Category: Family & Legacy Stories
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Every Family Has Stories Worth Remembering
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year August begins in two days. School will soon be starting, and before we know it, the first hints of autumn will be in the air. That means the holiday season can’t be far behind. I love the holidays. Do you? As a child, I remember celebrating the end…
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Pull Up a Rocking Chair.
Let Me Tell You a Story… The Path Through the Woods oey was eight years old and lived on a small farm in the rural South. The farm wasn’t much by the world’s standards, but it was the only world Joey had ever known. There were fields to hoe, cows to milk, chickens to feed,…
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Every Family Has Stories
Family is usually defined as people related by birth or marriage. In a broader sense, though, we are all family, connected to one another in countless ways. As a pastor, I also discovered another kind of family—the church family. Over the years, I have belonged to several, and each one has left its mark on…
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Every Family Has Stories Worth Remembering
Family stories are more than names on a genealogy chart. They remind us that the choices our ancestors made continue to shape who we are today. One of those stories belongs to my ancestor, Peter Pearson. In 1701, Peter left Dean Parish in Cumbria, England, and crossed the Atlantic to begin a new life in…
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Every Family Has Stories Worth Remembering
Pull up a rocking chair. Let me tell you a story. Every family has stories worth remembering. Some make us laugh. Others bring tears to our eyes. Family history is filled with the ups and downs of life, but I have learned that sometimes the downs become the very path that leads us to the…
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Pull Up a Rocking Chair. Let Me Tell You a Story.
What prompts people to pack up everything they own, leave the land of their birth, and journey to a country they have never seen? The human story is, in many ways, an immigration story. Nearly every family can trace its roots to someone who made the difficult decision to leave home in search of something…
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Every Family Has Stories Worth Remembering
My Mother’s Smile Every family has stories worth remembering. This is the story of my mother, Lelia Hilda McGill Pearson Wynn, a woman whose life taught me that love can bloom even after years of hardship. Mother was born on November 20, 1913, in the Eucutta Community of Jones County, Mississippi, to James Samuel McGill…
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The God Who Restores
Daily Office Reflection on Psalm 100, 1 Samuel 1:21–2:11, Acts 1:15–26, and Luke 20:19–26 One of the gifts of praying the Daily Office is that Scripture often reveals a common thread woven through seemingly unrelated passages. Today’s readings invite us to reflect on two realities: the unchanging character of God and the varied ways human…
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Do Not Call Unclean What God Has Called Clean
A Family Story When I began researching our family history, I discovered things that some might prefer to hide. Three of my grandparents were born out of wedlock. One of my grandmothers was born to a woman who ran a brothel. There were marks against their names before they ever had a chance to choose…
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Amanda Joy: Love Worthy of Being Loved, Even in the Wilderness
A Third Sunday of Advent Reflection The Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete—“Rejoice.”It is the Sunday of joy, marked by the lighting of the rose-colored candle. Yet the joy of Advent is not shallow happiness or easy celebration. It is a joy that dares to exist alongside sorrow, waiting, and longing. It is a…
The Curious Pilgrim 