Times of Refreshing

I’m sitting on my back deck enjoying the sunshine and the view of the woodlands backing up to the rear of our property. Squirrels are scurrying about the forest, digging up acorns stored away last fall. The weather has warmed, the garden is budding with new spring growth, and the holly tree in my backyard is flush with red fruit.

Birds are flying about, getting ready for the mating season. Carolina wrens and finches chirp noisily like I’m interfering with their important work. I checked the wreath on one of our doors to see if the Carolina wrens have built a nest in the wreath. It happens every year. So far, no nest, but I know it’s coming!

Then, without any announcement, a large group of light grey birds descended on the holly tree in my backyard. There is fifty-plus birds drawn to the red fruit and a feeding frenzy begins.

I checked my bird-watching guide and concluded they were cedar waxwings likely migrating north. They apparently stopped for a time of refreshing and food. The birds almost stripped the holly of its fruit before they left and continued their journey.

Psalm 23:1-3 speaks of times of refreshing. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

We are all on a journey, and we all need times of refreshing. If the cedar waxwings did not stop to replenish their strength they would not reach their destination and would not finish well.

We are all refreshed in different ways. Down time, vacation, family time … just to name a few. But do not ignore the most obvious way. Spend time in and reflect upon the Word of God.

Robert Parlante

March 2017

Goodreads Book Review

Reviewer Wendy Hines just posted the following book review on goodreads.com.

Patch Town: Up From the Ashes is the second book in a series, but it's the first in the series I read. It reads as a standalone novel and at only one hundred and five pages, a relatively quick read. Martin has had his share of troubles. He had troubles growing up, then he lost his wife to breast cancer. He's now trying to get his life together, going to church, talking to God and doing the right thing. However, the past has a way of catching up.

Someone is trying to kill him. He's nearly been hit by a speeding vehicle several times, and it's never the same vehicle. It happens so fast that he can't see who is behind the wheel. Not only is this bearing heavily upon his mind, but he's not sure how the relationship with his friend Linda is going. He thinks he is ready to move things to the next level but he's still unsure. And to make matters even worse, one of his worst nightmares is rising. His daughter Ruth may have breast cancer; the same cancer that took his wife. Martin will need to get on his knees and put all of his faith into God if he hopes to get himself and Ruth out of their current predicaments alive or have peace with the results.

A quick read that has elements of suspense, family dynamics and a splash of romance mesh together into a solid and sharp read. Parlante's talent with words draws vivid images in the reader's mind that really bring it all together. Solid writing and a great novel.

Hope you enjoy the read!

Robert Parlante

A Tribute to My Friend

My friend John passed away a few days ago after a brief stay in a New Jersey hospital ICU, where he had been admitted with an infection overtaking his body. Early Saturday morning I decided to call John, not knowing he had already passed. His cell phone rang for a long time before it transferred over to a message center. I left him some words of encouragement.

“Hi John, this is Pastor Bob. Hope you’re doing well. We’re praying for you and looking forward to seeing you return home soon. I love you as a brother in Christ, continue to trust in the Lord and He will take good care of you.”

A few hours later, we received a call from his wife Joyce who told us the sad news. He had passed at about four in the morning. So much went through my thoughts following our difficult telephone conversation. It was like our lives as friends flashed before me.

John had served in Vietnam, returned home and had to deal with wartime scars. He could not drive a car and eventually needed a kidney transplant after years of dialysis.

Our lives as friends intersected about twenty years ago. I was on church staff as an associate pastor and Joyce was the church secretary. One day as I left the office to visit someone in the hospital, Joyce asked a favor. Even though John was not attending the church could I possibly find time to visit John at home? Of course, I would!

Later when I went to his house I had to get past his two dogs who immediately went into their crates upon John’s command. We talked for over an hour. He was emotional. He tried to explain his hurts related to church life, and then he would fall quiet with a look of sadness across his face. We bonded that day and a door opened for an invitation to church.

I invited him to attend church through “side-door” events such as game nights, senior adult lunches and other fun events. He eventually attended a service, committed himself to Jesus Christ and became a church goer. I was honored to have played a small part in that moment of decision.

Sixteen years ago, while on a men’s church retreat, John received a call that doctors had found a well-matched kidney for transplant. The Lord was faithful through the difficult recovery. It was a reminder that we serve a just-in-time Lord.

He was a co-laborer with me in the senior adult ministry. He took over the kitchen and prepared the lunches. He was faithful, encouraging and hard-working. I can still hear the clang of pots and pans as he meticulously prepared the menu.

He was an actor in the church musical productions. He usually played a disciple. At the enactment of the Last Supper he was the only disciple sitting on a bench while the rest of the cast kneeled. Not sure it was exactly biblical, but it was the only way John could get up on his feet. John played in every production I directed. I wanted him to feel he was indeed a valued member of the cast. He symbolized my desire for every church attendee to feel like they are part of the family of God.

Finally, he was a member of the church worship band where he played the conga drums. When he played, it felt like he was preparing himself to one day stand before the Lord like the mythical little drummer boy. He offered the best he could and said to the Christ child, “Shall I play for you on my drum.”

I was blessed to know John. Your legacy will not be forgotten. And I am glad we could spend time together this past summer.

Robert Parlante

Mal Occhio - The Evil Eye

As a boy, I lived in a coal-mining town in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. I grew up with radio, little television, no Internet and one late-afternoon newspaper. There was only one principal way to get the news other than snippets you could catch on a 15-minute radio or television news program. The Times Leader newspaper was delivered by a “paper boy”. Sometimes, the paper boy, who was my neighbor, would ask me to help him, especially on dark wintry evenings.

On those scary nights, with few streetlights, the paper boy would often remind me to ward off the evil eye one customer was suspected to have possessed. I hardly knew the old woman whose house was set back about 100 feet from the roadway. “Don’t glance at her crooked eye when she comes out for the newspaper,” he had said to me, “because you will be cursed. Only look at the ground, throw the paper onto her front porch, and then run away. And don’t look back!”

He told me there was only one solution __ a hand sign to cancel out the power of the “Mal occhio”, the evil eye.

The paper boy took a rolled-up copy of the Times Leader and demonstrated the hand sign. First, extend the index and pinky fingers straight, with the thumb, middle and ring fingers pressed against the palm of your hand. Now insert the hand, with two fingers extended, inside the rolled-up paper.

I did not think much more about the lady with the evil eye. I just made sure I never placed a foot on her property. Until one day, the paper boy got sick, and he asked me to deliver the papers.

That evening, I first considered dropping off the paper at the edge of the road. That was not a solution as the woman would phone my friend and complain. As I tip-toed up the walkway, my pounding heart felt like it was about to explode. I thought I would puke. I stiffened my extended fingers to make sure I warded off the evil eye.

When I reached the steps to the porch, the front door suddenly opened, and the woman glared at me. “Where’s the regular paper-boy?”

I turned away, afraid of what was next. She was holding a small round metal container. I was certain it held ingredients for a witch’s brew.

She smiled ever so slightly and thrust the container toward me. “Well it looks like you get these Italian knot cookies. Hope you enjoy them.”

What! Cookies! I was afraid 0f cookies? In the glow of the porch light, her eye no longer looked evil, just slightly off-kilter. I felt like I was duped by my friend.

Today as an adult, there are still times we face fear and its consequences. But I no longer rely on old-folk tales to ward off evil spirits. I get my strength from the Word of God. It never fails, and it always has the last say.

Isaiah 54:17 - No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD.

Robert Parlante
March 2017

Book Review

Here is Rebecca McNutt’s review of Up From the Ashes posted on goodreads.com.

“This book is another sad case of a spectacular novel that really deserves to be in a tangible printed format instead of just an eBook. Up From the Ashes is exciting, dramatic, eerie and unpredictable, mixing creepy crime with a man whose daughter faces serious medical issues. Definitely an excellent book worth reading."

Thank you, Rebecca, for your five-star review!



Robert Parlante

March 2017

Excerpt of Finding Emmeline

Here is an excerpt of the just published book titled "Finding Emmeline." Hope you enjoy the read. The book is available through Amazon.com.

"Anxiety rippled through Elsa Delgado’s heart with a damp chill as she tightly held her daughter Ava’s hand. The mother’s body heaved with each anxious breath as she nudged the eight-year-old child back away from the weighty raindrops dripping off the overhead stone archway. No matter how many times Elsa had been a courier for the counterfeit documents, the task never got easier over the last eight years on the run from her abusive husband.

Elsa felt like she was forced to carry on with life against her will. First, with her husband Charles. And now her landlord and employer Bill Hobbs. Both men felt like ever-present hurricane-force winds slamming her from every direction.

This day was no different as sheets of windy summer rain howled along Main Street in Northland, a small town tucked away in a valley, deep-seated, in the Pocono Mountains region of northeastern Pennsylvania.

The drenched wind picked up street debris here and there. A stray sheet of soppy morning newspaper clung to a trash receptacle before being ripped away by a gust of blustery rain. Elsa saw a waxy paper wrap from the burger takeout across the street. The airborne wrapper touched down on the wet roadway like a skateboarder and then swirled back into the air for its next flip.

With each shift of wind, the storm plastered its pickings randomly against the old brick-façade downtown buildings, serving notice to the historical structures—Mother Nature is in charge on this August day in Northland.

But to Elsa’s employer Hobbs, the weather mattered little. The small town was an ideal location for his business, with fewer law enforcement eyes peering over his shoulder and only 90 miles to Manhattan where most of his customers came from. Torrential mountain rains and paralyzing winter storms were of no consequence to Hobbs. His unique covert printing business was driven by undocumented customers and their need for employment papers … a Social Security card, a passport, a required visa. Few suppliers in Manhattan could match Hobbs’ price for his high-quality counterfeit documents.

Today, Elsa welcomed the teeming rain. There were fewer people navigating the downtown streets, and that kept suspicious looks to a minimum.

She pushed back further into the archway that led to the entrance to what had been the Northland City Bank. The vacated building had been donated to the city and was now retrofitted as a repertory theater highlighting local playwrights."

Robert Parlante

March 2017