Introduction
Every day should be a day of prayer (1 Thess. 5:17). Did you know, dear reader, that last Thursday was the National Day of Prayer? My desktop calendar informed me. If interested, you could visit online the National Day of Prayer: 2026 National Prayer. My daily prayers include praying that this nation will humble itself before God and return to the biblical worldview, centered in Christ. Only then will God uplift the nation.
Last Thursday's prayerful adventures began with the final roof inspection and estimate for the Gordon homeplace. It concluded with our niece's uplifting graduation from Walters State Community College!
Final Roof Inspection for the Gordon Homeplace
In January 2000, my wife's parents, her sister, and our niece moved into their new house, which is 3.5 miles away from our current home. (We moved into our new house on 6/7/2003.) The roof, over 26 years old, needs to be replaced. According to my sister-in-law, in September 2024, her father allowed a roofing business, at the time replacing a roof for a neighbor's house, to inspect his roof. The inspection recommended a new roof. My father-in-law received an estimate, but he didn't follow up. Since Paw Gordon passed away recently, arranging a new roof fell upon the family. I had already arranged two inspections on Friday, 5/1, and Saturday, 5/2, and received two estimates.
The 12/23/2024 article focused on the new roof at the homeplace in Hawkins County, Tennessee. Last year, the article from 4/9/2025 was about our new roof. Lusk Roofing & Guttering Co. had done excellent work replacing both roofs.
Last Thursday, Arlie Lusk, owner of Lusk Roofing & Guttering Co., finally had time to provide the third and final roof inspection and estimate for the Gordon homeplace. It was good to see him again. When I arrived at 1 PM, Arlie was already coming down from the roof! (I understood that he would get there around 1:10 PM.) A cordial and conversant gentleman, Arlie and I are the same age. Aside from discussing the roof, Arlie and I caught up on life and talked as if we had known each other for decades. I was back at our house around 2 PM with enough time to change into a suit and tie for our niece's graduation.
Around 2:30 PM, I received an email with the estimate for the new roof. As I suspected, Arlie's estimate was lower than the two previously received estimates for the same quality of work. The Gordon homeplace is on the roofing schedule. The day to replace the roof will soon be determined.
Niece's Walters State Community College Graduation
The 70th commencement for the Walters State Community College Health and Science graduates was last Thursday at 4:30 PM. My wife, the “long-suffering” Mrs. Appalachian Irishman, had left work early to attend with me. The ceremony was at Walters State Community College's Great Smoky Mountains Expo Center in White Pine, Tennessee. The location is about eight miles southwest of the main campus in Morristown.
From the house, we left in my vintage 2006 Nissan Frontier at 3:05 PM. The 47.5-mile drive took around 50 minutes. (We traveled from I-640 East to I-40 East to I-81 North and onto US-25E.) A text from my youngest brother indicated that his family and he were in section P. We found them after navigating through the crowd of attendees. The sister of my brother's wife was also in attendance.
The college president, during his welcome and opening comments, stated that 735 graduates were in the class. The ceremony was scheduled for two hours. Thankfully, the guest speaker was succinct, speaking only nine minutes. The presentation of diplomas took less time than expected. (Some graduates did not attend the ceremony.)
Near the end of the presentation, Ariel, our niece, the oldest daughter of my youngest brother and his wife, walked across the stage to receive her diploma! She graduated Summa Cum Laude, one of 120 graduates to graduate “with the highest praise.”
At 5:23 PM, with magnification at level 10 on my cell phone camera, I photographed our niece as she started walking off the stage. (I tried to capture the moment when she faced us, but I missed it by a fraction of a second.)
In another two minutes, the graduation ceremony concluded. It was a moment of honor and pride for the family to witness our niece walk across the stage.
Previously, on Sunday, April 19, our niece was one of several graduating students honored during Walters State Community College's annual honors banquet, which celebrates academic excellence. The web page “Walters State Honors All-Star Students,” Walters State Community College, News, 5/5/2026, states that Ariel Ferrell of Rogersville won the Natural Science Chemistry Award. Further, the column “WSCC honors three Hawkins County students.” The Rogersville Review, Weekend, Staff Report, 5/9-10/2026, reports, “A handful of Hawkins County students were among the honorees when Walters State Community College celebrated academic excellence at its annual honors banquet April 19.” The Natural Science Chemistry Award went to Ariel Ferrell, Rogersville. The following image and caption are from the news article:
After the ceremony, my brother and his family, my wife and I, and my brother's wife's sister drove separately southwest to the Captain's Galley in Dandridge. (For us, it was roughly a 13.5-mile backtrack along I-81 South to I-40 West.)
The Captain's Galley specializes in fresh seafood. For an appetizer, my brother ordered raw oysters on the half shell, which he apparently loves. His youngest daughter bravely sampled a bite without turning green afterward! The rest of us declined.
After dining, the seven of us stood outside and conversed for a while. The weather was sunny, breezy, and a bit cool. Before leaving, I asked our two nieces to accompany me to my truck. First, I turned on my radio station, WMWF Classic Rock Radio. (It is a collection of songs from my Apple iPod connected to the truck radio.) The Scorpions' song “Wind of Change” happened to be playing. The song's inspiration came from the Music Peace Festival in Moscow, Russia, on August 12 and 13, 1989. The festival preceded the fall of the Berlin Wall later that year on November 9, 1989. The Scorpions released the song, included in their album Crazy World, on November 6, 1990. Just over a year later, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) fell on December 25, 1991, when the Soviet flag flew over the Moscow Kremlin for the last time. Less than three years later, my wife and I moved to Moscow, Russia, on October 1, 1994, to begin our five-year, cross-cultural Christian missionary work. The Scorpion's “Wind of Change,” thus, has a deep meaning for me, as I explained briefly to my nieces. Upcoming birthday gifts for our two nieces will include selected songs from my radio station, WMWF Classic Rock Radio. Young folks need to be educated in truly classic rock music from the 1960s to the early 1990s. That's my opinion. Please feel free to make it your own!
While still near my truck, I gave Ariel her graduation present from my wife and me. I also gave her younger sister a collection of recent editions of The Rogersville Review newspaper, which we had been saving. Sports section articles about Cherokee High School track and field competitions included Lilliana's name and her athletic performances.
My wife and I love our nieces, and we are proud of their scholastic and athletic accomplishments. More importantly, we rejoice that they are two fine Christian young ladies, raised by godly parents. Their futures will be lived in service to the kingdom of God.
Conclusion
Remember, dear reader, that every day should be a day of prayer (1 Thess. 5:17). Did you pray last Thursday during the National Day of Prayer? Did you pray today? Are you praying at this moment?
Dear God, we adore you. You, the eternal and one true God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are the creator and sustainer of everything temporal. The depth of your scheme of redemption, which offers everlasting life freely through your Son, humbles and amazes us. We confess our sins to you freely, and we ask for your forgiveness as we strive to follow your will. Thank you for the salvation that you offer in Christ. Help us walk worthy of the high calling that we have in him. Please return this nation to the biblical values upon which it was founded. Further, please bless our families in your service, especially our two nieces mentioned in this article. In Christ's name, Amen.
