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| The little road to church. |
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| The Primitive Baptist Church, Cades Cove, TN |
We visited a little community on our trip called Cades Cove. Many people called the cove home at various times. Life was beautiful there...difficult...but beautiful. There are many stories originating from the cove. We got to experience a few of the places and one stuck heavier in my mind. This cove was home to three churches: two of which were Baptist and one Methodist. All three boasted cemeteries....telling the stories of lives lived there. I don't know what draws me to cemeteries but I am drawn. I guess it is just the lives and stories of people. People that have come before me and I've not known.
One church in particular drew my attention. The Primitive Baptist Church of Cades Cove. It was established early 1800's, but the building wasn't built until a little later. It radiated happiness. The church now empty once held people. People in need of hope. In need of a Savior.....just as people are today. People that worked not only for a living, but for survival. People that knew death was a part of life and still charged forward. People that enjoyed the company of others. That needed each other in a slightly different way than we do now. Though if we were honest with our selves, we'd admit we still need people in a way very similar.
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| The |
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| View from the inside.... How many children knew these windows while listening with their parents on Sunday mornings? |
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| 150 year old pews, I wonder at the lives who've sat themselves here.... |
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| And...the feet that have passed upon this floor |
While learning about the church, it was evident the sweat and tears that went into building it. The building would be a place to worship, gather, rejoice, mourn, learn and to fellowship. Walking through it was sweet. I wanted to be there....I almost wished I could turn back the hands of time.... People seem to take life serious then. God was serious, and people knew they needed Him. The evidence of needs supplied were more evident because life wasn't handed on a platter. Children were sometimes called home early in life....wives were widowed at early ages....food was sometimes scarce....illness was common. People knew at that time they needed God. What has changed?
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| The wood for the church was cut green. As a result sap dripped onto the hands that built the church, leaving the hand prints many years to follow. |
I had a friend tell me she tires of the people in her church. I understand...everyone is human and I've struggled with feelings and thoughts about others too. There's been times I've been reluctant to attend church because of conflicts. I thought I could worship my God at home...or outside, in the mountains, even better. There have been times I nearly stayed home. But God has always brought me back....I need people. I need to fellowship with others.
"Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching." -Hebrews 10:25.
I will never see eye to eye with everyone and chances are I will probably be hurt by another believer (but God is not the individual hurting me)...and if He (God) remains my focus, then everything else will pass by...including hurts. My church home can be the sanctuary that a church needs to be.
Life is not how it was during the times of yesterday. Physical survival is much easier, and medical care aids in longer lives. People don't always feel the need for God...but God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and our need for Him never changes.
Our time in the Southern Mountains was very sweet. I enjoyed that little church, but know I have a church family here at home. A family that God has placed in my life; full of people collectively in need of a Savior.....including me.
