90,000 Views!

Today we are blessed to have reached 90,000 views of "For What It's Worth". 

That number is "small potatoes" for many blogs, but I am humbled that folks have cared enough to visit.  I certainly haven't posted much in the past few months - several reasons - many excuses - but I am truly thankful that we have had so many visits from so many people from countries all around the world.

Recent visitors have come from the US, Canada, China, The Philippines, Germany, Poland, Sweeden, France, India and the United Kingdom.  Wow!  Who'd a thunk it?

Hopefully our posts have brought a chuckle to some of you, or may have provoked a thought or two, or honored our Savior, and that it may have been a blessing in some way to a number of folks.

I am writing this post today to say thanks for visiting.  I also thought it would be nice to get off the rather unpleasant number of posts I was stuck on (666)!   Hopefully I will be able to post a little more often than I have been able to do for the past few months.

As we said when we began this blog, this is not a political site - although sometimes I will deal with political issues.  It is not a deep theological site - although I do hope to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints".  I may sometimes blog about my family - which could prove quite boring to those who do not share my connections with, and affinity for the Adkins, Stidham, Bowling, Clanton, and Slater folks.  I may also drive you nuts going on about five particular young men who are the apples of my eye.  But that's the beauty of a blog. It's mine, and I can follow my whims, and post my opinion on just about anything - "For What It's Worth).  Follow it, or visit from time to time, or just move along to something else.  It's your choice.

At any rate, thanks for being here. Hope to have you visit again soon, and would ask you to share the site with your friends who might be so inclined to visit.

Are You Prepared?

The long time motto of the Boy Scouts of America is “Be Prepared”.  My question today is, “Are we prepared?”  Are we prepared individually, and are we prepared collectively as the Body of Christ for the days ahead? 

Friends, we are living in the last days.

That phrase sometimes has a hollow ring to it, since preachers have been proclaiming such for centuries.  In fact, it has almost become a punch line to many folks.  However, this pastor believes with all his heart that we ARE indeed living in the last days, and we had better be prepared.

In the second half of the first century in 2 Timothy, Paul the Apostle wrote to his young protégé’, Timothy.  This is the Apostle’s last known letter.

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty”. - 2 Tim. 3:1 (ESV)

In this letter he recounts times of persecution he had endured for the sake of the Name.  In fact, Paul is imprisoned at the time of this writing, and is awaiting his execution. Yet he reminds his readers that in spite of the persecutions, Christ had “brought him through it all.”  He then gives young Timothy (and us) these sobering words:

 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” – 2 Tim. 3:12-13

The fact is that true Christ followers WILL suffer persecution!  This is not something new that Paul had come up with.  Jesus, Himself, had told His disciples:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. – John 15:18-20 

Folks, we need to realize that following Christ puts a “mark” on us, and a target on our backs for the Evil one.  Do not be deceived into thinking that being a Christian has anything to do with popularity.  It does not.  Study church history… read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs… read the daily headlines, and you will become increasingly aware of the persecuted church.  Two recent examples at very different parts of the planet speak to this truth. 

The first example, was overt violence toward Christians.  It took place recently in Pakistan, with 81 Christians murdered by Muslim suicide bombers, and 130 injured as they gathered for worship in the city of Peshwar.  Read the full story here  A Baptist Missionary, whose name cannot be mentioned for security reasons, said this of the attack in Peshwar:

"This is not the first attack on a church, or on other places of worship, but it is the highest casualty count to date.  The Christian response has been one of frustration and [it] adds to the sense that this is not a country where Christians or other minorities can survive."

We know from other secular news accounts that similar stories of death, destruction, and imprisonment of Christians abound in places like China, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, etc.

The second example, much less violent, and much more subtle, yet very real persecution in itself is the firing of FOX Sports commentator, Craig James, after only one sportscast.  James says the reason for his firing was because of his Biblical views on marriage.  This is most disturbing, since his views were not expressed in his work environment, but had been expressed months before in the course of running for political office in Texas.  When contacted for a response by “The Dallas Morning News”, an unnamed FOX spokesman said:  "We just asked ourselves how Craig's statements would play in our human resources department. He couldn't say those things here."  Read the full story here.

Now, does the treatment of Craig James reach the level of assassinations, and physical torment?  Of course not, but it is indicative of the subtle (for now) persecution that is taking place toward Christians right her in the good old USA.  It is going on around us, and in the face of constitutional prohibitions.  I say this just to remind us all that true, full blown persecution of Christ followers is coming – even here in America.

The question is “Are you prepared?”  We have been warned.  We should expect no less.

To be prepared, it will require a close walk with the Father.  It will require the fullness of His Holy Spirit and the boldness of the Apostles.  It will require a regular diet of His word and dependence upon it.  Paul spelled that out for young Timothy in the following verses:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom  you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”  2 Tim. 3:14-17

 
This is serious business, folks.  If you are a true follower of Christ, Be Prepared!

Out Of The Habit?

Recently, there have been a few long time (but inactive) members of our church who have returned to Sunday morning worship. When told they had been sorely missed they confessed that they had missed the fellowship and corporate worship here at the church as well. Asked why they have been away for so long, the answers were similar.

 “We just got out of the habit.”

 You know, that’s very easy to do. A psychologist told a small sales group I was with many years ago that it takes an average of 21 days to form a habit. Good habits or bad habits. The example he used was asking us to take off our jackets and put them back on. As we began to put the jackets back on, he stopped us.

 “Now” he said, “Notice which arm you start with. Take it off and put it on again, starting with the other arm.” We did that, and to a person we all felt very uncomfortable using the other arm. The Dr. then challenged us to spend the next 21 days using the other arm first in getting dressed. At first it was awkward and downright difficult. It required conscious effort and thought. But as the time progressed, it became less awkward, and within three weeks it had become the normal way I put on a shirt or jacket.

 We are creatures of habit. In everything we do. It runs the gamut from how we dress, our daily routines, and our spiritual lives as well. If you are in a habit of quiet time with God in His Word and in prayerful communication with Him, you will do those things automatically. You simply appropriate the time needed. If you are not in that habit, it is difficult to get into that routine. It requires some effort at first. By the same token, if one allows other things to pull us away on a recurring basis, it is very easy to “get out of the habit”. In fact, we are forming a new habit.

 Same thing goes with being an active member of the local church. Now understand that I am not saying that serving God in the local church should ever be “routine” or “just a habit”. We should first be motivated by a changed life in Christ, the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and a sense of love and duty to the Lord and His Church. Our service to Him does become “second nature” and corporate worship and fellowship with other believers are just two of the sweet benefits.

 But sometimes, even with the best intentions, we allow conflicting things to “get out of the habit” of being an active part of the local church. The Devil will use anything, sometimes even those we love, to draw us away from our focus on Christ and our service to Him and His church.

Well, as you know, I could go on and on, but let me draw this to a close. Sunday, September 15^th has been designated as “National Back To Church Sunday”. It is an interdenominational effort to encourage folks who may have “gotten out of the habit” to reconnect with the local church. It is at the church where we can come together and worship our Lord with like minded believers. It is at the church where we can build close personal relationships around the Word of God. It is through the church where we can do world wide missions through our personal participation and our financial support. It is through the church we can impact our family, our city, our region, and the world for Christ.

If you have been “out of the habit” and are physically able (as I know some of our precious readers are not) won’t you make an effort to come back to church? Start today to work on creating a new habit, one as simple, yet important as being in your place and doing your part. Bring your family. God’s church is for every age group. When we gather for worship, it should look like the Body of Christ, multi racial, little ones, teens, young adults, middle agers and “keen agers”!

 I hope to see you on Sunday, September 15^th. Bible Study in small groups begins at 9:45. Worship service begins at 10:45 sharp. Bring your Bible. Bring your family. Bring your tithes and offerings to the Father. Bring a friend.

 And to our dear members who are homebound and unable to come, you can be a tremendous help by uniting with us in prayer. Pray that God will bring true revival among our people. Back to Church Sunday would be a great place to start!

A Testimony To The Saving Power of Jesus Christ

Pictured here is Brother Harry Tang. 

Harry Tang is the embodiment of 2 Corinthians 5:17  " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Harry was born in Viet Nam in 1951to Chinese parents. For the first half of his life he lived in Viet Nam and Taiwan, and a short time in Hong Kong.  He came to the Greater Toronto Area about 30 years ago.

Harry is typical of many of the multiplied thousands of Asians who have immigrated to our northern neighboring country of Canada.  He is polite, hard working, respectful, raising his family and "minding his own business".  He was not a deeply religious man but he lived his life by a high moral code.  A few years ago, Harry's wife passed away leaving him with two sons to raise.  He was what we would call a "good man", but yet there was something missing in his life.  He was searching for something that had eluded him for nearly six decades.

Seven months ago, Harry's life changed forever.  It was then that he had been confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through the efforts of Pastor Jolly Ampong and the members of the All Nations Baptist Church plant in North York, Ontario in the Greater Toronto Area.  North York is a large city within itself and it is heavily occupied by Asians in general, Filipinos in particular, and Orthodox Jews. 

God had brought Pastor Jolly and his wife, Mary Jane, to this place from their native island of Mindanao in the Republic of the Philippines.  Jolly had earlier planted a Southern Baptist Church in Manjuyod in the province of Negros Oriental.  It was only natural that he would feel the same calling for church planting, although he was in a very different place from his native tropical land.  In October, 2013, ANBC Toronto will celebrate their second anniversary.  I have been invited to bring the message at their anniversary service and I hope to be able to do so.

Like all church plants - anywhere - ANBC Toronto has faced challenges, as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission, and plant a vibrant Southern Baptist Church made up of folks from different people groups.  Thus far, it is primarily and ethnic Filipino community of believers, but Brother Harry is an example of how they are seeking to reach out to all of the ethnic groups in thier city.  It is a huge challenge, but Jolly and Mary Jane are people of great faith.  Their training by SBC missionaries in the Southern Baptist Seminary in Davao, Mindanao, and thier love for the Lord and for lost people, have prepared them for the task.

This past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, along with four other members of Westmoreland Baptist Church, I was privileged to spend time with this young but growing congregation of believers.  Brother Harry Tang shared his testimony with us and I was once again moved by the simple yet profound testimony of one who had been spiritually dead, but had found abundant life in Jesus Christ.  Harry now tells of witnessing to his two grown sons, and other Chinese friends of his.  His demeanor is one of joy and love and new found grace through faith in Jesus.  In just a few weeks he will be married to the church secretary, and they will begin their lives together, as members of this young, "Purpose Driven" church, telling others of the abundant life they have found in Jesus Christ.

I am thankful to be the pastor of a church who has chosen to support the work of ANBC Toronto, through our financial giving, through prayer, and through personal participation.  We are in the beginning stages of planning a church wide mission trip to Toronto in the coming months.

The Greater Toronto Area consists of more than 6 million people.  It is the fourth largest metropolitan area in North America and has very few evangelical churches. 

I encourage all readers of this blog who know the Lord, to pray for Jolly and Mary Jane Ampong, ANBC Toronto, for Pastor and Mrs. David P. Smith and the Vine Church in Mississauga, Ontario (whom we also spent time with last week) and the work that they and other SBC church planters are doing in that great metropolis.  Toronto is a big place.  Pray big for the Lord's work there!

Repost of an Article from SBC Today

What the Average Baptist Pastor Does and Does Not Need to Hear from the SBC

By Jared Moore

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 01:48 PM PDT

Dear Friends:
I picked up this article on SBC Today.  It comes from Jared Moore, a pastor from Houstonville, KY.  The links below will take you tdirectly to his website and other social media pages.  The article hit a real note with me and was so true I felt as though I should share it with my readers.  Thank you, Brother Moore, for stating so well, what I know many of us feel as Baptist Pastors!  Here it is:

This article was originally posted at my site. Only some of my articles are posted on SBC Voices. If you would like access to all of my articles, you can follow my feed here. You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

 

As an average Southern Baptist Pastor (maybe an overstatement) of a small Southern Baptist congregation in a small community in Lincoln County, KY, here is a list of things I do and do not need to hear from the SBC:

I do need to hear:

1. Preach the gospel even to the ends of the Earth (Matt 28:18-20).

2. Look for more opportunities to share the gospel (Paul’s example; Paul planned to share the gospel, and when his plans were interrupted, he shared the gospel where he was at; i.e. Galatia).

3. Be more faithful to Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

4. Teach your church all that Christ has commanded (Matt. 28:20).

5. Anything else that is clearly commanded in Scripture.

I do not need to hear:

1. Baptize more people.

2. Grow your church.

3. Save more people.

4. Anything else that is not commanded in Scripture.

Are we really to believe that Southern Baptist pastors do not want to reach their communities with the gospel? Maybe those pastors exist in the SBC, but I haven’t met them. I can tell you that the pastors in the Lincoln County Baptist Association want to reach their communities with the gospel. We need encouragement from the SBC, not discouragement.

 

 

We need to hear, “Keep on keeping on,” not, “Most SBC churches are either plateaued or declining” as if we can simply “flip a switch” and reverse the trend. If we could do something to change the declining trend beyond sharing the gospel, we would. The point is that our mouths must be open even when our communities’ ears are closed. Don’t put more of a burden on pastors than the Scriptures do. We must share the gospel and equip the saints for the work of the ministry, but God alone gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6-7). I’ll rejoice with you over your harvest; rejoice with those who are planting and watering as well.

 

 

I need to hear, “Do what you can do; don’t give up,” instead of hearing, “Do what only God can do.” If you tell pastors to do things that only God can do, then you either discourage them or you encourage them to boast in their “God-like ability.” If pastors can save people, then no one who hears them share the gospel should reject it. Instead of telling pastors to do what only God can do, tell us to do what Scripture tells us to do.

Furthermore, I say to the average Baptist pastor, “Please don’t give up!” Seek to be more faithful to Scripture. If someone tells you to baptize more people, ignore them. Instead, trust Jesus to save sinners as you seek to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded (Matt. 28:18-20).

 

 

No one baptized enough people last year. As long as there are lost people on Earth, we have work to do. Keep on keeping on… when sinners repent and when they don’t. Moreover, if you have seen a great harvest, then continue examining your ministry, seeing where you can be more faithful to Scripture. We must have a healthy dissatisfaction with our faithfulness while having a healthy satisfaction with God’s faithfulness in building His church (Matt. 16:18). God is faithful and will grow His church, but we have a responsibility to take the gospel to the ends of the Earth. God uses planting and watering to build His church, but He alone gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:5-10). Trust Him and His willingness to save as you share the gospel (2 Pet. 3:8-10). Be encouraged friends.

A Time To Reflect

On this, our nation's 237th birthday, I think it fitting that we take a moment to reflect on the content of our very first official founding document, signed this day on July 4, 1776.  How long has it been since you have actually read the Declaration of Independence?  Perhaps some have never really perused it.  It was powerfully crafted by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and signed by true patriots, who pledged their lives and reputations and personal fortunes for the cause of freedom.  These men risked everything in opposition to government tyranny.  With hearts torn with the mixed emotions of a love for their homeland, Great Britain, but also with the basic human yearning to be free men.

What courage they displayed!  What boldness and graciousness in their convictions! What trust in God they exhibited!

I ask you on the anniversary of our nation's birth, to once again read this Declaration, and think about where we are today in America.  The thought is chilling to this writer.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

A Birthday Tribute To The Mountain State

In the mid 60's my maternal Grandfather, Jerry Stidham, was named West Virginia Poet Laureate by Governor Hulett Smith.  Papaw Stidham was an excellent poet.  As long as I could remember, back into the 1950's (and even before that) he wrote an original Christmas poem each year.  He would have the poem printed on shiny white cards, with borders trimmed in tinsel, holly, Christmas bells, and evergreen, and mail a couple of hundred out to his many friends, neighbors and collegues.

He had served three terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates along with some other delegates who became well known politicians in the Mountain State.  He had served with Robert Byrd, Arch Moore, A. James Manchin, and Jennings Randolph, all of whom became fixtures on the West Virginia political scene.  Papaw went from working in the mines to become an official with the United Mine Workers of America. I remember two pictures on his living room wall in Holden, WV.  UMWA President and icon, John L. Lewis, and Jesus Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsamane.  Papaw was well acquainted with the former (and worked closely with his brother, Raymond Lewis, in the District 17 office in Charleston).  Later in life he became acquainted with the latter, and he spent the final 9 years of so of his life, preaching the Good News of Jesus to many people over the radio, and in churches he pastored in Kanawha and Logan Counties.

Papaw dearly loved the Lord.  He loved his job.  He loved his family.  And he deeply loved the state of West Virginia, the state his family adopted after moving from his native Breathitt County, Kentucky when he was a child.

For West Virginia's Centennial Celebration in 1963, Papaw Stidham wrote the following poem, verbalizing his affection for the Mountain State.  I think it to be a fitting tribute to share today, 50 years later and 45 years after his death.  Every true West Virginian will be able to relate to the words.  Read on.

A Particular Place

When God made the Earth, He looked out in space,

And graciously blessed a particular place.

Some mountains He molded to begin His plan

As He knew they would be cherished by mortal man.

The valleys He shaped so deep and so wide,

And the streams so swift , never to hide 

The sparkle or ripple from man;s sharp eye,

So crystal and clear as if dropped from the sky.

The seasons He made our desire to delight;

With light of the day and darkness at night,

Overcast with stars and a silvery moon,

The Sun in the heavens every day at noon.

With seeds of Summer's green grass to grow,

Sleeping under the beauty of a winter snow,

The gorgeous Spring flowers for all to see,

And the abundant color of the autumn tree.

Game creatures for the bow and fish for the rod.

Rich fertile soil for the tiller of the sod.

Great beds of coal and timber galore,

Limestone and gas, very much in store.

So great, so fine, wonderful and rich,

A pleasant surprise in each corner and niche.

Nowhere you go will be the same,

For West Virginia is its name!

Author:  Jerry Stidham