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Minister’s
Corner
believe in Him without any
proof that His promises will
come to pass in our lives.
When you consider the vari
ous religions of the world,
they all make promises of
what will be offered to those
who follow the guidelines of
each one. However, is there
concrete evidence that estab
lishes what they claim as
being true?
In the Bible, we can read
from Genesis to the Book of
the Revelation how God
made and kept His promises
to those who followed His
instructions by faith. Once
again, unlike the religions of
the world, Jesus doesn’t re
quire His disciples to believe
blindly. Since man’s religion
can’t give credible proof of
their validity, their followers
have to exercise blind faith.
To establish further the valid
ity of Christianity to anyone
who may be questioning if it
is real or not, consider that
Christians don’t just obey by
faith. Before a person can be
come a Christian by faith,
they must first be bom again
by the Spirit of God. (Ref:
John 3:3-5)
The Apostle Paul states in
Romans 8 that God’s Spirit
bears witness with our spirits
that we are children of God.
No religion on earth can offer
this witness to their believ
ers, only Christianity. If you
are not a believer in Christ,
but you haven’t ruled it out
as just another religion, I
want to offer one more truth
to help you in your search for
truth.
After Jesus returned from the
grave and walked with His
disciples for 40 days, He was
taken into heaven according
to Acts 1 : 9. If you read
Matthew 27, you will learn
while Jesus is dying on the
cross on Calvary, He cried,
“My God, why have you for
saken Me?”. Although God
turned His back on Jesus be
cause He took upon Himself
the sins of the world, God ac
cepted Him into heaven just
43 days after His passion.
What greater proof could the
God of creation give to us as
humans to prove that Jesus
was His only begotten Son?
God accepted Him into
heaven. If Jesus were an im
poster, God would not have
accepted Him. Have you ac
cepted Jesus as the Lord of
your life? Today is a great
day to accept Him as Savior
and Lord if you have not.
Just ask the Lord to forgive
your sins and confess Jesus
as God’s Son by faith. (Ref.
Romans 10 : 9 - 10)
Asa Dockery is a resident
of Ellijay, and is a published
author who has been writing
devotions for more than 11
years. Asa is also the host of
Keys to Kingdom Living Tel
evision program.
Continued from Previous Page
Weekly
activities
dance following Pandemic
Protocols. If you would like
to attend, please visit our
website (mluuc.org) for more
information on how we are
operating during the COVID-
19 Pandemic or how to join
via Zoom.
Mountain Light UUC,
2502 Tails Creek Road (GA-
282 West), in Ellijay, wel
comes guests of all faiths,
ethnicities, and gender iden
tifications. Our worship serv
ice begins at 10:30 a.m. Join
us at 10 for fellowship.
GriefShare Sup
port Group
GriefShare continues Sun
days from 2-4 p.m. weekly
through August 8th, meeting
at King of Kings Lutheran
Church. GriefShare is a video
seminar featuring some of
the nation’s foremost experts
on grief recovery topics.
Each seminar is self-con
tained, so jumping in at any
time is allowed. The seminar
also includes a small group
discussion to allow group
participants to talk about the
content of the seminar and
about how they are dealing
with the death of their loved
one. GriefShare is available
to anyone grieving the death
of a relative or friend. Child
care is available at no charge,
and the cost of the workbook
is $15.
King of Kings is located
at 45 Appalachian Circle,
Talking Rock, GA. To re
quest additional information,
leave a message with the
church at 706-301-9191, or
search online at
https://www.kingofk-
ingslcmsga.org
Adventist Food
Pantry
open Wednesdays
The Adventist Commu
nity Services food pantry will
be open Wednesdays from 1-
2 p.m. at Jasper Seventh-Day
Adventist Church, 600 Burnt
Mountain Road, just past the
library.
Continued from Sports Page
Gartrell on the Braves’
continuing struggles
the last seven games, his
first two months were putrid.
Perhaps, his new twins are
sleeping all night finally.
Max Fried dazzled the
baseball world in 2020, but
at 5-5 with a 4.66 ERA, his
2021 is far more mediocre.
How about outfielder
Ronald Acuna Jr the super-
star?
Well... His overall num
bers look great, but he has
only three hits in his last 25
plate appearances with run
ners in scoring position. His
propensity to over-swing in
clutch situations could be
due to his youth, poor coach
ing or his resistance to
coaching instructions.
Shortstop Dansby Swan
son remains as reliable a de
fense player as anyone in
baseball, but his bat
though... He has never de
veloped into that 20 homer
and 80-100 RBI player with
the world expected. Throw
out every superfluous metric
which you want, but he is
not remotely a kin to that
kind of offensive player.
With a mundane.230 aver
age and .711 OPS, he re
mains unremarkable. Add
his total of 129 runners left
on base in 2021 to his line
and he looks more like an
other liability in the lineup.
It might take another col
umn to communicate all the
deficiencies in the manage
ment and ownership cate
gories. Suffice to say that
Atlanta is lacking there as
well. Ownership will not
spend the money to fix the
deficiencies, and if they do
open the checkbook, Alex
Anthopolous’s player
choices of late as general
manager are worse than the
bullpen.
I do not expect another
heartbreak in the playoffs
again in 2021 because with
all these liabilities, the
Braves have little chance of
playing October baseball.
THURSDAY. JULY 8. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 3B
Continued from Sports Page
“All of us have capabilities if we are willing to
put in the effort,” says long distance cyclist
the U.S.
McGhee will start along
the Montana/Canada border.
The route officially ends at
Antelope Wells, New Mex
ico. He plans to finish the
2,500 miles, plus any side-
trips, by the first week of
October.
One of his regular riding
partners, a Florida resident
also in his 60s, will join
McGhee.
The Great Divide is de
scribed at Adventurecy
cling.org as, “Nearly 2,100
miles of the route is com
posed of county, Forest
Service, Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), and
Canadian provincial un
paved roads. The remainder
is 60 miles of singletrack
trails and 950 miles of paved
roads including close to 50
miles of paved bike paths.”
McGhee said the wilder
ness aspect creates a differ
ent kind of excitement
including many areas with
no cell phone service, one
area (Flathead Valley in
Montana) with the highest
concentration of grizzly
bears in the continental
United States and another
area with more than 100
miles of no water sources.
Ironically, McGhee has
chosen this off-road adven
ture for its safety - as com
pared to road biking.
“I want to be offroad,” he
said in an interview at his
Jasper home in late June. “I
want to be away from cars.
Too many cyclists are dying,
including me almost in 2017
[he was hit by a car in Texas
on the perimeter ride].”
McGhee attributes the
rising number of cycling-car
accidents to increased tex
ting.
With his vast experience,
McGhee makes no bones
that cycling beats hiking.
“For an activity, cycling
is wonderful. You see a lot
more, including areas that
most people won’t ever see
and it feels good going
downhill, not like hiking
[where long downhills actu
ally increase joint and mus
cle fatigue].”
McGhee said the route,
which crosses the Continen
tal Divide 28 times, is not
overly technical (requiring
advanced mountain biking
skills). He described his Pri
ority belt-driven (no chain)
internal gearbox, bike with
shock as a good “touring
bike.” It is also built to han
dle the 60 pounds or so of
camping gear and supplies.
Generally along the route,
cyclists will cross roads or
come to areas where they
can re-stock supplies every
three days or so, but there
are some longer stretches
without any habitation.
McGhee noted that both
he and his friend are in their
mid-60s and he doesn’t con
sider himself an extreme ath
lete.
“Mentally I know I can
do it; physically I am pretty
confident I can make it,” he
said. “I have just been damn
McGhee, an avid musi
cian, will be packing his
ukulele all 2,500 miles down
the spine of the United
States.
lucky over the years [to stay
healthy] and I have worked
at it.”
Whether it’s cycling
through the wilderness or
something much less ex
treme, McGhee encouraged
others to see what they can
do. While acknowledging
that 2,500 miles of back-
country cycling is not a start
ing place, he said, “People
always say, ‘I wish I could
do that. ’ And they can if they
want it bad enough. All of us
have capabilities if we are
willing to put in the effort.
This is what makes me tick.
It doesn’t take a physical
[model], obviously I’m not.
It’s a mental thing.”
You can find regular up
dates from McGhee on his
blog which can be found
through his Facebook page
at Mike McGhee
Continued from Previous Page
Sports
History
1 win. The Americans got all
the offense they needed on a
pair of first inning homers.
The first was a leadoff shot
by Cleveland Indians short
stop, Lou Boudreau, while
the second came on a two-
out, two-run blast by Detroit
Tigers first baseman, Rudy
York. New York Yankees
ace, Spud Chandler, tossed
four scoreless innings of
two-hit ball in earning the
win. The victory was ce
mented by Detroit reliever,
A1 Benton, who tossed the
final five frames.
July 7th:
On this day in 1959, the
American League faced the
National League in the All-
Star game at Pittsburgh’s
Forbes Field. This marked
the first time that the league
attempted the two-game ex
periment for the midsummer
classic. San Francisco Giants
center fielder, Willie Mays,
drove in Milwaukee Braves
right fielder, Hank Aaron, on
an RBI-triple in the bottom
of the eighth. Aaron’s run
proved to be the game-win
ner as the Nationals
squeaked by the Americans,
5-4. The second game took
place a month later in Los
Angeles, where the Ameri
can League got its revenge.
July 8th:
On this day in 1965,
Houston Astros leadoff man
and second baseman, Joe
Morgan, became the first
player in franchise history to
collect six hits in a game.
Morgan torched the Milwau
kee Braves with a pair of
homers, including a two-run
shot in the fifth, and four
runs. Despite his efforts, the
Braves handed the Astros a
9-8, 12-inning loss on Frank
Bolling’s walk-off single.
July 9th:
On this day in 1946, the
major league All-Star game
returned following its one-
year cancellation. This con
test was held at Boston’s
Fenway Park and it was a
one-sided affair as the Amer
ican League demolished the
National League, 12-0. Red
Sox left fielder, Ted
Williams, hit a pair of
homers before finishing four
for four with five RBIs and
four runs. Williams’ stat line
included a three-run shot
with two outs in the bottom
of the eighth. Cleveland In
dians pitcher, Bob Feller,
earned the win by giving up
two hits over three scoreless
innings.
July 10 th:
On this day in 1990,
Chicago’s Wrigley Field
hosted the All-Star Game,
where the American League
notched a 2-0 shutout. Six
different pitchers contributed
to the blanking, including
Kansas City Royals ace, Bret
Saberhagen, who had two
scoreless relief innings to get
the win. The National
League’s two hits were the
fewest ever by either team in
midsummer classic history.
Texas Rangers second base-
man, Julio Franco, drove in
both American League runs
on a seventh inning double
and was named the Most
Valuable Player.
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To have your ad placed
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Monday thru Saturday
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