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New Year’s Eve drops

“Happy New Year!” we declare every Jan. 1. We are all familiar with the “dropping of the ball” in New York City. We have watched many years between pizza, chips, and mini naps! However, I did not realize how many unique drops there are in Pennsylvania. Dillsburg does a “Pickle Drop.” That fits the name. McVeytown does an ice cream cake drop, and of course Mechanicsburg does a “wrench drop” - get it, mechanic and wrench? Lebanon does a “bologna drop” and Lewistown has done a “Hartley Chip drop.” My own town, Burnham, where rail wheels are made, used to do a ...

Suffering is part of God’s plan

Good morning, friends. This morning, I have a dear one on my heart, as she goes for her chemo treatment. It’s done my heart good to see her courage through this time of suffering. She is an inspiration to many of us. Suffering...part of life. We wish it weren’t so. Nobody likes to suffer pain or loss. Though our pain is different in many ways, it’s all the same aching of our hearts for wholeness. We suffer the loss of a job, a marriage, a child, our home, our health, a friendship...all these things leave gaping holes in our hearts. We don’t like it, nor do we welcome suffering. ...

Breakfast is always on the menu in Bev’s Kitchen

Hello from the kitchen! It is hard to believe it’s the end of January already. What have you been baking and cooking during these cold days and snow squalls? It’s hard for me to call an inch of snow a snowstorm because when I was young, we had real snow storms. We measured snow by the foot and also how fast our sleds could race down the ridge. We would come in from sledding to find mugs of hot chocolate and toast waiting for us. Simple times. Also, while growing up we weren’t allowed to go to school without eating breakfast. Eggs, scrapple, pancakes, toast or oatmeal. I now use ...

Drama continued into early 1970s

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the delays and lack of progress in getting a new library building started. There’d be one step forward and two steps back. In reading articles from the Sentinel published in 1970, it seems that no one wanted to be financially responsible for the library building. This in turn created lots of ongoing drama. And even though the Lewistown Jaycees offered financial support, no progress was made. The Jaycees, or Junior Chamber, is a worldwide community of young active people aged 18-40. The goal is to provide leadership training through community ...

The lifespan of a library book

Weeding (the process of removing books from a library collection) is and has always been a major part of maintaining a library. The library continually withdraws items from the collection, basing its decisions on a number of factors, including publishing date, frequency of circulation, community interest and availability of newer or more valid materials. Items dealing with local history are an exception, as are certain classics and award-winning children’s books. Fiction that was once popular but no longer in demand and non-fiction books that are no longer useful are candidates for ...

The Kingdom of God has come near

Mark 1:14-20 The Kingdom of God has come near. That’s a message we all need to hear. The reign of God is near. No longer can we act as if God doesn’t matter in our world . . . No longer can we act as if justice and righteousness are irrelevant today . . . No longer can we act as if life has no meaning and that there is no hope. The Kingdom of God is nearer than it has ever been before. Did you know there are serious scientists who are saying to us that we are on the cusp of changes in our world that over the next three decades will render our world unrecognizable to ...