Skip to main content

Running on Red Dog Road






Running on Red Dog Road by Drema Hall Berkheimer

In the deep country of West Virginia, Drema Berkheimer grew up under the strong guidance of Pentecostal grandparents who have some experiences that you can’t quite believe.  This memoir, Running on Red Dog Road is replete with emotion, with the pain of losing one’s father and trying to get along in the world, and a sense of wonder at the pneumatic experiences of Pentecostal believers.  From speaking in tongues to witnessing a snake handler, Drema was enmeshed in a world that was drawn to the supernatural, but what makes this book come to life is her experiences with the way in which her grandparents lived. 

In chapter 6 Drema tells the story of how hobos would often come to visit her grandparents.  She recounts this, “This time, he led the hobo to a stack of kindling near the stump we used as a chopping block.  The man nodded and began to fill the wheelbarrow with the wood…Grandpa always said that man that earned his own dinner could hold his head up (49).” Her grandmother would after eating dinner with the hobo, send him along with some extras for the road.  All of this effort was given to love thy neighbor, something that her grandparents were pushed on toward by the Pentecostal Home Missionary Society.  What was most peculiar about the chapter was the pointed enthusiasm Drema’s grandparents had for these hobos, noting that they were just one good job away from making their way, even offering traveling mercies for any and every hobos they met.  Although it was a different time and world as Drema remembered it, the idea of blessing fellow travelers confronts our cynical attitudes of today.

From piano lessons with Mr. Pursley to helping grandma with church music, Drema’s life was filled with experiences that many children find growing up.  What was rather remarkable about his memoir was how Drema recounted the fluidity of her grandparent’s faith, how they were consistently kind and loving toward the hobos and the well-dressed, the church going and those would never grace the church steps.  You will find plenty here in these pages to interest you.


Thanks to BookLookBloggers for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saving Casper

Saving Casper: A Christian and an Atheist Talk about Why We Need to Change the Conversion Conversation by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Casper-Christian-Conversion-Conversation/dp/1414364881 Many readers will quickly know the authors of this book from their previous release Jim and Casper Go to Church.  Jim and Matt’s new book entitled Saving Casper focuses on the way we talk about conversion in the church and the devastating ways we have pushed away atheists and other non-believers by our posture.  Both Jim and Matt traversed the national landscape, meeting in churches and asking hard questions about faith, conversion, and life. The basic premise of the book and travel is laid out here in their words, “Part of what Casper and I are trying to achieve when we speak to a group of Christians is to help people move a little bit on their “judgment meter.”  This capacity, while intellectually and often theologically uncomfortable,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Essential Christian Doctrine

  Essential Christian Doctrine , General Editor John MacArthur Pastor John MacArthur has for years been teaching the Word of God in both pulpit ministry, books, and conferences with an aim to displaying God’s revelation to his listeners in a winsome and foundational manner.  This new book, Essential Christian Doctrine takes an entire life of teaching and preaching and encapsulates the main contours of the Christian faith for its readers.  John in a systematic way highlights the most necessary teachings from Scripture including God’s Word, the Trinity, while also including sections on Man and the Future. One of the most helpful ways the authors bring to light biblical truth and theology is the way in which they group together particular themes.  In the section on the Holy Spirit, instead of a complex discussion of personhood, word pictures of the Holy Spirit are introduced in a discernible and profitable manner.  The metaphors for the Holy Spirit include fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

God's Grace for All of Life

The Romance of Grace by Jim McNeely III To be honest, when I received this book in the mail I had visions of what it might be like with a title like, ‘The Romance of Grace.’  The emotional rollercoaster and one-sided perspective on how our emotions fuel our faith was my presumption about the book, but this was the furthest thing from the truth as I started reading.  The Romance of Grace by Pastor Jim McNeely III is a careful look at the movements of grace in the way God pursues us with his love and his desire to get us to love him back.  McNeely writes, “We are entering a cosmic romance with a passionate lover, and He is interested in our heart’s truest desire.  His deepest objective isn’t to make us more moral; it is to get us to love Him back.  Virtue is the fruit, not the root” (18).  Why is this helpful?  For one thing, beginning with God’s initiating grace frees us from starting out on the wrong foot in the way we tell the story and...
2 comments
Read more