and bowed became interested in Folk Dance for the purpose of in gesture of respect because he was so moved that I would recreation and outreach. I didn’t realize at the time how take the time to learn the dances of his culture. much this would become a major part of my life. There were times we opened worship services in Okinawa In 1936, my future husband Las, which is short for Lassiter, and Japan with native dances as worship to God. Even when we started attending my church. He had moved to Nashville to work were in Italy we danced to a hymn as a part of a worship service in a with the Army Corp of Engineers as an Accounting Officer. We fell in love, big European fellowship. When I think back on all of this I’m grateful for got married in 1938 and established our first home in Nashville where we the opportunities that God has given Las and I to use dance to bridge lived until 1958. cultural gaps and reach out with God’s love through the churches we’ve While we lived in Nashville I pursued my interest in folk dance and been involved in. even took a ballet class with several other women. Little did I know how much God would use this when Las and I found ourselves in different Ruth Woodard, Boone

December 2007

A “Good” Tragedy

n 1992, I was a husband, the father of two young girls and a business owner. As a Christian man, I took my responsibility to be a provider for my family very seriously. I also was very involved in my church. Though these things were good, my life was out of balance. My marriage was suffering and I wasn’t spending enough time with my two young girls because I was so busy making a living and doing church stuff. Then on October 9, 1992, my life took a radical turn. We had come home from the grocery store and found a man lurking between my work vans. When I went to see what was going on, leaving my wife and two girls in the family car, I was confronted by a man who stabbed me in the back and ran away. As I lay on the ground, I knew I was seriously injured because I couldn’t move my legs. I called out to my wife and told her to call the police and my pastor. The police were already there searching for my assailant, because he had just committed a crime in my neighborhood. He was apprehended the next morning, but my life was changed forever because I was paralyzed and have been in a wheelchair ever since. Believe it or not, all these years later, I’m actually grateful for what happened. I feel like God literally sat me down because my priorities were out of order.

December 2007

As a result of being forced out of work and facing my problem together as a family, my marriage was healed and God gave me a whole new perspective on what’s really important in life. Even if I were able to work full time again, I wouldn’t let it consume me like it did before, because I cherish so much what’s happened between me and my wife Micki and my two girls Casey and Katie. In addition to how God used this to heal my family, He has also enabled me to help others who have become disabled or experienced trauma like I have. It has been my privilege to help with disaster relief projects through my church and Samaritan’s Purse and to see how God has used what has happened to me to help inspire others. God has enabled me to forgive the man who did this to me because of the way He has forgiven me. Though I struggle sometimes with my attitude when bouts of pain flare up, underneath it all I’m still grateful, because I know that God has worked this terrible thing for good in my life. Romans 8:28 says “…all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” I believe that verse with all my heart because of what He’s done in my life.

Mike Hartley, Blowing Rock

December 2007

A Radical Change

December 2007

y mom was a devout Catholic who made sure I went to church Because I know God revolutionized my life, I put the following statement and Catholic School. Even though her faith meant a lot to her, I on the side of all my coffee bags: only went to church because it was important to her that I go. I was sincere to a point, but I didn’t know what it meant to have a personal Through my journey in life I sought all the pleasures this world has to offer. relationship with Jesus Christ. As a result, I lived my life however I 2 Timothy 3:1-4 wanted. When I was in collOne day I realized how empty those pleasures are. I got on my knees and ege I got my girlfriend asked Jesus Christ to come into my life and to forgive me of my sins against pregnant, so she moved in Him. with me and my family. Luke 5:32 As my family grew I began to realize that the way I In my case, God restored and made new my relationship with my wife and was living my life wasn’t children. right and I began to make 2 Corinthians 5:17 changes. I had an opportunity Since the day I asked the Lord Jesus Christ into my life, God has given me to follow in dad’s footsteps purpose, hope and joy. as a U.S. Custom’s officer Jeremiah 29:11 and was accepted and graduated from the federal Ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life. law enforcement training center. As I began my car“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that eer there I became a part whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” of an elite team of customs John 3:16 NKJ agents trained to use dif ferent resources to inter Conrad Poe, Boone rupt drug shipments into the U.S. This sort of work and the things we did put me at the top of my profession. Yet, even though this was an important, prestigious job, internally I was a mess. I had separated from my live-in girlfriend of ten years. At that time we had three children together. It looked like we were going to end our relationship. In both of our minds, there was no hope. At this time a friend of mine invited me to a church service and from the moment I walked in I experienced something I never had before. Now I realize that this was the presence of the Holy Spirit. God began to work on my heart until one evening in my house I fell on my knees and asked Jesus to come into my life and forgive me of my sins. Immediately, I felt free and at peace. I instinctively realized that whatever just happened to me would change my life forever. From that point, things began to radically change in my life, so much so that my former girlfriend noticed. We began to talk about the decision I had made and after we had finished a telephone conversation she got on her knees and told the Lord that she wanted what I had. She asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come into her life and she too began to change radically. After that, we started going to church together and then we spoke with the pastor and decided we wanted to get married. One morning after a church service we spontaneously decided to get married. We called both sets of parents and were married the next day with our three children present. Since that time, God has brought me from roaming the streets of Los Angeles, to helping with evangelistic crusades of some of the most influential evangelists in the world. He’s restored my family. I now have three boys who all know and serve the Lord. Together my wife Jody and I and our three boys operate Conrad’s Coffee in Boone.

December 2007

From Empty to Blessed

December 2007

rior to graduating Cum Laude from NC State University with a degvacation rental business. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but while ree in mechanical engineering, I thought that I would have no driving home from church that day I was reminded about the vision I had problem landing a job. Yet, in spite of the fact that I was diligently had more than two years earlier. I began to wonder if God was working searching, nothing seemed to be happening. Then in early December 1993, something out for us here, and I started getting my hopes up. I called the one week before graduation and two weeks before my wife and I were to couple and set up a meeting. When I met with them two days later, they have our second son, while sitting in my driveway, I cried out in desperation, reported to me that The Lord had since confirmed in their hearts that He “God, I don’t know what I’m going to do! Please help me find a job!” Then wanted them to not only hire my wife and me to work for them, but after I slowly made my way to the house, and just after I dropped my book bag 18 months they were going to give us the company. I was overwhelmed inside the door, the phone rang. It was the HR manager of a company in to the point of tears with joy and amazement at God’s goodness. Wilmington calling with an engineering job offer! “Whoooooooooo!!” I After working out the details, we signed a contract to purchase the yelled as I jumped and danced around the house. A little later I got to company for $10, and The Lord told me, “If you honor Me by taking care thinking, “Maybe God really does exist.” of the people I send to this company, then I will honor you and bless this Several months later, I had moved to Wilmington with my wife and our business.” It’s been 5 years since we took ownership, and we’ve done our two boys. I loved my wife and children, my new job was great, and we best to respect and care for all the people that we’ve encountered in this loved our beautiful new home. As far as I was concerned, I had reached the business. I’m pleased to report that The Lord has blessed us with a pinnacle of success. I thought I had acquired everything that I had ever sevenfold increase in sales, and now more than 25 families receive their wanted, but to my dismay, there was still something missing inside. primary income through our company. God is so faithful! Up to that point I had gone to church most of my life, but I really never That is just one of many examples of how God has helped and blessed knew God, and I didn’t think the Bible was really the inspired Word of me and my family since I first truly surrendered to Him in 1994. I don’t, God. But, since it seemed like God had helped me when I needed a job, I however, want to give prayed to Him about this emptiness I was feeling. Much to my surprise I the impression that felt like God responded to my prayer by asking me a question. He said to everything has been me, “Why don’t you believe the Bible?” Then we started this inner easy since then. For dialogue. I replied something like, “I don’t believe the Bible because example, we struggled there’s too much controversy surrounding it and so many different financially for most of interpretations and, as far as I was concerned, it was just a nice collection those years, and for two of writings with some good lessons in it.” In reply to that I felt as if God years my wife and I said, “If you choose to believe the Bible, and it is true, then you’ll have were actually separated. everything to gain. If it’s true and you don’t believe it, then you will have But through it all God everything to lose. And if you believe it and it turns out to be false, then even used those times you will have lost nothing.” After thinking about it a moment, I decided to work His good into that believing the Bible made the most sense to me, so right then and there our hearts. He restored I made a choice to wholeheartedly accept the Bible as the true and inspired our marriage, blessed Word of God. us financially, and Two weeks after making this decision, at a church that we had visited taught us lessons that several times before, I experienced something strange. As the pastor have strengthened us preached, it seemed like that for the first time I could actually hear and and enabled us to help understand what he was saying, and I began to come under an overwhelming other people who strconviction that I needed to receive Jesus. One key statement the pastor uggle in their relationmade was this: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more ships. than standing in a garage makes you a car.” It made perfect sense to me, As we look forward and by the end of his message I knew I needed to walk to the front. Because to the future with a I assumed that everyone else was like me, I thought I would be one of loving God, a beautiful family, great friends, awesome co-workers and a many people who stood up to respond to his call to be born again. So that prosperous business, it remains our desire to bless others and to shine the day I eagerly stepped forward and prayed to receive Christ as my personal light of Jesus everywhere we go and in everything we do. Savior and to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And to my amazement, I was the only one who went up front. After that point the emptiness that I had Steven Griffin, Blowing Rock felt seemed to be filled, and my life began to have much more depth and meaning. This invisible God who had helped me find a job when I was desperate and who gently led me to accept the Bible as true, became very real to me on that great day in June 1994. Since that time, I’ve seen how God has been faithful to me and my family in so many different ways. In 1999, He led us to move from Wilmington to help start a church in Boone. I got a great job as an engineer with a manufacturing company in Catawba and lived in Lenoir so I could commute from there, to work, and to church. One day as I was driving through Blowing Rock on my way home from church, in my mind I saw a snapshot of myself working on someone’s house, and I felt as if God said to me, “Wouldn’t it be nice if you could take care of houses for people who had second homes here but lived somewhere else like Florida?” “Great idea,” I thought, “but I don’t have enough money to quit my job and start up something like that.” Then I quickly dismissed the idea. Two and a half years passed, and on the last Sunday in May 2001 our pastor and his wife told me about a Christian couple in Blowing Rock who had told them that they were looking to hire a property manager for their

December 2007

An Early Firm Foundation

was raised in a Christian home and I’m so grateful that many of my relatives were sincere Christians. Because of their positive influence, I began to seek answers at an early age and asked my parents lots of questions about what it meant to be a Christian. When I was nine years old, at my church’s Vacation Bible School, lots of things became clear to me. At this point I wanted to make a public profession of my faith in Christ, but my pastor wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. Once a week for several months he met with me and some others to teach us the Bible. After this, I was baptized and I’m, grateful for the firm foundation I received at that early age. Though I had a time of straying in my teen years and did some things that grieved my parents, I credited the strong Christian influence from my family and church upbringing in heing me come back to my senses. Shortly after I was married I made a strong private rededication of my life to Christ and determined to go back to church. I entered into a discipleship relationship with a woman in the church and really got my life back on track with God. Because of what God did in me at that time, my marriage was strengthened and my husband and I began to attend church together. I know that without God we would not have made it the twenty years we have been married. I also don’t know how I could have made it through the traumatic health problems I’ve had for the last seven years. For six of the years I’ve been sick, I’ve had all kinds of misdiagnoses and serious symptoms which come and go. Without going into detail, suffice it to say, there is no way I would have been able to cope with all I’ve been through without God’s help. Truly His strength has been perfected in my weakness and He has used what I’ve been through to give me tremendous compassion for others who suffer. I feel like I’ve been able to help people in ways others couldn’t because of the suffering I’ve endured. I’ve also been able to be there as a primary care-giver to my granddad through his last years. I have been available to other relatives as well. Being able to do this has been gratifying to me and would have been impossible to do had I not gotten sick. My favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 40:8 which says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever.” I like it because it reminds me that no matter what I face, God’s Word will see me through.

Diane Coffey, Vilas

December 2007

Living Life and Loving All it Brings with it.

eflecting on my spiritual journey evokes strong feelings of gratitude. One of the greatest lessons I have learned is to surrender to the principles of God. I am so grateful for the new opportunity each new day brings my way and so grateful just to wake up in these beautiful mountains where God has positioned me! Quality service is the principle on which I have built my businesses. “Going the extra mile in the delivery of service” is one of the tools that has attributed to my success and integration into this community. I purchased Blue Ridge Rentals in 1998 -- soon to be followed by the purchase of Park Place REALTORS®. Recently my passions are being fulfilled as I participate in the development of mountain properties. As a team player and team builder, I quickly learned that considering others’ perspectives, especially God’s, affords greater potential for achieving success. Action preceded by prayer has assisted me in allowing God’s ways to express themselves through me in my decision making. Another principle learned from my mentors is the principle of giving. One of my missions is to allow God to work through me in blessing others. I take great pleasure in this. I daily ask God to bless me so that I may be a blessing to others. Each time a well is drilled on my development properties, a new well is drilled in another country. I have provided three new wells in three countries and plan to provide another one soon. I practice the principle that whatever we make happen for others, God will make happen for us. I believe respect is earned in a community by consistent authenticity and forthrightness. Our office endeavors to maintain that level of integrity that is refreshing in today’s business world. My philanthropic contributions to the Blowing Rock Village include the growth and development of the children’s program and activities during “Winterfest.” You just can’t bless the children enough. I just love to watch them – they bless me so! Framed above my desk is a scripture that has become my mantra. It reads …. Love the Lord your God With all your heart and With all your soul. Love Him with all your mind, Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39 When we obey these commandments, We have the two greatest blessings— A wonderful personal relationship with God, And wonderful, close relationships with people. Life couldn’t get any better!

Charlene McIlnay, Blowing Rock

December 2007

Loving God Like Grandma Did

feel very blessed to have been raised in a Christian family with a strong Christian heritage. My parents are Christians, they were raised in Christian homes and their parents were too. As far as I know, most of my extended family are Christians, so it seems as if I’ve been surrounded by God’s love from the time I was born. It was this type of Christian upbringing that I credit for enabling me to make a sincere commitment to Christ at the early age of seven years. As a first grader at Appalachian Christian School we were doing an exercise to help us learn our spelling words. The words were written on the black board so the teacher asked us to close our eyes and when she called on us, we were to spell the word out loud. When it got to me, I couldn’t remember how to spell the word I was asked to, so without anyone realizing, I peeked at the word on the board and spelled it right. The rest of the day I felt guilty for what I had done. That night as I lay on my bed feeling the weight of the guilt, I realized that what I needed was to get saved. I know now that all the teaching I’d received in my home, in my Sunday school classes and at my Christian school influenced me to realize that I was a sinner who needed a savior. I got up, went to my parent’s room and told them what I was going through. Right then and there they led me in prayer and I received Jesus as my Savior. I went from feeling guilty to being overjoyed that my sins were forgiven. We called many of our family and friends to tell them about my decision and they rejoiced with us. Because I was so young when I got saved, sometimes I have actually questioned if it was real. But when I think back on it and how I felt and how things have been for me since that time, I became more convinced at how real that salvation experience really was. One particular time when I feel like my faith in Christ was made real is when my grandmother Judy Hodges got sick with cancer. She was a spiritual giant to me. She would tell us Bible stories all the time when we were growing up and sometimes she would call us on the phone and ask us Bible trivia questions. She was such a good example to me. I have often prayed that God would help me to love him like grandma did. When she got sick when I was a junior in high school, it devastated me. Yet when all my family rallied around her as she was dying and so many people from church came to help us, my faith in Christ grew stronger. Though it was one of the worst times in my life, it was also one of the best, as I experienced God’s help and the help of his people. What that did for me was cause me to deepen in my love for God and my trust in Him. One of my favorite Bible verses is Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.” As I think back on my life I’m grateful for the examples I’ve had of people who love and trust God and I’m grateful for how he’s helping me to love and trust him more all the time.

Jessie Hodges, Vilas

December 2007

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID N. WILKESBORO NC PERMIT NO. 30