I’m a storyteller at heart, looking for meaning in the mundane. I was thrilled that The Journey asked me to contribute an article in the Summer 2015 issue. So here’s another story…
Read More
The headmaster of the school was pleased with Jimmy’s work, and eventually asked him to become the school’s principal. At the age of 28, he became a high school principal, and at the urging of the school administrators, decided to pursue a Master’s degree. “I would be a principal all day, and then get in the car at night and go to Raleigh to take classes, then get home at midnight and get up the next morning to be principal all over again,” Jimmy says.
Read More
All this time I had professed myself to be a Christian, but in my early twenties, I realized that I was far more religious than I was a Christian. I struggled with having to be baptized again because I felt like I was only being baptized again to join the church, and not to honor Christ. Eventually, I did get a full-submersion baptism in the mid 1990s, and joined Brushy Fork Baptist Church.
Read More
“On December 23, 2005, two days before Christmas, I was clearing some land to plant a field of Christmas trees. I had been working there several weeks, cutting down trees, and being stubborn and stupid, I was there by myself. It was a long ways to the nearest house or highway and the only way in and out was an old logging road. On this Saturday morning in particular, I was up there working, cutting down trees and just came upon one red oak — it wasn’t any different from any of the others, but it did a strange thing…
Read More
Recently a verse has been circulating in my mind--it says that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. I am thankful for the opportunity to be real and share things I often would not share. It’s not easy to talk about these things because I feel like I risk the chance of others feeling sorry for me again like they did when I was a little kid. But I believe it is by the power of God’s word that I can stand firm and hopeful in my weakness. We can all stand on His promises, and if we allow it, His promises in His word will change each one of us.
Read More
Throughout this journey, I learned a great deal about life, death, hope, faith, and the church. I truly was at peace knowing that my son may not live, but I knew God would forever hold him. I saw the church at its best - lifting up those at their breaking point.
Read More
“Even though that relationship didn’t work out and I felt like I gave 5 years of my life to it, I know that was God’s way of working His way back into my life and bringing me back to where that foundation was,” she said. “He brought me back to Fairplains for one, to the family that I grew up with, all of those people I talked about previously who were so instrumental in my life.”
The relationship ended last year when Elledge’s life changed. On April 13, 2014, she met her pastor at the front of the church she grew up in during an altar call. She told him that she didn’t feel assured she was saved, and she wanted a change in her life.
Read More
It was evident how very much in love they were. Had you been eavesdropping, you would have thought they were teenagers without a care in the world but for each other. It is through their journey of endurance, hardship, loss and faith, that they have discovered the strength of their marriage. This is their inspiring story of how God made them one, to help carry each other’s burdens, learn to pray together through the storms, and to always trust God.
Read More
Rhonda and I met in college as a part of a choral group that would sing in Churches of Christ across the country. Well, it just so happens that Rhonda’s dad was a minister just like mine was, and he invited our choral group to sing in Galax, Virginia. It was common for us to stay in the homes of church members when we traveled to do events like this and guess where I got to stay… You guessed it. I was one of the people who Rhonda picked to stay at her parent’s house, and that’s where the romance that would lead to our marriage began.
Read More
It was in this time frame that a man who was like a spiritual mentor to me said, “I don’t know what it is, but God is preparing you for something.” After this, I remember very vividly going to the altar at church and saying something like this: “Okay God, I’ll give up my job if you want me to. Whatever you want me to do, I will do.”
Read More
Born the third of four children, it would be a number of years before I and my siblings would realize what a blessing God had gifted us in the form of parents. Our mom and dad personified the word “service,” and would pass that attribute along to each of their children. Bill and Opal Ballou had married following his term of service in the U.S. Army during World War II, which included a period of several months incarceration in a German Prisoner of War camp. That experience would have a lasting effect on my father, and motivated him throughout his adulthood to try to make life better for others.
Read More
By the time my wife and I were probably in our late 20s, early 30s, things of a spiritual nature started coming back up. And then at 34 we rededicated our lives to Christ. As a result of that and going to church, I got involved with the North Carolina Baptist men and went with them as a volunteer to West Africa for a month.
Read More
Please join us in praying for the future of this country!
Read More
As you were talking, it made me think about the way my faith affected my life as a high school and college student. I was avoiding sins of commission but committing sins of omission. I think that was true of both of us, that both of us grew up really wanting to be people of faith, like especially wanting to do something meaningful with our lives, but not really living it in our daily lives, not going beyond “we don’t, drink, smoke, chew, or go with girls who do.”
Read More
Neville: God never promised us that life would be easy. He promised us that he would be with us all the way. Trimella and I have a covenantal relationship in our marriage, and we have a covenantal relationship with God. By covenantal I mean that a binding promise of total, unconditional commitment. It is a promise to love, serve, and remain faithful regardless of circumstances.
Read More
In my walk of sanctification (which will last till the day I stop breathing), God has shown me how in all those years of abusing drugs and alcohol, I had other choices. However, those other choices, if healthy, would have required daily - honesty, humility, submission, repentance, in a few words– responsibility for my actions! Jesus doesn’t say, pick up your mat and lay it over there. He commands action. He tells us in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Can you imagine how heavy the cross was? Does it sound like an easy thing that Jesus asks us to do daily?
Read More
This week we wanted to start our newest Journey Blog with the “DEAR READER” intro that Ben wrote. but, we are excited to accompany the written blog, with ben reading it, from his heart to you! As always we will include the written version so that you can read along or just read it by itself. We hope you enjoy!
Read More
The phrase “without vision people cast off restraint” is a variation of Proverbs 29:18, which means that when there is no clear, guiding vision or revelation, people become uncontrolled and act without self-restraint. This lack of direction can lead to aimless wandering, a disregard for rules and moral boundaries, and ultimately, chaos or destruction, while those who follow the law of the spirit remain happy and blessed.
Read More
I was trying to be this different person, to be a Christian, and to do good, but I didn’t know where to start. I was still resorting to old habits and thinking. Then there was a loud wake up call. One night while sitting and talking to a friend about some plans we had devised to hurt ourselves and to cast demon spells, I heard God speak to me. In the middle of our conversation, I heard the words come from this boy’s mouth, “You’re going to hell.” Although my friend told me he didn’t say those words, I knew it was God speaking to me. I knew I really needed to change.
Read More
To my astonishment, I started to cry. The man asked me about my relationship with God, and I told him that I had gone to church since I was a child; I’d even attended confirmation class and worked as a counselor at a church camp the prior summer! He explained that going to church and having a “head knowledge” of Jesus Christ was not the point. Even though the head knowledge is important, it is worthless if you don’t have Him in your heart.
Read More