Anyone interested in creating devotions through story, song, art, photography—or a combination of these mediums—is welcome to attend a free seminar from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 at Ovid Community Church, 793 East 600 South, Anderson, Indiana in the family-life center.
     The workshop is facilitated by writers Donna Cronk and Debbie McCray. This is the second devotions workshop they have produced for the church. Donna is a member of the church, while Debbie attended Ovid when her family called Pendleton home before they relocated to Ohio.
    Along with several speakers, there will be a break for refreshments and fellowship, along with door prizes. Senior Pastor Keith Wooden will speak briefly in “casting the vision” for the church Facebook page’s 2020 devotional theme of God Sightings: Finding God in Our Everyday Lives.
    Those who can stay following the teaching sessions are welcome to visit informally with speakers and with one another about their own devotional writing and expressions.
    RSVPs are requested to assess seating and refreshment needs. Direct those and questions to Donna Cronk at 317-224-7028 or email: [email protected]. 
​
   Meet the speakers:    

      JILL BROWN of Pendleton has been singing in church since age 3. In high school, a love of poetry started her writing verse, which has led to awards and the sale of some greeting cards. Jill wrote and performed a song for her high school graduation, but began song writing in earnest as a member of the band, First Light. Jill writes songs with her husband, Rick, which they record in their home recording studio.  
     The mom of two began writing devotions after attending the first Ovid devotions writing workshop in fall 2018. Because music is such an integral part of her life, she often integrates songs into her devotions.
      In her session called “Note Worthy: Incorporating Songs in Devotions,” Jill will share some of her music and discuss how songs can be inspiration for, or be, devotions. 
​     She performs regularly with the Ovid praise team.  ​

​       DEBBIE McCRAY of Springboro, Ohio, keeps busy looking for and finding the God stories in her day-to-day life and volunteer commitment as ministry leader for Cancer Hope.  
    Over the past few years, Debbie and her husband, Tom, have been intentional in doing things on their bucket list. Those items involve travelling by car and hiking in God’s beautiful creation. Pictures from their 2019 trip to Maine will be shared in a devotional format. 

      DEANNA FIRST of Anderson is a nearly lifelong artist who draws and paints.
    Self-taught, Deanna enjoys playing with different media. She began Bible-art journaling in 2015.
  In 2018 she started writing devotions, combining them with art.  She writes for the Ovid Community Church Facebook page and recently created her own Facebook page, Devotions and art from Deanna.
     She will speak on “Devotions Through Art.” Deanna will show examples of the art she enjoys creating.
​    DONNA CRONK of Pendleton has been a professional writer most of her adult life with a career in community-newspaper journalism.
​She is author of two women’s Christian fictional novels, “Sweetland of Liberty Bed & Breakfast,” and “That Sweet Place: At Home in the Heartland.”
          She is in her tenth year of Bible Study Fellowship and co-leads a life group at Ovid. Donna started writing devotions for the Ovid Facebook page two years ago and now considers looking for God stories a regular part of her faith walk. Her topic is “Devotions Through Story.” 

Saturday, Feb. 15:
9 a.m.: Welcome, introductions, prayer
9:10 a.m.: Casting the Vision for 2020 Ovid devotions …. Pastor Keith Wooden
9:20 a.m.: Note Worthy: Incorporating Songs in Devotions … Jill Brown
9:40 a.m. Devotions Through Photography … Debbie McCray
10:10 a.m.: Break: informal fellowship, refreshments.
10:30 a.m.: Devotions Through Art … Deanna First
10:40 a.m.: Devotions Through Story … Donna Cronk
10:55 a.m.: Door prizes.
10:57 a.m.: Benediction in song … Jill Brown
11 a.m.: Programming ends but everyone is invited to grab another cup of coffee and stay around for an informal time discussing devotions, chatting with presenters, and each other.
11:30 a.m.: Dismiss. 
​  Want to attend the free workshop? Mark your calendars for 9-11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 at Ovid Community Church Family Life Center, 793 East 600 South, Anderson, Indiana.                                                                                                 Photo above: Workshop facilitators Debbie McCray, left, and Donna Cronk. to RSVP or for more information, email Donna at [email protected] or call 317-224-7028.

January is not an easy month.

I don't mean the weather, as it has been forgettable, at least when compared with past first months of various years.

Take 42 years ago today, the Blizzard of 1978. I worked in Connersville at the time at the little Western & Southern Insurance office as the clerk.

My job was to collect deposits and do the bookkeeping for all the agents' collections as well as wait on customers by collecting their money and taking deposits to the bank every day. It wasn't a great job but I was glad to have it.

It was a late Sunday afternoon or early evening when Brian called to tell me if I wanted to get out the next morning, I should come to Liberty and stay at my brother and sister-in-law Tim and Jeannie's home. A blizzard was on the way.

It seems I looked out not long after that only to see snow coming down hard. I took his advice, threw clothes in a suitcase and headed to Liberty. I think I spent the next two weeks on my brother's couch. Pretty sure I didn't make it to work for a day or two or more. But I made it a lot sooner than if I'd stayed out on the farm.

There have been other difficult Januarys; lots of them, in my years on this planet. When we lived in Fountain County in the 1980s the snow would get so deep and high that I had to go into Attica where I worked and stay for a week or more at a time with my boss / friend, Sue Barnhizer Anderson. I often have wondered what I would have done had she not been the boss. Would I have kept my job if I couldn't have gotten in for a week or more?

There was the worst January of my life, when Sam was diagnosed with a heart defect at Riley Hospital as a baby. And the year before that, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in the sky, and I was home from work with morning sickness.

This January has been drab of weather, but but that same weather has not been threatening. There has been no piled snow and the snow shovel hasn't come out.

Things can change on a dime, and who knows what February will bring. I'm just grateful that the bulk of my January projects is behind me --a couple hundred or more calls or contacts for our annual community directory we call Answer Book; two large feature stories for our HOPE edition; her magazine wrapped up and off to the press.

Add to that training on new computer software, a family funeral, and some sad news from a friend, yes, all that going on in the nation's capitol, and I can tell you that this January isn't one I'll miss when the calendar flips.

Still, we press on. 

I'll check back in soon with information about what I'm looking forward to about February, and how that concerns you! But for today, I'll leave it there.