Other than the family and the farm, nothing was as important to us as the Black Oak Baptist Church.  I knew every single person in our church, and they of course knew me.  It was a family, for better or worse.  Everybody loved one another, or at least professed to, and if one of our members was the slightest bit ill, then all manner of prayer and Christian caring poured forth.  A funeral was a week-long, almost holy event.  The fall and spring revivals were planned for months and greatly anticipated.  At least once a month we had some form of dinner-on-the-grounds—a potluck picnic under the trees behind the church—and these often lasted until late afternoon.  Weddings were important, especially for the ladies, but they lacked the high drama of funerals and burials.

-from A Painted House by John Grisham

blessings,

dani

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:5-7)