Month: September 2025

Posted on

God’s knowledge of us

Title slide with fall photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
Psalm 139
September 28, 2025

Sermon recorded at Mayberry on Friday, September 26, 2025

At the beginning of the service:

Anyone who has done much commercial traveling has a horror story. Mine came in Tallinn, Estonia. 

Having traveled overland from Singapore, I ran out of time for getting to Scotland and meeting up with Donna and Caroline. In Tallinn, I left the ground and flew to Edinburgh. Maybe I looked suspicious. Maybe it was because I only had a one-way ticket. Or maybe it was because my passport had most recently been stamped in Russia. The Estonians, who were forced into the Soviet Union, don’t look back fondly on those years as shown by their conversion of the old KGB headquarters into the “Museum of Russian Occupation.” 

As I was going through the security line, already without shoes and belt and everything dumped from my pockets into a bucket, a polite but stern woman motioned for me to stand in an x-ray machine, with my hands over my head. But that wasn’t enough. She then directed me to the side and motioned for me to raise my arms as she ran a metal detecting wand over me. Even that wasn’t enough! Then she and another man proceeded to thoroughly pat me down.

Then they went through everything in my carry-on, taking it all out and displaying it on a table as I stood silently watching. The whole time they remained polite but stern. The intimidation was enough to keep me from asking questions. Finally, they put everything back in my bag, smiled, thanked me and sent me on to my waiting plane.

I certainly understand the need for security, but that seemed over the top. I felt exposed. The idea of being so thoroughly explored by those who do not know me is disconcerting. We like our privacy; we like to keep our secrets, especially from strangers. But with God it’s not possible to keep secrets as we’ll see in today’s passage. And that can be comforting, for God wants what’s best for us.

Before reading the Scripture:  

We’re looking at Psalm 139 today. One Biblical scholar refers to this Psalm as a personal expression of radical monotheism. Monotheism means One God. From the Psalmist’s experience, he understands the knowledge, presence and power of God.[1]

The Psalm can be divided into four major parts. Verses 1-6 speak of how we are intimately known by our Creator. This captures God’s omniscience.[2] There is nothing we do that God doesn’t know! 

Verses 7-12 speak of how we cannot run away. God’s omnipresence is demonstrated in these verses. We’re like Jonah. We can’t escape from God. Day or night, up or down, or to the far ends of the earth, wherever we might try to hide from God, we’ll find God already there and waiting. 

Then, in verses 13-18 the Psalm shifts to God’s creative power as he links God’s knowledge with our creation. Having created everything, including us, God knows us better than ourselves. 

In verse 19, the Psalmist takes a completely new tack. In a way, he’d built up God’s ego, bragging about God’s knowledge, presence and power, and then lays out his concerns. He asks the Lord of Creation to handle his enemies. Because of his trust in God, the Psalmist feels comfortable in sharing his concerns which keeps him awake at night. These verses get left out of the lectionary selection for the Psalm because they don’t sound very Christian. But we’ll come back to that. 

Finally, in this last part of the Psalm, the Psalmist concludes his hymn encouraging God to search him and to purge from him any wickedness. He asks to be led into God’s future. Let’s now listen to the Psalm. You might want to pull out your Bible and see if you can identify the parts of this passage. 

Read Psalm 139

The Psalmist begins by reminding us of how thoroughly God knows us. God knows us better than we know ourselves. We’ve seen in other Psalms how God looks down on the earth.[3] Here the Psalmist understands God’s knowledge isn’t just from the distance like scientists studying distant stars looking for exoplanets. God knows us intimately. 

The Psalmist then insist God’s presence knows no boundaries. God doesn’t just look down on us from beyond the skies. God is with us. God’s presence includes Sheol, the place of the death. This place is where we totally ceased to exist. But thankfully, even there, God’s presence abides, which provides those of us on this side of the resurrection with hope in life everlasting. 

And finally, God created everything, which gives God insights into all that exist. Like a builder, God knows what’s behind every plastered and painted wall. I’ll come back to this in a bit. The first 18 verses of this Psalm praises God. It also reminds us that we’re not God. These traits only apply to the Almighty. 

Then our Psalm takes a shift. David, whom this Psalm is attributed, becomes personal. He calls on God to deal with his enemies. Perhaps this Psalm came from the time when David was hounded by Saul.[4] David tried to be loyal to the king God first placed over the Israelites, but Saul felt threatened by this young up and coming Israelite. Being falsely accused of something is hard. We might lash out, but maybe we should first take the accusation to God and ask the Almighty to vindicate us. 

This David does. Instead of seeking revenge and killing Saul, he takes his concerns to God. Like David, Jesus also didn’t strike back when he was falsely accused. He allowed God to vindicate him when he returned from the tomb. 

Verses 19 to 22 seem hard to reconcile with Jesus’ teachings of loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors. But if we are so close to God, as the Psalmist appears in these verses, we can trust God to hear our concerns, to remain with us in our troubles, and to vindicate us in the end.

We’re not in control; the Psalmist understands this.  Predestination wasn’t something Calvin or Augustine or even the Apostle Paul thought up. They all spoke of it, but the idea goes back into Hebraic thought. This Psalm has predestination written all over it! As verse 16 indicates, God maintains a calendar for each of us. God is in charge. God works things out for his purpose, which means that if we can dovetail our lives into God’s purposes, we’ll be a lot better off. Otherwise, we’ll be swimming upstream.

So instead of working against God’s purposes, the Psalmist shows total trust in God as he asks God to search him for any wickedness and to lead him in the way of life. 

Although he has shown from his experience the knowledge, presence and power of God, the Psalmist realizes as a creature, as a mere mortal, he can’t fully comprehend the nature of God. God’s thoughts are more numerous than grains of sand, yet because God is presence, the Psalmist is going to stick with God! It’s okay that he can’t fully understand the divine mystery; it’s enough that God understands him. And for the same reasons, God understands us. 

What might we learn from the 139th Psalm? Let me suggest two takeaways about God and two about us as human beings. As for God, we’re reminded of God’s awesome nature. God is almighty. God knows all. God’s presence can be found everywhere, even places beyond our ability to go. And God creates all. Furthermore, the second item, God’s concern with creation is such that God remains involved in the world and in our lives. 

Two things we learn about ourselves… First, we can be honest with God. We can appeal to God to care for us and even protect us from our enemies. And we can proclaim our innocence to God but also open ourselves us to be corrected. If so, we ask God to lead us into the way of life. 

As I close, let me go back to the 13th verse. The Psalmist uses the metaphor of knitting to explain how God knows us. God is like a knitter who has invested in every strand within a garment and knows the piece of fabric like no one else, even the person wearing the fabric. 


Likewise, God invests in us. God loves us. God has a purpose for us. And God wants us not only to live for him but to enjoy the relationship. We’re called to be in a relationship with the Creator who knows us and hasn’t abandoned us even when we turn away and attempt to live only for ourselves. God loves us as show through the coming of Jesus. When we live for God, God can do incredible things through us. Believe it. Amen. 

[1] James May, Psalms: Interpretation, A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville; John Knox Press, 1994), 435.

[2] One commentator divides the opening three parts of this Psalm into three attributes of God: omniscience (all knowledge), omnipresence (all presence) and omnificence (all creation). See Athur Weiser, The Psalms: A Commentary (1959, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), 802-804. 

[3] We see this in Psalm 113 and 14, which I recently preached on. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/09/21/8250/ and https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/09/14/is-atheism-really-the-problem-what-does-psalm-14-say/

[4] This link to David comes from Stan Mast’s commentary on this passage. See https://cepresaching.org/commentary/2017-07-17/psalm -1391-12-23-24/

Posted on

Nevada 375 and Rachel, Nevada

Title slide with photo of dry rain along Nevada 375
One house we worked on was located near here, where the road is still washed out.

I’ve been away this week, working on a Helene rebuild mission out of Burnsville, North Carolina, so I don’t have time to write anything new. I wrote this piece many years ago and some of you may have read it in another blog. I tried to update and clean up the language a bit before reposting it. Recently, I learned another friend had spent time working around Tonopah, Rachel, Caliente, Nevada on a government contract. He, too, was surprised that not only did I know of these places but had been there many times. Thinking of him, I thought I’d republish it.

The last time I was in Rachel was in 2010, as I drove across Central Nevada, heading from Death Valley to my old stomping ground in Cedar City, Utah.

Rachel, NV during daylight. Photo from the internet


I see the lights of Rachel a good ten miles away, soon after crossing Queen City Summit. “The bar will be open,” I say to myself, “I’ll grab a cup of coffee and stretch my legs and take in some of the night air.”

It’s after ten, early September 1995. I still have two hundred miles to drive to get home, having spent the past two weeks backpacking along the John Muir Trail in the Sierras. When I got off the trail, I learned my parents were driving in the next day, which meant an all-night drive. In the hundred miles since Tonopah, I’ve only passed a couple of vehicles. I roll my windows down and stick my head outside, trying to stay awake and alert. I pop cassette tapes in and out, playing them loudly and trying to find something to keep me awake. Nothing comes in on the radio, except some distant AM talk station from Los Angeles. 

I try to stay awake for nobody’s likely to see if you run off the road in this country. Making it more dangerous, this is open range. I share the road with cows. They’re hard to see at night and often seek the blacktop for warmth. If I run into one of these beasts and die, my estate will get to pay for the cow. 

“Thank God for Rachel,” I mumble, thinking about how this is one of two stops in the next two hundred miles where I can get coffee. I topped off my tank in Tonopah. Experience taught me the few gas stations along this stretch will close before I drive through.

Entering town, I pull off at the “Little A”le’Inn,” the center of Rachel’s night life. I’m shocked to see so many cars and people mulling around. Normally, there might be a car and a pickup or two out front. Tonight, I must search to find a parking place. The line to the bar starts at the front door.

What’s going on?” I ask the guy in front of me. 

“It’s Labor Day weekend,” he says, “people come from all over on Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends to check out the UFOs.” I’d noticed just outside the front door, mounted on a tripod, a parabolic listening device. These people are serious. Many of them have cameras and binoculars dangling from their necks. At the booth closest to me a guy cleans the lens for their cameras I consider telling him not to bother, as I’ve yet to see picture of a UFO taken through a clean lens. But I hold my tongue. 

“Do you think they’re really UFOs out here?” I ask the guy in front of me.

“I’m not sure, but you see some strange things,” he says, adding that he mostly comes up from Vegas to enjoy the party.

I look around at the eclectic crowd. There are dudes with pencil protectors in their shirt pockets talking to guys with tie-died t-shirts. Some look college-aged. Others probably have great-grandchildren. Many appear to have been strung out on drugs since the 60s. A few may have come straight from a desk job at IBM. It looks like a lot of fun, and I imagine myself as a reporter for the Rolling Stones, getting to know these people and writing about their shindig. Unfortunately, I must get back home.

 It takes me a while to get up to the bar and then I must wait for the bartender to make another pot of coffee. Then he fills my Maverick[1] insulated cup. I head outside, climb into the car and drive eastward into the darkness, over Coyote Summit and across Tikaboo Valley. It’s sad to leave the lights behind, for even if they don’t see a UFO, they’ll going to have a good time.

In my travels between California and Utah, I stopped at Rachel a dozen or more times. In the late 90s and early 2000s, there were only two businesses in town. The gas station sat on the east end. It includes a store which would make a 7-11 appear to be a supermarket. I’ve never seen it open after dark and their hours seemed to be irregular, another reason why I topped off my tank before heading this direction.

The Little A’Le’Inn sat on the west end of town. A combo restaurant, bar, casino, and motel, it reminds me of a scaled down version of Bruno’s Country Club in Gerlack, Nevada. The Inn seemed thrown together and wouldn’t make the Triple A Guidebook. But people come here because Rachel is the closest town to the supersecret Area 51, where some believe our government holds intergalactic aliens as POWs. Others think the government made a secret pack with some space race to dominate the world. I don’t believe it, but there are strange things seen in the skies along this highway. 

Driving along this stretch of highway, I’ve been scared out of my pants when a jet, flying what seemed to be 50 feet above my car came up behind me. I first noticed the. shadow. Because of his speed, I didn’t hear him until he’s gone.

Once, while checking out the mining sites in the Timpahute Range northeast of Rachel with Ralph, we watched several jets in apparent dogfight. I’ve never seen such aerial maneuvers, as they turned and swirled back and forth. One jet climbed almost straight up like a rocket, only to turn and come back to earth at supersonic speeds. When the jet disappeared behind the mountain, we looked for a fireball. We assumed it crashed. Then, to our surprise, the plane pulled back up and climb again as two jets made the same maneuver. Neither of us could believe that a plane could perform like that. 

Sun setting amongst Joshua Trees in Central Nevada



This is barren country. The government controls all the land land south of Rachel. This is a training ground and bombing range for Nellis Air Force Base. They tested stealth fighters and bombers here. The vast area also contains the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear weapons used to be regularly tested.

Rachel is a relatively new town. In the 1860s, the town of Tempiute grew up around a vein of silver to the northeast. That petered out. Later, a tungsten deposit was discovered. Until the 1980s, Union Carbide ran a mine there. Most of the miners lived in Rachel. A few ranches dot the countryside along 375, but it takes a lot of this poor arid soil to produce enough grass to feed a cow.

Every time I stopped at the “Little A’Le’Inn” I meet interesting people. Once there was a family from Germany who came to see UFOs. Another time there were several young adults from the Netherlands. One evening, there was a couple at the bar who had driven up from Las Vegas. They were nearly out of gas. The gas station had already closed for the day (and the owners had headed to Vegas for dinner), so the couple rented a room at the motel and made the best of the evening by drinking heavily. They probably saw some good sights that night as well as some bugs on the wall in the morning.

The bartender is always willing to offer advice as to the best places to supposedly see UFOs. And the walls of the place have pictures and clippings about UFOs and even a signed photograph of Spock from Star Trek. In the mid-1990s, Nevada 375 became known as the “The Extraterrestrial Highway,” a move which helped draw in the curious to support Rachel’s businesses. 

I’m sure most people who drive across Nevada 375 think it’s the worst road to travel, but I find comfort in the desolation. US 50 crosses Nevada way to the north. In the 1960s, Life Magazine dubbed US 50 the loneliness road in America. Compared to Nevada 375, Highway 50 is a crowded freeway. 

Each end of Nevada 375 is located at a hot spring. The road begins at the site of Warm Springs along US 6. A gas station with a swimming pool sat at the junction, but by the 90s had closed. You can still stop and soak your feet in the warm sulfur smelling water as it runs through a ditch. Crystal Springs is at the other end of the 98-mile highway, at the junction with US 93, which leads south to Vegas and north to Ely. The springs are huge, with deep pools of warm water creating a large wetland and bird sanctuary which never freezes.

For those interested, there are other hot springs in the area. Just south on US 93 are the communities of Ash and Alamo, both of which have hot springs. Further to the east is Caliente, another town with hot springs located in cement pools at one of the towns 1950ish hotels. 

trains passing through Caliente, Nevada

If you travel this road, be prepared. It’s a long way to help. Limited services can be found in Tonopah (108 miles west of Rachel) and Caliente (98 miles to the east of Rachel). The nearest city is Las Vegas, 140 miles south of Rachel, on the other side of the government’s testing area which is closed off to the public.

[1] Maverik is the name of a chain of gas stations and convenient stores.

Other Nevada Adventures:

Great Basin Mining Adventure

Reno to Pittsburgh (April 1989)

Sunday drive to Gerlach

Driving West in ’88

Matt, Virginia City 1988

Doug and Elvira: A Pastoral Tale

Christmas Eve 1988

Easter Sunrise Services (a part of this article recalls Easter Sunrise Service in Virginia City in 1989)

The Revivals of A. B. Earle (an academic paper published inAmerican Baptist Historical Society Quarterly, part of these revivals were in Virginia City in 1867) 

Eddie Larson, a good shepherd (he ran his sheep on BLM land in Eastern Nevada during the winter).

Riding in the cab of a steam locomotive

Posted on

Praising God

Title. slide with photo of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
September 21, 2025
Psalm 113

At the beginning of worship:

I’m sure most of you remember the long running TV show, MASH, which lasted three times as long as the Korean War, which it portrayed. One of the more compelling characters in the show was Father Mulcahy, the Catholic priest who served as field hospital’s chaplain. 

In one episode, Father Mulcahy had the blues. Observing the hard work of the surgeons, nurses, and medics to save lives, he complained that all he could do was pray. But then a man on the operating room table took a turn for the worse. Nothing the surgeons did stopped the man’s decline. Mulcahy was brought over. He prayed. Suddenly, the man began to improve. 

“You’re sure you’re not useful,” Hawkeye asked. The shy and humble chaplain said, “It’s not supposed to work that way.”[1]

Of course, it is supposed to work that way. Only it often doesn’t. We pray and someone still dies. But we’re still called to pray and to hope and to do what we can to help. Maybe we should remember to include in our prayers the caveat from Jesus who prayed, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”[2]

Before reading the Scripture:
As we jump around the Psalms, today we’ll look at Psalm 113. Like Psalm 112[3], which we explored a few weeks ago, Psalm 113 is a positive Psalm which makes two points. First, we’re called to praise God. The second point is the reason why we praise God, and it has to do with the nature of God to help those overlooked by society. Just like Psalm 112, which seems a little unrealistic in its promise of riches descending on the righteous, this Psalm also has an unrealistic theme. It promises blessings to the poor blessings and children to barren women. We’ll need to think about what this means because we know it doesn’t always work that way. 

The language and the poetry of this Psalm is beautiful. It begins and ends with a Hallelujah, often translated as “Praise the Lord!” Faithful Jews who gathered with family and friends at Passover would recite these words. Perhaps even Jesus used this Psalm during the last supper, celebrating Passover with the disciples.

In the Hebrew, the Psalm consist of three stanzas. Verses 1-3 calls us to praise God, verses 4-6 reminds of God’s majesty and why God should be praised. The final three verses illustrate God’s mercy.[4] Let’s look at the Psalm and see what we might learn about God and why all of us should praise God. 

Read Psalm 113


Our Psalm begins with an imperative. The opening “Hallelujah,” translated as “Praise the Lord” in our reading, isn’t a suggestion. It’s a command with two components.  First, we begin now to praise God, and we continue as long as we have breath. And God’s people are always to be praising the Lord. For those of us exploring this Psalm from this side of the Jesus’ resurrection, as we see in the book of Revelation, this task continues into eternity.[5]

Second, we learn God is to be praised continually, throughout our waking hours. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the Psalm commands. In a world without electrical lights, people slept when it was dark. During the daylight hours, people were awake and going about their work, but they were also to praise God. As the lamp in the temple burned continually, reminding the people that their prayers of praise should continually rise to God. Or as the Apostle Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.”[6]  

In other words, our lives are to be a witness, a prayer. This doesn’t mean we are to be on our knees all day. Nor should Hallelujahs come out of our mouths continually. We praise God by how we live and how we relate to others. 

After the command to praise, the Psalm provides the reasons behind such instruction. First, we’re given a theology of praise. We praise God because nothing is greater. God stands above everything. Nations, the earth, even the heavens. The cosmology of the Psalmist places God outside of everything that’s created. This includes the heavens and the earth. We think of God in heaven, but the Psalmist doesn’t pin God down even there. Instead, God the creator stands free from even the heavens. God stands above all, and no one can compare to God. Our minds cannot understand the grandeur and splendor of God. Yet, we are to praise.

The second set of reasons for praise has to do with God not abandoning creation. Our God is not the God envisioned by the Deists, like some of our nation’s founding fathers, who saw God as the watchmaker. God creates, winds up the watch, then stands back and observes the ticking, not intervening. But the Psalmist doesn’t see God in such a manner. The God of the Hebrew people, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, isn’t like this. God continues to be involved in creation. 

We’re given two examples. First, God remains concern for the least of us. The poor and the needy, those often overlooked by others, remain on God’s heart. We also saw this last week when we looked at Psalm 14. In that Psalm, God stands against those who think they control the world and don’t have to answer anyone as they abuse the poor. God provides a refuge for the poor and the righteous. Those who think they can get away with “eating the poor” will experience the terror of a righteous and just deity.

In today’s Psalm, we learn that God looks out for the poor. God raises up the poor from the dust, which should remind us of Genesis, where God created the first man out of the ground and gave him breath.[7] In other words, God gives new life to the poor. 

During the Passover celebration, this Psalm is paired with Psalm 114, which recalls God’s wonders during the Exodus. In this case, the people are reminded that they were once poor, whether slaves in Egypt or the dust of the ground.  

The second half of verse seven recalls the image of the needy being lifted from the ash heap. We can imagine the lepers and others forced to live outside the city walls literally on the dung heap, as the “ash heap” can also be translated.

God not only lifts the poor and needy but seats them on the podium with princes. The poor and the needy will become people of honor. 

The final example of God’s faithfulness is how God looks upon barren women. The translation is that God provides her a home, but the root meaning goes deeper. God seats such women in a happy home, just as God places the poor and needy on the throne with princes.[8] Finally, God makes such women the joyful mother of children.

For the Hebrew faithful reciting this Psalm in the temple or in their homes during Passover, they would be immediately drawn to consider Abraham’s wife Sarah, and Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Both women were without children until late in life. Other women who might be recalled were Rebekah and Rachel.[9]Barren woman in the ancient world were particularly vulnerable, which is why God looks out for them. 

Of course, there is a problem with this. We’ve all known those who are poor and needy, some who have been faithful and have cried out to God. Yet, not many of them ever sat on the podium with highfalutin folk. Even worse, we hear of malnourished children dying in the Gaza and in the Sudan and Congo. And we’re left to question why God didn’t answer their prayers.  And most preachers know of women who avoid church on Mother’s Day, for their prayers haven’t been answered in the manner they’d like. 

None of us should assume we know better than God, but why does God act sometimes and not in others. Had Hannah been the only barren women in Israel when Samuel was born? Probably not. Yet, there are times when God interrupts in history, which gives us hope and the second reason to praise God.

Today’s Psalm demands us to praise of God and gives us reasons to so. At the very least, we should praise God when the sun rises or when we awake. And again, when it sets or as we fall asleep. While it is okay to ask God for what we need, we should never forget to give God thanks with praise. Will we listen?” Amen.

[1] I was reminded of this episode in Scott Hoezee’s commentary on the text. See https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2025-09-15/psalm-113-4/

[2] Matthew 6:10.

[3] See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/08/31/psalm-112-the-blessing-of-the-righteous/

[4] Stan Mast, commentary on Psalm 113. See https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2016-09-12/psalm-113/

[5] See Revelation 4, 7:15.

[6] 1 Thessalonians 5:17. 

[7] Genesis 2:7.

[8] Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation and Commentary (New York, Norton, 2007), 404, 9.

[9] See Genesis 11:30, 25:21,29:31, and 1 Samuel 1. See Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984),162.  See also Athur Weiser, The Psalms: A Commentary (1958, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), 707-708,

Posted on

More good and bad stories from the bakery


Looking back over the five of posts I wrote about my experiences in the bakery, it seems a lot of bad things that happen. That’s not true, but the challenging days do stick in my memory more than the regular “good” days. That goes for most of our lives. 

A few weeks ago, I told you about the challenges which happened at night. But sometimes bad things even happened during the day, as was the case one hot afternoon. I was over at the oven talking to John Z, when things started going crazy. All a sudden, the oven, proof box and cooler stopped. But the conveyors kept running. The de-panner was also running, but there was no vacuum and the bread wasn’t being pulled out of the pan. As John started pulling pans off the conveyor, I hit the horn and a mechanic came running. Both of us agreed it appeared we had lost air. 

We headed down to the compressor room. Sure enough, none of the compressors were running. By this time, there were calls coming over the intercom throughout the bakery with other people having problems. Not finding the problem, we ran back up into the plant and were shocked to see several conveyor motors with flames coming out of them. I started shutting down everything (as soon as the power to the conveyors were killed, the motors stopped burning) as the mechanic went to find the maintenance engineer. Coming out of the shop, the engineer realized immediately that we no longer had three phase electricity and pulled the main circuit breaker coming into the building. 

Everything went dark. A call was placed to Carolina Power and Light. It took them about thirty minutes to have the problem fixed and we had a mess to clean up. While production stopped, the bread waiting in pans in the proof box and along conveyors continued to grow. The bread in the oven continued to bake. We had a long night of cleaning up the proof box and getting the dough off the racks with steam cleaning before we could began making bread. If the dough remained on the racks, it could easily fall into a loaf of bread, creating a discolored hard lump within a loaf. We didn’t finish our work and return to production until the first shift crew returned, meaning that most of us worked 16 hours. 

But our mess wasn’t nearly as big as the one in the front office. They drew power off the same circuit. This was around 1980, and they had one large computer. When the engineer pulled the power switch into the bakery, they also lost power and data. It took them several days to get everything restored. 

Not long after this, the company forked over big bucks to the power company and had them to feed the plant from two directions so if we lost power from one substation, another station would take over. This ended the problems with blimps in power which created havoc with the ovens as I wrote about before. Not being an electrician, I’m not sure if it also protected us from “single phasing,” but we never had that problem again. The compressors and the ovens and equipment with big motors stopped because those motors had protection which shut them down if there was an issue. But there were too many small motors which pulled conveyors. Since it was a lot easier (and cheaper) to replace a ¾ horsepower motor than a 20 or 60 horsepower one, they didn’t have such protection. 

Another problem we had to deal with at the bakery was bad yeast. One summer, we changed from Fleischmann’s to a new brand, Dixie yeast. Supposedly the family owning the bakery had a stake in Dixie Yeast, so we were expected to use this product. At first, things went along smoothly, but after a few weeks, we started having problems primarily with the dough-maker bread. And the problems became worse in the afternoons, when the temperatures soared inside the plant. The bread wouldn’t brown nicely and would have large holes in it, appearing as if it had been over-mixed. Most of us suspected the yeast, but the owners were reluctant to agree. They brought experts who were unable to pinpoint the problem. Finally, someone convinced management to go back to the old yeast and things cleared up. When the “experts” checked the processing at the yeast plant, they learned they used fiberglass tanks which couldn’t be cleaned like stainless steel. Over time, they built up some kind of growth which affected the yeast. For a while, we went back to the yeast we had been using while Dixie Yeast worked out these kinks.

But life at the bakery wasn’t always one problem after another. There were also good times. Although we came from a lot of different backgrounds, we were a family. I enjoyed listening to the old timers tell stories about their career at the bakery or their lives growing up. I don’t remember his name, but the oven operator on the roll line talked about working on an old kerosene oven when he was young, which blew up. He also had a hearing aid and when management came around yelling, he’d turn it off. Several of the people who worked on the roll line had spent a lifetime in the bakery. Harvey, whom I wrote about earlier, had managed a dairy, which had closed when he came over to the bakery.

Scotty, who worked in sanitation, lost an arm in an accident in the Wilmington shipyard during World War II. I asked him if he knew my grandfather who also worked in the shipyard, having left the tobacco farm of North Carolina behind during the war. He said he did,but I think he tried to be nice. When I pressed for information about him, as my grandfather died in 1967, he could recall no real memories. I’d later learn that the shipyard at its peak employed 21,000 people. While Scotty was always nice to me, he had one of the most vulgar minds in the bakery and often said the nastiest things to women. Thankfully, he retired a year or two after I started working at the plant and before I had a chance to supervise him. However, I still called him on his comments, and he agreed it was inappropriate. But it didn’t stop him. 

At break, we’d crowd into the air-conditioned lounge for cold drinks. The air would soon become stale from cigarette smoke. I was one of the few who didn’t smoke, but that was okay for everyone knew I was different. I was the “college boy.” 

Sometimes our friendship extended outside the plant. There were at least half a dozen parties during the years I worked at the bakery (like Linda’s, which I wrote about earlier). Looking back on these, it’s interesting that the parties (at least the ones I attended) had only white folks. Another shock was the number of supervisors who were ten or twenty years older than me who would smoke joints during these parties. As one who eschewed drugs, I found this odd. But in the late 70s and early 80s, smoking pot was common. I expected it at school and with the younger employees, but not among older ones. 

Racial lines were crossed at the annual company picnic and some of us did get together to play basketball in the projects across the street from the plant. While working there, I hunted deer, rabbits and squirrels with Bobby, an African American who ran the bread slicing and wrapping area on first shift. 

Often, we’d have to work on holidays and at Thanksgiving and Christmas. On these days, the company would supply turkeys which were roasted in the back of the roll oven. They also provided the other parts of the meal included mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, and brown and serve rolls which we’d be making for weeks before the holiday. On these days, everyone got to pig out on their lunch breaks. 

One of my favorite treats of working night shift occurred shortly after the first bread left the oven. We’d split up a loaf of freshly baked bread, slather it with hot butter (which we had available for the butter-top loaves) and then add honey or molasses. Of course, we worked hard and in heat, so we didn’t have to worry as much about the extra calories.

Upcoming: I have one more post planned I which I will discuss leaving the bakery and it’s demise several years later. 

MORE BAKERY STORIES

More Bakery Stories: Bad Things Happen at Night

Coming of Age in a Bakery: Linda and the Summer of ’76

A College Boy in the Bakery

Harvey and Ernest

Frank and Roosevelt

The Perils of Working on the Christian Sabbath

Remembering Charlie

Posted on

Is Atheism really the problem? What does Psalm 14 say?

Title slide with photos of Bluemont and Mayberry Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
September 14, 2025
Psalm 14

Sermon recorded at Mayberry on Friday, September 12, 2025…

At the beginning of worship: 

There are many times I wonder what to say on a Sunday and this morning is one of them. We gather with the assassination of Charlie Kirk fresh in our minds as well as another school shooting in Colorado. Such events are too common. Just in the past few months we’ve witnessed the assassination of a Democratic legislator and the attempted assassinated of another in Minnesota. And there was the burning of the Governor of Pennsylvania’s home while he and his family slept. And a host of school shootings occurred. Outrage on social media seems to be at an all-time high.  

At times like this, as Christ’s followers, we should concern ourselves with how we reflect the love and the grace of Jesus Christ. How can we not enflame the rhetoric and be the peacemakers we’re called to be? How can we love, even our enemies, as we’re called? 

Psalm 1, which I’ll refer to later in my sermon this morning, speaks of the two paths before us.[1] Do we follow the path of the sinners and scoffers, or the path of the righteous who delight in the law and ways of the Lord? As we’ll see today, carrying and not abusing others for our personal benefit is imperative if we want to be with the godly. 

Before reading the scripture: 

Two weeks ago, in our journey around the Psalms, we looked at Psalm 112. I mentioned my dislike of the Psalm, as it proclaims blessings for righteousness. At times, that seems far-fetched.[2]At least, in the present world. Today, we’ll look at the opposite. 

Psalm 14 curses those who live as if God has no control over their lives. Both Psalms are tricky to peach.

A couple of things about this Psalm. Most Psalms address God. Instead of speaking to God, this Psalm is a prophetic statement by the Psalmist, directed at those whose actions go against God’s Word. While God is mentioned, the Psalm addresses the fools who think God won’t be concerned over their actions. 

Next, this Psalm is repeated almost word-for-word in Psalm 53. However, scholars generally preferred the 14th Psalm as the original seems better preserved here. As much as I would like to ignore this Psalm, when it’s repeated, I should realize God values these words and not disregard them. Repetition biblically emphasizes importance. 

This Psalm can be divided into three parts. It starts with a lament against the wicked who don’t believe in God. But it’s not really about atheism, as I’ll explain. Next, the Psalm serves as a warning against the wicked, followed by a hopeful wish of God intervening and bringing relief to those who suffer at their hands. [3]

Read Psalm 14

I’m going out on a limb and at the risk of oversimplification, suggest there are two kinds of atheists. The philosophical atheist doesn’t believe in God. This doesn’t necessarily make him or her a bad person. You don’t have to believe in God to be a decent human being. And all of us should strive to be decent human beings. 

The second type of atheist may say they believe in God. In fact, they may insist they’re not an atheist. However, their lives don’t act like they believe in God. They live as if they control their own destiny. Such atheists may even be a member of a church. They may proudly proclaim a profession of faith, which makes the second type of atheism more dangerous. And, I suggest, this is the type of atheism referred to in the Psalm. 

Philosophical atheism wasn’t really known in the biblical world. Of course, the Greeks discussed it. Socrates was even condemned to death for atheism. But Socrates denied the charge. He had challenged the leadership of Athens, and the trumped-up charge of atheism allowed the city’s leaders a way to silence him. Plato, from whom we learn much of what we know about Socrates, considered atheism foolish. But that all occurred in Greece, far from Israel.

In the Biblical world, instead of worrying about atheists, Israel’s larger concern were people who went after the gods of their neighbors, especially Baal. A second concern would have been people who lived as if they were God. Such a temptation reaches back to Eden and the Serpent’s promise that eating of the forbidden fruit would make our first parents like God.[4]

So, this opening line isn’t really about atheism as we know it. After all, modern philosophical atheism became popular in the 19thCentury with philosophers like Nietzsche and Marx and brought back into popularity more recently by the likes of Richard Dawkins. But this is not what the Psalmist refers to when he says, “fools say in their hearts there is no God.”  

Notice this Psalm isn’t directed toward those who proclaim out loud that God doesn’t exist. Instead, the Psalm makes such a claim against those who say such things in their hearts. In other words, those who at their very being live as if God doesn’t exist. All of us probably find ourselves tempted in such a manner at some point. And the temptation to want to be our own god is as old as humanity, reaching back to Adam and Eve. 

Let’s face it, those who act as if they are God or above God, or as if for some reason God gives them the right to do what they would like, are all around us. It’s to such people this Psalm speaks. For the Psalmist, these may have been the religious and political elite in Jerusalem, as John Calvin seems to have understood the passage. In his handling of this Psalm, he directs his message toward the clergy during the Reformation who failed to care for their flocks.[5]

Furthermore, this Psalm concerns itself with moral issues more than with theological ones. It’s not that the one doesn’t believe in God, but that one doesn’t act like they don’t have to answer to anyone.[6] The villain in this Psalm doesn’t believe in divine retribution, or that he or she will sooner or later have to atone for his or her sin.[7]

Psalm 14 has a countertheme, this is still God’s world.[8]  And the Psalmist has a message for such villains who think the world belongs to them. God’s watching. The wise aren’t those who act as if they’re almighty, but those who seek after God. The villain, who doesn’t concern him or herself with God, have gone astray or adrift from the truth. In verse four, we learn such individuals think they can use other people for their own enrichment. “They eat up God’s people as if they’re bread,” the Psalmist says. 

This Psalm is attributed to David, who, if you remember, had a righteous streak within him. Do you remember Nathan telling David about a rich man who, instead of taking from his own flock a lamb to feed a traveler, stole the only lamb a poor man owned. David was incensed. He wanted the rich man’s head for his crime, only to hear Nathan’s condemning words, “You are the man.” David had stolen Uriah’s wife and had set up Uriah’s death.[9]

In a way, with this Psalm, David proclaims such a prophecy as he heard from Nathan. But he’s also convicted by it. And in that manner, he’s no different than most humans. We have our good moments and our less than good moments. Our bad moments include trying to use other people for our own benefits without concern for their wellbeing. This Psalm speaks to such situations. That’s abusing and disregarding the needs of others for personal profit, especially the poor who have no means to protect themselves. 

In verses 5 and 6, the Psalm speaks of the terror those who abuse others face. God stands with the poor, with those who are abused by others. God remains a refuge for the righteous. The villains will find themselves, in their quest for ill-gotten gain, in a battle against God. 

Our Psalm ends with a wish and hope.[10] The promised reward, as we learned from Psalm 112 two weeks ago, may be off in the future. The ending of Psalm 14 reminds us that the accounts have not all been settled. Those “fools” who live and act as if God doesn’t exist may seem as if they’re winning in the short run, but judgment awaits. 

What the Psalm encourages the reader to do is to live in a manner which honors all people, especially those who are unable to care for themselves. Then, we won’t have to worry about God seeing what we’re up to and our conscience can be clean. Furthermore, the Psalm wants the readers to know that just because someone seems to live high on the hog while mistreating others, they’ll sooner or later experience the terror of a righteous God.  

Like Psalm 1, this is a wisdom psalm. There are two ways to live, we learn from the first Psalm. We have the path of the sinners, the wicked, and the path of those who delight in God. And as Psalm 14 reminds us, this includes carrying for others. The choice is ours. Amen. 

[1] For a sermon I preached on Psalm 1, see https://fromarockyhillside.com/2023/01/08/psalm-1-two-roads/

[2] See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/08/31/psalm-112-the-blessing-of-the-righteous/

[3] Artur Weiser, The Psalms: A Commentary (1959, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1962), 164. 

[4] Genesis 3:5.

[5] See Stan Mast’s commentary on this passage: https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2018-07-23/psalm-14/

[6] James L. Mays, Psalm: Interpretation, A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994), 81.

[7] Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary (New York: Norton, 2007), 40. 

[8] Walter Brueggermann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 44. 

[9] 2 Samuel 12:1-15. 

[10] Brueggemann, 45. 

Posted on

August Book Reviews and James Taylor in Concert

book covers and a photo from the James Taylor concert

I’ve taken this week off to officiate at a funeral in Georgia, which is why there were no sermon posted on Sunday. I’ll be back next Sunday. 

James Taylor Concert

James Taylor and band with the multimedia presentation behind them

In addition to the trip to Georgia, we made another trip with friends to Raleigh, North Carolina last Thursday night, September 4, to attend a James Taylor concert. Although the singer has aged, he’s 77, he put on a good show. And whenever he sings, Carolina in My Mind,” in North Carolina, the crowd erupts as they did this past Thursday.  Before the concert, a friend warned there would be no standing ovations as no one in the crowd would have the knees to get on their feet more than once. But that was not the case. He brought the crowd onto their (our) feet repeatedly.  I loved all his songs about the road and travel. I appreciated his humor and political insights. When speaking about Carole King, he paused, looked to the crowd and said something like, “Oh, by the way, NO KINGS.” It was a good night. 

Most of the summer we have been attending concerts at the Blue Ridge Music Center, which is mostly bluegrass, so it’s good to get back to a bit of rock-n-roll and the music of my youth.

The group of us waiting for James Taylor
The group of us waiting for James Taylor

Derick Lugo, The Unlikely Thru-Hiker: An Appalachian Trail Journey, 

Book cover for "The Unlikely Thru Hiker

narrated by Derick Lugo, (2021), 7 hours and 12 minutes

I picked this book up on a two-for-one sale from Audible. It sounded interesting and humorous. While it doesn’t quite reach the humor of Bill Bryson’s, A Walk in the Woods, I enjoyed reading about his hike and recalling my own hike on the trail nearly 40 years ago. 

Lugo is an African American, which makes him unique on the trail. While I met a few African Americans while hiking, most were only out for a day. The exception was Felipe, a reporter for Springfield Massachusetts, who hiked through his state to write an article about the 50th anniversary of the trail.  While he seemed to get on the nerves of other hikers, I got along with him. When done, he sent me a copy of his articles along with a wonderful black and white photo of me resting against my pack as I wrote a letter. 

Photo of me from 1987, writing a letter while on the Appalachian Trail
1987, on the AT

Lugo was a city dweller. He had spent little time outdoors, which makes him an unlikely hiker. But he is open to learn from others. Furthermore, hiking the trail these days are different in that there are a lot more people on the trail. This allows him to learn from others the skills necessary for such a hike. Furthermore, he appears to be a genuinely nice guy. He strove never to use bad language and respected other hikers. His attitude paid off and he had a wonder trip, telling his readers about this journey and the people he met along the way. 

If interested in the Appalachian Trail, I recommend Lugo’s book.  An excellent storyteller, the book is a delight. 

Gary D. Schmidt, Okay for Now  

Book cover for "Okay for New"

(New York: Clarion Books, 2011), 360 pages with chapter illustrations.

I have enjoyed many of Schmidt’s young adult books (Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, The Wednesday Wars, Orbiting Jupiter , and Trouble). His books deal with serious issues facing adolescence boys and the larger society.  He reminds me of a male version of C. Lee McKenzie, who also takes on such topics with adolescent boys and girls. Lizzie Bright deals with racial issues in early 20th Century, Maine. The Wednesday Wars are played out against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. Orbiting Jupiter deals with teenage parents. And all the books deal with boys coming of age. I met Schmidt a couple of times when I was in West Michigan as he taught in the English Department at Calvin University. I had not heard of this book, but learned about it from Kelly’s blog and immediately picked up a copy at my local library. 

Doug Swieteck is a young teenager who adores the New York Yankees, especially Joe Pepitone. The middle brother steals a hat of his that was a gift from Pepitone.  It’s the 1960s. His oldest brother serves in Vietnam.  While things don’t look good for him, it gets worse.  He moves with his parents and older brother from Long Island to a town in Upstate New York when his father accepted a job in a paper mill. He doesn’t want to move and his first impression with his new town are not good.  

In time Swieteck makes a friend, Lil Spicer. He takes a job with her father delivering groceries on Saturdays. The people in the town seem weird to him, but he gradually warms up to them. He also becomes enamored with the paintings of John James Audubon and with the guidance of a man who works at the library, learns how to paint. 

Swieteck has much to overcome. His father steals from him, taking the salary from his Saturday job (even though he hides the tips he receives). His father’s friend, who got him the job at the meal, is a jerk and seems to egg his father on. The young Swieteck becomes a friend with the manager at his father’s mill at a company picnic. He introduces him to horseshoes, which Swieteck excels. 

For a kid who seem to feel the entire town hated him, Swieteck has amazing experiences. Though one of the clients whom he delivers groceries to, he finds himself on Broadway in her play makes its debut (and Joe Pepitone is in the audience). Also, by the end of the book, things with his family seem to have improved, despite the fact his oldest brother has returned from Vietnam without his legs. But things are not all well, as his friend Lil suffers for an illness that threatens her life. 

This is an easy read. Growing up is seldom easy as Schmidt shows. But a few helpful adults, hard work, and the right attitude can make a difference.

Joseph Heller, Catch 22 

Book cover for Catch 22

(New York: Simon Schuster, 1961), 443 pages, Audible edition (2017), 19 hours and 58 minutes. 

I don’t know why I never read this book. I’ve seen the movie several times, but it’s been 15 or 20 years since I watched it last. The book, I think, funnier than the movie, which is hilarious. As this is a novel about war, it’s dark humor. 

Yossarian (I love that name) is a bombardier on an island in the Mediterranean. The commander of his unit keeps raising the numbers of flights required before they can return to the states. Feeling he’ll die in combat, and that he has already flown more missions than others in the operation theater, he tries everything to avoid making more flights.  His fear is heightened by the death of Snowden, a tail gunner on his plane. Yossarian comforts him and bandages up his leg, telling him he’ll be fine, only to discover a mortal wound under his flight jacket. The incident haunts Yossarian. Yet, when Yossarian is offered a deal to go back to the states, he can’t accept. The deal would be dishonest and not be fair to his fellow airmen. 

This book has a legion of characters such as Major Major (named by his father as a joke) who becomes a major. One can imagine the confusion. Doc Daneeka, the flight surgeon, hates flying and bargains to be added to the flight rooster without flying. This allows him to receive his flight pay. His gig works well until the plane he’s supposedly on is shot down. The army declares him dead. His wife is notified and finds herself the recipient of all kinds of life insurance and burial benefits. She and the kids move without leaving a forwarding address while the doctor is stuck on a war theater without pay.

And then there is the dead man’s stuff in Yossarian’s tent who took off on a flight without having been officially received in the unit. His flight crashed and no one can touch his things since he wasn’t in the unit. And then there is Milo and ex-PFC Wintergreen, who run black market operations who trade with anyone, including the enemy. While they are making a profit (and everyone has a share in Milo’s operations), there are also missteps as when Milo buys all the Egyptian cotton one year and then is unable to unload it. 

There’s plenty of sex in the story. The whores in Rome, cause some of the airmen to fall in love. One, Nately, dies in a plane crash. Yossarian has the unpleasant task of telling “Nately’s whore” of his demise. She, in turn, tries to kill Yossarian, and continues to try to kill him to the end of the book.

There are also relationships between airmen and nurses. The wives of their superiors are also tempting, especially the ignored young wife of training officer back in the states who insisted on drilling the cadets every Sunday afternoon. Violence and sex go together in the book. One officer rapes a maid, then throws her out of a window to her death. Yossarian confronts him as the sirens wail in the distance. Expecting him to be arrested for murder, the MPs march by the dead woman on the sidewalk and up the stairs. They arrest Yossarian for being in Rome without a proper pass. The book is filled with such surprising twists. of events. 

The book, obviously reflecting on the anti-communist sentiment of the McCarthy era, has intelligent officers trying to trap everyone into confessions, from the airmen to the chaplain. Milo, with his syndicate, displays a weird loyalty to capitalism. He will do anything for a profit, including lifting morphine from the plane’s first aid kits. And why he tries to create his own monopoly, even buying and selling products among his own businesses, he doesn’t want to deal with other monopolies as that wouldn’t be capitalistic.

The incompetent rises to the top, such as the special services officer, who oversees entertainment and such pushing out the general over aviation to claim the spot.  Absurdity wins.  The classic “Catch 22” holds that you can’t fly if you’re crazy, but if you claim to be crazy, you can’t be crazy because only a crazy person would fly over enemy territory.  Of course, in the book, everyone is crazy which drives Yossarian crazier.  The book ends with Orr, who everyone thought had died when his plane crashed, is found washed up in Sweden, a neutral county.  Of course, no one knows how Orr make it from the Mediterranean to northern Europe, but it’s enough to give Yossarian hope that he too can make it. 

This is a classic book which I had a used copy for decades. I have no idea why it took me so long to get around to read and listen. I recommend it with a warning. The contains dark humor. Adult situations are numerous and there’s plenty of violence within the pages. The later should come as no surprise as the book is about war. The writing is amazing. Heller can twist a sentence and a delight to witness.