Category: Children

Alabama, Children, Economics, Healthcare, Home, Justice, Poverty, Story

Coalition Launches NO KID WITHOUT A BED Initiative

Gary Furr

The Alabama Coalition for Healthy Mothers & Children and Perry County School System Launch NO CHILD WITHOUT A BED. Community partners seek donations, sponsors, and volunteers to help provide safe sleeping spaces for children and strengthen family well-being across Perry County The Alabama Coalition for Healthy Mothers & Children (ACHMC), in partnership with the Perry County School System, is proud to announce the launch of the Perry County No Child Without a Bed project , a countywide program to by provide beds for children who do not have one. The initiative was strengthened by a generous grant of $20,000 by the Mark Cuban Foundation.  Mr. Cuban … Continue reading Coalition Launches NO KID WITHOUT A BED Initiative

America, Children, Citizenship, Culture, Ethics, Family, Grace, Hope, hope, humanity, Leadership, spirituality, Story1 Comment

Glimmers of Hope

Gary Furr

Glimmers of Hope Sometimes. I stand back and think of how strange this moment is. We had a car sale on the lawn of the White House. People are screaming at their representatives at town hall meetings. A man who said he could make the government run better got on a stage with a chainsaw to encourage us somehow. I have abandoned arguing on Facebook with anyone. Well occasionally I get sucked in like we all do, but it seems as though we cannot decide who the real adults are. Adults are not acquitting themselves too well at the present … Continue reading Glimmers of Hope

Children, Faith, Family, Hope, hope, humanity, Spiritual disciplines, spirituality, Suffering, Theology3 Comments

Turning the Page to a New Day

Gary Furr

Some people can look at the big picture and take it in. Others of us have to plant down on the earth and focus on digging the one hole that is ours to do. When you’re trying to get it together, simple is best. You can’t fix the entire universe, but you can fix a healthy breakfast. You can’t answer the question of suffering humanity, but you can lend a hand to one person hurting. We live in time. It’s different for each of us. But what we do with the hand dealt us will finally determine how the story … Continue reading Turning the Page to a New Day

Children, Family, Grace, Home, Hope, hope, Love, Mothere's Day, Parenting, Poetry

Stay Connected

Gary Furr

Every Mother’s Day for the last dozen years of my ministry as a pastor, we’d combine Mother’s Day with Graduate Recognition. This is because our college students ended earlier than high school students and if we wanted to see them all before they went to Cancun or their senior trip, we’d better get it done. So, oddly, we celebrated Mother’s Day (which is lauded above Father’s Day). For all of my childhood, I figured Mother’s Day was in the Bible and we often got a sermon on the woman described in Proverbs 31. This was the only time we heard … Continue reading Stay Connected

Americana, Children, Country Music, Death, Family, Folk, folk music, Gary Furr music, Grief, hope, Memory, Music, Songwriting, spirituality, Story, Theology, Theology and Life, Tragedy3 Comments

From Here to Okay

Gary Furr

This song speaks for itself. It came to me during the summer. The hook was a quote from a news story at a disaster scene, but my mind was on people I loved and knew who lost children. Their stories are the most courageous I have ever met. That they still have any faith at all after such losses is perhaps the closest to real miracles we ever see. It’s such a long, hard road. In my vocation I traipse alongside unimaginable losses, but children are the hardest from my perspective. It is the loss of love so intense, the … Continue reading From Here to Okay