Musings

By Pastor Doug Stauffer Father’s Day alert: June 19. Mother’s Day, in its formative years, garnered much more enthusiasm and support than the establishment of Father’s Day. Understandably so! In the early 1900s, fathers felt the celebration was questionable because fathers were generally footing the bill for their sentimental holiday....

By Rick Moore After traveling to the far south-east of the Caribbean, we flew to the island of Tobago to see the GOAT. Some say Michael Jordan is the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). Some say Tom Brady is the GOAT. Some say Elvis Presley is the GOAT. However, we...

By Victoria Ostrosky Swede, a character in one of my favorite books, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, says this about miracles: No miracle happens without a witness. To me, that’s an intriguing statement. We experience God’s creation every day at sunrise and sunset. Some people like to call...

By Sean Dietrich I hung an American flag on our house today. We just moved in. We have only been living in Birmingham for three days, but I thought it was time we flew the Stars and Stripes. This house dates back to 1923, so this porch has probably seen its...

By Rick Moore Seen from Scenic 30A, and located on the easternmost part of Grayton Beach State Park is Western Lake. This is one of the fifteen coastal dune lakes in the area located along twenty-six miles of coastline in Walton County. The tall pine trees and sand dunes that...

By Victoria Ostrosky Some of us have a word of the year – mine is ‘moderation’; but, this year I also have a phrase of the year that grabbed me recently on the Road to Redemption podcast, an interview with Dr. Mike. Here it is: The more you listen to...

By Sean Dietrich Nobody knows when it started. But it did. The first jar of pickles to appear on Aunt Bee’s grave in Siler City, North Carolina, showed up in 1989, the year she died. Legend states that the pickles were probably homemade. Although some claim they were store pickles. Since...

By Pastor Doug Stauffer I lost my mom last Mother’s Day to complications following surgery. The loss was painful, but I don’t believe that future Mother’s Days should become a day of sadness and mourning. Quite the opposite! I prefer to consider Mother’s Day as a special tribute, remembrance and...

By Pastor Doug Stauffer Easter or Resurrection Sunday? So, why a distinction? Some believers refer to Easter as Resurrection Sunday, and for good reason. The Christian’s blessed hope resides in two stages: 1. Christ’s resurrection from death, hell and the grave almost two thousand years ago. 2. The resurrection of...

By Sean Dietrich The two girls knocked on my door. They wore Kelly green berets and green vests. I greeted them. The two Girl Scouts went through their spiel. “We’re selling cookies, sir,” they began. “Do you have any identification?” said I. They exchanged looks. “Wait, what?” “Well,” I said amiably, “how do I...