"WASH DAY VISITATION" Psalm 23   When you're a 5/6-year-old boy, going through dark places alone can be pretty scary. When my parents moved to 'Dry Valley,' a small community in Shelby County, there was this covering of trees and vines over a certain part of the pathway, know as " Wash Day Visitation," a place where all the women did their washing, because of a spring close by.  I can still see the wash boards and, wash pots, to heat water  for washing clothes. Time in our life was hard - no work for dad - no money to buy anything; and my mother asked me one day to go to a neighbors house and borrow a half cup sugar, and she told me, "Hurry back".  I had to go the path that led through the "Wash Day Visitation." It  was this  stretch that I had a  problem with - - the covering on the path made it dark on the sunniest day, and the sounds in the woods that reminded me of the wild critters that lived in the area.   Well, I did not mind my mother  - I stayed and played with other kids, and when I did get back to the "Wash Day Visitation" place, it was almost dark, and I still hear myself saying, to try and cover my fears; "I hope there are no buggers around here."  Well, there was, and that bugger was my dad. I will never forger that experience; should I say more.   I feel sure that most of us have had the "Wash Day Visitation" place in our life time. My friends, the Lord Jesus wants to be your anchor for every dark and lonely stretch you will ever walk - including that final stretch. The one the Bible calls "the valley of the shadow of death." The writer of that 23rd Psalm put it this way, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." This  relationship, not even death can interrupt. The one you were made for that you were never meant to lose. The Bible says of Jesus that we were all "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). Problem: we haven't lived for Him. We've chosen to stay and "play with the kids," to do what we want, not what God wants. So life is lonely and meaningless because we're away from the One we were made for. And only the death of the Son of God could pay the penalty for our sin. He's come where you are today, offering you this relationship that He actually died to give you. If He wouldn't turn His back on you when loving you meant dying for you, He will never turn His back on you. But you have to open your life to Him. Trust Him totally. Tell Him about the Buggers in your life, "Jesus, You're my only hope. I'm Yours." Move out of your "Comfort Zone,"   There is one thing that gets me through those "Wash Day Visitation" places, that is this little song, 'Jesus loves me, this I know.'"   ><))):> In "HIS" Service  Bro. Roy