Church today

Church at Trinity, Milton was great today.

Wonderful music. Prayer C and my sermon, which I already posted.

But for the postlude, our two remarkable musicians--Michael Ford on piano and Jordan the vocalist, agreed to do, at my request, "Take me home, country roads."

Jordan invited people to sing along if they knew the words and almost everybody did.

I also told folks about West Virginia and growing up there.

West Virginia passed Mississippi as the poorest state.

It is also the third worse state in the union regarding level of education--though there are a host of good colleges and universities there.

My home town went from 500 people to 128 last year.

I grew up in MACK-dowell county. Outsiders call it McDowell, but those who live there accent the MACK.

My father had an 8th grade education but my mother had a Master's degree in education.

I have 3 post graduate degrees.

My grandmother lived on top of a hill in Conklintown, a mile up a dirt road.

I didn't go to school with black kids until my senior year when the Black school sent over 2 smart girls and 3 male football/basketball players because the next year (1966!) the schools merged.

Though I lived further south than Richmond, Virginia, was in the mountains and got tons of snow each year.

And "Take me home, country roads" only mentions two locations--the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River--both of which are in Virginia, not West Virginia.

That's what it's like to be from West Virginia.