Anne Graham Lotz, and other Christian leaders asked for Americans to participate in
May Day! May Day! A Distress Call For Prayer.
This commitment involved setting aside the nine days between the Day of the Ascension of Jesus and the Day of Pentecost, (May 15th to May 23rd, 2015) for repentance, prayer, and fasting.
Fasting and praying are Bible-based disciplines that Jews and Christians have practiced throughout history, a spiritual discipline not relegated only to the early church.
When the British Parliament ordered an embargo of Boston in May, 1774, to begin June 1st, the Burgesses of Virginia passed a resolution protesting this act and set aside that very day to seek God with fasting and prayer.
On March 16th, 1776, the Continental Congress recommended:
“that Friday, the Seventeenth day of May next, be observed by the said colonies as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that we may, with united hearts, confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and, by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his righteous displeasure, and, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness; humbly imploring his assistance to frustrate the cruel purposes of our unnatural enemies;”
Our national leaders also called for days of prayer at other times throughout our history, including in 1812 and during the Civil War.
Today was the final day of May Day! May Day! A Distress Call For Prayer. For those people who made the commitment to join Anne Graham Lots and thousands of others in this call for prayer, each day they received suggestions for guided prayer and video talks ranging from 4-16 minutes.
My husband and I chose to answer this call, and found it to be an incredible blessing. The prayers furnished each day were Spirit led. It was time well spent and we would do it again.
It is never too late to set aside a time to pray for our nation, because the need is great.
On this Memorial Day weekend, when our minds and hearts remember the men and women who gave everything to defend and preserve this nation, we can do our part by committing to pray for God’s blessing.
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day takes me back to 2013 when I finally had an opportunity to go to Ireland. I found a tour that would allow me to visit parts
stone wall hedges
of England, Scotland, and Wales, as well as Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. With ancestors from four of those five countries, I wanted to explore the lands of my roots.
Ireland was as beautiful as all the pictures, travelogues, and stories promised.
Pieris Flaming Silver ‘Lily-of-the-valley’
The people were friendly, the food delicious, and the scenery spectacular. There are many delightful places I sojourned but here I’ll share just a few.
One stop was The Giants Causeway World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland. Here you can walk
Giant’s Causeway
on over 40,000 hexagonal basaltic columns that resulted
Giant’s Causeway
from volcanic eruptions. As one might expect, there is a legend that tells of the giant who built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight a Scottish giant. It is no surprise that one can also find similar basalt formations across the water in Fingals Cave on the Scottish Island of Staffa.
In Dublin I visited Trinity College Library to see the famed Book of Kells.
Trinity College Library
These colorful illuminated medieval Gospels were produced in a monastery in the early 8th century on the Isle of Iona, Scotland, in honor of Saint Columba and later taken to Ireland. While there are 680 illuminated pages of the medieval Gospels, the library only displays two of the current four volumes at a time, one showing an illustration and the other displaying typical text pages. The library itself is a sight to behold with its mammoth book filled cases stretching to the ceiling. Dozens of busts of well known authors are mounted at the edge of each aisle.
Four Evangelist Symbols In the Public DomainBook of Kells In the Public Domain
Traveling around Dublin you will spot the famous colorful Dublin Doors, of eighteenth
Dublin Doors
century Georgian homes. Strict building guidelines governed the homes making them closely resemble each other, so residents began painting their front doors vibrant colors and installing ornate door-knockers to show their individuality.
Driving through Belfast, you will see many vivid murals of scenes and people painted on the sides of buildings
Murals of The Troubles
. These paintings remind us of the three decades in Northern Ireland called The Troubles, a period of continual strife between factions wanting
independence from, or remaining loyal to, Britain. Many efforts at finding an agreeable political solution failed until the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998. The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have enjoyed greater peace and prosperity in recent years.
To learn more about ST. PATRICK ~ British Patron Saint of Ireland, visit my blogpost from last year.
Some incidents impact a nation so dramatically that people never forget where they were when they learned of the event ― September 11, 2001, was such a day.
I was living in northern Virginia and working at the Community Bible Study National Service Center located in Reston, Virginia. Since it was early September it was at the time of year that many of our CBS classes around the country were just getting underway again. All the staff members attended one of the local classes, and a number of my co-workers were at class that morning.
I was in the office when we learned of the news, so immediately the television was turned on and many gathered around to watch and learn of the unfolding events ― and to pray. Our normal office routine allowed for a time every morning when we would gather and pray.
Because of the office’s location in the Washington DC metropolitan area, we were even more impacted because the Pentagon was not far away. Some of our staff either knew people or had family serving in the military. My Navy son was stationed in Florida. My youngest son was a student at the Virginia Military Institute miles away in Lexington, Virginia. He was impacted by the attack on the Pentagon as he was on guard duty at the time and was one of many who had to deliver tragic news to fellow students about their parents. And then our staff heard that Flight 93 that went down in Shanksville, PA was probably intended for the White House or the Capitol.
What we would soon learn was that two of the passengers of Flight 93 were two Community Bible Study Leaders, Don and Jean Peterson. Don was a CBS Teaching Director and Jean was a CBS Prayer Chairman. They lived in New Jersey and were on their way to Yosemite National Park in California for a vacation. They were offered the opportunity to take Flight 93 instead of their later scheduled flight, and took it.
The courageous narrative of how the passengers and crew members aboard the plane planned and overtook the hijackers is powerful. There also were many stories of heroism in New York and Washington.
In the days following September 11 flags appeared everywhere, churches were filled.
And for a time, the United States of America was just that ― united.
Those of us who love history, look forward to movies or television programs that feature an era, event, location, or person we find fascinating. It’s even more fun if it is filmed in a location where you live or work. And, there is always the chance that you might get a chance to be a walk on or an extra. Here are some movies filmed in Virginia.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR ERA FILMS
TURN ~ A Revolutionary War era series shown on AMC about the Culper Ring, America’s first intelligence organization. It was based on the Alexander Rose book Washington’s Spies.
Shirley Plantation
TURN was filmed in numerous Virginia locations, Doswell, Patrick Henry’s Scotchtown near Ashland, Kittiewan Plantation, Westover Plantation, CentreHillMuseum, Farmer’s Bank, Petersburg Farmer’s Market, Shirley Plantation, Southside Railroad Depot.
JOHN ADAMS ~ A miniseries based on the David McCullough’s Pulitzer prize winning biography of John Adams.
JOHN ADAMS was filmed in various Colonial Williamsburg locations
The Wren Building at the College of William & Mary
including The Wren Chapel in the Christopher Wren Building at the College of William & Mary.
There is nothing unusual about seeing folks wandering around in period garb anyplace in the greater Williamsburg, Virginia area. One day, while some scenes of John Adams were being filmed, I happened to be doing some errands downtown. When I glanced across the street at the set, I was taken aback a bit by the snow-covered lawn in the middle of summer.
CIVIL WAR ERA FILMS
GODS AND GENERALS ~ An epic movie, based on Jeff Shaara’s God’s and Generals detailing many of the battles that led up to Gettysburg.
GODS AND GENERALS was filmed in Lexington, Richmond,
Chancellorsville, and Fredericksburg. One of the filming locations was Robert Duvall’s estate in Virginia. He played Robert E. Lee in the film.
Virginia Military Institute
GODS AND GENERALS was released in 2003 and is the prequel to the 1993 film Gettysburg. The movie is predominantly about Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson when he experienced numerous successes against the Union from 1861 to 1863. One of the film locations was The Virginia Military Institute (VMI). After Jackson graduated from West Point and served in the Mexican-American War he became a professor at VMI. When the Civil War began, Jackson re-entered the Army and took command of the VMI Corps of Cadets, where the students began training recruits to fight.
My younger son, a student at VMI at the time was one of the many cadet extras in the film. VMI looks much as it did during the Civil War so it did not require many alterations to the façade of the University.
LINCOLN ~ Addresses the last few months of Lincoln’s life that focuses his efforts to pass the 13th Amendment. It was based on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns-Goodwin.
LINCOLN was filmed in multiple locations in and around Richmond and Petersburg.
COLD MOUNTAIN ~ A Civil War era novel based on the book Cold Mountain written by Charles Frazier.
COLDMOUNTAIN was filmed in location near Petersburg, Carter’s Grove Plantation in Williamsburg, and Belle Isle in the James River near Richmond
Back in the early seventies, the filming of a scene from HAROLD AND MAUDE took place in downtown Palo Alto, California next to my office. Many of us who worked in the area would spend our lunch time watching part of the fascinating process of making movies.
Have you ever had the opportunity to live or work where you could observe a television program or movie being filmed?
Like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day can bring on a multitude of differing emotions, some painful . . . some pleasant.
Some people will experience sadness on Father’s Day. It may be a reminder of the loss of a beloved parent. Or it may be because not everyone has had a positive experience with their own father growing up, or as an adult.
Dad and the kids. I’m the short one.
It’s been said that the greatest gift a father can give his child is to love and respect their mother.
I was fortunate to have that, and it provided security and stability for me and my siblings. My father came from very humble beginnings, without any parental encouragement or support. Still, through hard
work and a desire for an education he got his degree in civil engineering from Ohio State University during the depression. I couldn’t ask for a better role model of integrity, loyalty, honesty, personal responsibility,
Ken – the best father a person could have
perseverance and thrift. I respected and loved this very reserved and quiet man.
This Father’s Day, I celebrate my precious husband who is not only a wonderful father, but has been like a father to my sons. I also honor my sons and a son-in-law. These three men are doing a terrific job loving their wives and raising their children.
Chris & Christy’s Family
Jeff & Jill’s familyJimmy & Sanja’s Family
Some people who have had a poor, or non-existent, relationship with their earthly father may have a more difficult time understanding or accepting the love, provision, and protection from our Heavenly Father. My prayer is that those living with that disappointment, may come to know that by opening their heart to a relationship with Jesus, they can experience the unconditional love, and the provision, presence, protection, and peace with the Perfect Father.
Sometimes you hear a story that makes such an impact it’s hard to get it out of your mind. Yesterday in church, one of our pastors asked for prayers for the families of a tragedy that took place last Friday in Norfolk. We did not know the details at the time.
Since then we’ve learned that a young man, 17-year-old Mark Rodriguez was inside his car on his way home from Norfolk Christian Schools graduation activities when he was killed by a suspect on an apparent random shooting spree. According to a newspaper article, the teen was a rising senior and was on his way home to Virginia Beach, after dropping off a friend off in Norfolk when he was murdered.
Police say the trigger-man was 29-year-old James Brown. A police officer and the gunman were also killed later in the evening.
A former teacher said Rodriguez was “wise beyond his years, a leader in the classroom and in church”.
“All of us who interacted with him just saw a very special young man with great talents and great gifts that we believe God used in a powerful way, even if he was only allowed to be here for 17 years,” noted Pat McCarty, Head of Norfolk Christian Schools.
Mark was a photographer who posted beautiful pictures to his blog, and
Mark Rodriguez
sometimes he also posted his thoughts. He wrote about his passion for photography, people, and God.
“By opening my eyes to the world around me, I began to realize how blessed I am and how much I take for granted. Within a couple of years, I developed a love for people and decided I wanted to show these people how awesome they are, and challenged myself to capture their personalities and passions in photography.”
Mark wasn’t afraid to show his faith. He was involved with music ministry at Norfolk Christian Schools and served as a member of the praise and worship team.
Mark Rodriguez parents
Mark is survived by his parents and three younger siblings. Mark’s father, Carlos, serves as a pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach, where Mark also played bass guitar for worship services.
A Memorial Celebration service for Mark has been planned for Wednesday, June 4 at 1 p.m. at Tabernacle Church in Norfolk.
People will ask why such a senseless crime, why did we lose such a fine young man? We live in a fallen world where evil often seems to prevail. But God is greater and He can use evil deeds and tragedies such as this as an opportunity to reach the lost.
This tragedy has touched many lives, but there is something remarkable about God’s presence and provision in the midst of the chaos. On April 5th, 2014, Mark wrote a post about heaven on his website, never knowing he would see heaven so soon.
God knew in April the events that would transpire last Friday. And I believe the Lord inspired Mark to post his thoughts on Heaven when he did. What a gift for Mark’s family, friends, and strangers who will read it and see the certainty of heaven that Mark had; a hope that only people who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior can have. It won’t minimize the loss of this remarkable young man, but perhaps God will use it to draw others to Himself and grow His Kingdom. That’s my prayer.
Mark’s blogpost on HEAVEN is below or go to his website: HTTP://MARKRODRIGUEZPHOTOGRAPHY.COM/2014/04/05/HEAVEN/
HEAVEN 4.5.14 “I’ve been meditating on heaven a lot lately, and I must say, it wells my eyes with tears of joy every now and then. What a beautiful thought that one day, I will be completely in the presence of God and will actually be able to feel the magnitude of all his love and peace with no earthly fears or worries to distract me. The joy that I feel now, the serenity I feel now, will finally be made perfect. The presence of God here on earth is enough to make me shudder in wonder. I’ve had some incredible moments in life that can only be explained as miracles where I see my Abba, my Father move in love for me so powerfully; it brings me to my knees in amazement. To think that one day I will be perfectly and totally in his presence….I’m definitely going to need a heavenly body because the joy he fills me with now sometimes makes me feel like I’m about to explode! I love the image of Heaven because it is perfect, perfect peace. Every quarrel, every hurt, it’s all gonna be resolved. All of God’s children will be together and we won’t hurt each other anymore; we’ll finally understand how to love perfectly. And the fact that we’ll all be worshiping the Lord together in one place, forever….that amazes me.
It makes me so excited to think of the wedding feast awaiting us when we go to be with the Lord. I imagine streets filled with rejoicing, loud trumpets, wedding bells….I’m sure it’ll be far more incredible than I can comprehend now, and I love that.
God is super good. I can’t wait to be with him forever When we arrive at eternity’s shore Where death is just a memory and tears are no more We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring Your bride will come together and we’ll sing You’re beautiful
people who made the commitment to join Anne Graham Lots and thousands of others in this call for prayer, each day they received suggestions for guided prayer and video talks ranging from 4-16 minutes.
