This past Saturday, Sandy and I hosted the first of four Open Houses we’re doing in October. To accommodate our large church family, we decided to spread it out over the course of a whole month. So, we divided up the adult Sunday School classes, giving each an “assigned” Saturday to visit us. Those not in an adult class—or those not able to attend on their designated day—were encouraged to plug in on the Saturday of their choice.As pastor and wife, Sandy and I have become quite accustomed to hosting these gatherings for our church families through the years. We haven’t done them every year, but we almost have, hosting about 20 of them during our 22 years in pastoral ministry. But doing multiple open houses is a first for us. In our previous four pastorates, we never found it necessary to attempt that.
My wife obviously has the gift of hospitality. She’s a great cook and homemaker and loves to entertain and make
people feel welcome in our home. I am blessed to have her. She always cooks all the food for these events. My main job—as well as that of our son Jordan when he was a boy living at home—is to taste test the various culinary delights. It’s a hard job, but somebody has to do it.Sandy and I have always felt it’s important to offer opportunities like this for our church family. We want everyone in our congregation to feel welcome in our home. And these fellowship
opportunities are a means by which we can say thanks to our church family for loving & supporting us as you do. It’s also a means to help us get to know better the many members of our flock.Interestingly, leading up to the month of open houses, we were having some work done at our home. Ronnie Dillon had a crew working on repairing our 30-year old wooden deck on the back of the house. Some of the boards were warped and it was sagging in a few places. We also discovered some boards that were deteriorating. Well, you know how it is when you
get into a project like that. The more you start repairing, the more you see that needs repairing. But I’m so glad we got it all finished and painted in time for the open house. I was telling Herb Setliff, Jr., one of Ronnie’s carpenters, that I was really glad to get this project completed, because I would hate to see the deck collapse and one of our older ladies fall through. Herb told me, “I think you need to worry more about the deck collapsing under your weight than under the weight of some little lady.” Ouch!I’ve got an even better story. There was a little girl at open house who saw a framed photo of my son & his wife on a table. She asked me, “Is that your grandson?” Ouch, again! But it gets even better. The same little girl later asked Sandy, “Is your son still living?” Whoa! I think it’s time to sell our house & move into Roman Eagle.
One of the nice things we've been able to do with the open houses is offer a shuttle service from the church for those needing a ride. Butch Cassada has helped coordinate this ministry for us. This past Saturday, virtually the entire Ruth Martin Sunday School class rode on the bus together to our home. They came in unison & the left in unison. They were a lively, 
fun group & they had a big time. Later, when they were all ready to go, they gathered in the living room, waiting for the bus to return. I told them the room looked like a Greyhound terminal.Some people have asked Sandy & me about the small metal sign out in front of our home. It’s a recent addition to the landscaping. Since moving back to Virginia—a state with such a sense of history—we had been thinking about giving our residence a name (a la Washington’s Mount Vernon & Jefferson’s Monticello). Believing our home was provided for us by the Lord, we decided to name it “God’s Provision”, but we wanted to give the title a unique twist.
In 2006, Sandy and I spent a few weeks abroad in Northern Ireland. Like many Americans, our roots are Scotch-Irish
(i.e., Scottish protestants who migrated to Ulster [Northern Ireland] and finally came to the United States, settling primarily in the mountains of Appalachia). So we decided to find out how to say “God’s Provision” in the dialect known as Ulster Gaelic. Sandy undertook this project with a great deal of devotion, researching it on the Internet and communicating via email with a number of people in Ireland. The result of her research was the expression “Solathar De” (Pronounced sul-a-her day). So now, when you see that sign in front of our home, you’ll know what it means and you’ll understand the history behind it.Well, there’s one open house down and three more to go. We’re truly looking forward to the rest of the month and we hope to see you there. In the meantime, I need to take a break from blogging and hurry back to sampling more food. I want to make sure it’s safe for everyone’s consumption.
Pastor Danny
