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Sample Past Posts
- Remembering the Schoolhouse(s) Known as “Bell Ridge” in the Morrison City area of North Kingsport, Tennessee January 31, 2020
- A Song of Unity from Long Ago August 19, 2019
- Beautiful Hills of Home August 16, 2019
- When Your Family Tree Becomes All Hung Up July 22, 2019
- “The Storms are on the Ocean” as a Metaphor for Homesickness June 15, 2019
- “Excuse Me, May I Look Inside Your Biscuit?” May 3, 2019
Top Posts & Pages
- Remembering the Schoolhouse(s) Known as “Bell Ridge” in the Morrison City area of North Kingsport, Tennessee
- Robert Sayers Sheffey, Mountain Preacher and Man of Prayer
- Compromise Church
- Appalachian Lexicon
- Remembering Vacation Bible School in the '60s and '70s
- A Barony in the Mountains of Southwest Virginia
- Places I've Lived: Belfast, Virginia
- Places I've Lived: Paint Lick, VA
Tag Archives: appalachia
Ode to Dr Ralph Stanley
A legend has gone to glory. God was preparing me for this. I’m probably the biggest Ralph Stanley fan there is. Ever. There was just something about the sound of his voice, the ring of his banjo, the humility of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged appalachia, banjo, Baptist, bluegrass, Clintwood, mountain soul, Ralph Stanley, Southwest Virginia
You Can Get Your “Shout” Back
First, let me just add, I’m not a Pentecostal, but I do occasionally find myself in the position of shouting in worship. The Holy Spirit has a way of doing that to you. Sometimes you shed a tear, sometimes you … Continue reading
Posted in Spirituality
Tagged appalachia, Church, electricity, glory, God, grief, heart, Holy Spirit, joy, loss, pain, pentecostal, September 11th, shout, shouting, snow, snow-flakes, soul, Spirituality, spring, springtime, tears, Virginia
How Loving and Leading Can Be a Faithful Response in Today’s Church
I have developed a deep love for southwest Virginia. I am so blessed to have met many exemplary people who have lived faithful lives and died faithful deaths here. There are some wonderful, loving ways people are living their lives here as disciples of Jesus Christ. It isn’t a vast wasteland at all. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged appalachia, Church, incarnational, Southwest Virginia, Spirituality
New Hats and Methodist Conferences
It’s a Spring ritual. Old timers say it used to be an autumn ritual, but that’s before my day, and since I never experienced it, I can only write from what I know. But every year when the Day Lilies … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged appalachia, conference, cow manure, day lilies, gathering, Hat, Methodist, ministry, Mountain Preacher, mountains, New Hat, Old Timers, prayer, preacher, spring, United Methodist Church
Medicine in Appalachia
There’s something about the way we mountain people view health. I think we value our health, but we have odd feelings about medicine. For instance, one of the most widely practiced ways of getting people well in these hills and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged appalachia, Appalachian, attitudes, medical, mediine, mid-wives, mountains, osteopathy, pain killers, pills
A Sojourn Among Pine Trees: My Time at Duke
Nine generations of the family lived in the lap of mountains. Like doting grandparents they watched over us, protected us from whatever was beyond and taught us lessons in silence. The sounds of our stories and songs echoed from the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged alaa abdelnaby, appalachia, Appalachian, chapel, cigarette plant, dirt path, Doyle Lawson, Duke, Duke Basketball, Duke Divinity, Duke family, Durham, family, gospel music, gothic, grandparents, guitar, home, mandolin, mountains, North Carolina, pines, shaped-note, singing convention, southern gospel, tobacco, Virginia
2 Comments
Reflections on Appalachia, Part One: Mountaineers are Always Free!
I am taken with the stories of the settlement of my home region in the early history of the United States. The mountains became a home of hope for many who were getting away from something worse somewhere else. Their … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged abolition, appalachia, Appalachian Mountains, Appalachian Region, Battle of King's Mountain, civil war, East Tennessee, free, freedom, halifax, jonesborough, Methodist, mountain, mountain people, mountaineers, North Carolina, northern, pioneers, revolutionary war, Rocky Mount, Sevier, southern, southwestern Virginia, state of franklin, Tennessee, Tipton, washington, West Virginia, willie jones
2 Comments
Appalachian Values: Don’t Get Above Your “Raisin'”
This saying has been said a lot in the beautiful ancient hills and hollows around the Appalachian Region. There are several streams of reality that feed into the mindset that produces such a saying. I’m sure it isn’t unique … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged appalachia, Appalachian Mountains, Appalachian Region, bad times, being humble, coal industry, devil, economics, economy, good times, humble, humility, Job, Lord, loss, Missouri, Southwest Virginia, Tennessee Valley, the book of Job
