Déjà Vu at a Country Church

Photo credit: George Bailey
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​Déjà Vu at a Country Church
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For several years, our photographer friend, George Bailey from Florida, has visited us to capture the beauty of Ohio's Hocking Hills in the fall. Sometime before his visit in 2003, I learned that my father's earliest known ancestors were buried in a cemetery that is across the road from the Pike Run Church of Church of Christ in Christian Union. The church is located near Tar Hallow State Park in Vinton County. Since we were in the area, we decided to take a side trip to find and photograph their tombstones.
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After arriving at the beautiful, country cemetery, we readily found the tombstones of my GGGreat Grandparents, as well as those of numerous other relatives.

A little church and a newer cemetery stood on a hill across the road. Our photographer friend wanted photos of the church. Going up the hill, I kept repeating, “I feel like I have been here before." Once on top, everything looked familiar to me. The maple tree in the front, the windows, even the front door seemed as though I had seen them before. I looked inside to see that it was different than I had expected, but beautiful. It was then that I realized I had been there before.

When I attended Circleville Bible College, Norval Shepherd, a classmate of mine pastored this little church. One evening, he was unable to go and asked if I would go with his wife Shirley and speak for him. I never turned down speaking engagements, so I went. It was a quaint, little church with wallpaper on the inside. Besides the pastor's wife, two older people came. During my message, the man got up and went outside. I was standing at the pulpit and could see him, through the windows as he walked around the grounds. I continued speaking and the woman, that I supposed to be his wife, went to sleep. The end result was that I gave a salvation message to Shirley, the pastor's wife. Since I was young and inexperienced, it was disconcerting to me.

Years later, I found it to be funny and told that story many times as an icebreaker when I spoke. I hadn't remembered the name of the church. In going there in search of my ancestors’ tombstones, I was surprised when I realized that it was the same little, country church where I had spoken some forty years earlier.

​©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2023
Graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck