The Call of the Mountain

The Call of the Mountain

I walk the trails that lead through these mountains and I feel our ancestors that walked these trails before me. I hear the echoes of the birds in flight calling their mates from the other side of the mountains from days gone by. I can hear echoes in time of bears feasting upon the fruits that the mountain gives to its woodland creatures.

I hear the voice of the Cherokee who were the first to speak to the mountain and called this place home. I feel the winds that have blown through these mountains and carried the voices of the early settlers through its valleys to the tips of its chimney tops.

This land we call the Appalachians is a gift from God for His creations. It is up to us to talk to the mountain and keep it company for it has been there for us in good and bad times, keeping us fed, and blessed with its abundance of riches. We have quenched our thirst in the streams that come from the winter snows on its caps and, with the power of her fast-moving streams coming from its highest points,

We powered our mills to grind the grain that makes our bread that we farmed in the valleys around our beautiful mountains. Our ancestors settled within the borders of these mountains we call the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. We have not only worked this land to feed our families, we have also bled from our hearts into the very dirt and rocks that make up these mountains.

We have borne our children and buried our parents within its soil. It is not just a tourist attraction for those that live in distant places, this is where we call home. The history and the ministry that lay before us in these mountains is our destiny and we would have it no other way, for we are mountain strong.

Good by Debby

God is calling a generation of people home. I see so many of those that I admired and watched on a flickering screen in the dark movie theater or on my television set in my own home. He is also calling home those that I have never seen before. I feel the loss of every single man woman and child that has been called to our father side whether I knew them are not.

It is only human nature to hurt so much more when you feel that you knew them. Family members or people that you grew up with seem to hurt the most. I have always had a special bond in my heart for those that made the movies that gave me my escape from the harsh realities of daily life, almost as if they were part of my family.

Losing Carrie Fisher was a heartfelt blow to me. Now losing her mother Debbie Reynolds has torn a chunk from my heart, because I actually spoke with her and touched her hand. She was so giving a person and I hope I don't bore you but I would like to share a little of the story of our meeting.

It wasn't a one-on-one meeting where we were having coffee and cake or anything like that. It wasn't ultra-personal at all. Debbie Reynolds had come to pigeon Forge to announce that she was opening a movie memorabilia Museum and did a show at a theater in Pigeon Forge. After the show she stayed around and talked about the fact that she had purchased amazing amounts of movie memorabilia when the studios were closing their back lots and liquidating all of their assets. She also signed autographs and spoke to each one of us that had stayed personally. If you've never seen the news clips of what Debbie Reynolds purchasing her collection at those auctions when the big studios were closing down their back lots and liquidating their assets, let me just tell you two things that are so rare that she had it boggles my mind. She had Carmen Miranda tutti-frutti hat and she also had the one-of-a-kind ruby slippers that were made with the toes curled up like elf style ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz.

Not only did she have rare Hollywood treasures, she was also a rare Hollywood treasure. You see Debbie Reynolds was not only a part of the royalty of Hollywood she also was an admirer. She could step back and look at the movies and appreciate everything about them like I can or you can. She even tried to get the heads of the studios to open up the studios to the public and charge admission so that the back lots and the studios could remain intact for future generations. But as progress always has, it never looks at what the past can do for us. Progress in this country is always been a bulldozer that destroys everything in its path.

Because of Debbie Reynolds many Hollywood props and even clothing that the stars wore was saved from being destroyed the museum in pigeon Forge never happened, because that's when our economy collapsed. Unfortunately Ms. Reynolds had to sell her massive collection. I only wish that she could have seen her dream come true of allowing the public to enjoy the history of movie making as much as she did.

We have come to the final scene of the movie and the life that was Debbie Reynolds and like the character she played in the unsinkable Molly Brown she has left us with a treasure of movies that will keep her alive for generations to come.

God bless the Reynolds and Fisher families and comfort them I know their pain is great, because the two people they lost were great themselves.

Goodbye Carrie Fisher

Today there was a massive disturbance in the force, as if a billion or more hearts were broken all at the same time. Princess Leia a.k.a. Carrie Fisher left the bonds of this world to become an angel in God's heaven. Those of us geeks that loved the performances of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the three best Star Wars movies had our hearts broken with the passing of the actress that will always be a legend in our hearts and minds. She did not have a varied acting career, but she was an entertainer all of her life, because she came from entertainment royalty. She was the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher who were 1940s and 50s Hollywood royalty.

I don't think there's a person that went to see the first Star Wars movie that did not fall in love with the feisty girl dressed in white with a funny hairdo, at least any of the boys that went to see it. Star Wars will be missing a huge part of its being from now on. Her last line in Star Wars, The Force Awakens, was a passing of the baton to a new generation of actors, as she said, "may the force be with you". I can't help but think and pray for her and her family and paraphrasing the line she spoke may God be with her and her family.

I own several replicas from Star Wars, from a light saber, to R2-D2 and a millennium falcon, because Star Wars was the movie that changed cinematography for a whole generation of moviegoers. The acting and the storylines in the original Star Wars trilogy was the catapult for the technological leap in moviemaking and yet that was not the thing that put it in the depths of our hearts as moviegoers, it was three young previously unknown actors that won of our hearts and not the least of them was Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia.

I regret out of all the people I have met that I never got to meet her, I did however meet her mother at a show she put on in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and I hope neither one of them would mind if I say that I actually could see both of them on the stage that night, because I saw so much of her daughter in Debbie Reynolds on that stage. After returning home from seeing Debbie Reynolds I was curious so I put on Star Wars A New Hope and I especially watched Carrie Fisher's performance and I was right, I saw a lot of Debbie Reynolds in Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia .

These people that we hold so dear that we call actors, I wonder if they know how much they mean to us, they come into our lives to give us hope and an escape from reality for a couple of hours in a darkened movie theater. I wish I had had the chance to tell Carrie Fisher thank you for all you do. I don't think most actors really understand how much they do for us and yes, I do know that they are only human beings that have their frailties and are trying to make it from one day to the next. There is always that inspiration, that glimmer of hope and the expectation of excitement that these people we call actors give us and we love them for it.

It's not as if a member of my family has died or someone that was really close to me has passed away. Even with saying that it still feels extremely sad to lose someone that has brightened my existence with the things that they had said and done and written. It's hard to imagine a world without these wonderful people that have given of their time to entertain us and give us a smile.

I have always prayed for everyone to be blessed by God and for those that need comfort or need His help, but I pray that God would bless this lady who has given us each a blessing with the work she has left and for God to comfort her family today and the days that come because no matter how much I or my fellow geeks will miss her I'm sure her family is hurting so much more. God receive this angel into your flock and comfort her mother and family who need you the most.