Making Life Count

Caroline and I hit a milestone in our marriage this week.  We have now been married for 40 years.   I met Caroline in kindergarten in 1966, but we didn't start dating until 1977.  We dated on and off through our junior year of college, but got engaged that year and married two weeks after we graduated from UGA.  We got pregnant with Michael on our honeymoon, so in that year, we graduated from college, got new jobs, got married, got pregnant, moved to a new city and had our first child.  I think we maxed out the stress meter based on major changes in your life, but apparently, we were able to manage it.   2 kids and 7 grandkids later, we are fortunate to have all of them nearby so we can do life with them.  I can't imagine sharing the last 40 years with anyone else besides Caroline.  The word I think of when I think of her is nurture.  She is amazing at nurturing her relationships with God, her family, her friends and still finds the energy to love me and take care of me.  Thank you for making my last 57 years worth living.  

The photo was from our recent trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Pirate Booty

 

Caroline and I feel like our life revolves around our faith, our family, our friends and our work.  We are fortunate to have our kids and grandkids nearby, so we get to see them regularly, but 3 days out of the year, we have exclusive access to just the grandkids.  They come to stay with us at Lake Hartwell for Pirate Camp - and no parents allowed!  We spend those three days searching for buried treasure, chasing Captain Hook and having cannonball wars (water balloons).  We share the week with another couple and their grandkids, so this year we had 11 pirates.  Click here for short videos 

Bread Sticks

 

I have been leading a small group from church for the last several years.  There are two sessions per year with breaks in between.  I am pretty good about daily bible study and preparation when the groups are meeting, but I have been viewing the time in between sessions as "taking a break".  A good friend of mine challenged me recently to read every morning - not just a book someone had written with their perspective, but the best book ever written, the Bible.  I  have read through the Bible a couple of times in my lifetime, but I asked my friend where I should start.  Without hesitation, he said the Book of John.  I had forgotten how packed with truth this book is.  In the first five chapters, Jesus has been teaching and performing miracles.  Jesus' followers knew that their ancestors had been provided manna from heaven when they were wandering in the desert.  In Chapter 6, Jesus is teaching a large crowd, and the people are hungry.  A boy has two fish and five loaves, and the food is multiplied so that 5000 are fed.  On the next day, people were following Jesus, not for the teaching, but because they were hungry again and wanted more food.  Jesus explained to them, "I am the bread of life,  whoever comes to me shall not perish and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."   If Jesus is the bread of life, one of the best ways to taste it is through reading His words regularly.  I am so grateful that my friend challenged me to start reading the Bible regularly. I challenge you: if you haven't read the Book of John in a while, start today.

More Meals

 

This week in my  Spot On The Lake blog, I posted about an event that is supporting Meals on Wheels in Anderson, SC.  I haven't had personal interaction with Meals on Wheels, but they were angels to my brother-in-law who was in bad health and couldn't get out of his apartment.  They faithfully brought him meals to get him through the week and also provided an informal wellness check as his health deteriorated.  He passed away last year, but I know that many days, the Meals on Wheels volunteers were the only people he interacted with.  I am thankful for their service.  For more information on Meals on Wheels or to support their cause, click here.

Living The Life

 

When I was a child, I hated funerals - putting on a coat and tie in the middle of the summer to go hear sad stories about somebody I may have never met.   I'd rather be swimming.  But life has changed me.  I now anticipate attending funerals, especially if I know that the deceased is a Believer.  Otherwise, it can be terrifying.  David, one of my past pastors, and one of my closest friends, lost his mom this week.  I didn't know her personally, but I feel like I know her because I know David.  Apparently, a lot of him came from her.  David posted the note below which includes a tribute written by his brother.  David's mom's life makes me want to live a better life.  Isn't that what Christians are supposed to do?

On Friday evening, Deb and I inched our way through Memorial Day traffic to be with Mama. When we arrived, she was breathing rapidly and Jesse was patting her forehead with a damp cloth. Less than an hour after we arrived, Deb suggested we pray for her. We held her and prayed briefly that Jesus would welcome her home, and as we said "Amen" she passed from our arms into the arms of her Savior. Below is a beautiful tribute written by my brother Jesse (so it includes a Latin phrase). A memorial service is planned for August 19 at Memorial United Methodist in Franklin, NC. Time TBA. Consistent with her character, Mama left a specific instruction regarding her funeral: "Be brief. Be jovial. No folderol."

Ruth Crawford Slagle, 96 years of age, passed away on May 26, 2023 at her home in Franklin, North Carolina. She was born at that home place on June 20, 1926 to Cecil and Flora Robinson Crawford.

Ruth was raised on the family farm up on Wayah Creek in Macon County, worshipped at Mount Hope Baptist Church and was baptized in Cartoogechaye Creek. She attended Slagle School and Franklin High School. She was a diligent student and was accepted to Mars Hill College. Upon her graduation she became one of the “Atomic Girls” and worked at Oak Ridge, Tennessee on the Manhattan Project until the end of World War II. After the war she taught school in Highlands and Wilmington, North Carolina.

Ruth married Frederick Slagle at Mount Hope in September of 1949. Theirs was a blessed union for 73 years. She and Frederick were said to have met on the floor under a quilt frame as their mothers and other women in the community gathered and stitched together. Frederick said it seemed like they had been married all their lives. After careful consideration and consultation with her mother and mother-in-law (formerly a Presbyterian missionary) she decided to join her husband in the Methodist Church, not a forgone conclusion. They moved to Forest Park, Georgia in 1956. A faithful and diligent member, she served the congregation of Jones Memorial United Methodist Church for forty years. They raised a family of five children and were active in their lives and the community in which they lived. After their children were grown, they returned to Franklin where they became faithful members of the congregation of Memorial United Methodist Church.

Like her mother, she was a long-time Master Gardener and continued to learn and grow in the garden for as long as she was able. She was gifted with an astonishing knowledge of the plants around her and they prospered under her care. Her most wonderful gift was her ability to cultivate relationships. Her thoughtful care and concern produced a harvest of hundreds of close and loving friends, fellow travelers in the faith and loving family from the east to the west coasts and in between. A humble person, full of grace, she profoundly touched the lives of all kinds of people through thoughtful acts, kind works and beautiful handwritten letters. She had the gift of the right words offered in love that healed many. The steady and unchanging character of her Christian witness informed everything she did. A true daughter of North Carolina, she embodied the state motto: Esse Quam Videri.