First Presbyterian Newport AR

09/08/2026

A 9-year-old heard one sentence at school — and couldn't let it go.

It wasn't a big announcement. Just a passing comment about a kid somewhere who couldn't get lunch because his family owed money on the account.

But 9-year-old Ryan Kyote, a third grader in Napa, California, couldn't stop thinking about it.

He kept turning it over in his head. Kids just trying to eat lunch — worrying about money? That didn't sit right with him. So he started asking his mom, Kylie Kirkpatrick, question after question, the way only a determined kid can.

His mom did some digging. She found out that schools wouldn't actually deny a hungry kid a meal — but the debt didn't disappear. It just sat there, quietly, following a family around.

Ryan wasn't satisfied with the general answer. He wanted a number. Specifically: how much did HIS third-grade class owe, all together?

His mom checked. The answer came back: $74.50.

Now, $74.50 might not sound like much to an adult. But to a 9-year-old, that's real money — birthday money, allowance money, the kind of savings a kid usually earmarks for a new baseball glove or a video game.

Ryan had been saving his allowance for months. He'd been eyeing some sports gear.

He didn't hesitate.

Ryan walked into West Park Elementary School and handed over his own savings — enough to wipe out every single unpaid lunch balance in his entire third-grade class. Every last one. Gone.

He didn't want his name attached to it. He didn't do it for a shoutout or a pat on the back. In his mind, it was simple: kids shouldn't have to feel embarrassed about lunch money that was never really their fault to begin with.

But word got out anyway. Because stories like this always do.

By the end of 2019, Ryan's small act of generosity had traveled all the way to the California State Capitol. Governor Gavin Newsom signed new legislation aimed at changing how schools across the state handle unpaid school meal debt — and he made a point of recognizing the boy whose $74.50 helped put a spotlight on the issue.

Let that sink in for a second. A third grader, with his own saved-up allowance, ended up influencing state policy — not because he wanted credit, but because he genuinely couldn't stand the idea of another kid feeling ashamed over lunch money.

No cameras. No fundraiser. No big plan. Just a kid who asked "why" enough times to actually do something about it.

It's easy to feel like the world's problems are too big for any one person to fix. Ryan didn't see it that way. He saw a number — $74.50 — and he saw a solution he could actually afford.

Sometimes that's all it takes. Not a grand gesture. Just someone who refuses to look away.

If this story made you smile today, imagine what it did for the classmates who never even knew their lunch balance was wiped clean by a 9-year-old with a piggy bank and a big heart.

Tag someone who needs a reminder that good people — even really small ones — are still out there. 💛

08/26/2026

About 15 years ago I found myself on a late night flight from Dallas to Nashville with Dolly Parton. It had been a long weekend so I was especially grateful when the gate agent informed me I'd been upgraded (every now & then being a very frequent flyer has its perks). I ended up being seated one row behind the Queen of Country music herself, who'd been escorted on the plane before anyone else.

I was surprised Dolly chose the aisle seat in row one because that meant every single person who boarded would pass within inches of her. My guess was that she was tired too, so it would've made more sense if she'd chosen the window seat & let her companion buffer her from the various assortment of other folks boarding the packed plane, which including several weepy, discombobulated fans to go along with the crying babies.

But then my surprise morphed into even more admiration and respect than I'd previously had for her because she went on to greet Every. Single. Person. who got on the plane. She gave out sincere hugs, warm handshakes, and huge smiles to everyone. Once we got in the air, she went out of her way to love on the weary flight attendants ~ I think she would've gladly switched places & served them ginger ale and peanuts if they would've let her! And she was just as gracious when we landed in Nashville, treating the late-night cleaning crew like royalty when they asked if they could take a picture with her.

I've been a fan since high school and became an even bigger one after that brief encounter all those years ago when I got splashed by the collateral kindness she was giving out to everyone around her. My guess is she's bear hugging a whole bunch of angels wearing cowboy hats right about now. 💗

08/19/2026

🌕 MARK YOUR CALENDAR ! AUGUST 27–28, 2026

A major celestial event is coming at the end of August. A deep partial lunar eclipse will occur as the Full Moon passes through Earth’s shadow. 🌑

At maximum eclipse, about 93% of the Moon’s diameter will enter Earth’s dark central shadow, making the Moon appear dramatically darker with a possible rusty or coppery tint along the shadowed edge. NASA confirms that the eclipse will be visible across much of the Americas and parts of Europe and Africa.

For many locations in the U.S., the partial phase occurs during the night of August 27 into August 28. Exact viewing times will depend on your location.

The best part? Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse is completely safe to watch with your eyes. You can simply step outside, find a clear view of the Moon, and enjoy the show. 🔭

Save the date, tell your family and friends, and get ready for one of August’s most impressive sky events.

Will you be staying up to watch the lunar eclipse?

08/19/2026

Thistle Chapel located in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

08/16/2026

08/16/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1EmVc7CmeU/?mibextid=wwXIfr

If you have never heard Gaelic psalm singing, be warned. It does something to people that is very hard to explain afterwards. 🌊

In the Presbyterian churches of the Hebrides there were no organs, no instruments and no choirs. Music in worship was the human voice alone, singing the psalms in Gaelic. And because Bibles and psalters were scarce and many in the congregation could not read, they developed a practice called precenting the line.

One man, the precentor, would sing out a single line of the psalm on his own. Then the whole congregation would sing that same line back. But they did not sing it in unison. Each voice took its own path through the melody, ornamenting it, sliding between the notes, arriving in its own time. The result is a vast, slow, overlapping wave of sound, dozens of individual voices moving in and around one tune, unresolved and enormous, rising and breaking like the sea outside the church door. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Musicologists have long noted a striking resemblance between this and the lined out hymn singing of the American South, particularly in African American congregations and in the old Primitive Baptist tradition. The same call, the same overlapping response, the same heterophony. The likeliest explanation is that Scottish Presbyterian settlers carried the practice across the Atlantic, where it met and mingled with African musical traditions in ways that eventually fed into gospel, and from there into a great deal of American music.

So a form born on rain lashed islands in the North Atlantic, sung by crofters with no instruments and often no books, may have travelled a very long way indeed.

It is still sung today in a handful of Hebridean congregations. Fewer every year. When people hear a recording for the first time they very often go completely quiet, and then ask what on earth that was.

Your ancestors had nothing to make music with except their own lungs, and they made something the world is still echoing. 💙

08/07/2026

PDA is responding to the wildfires in Washington state. Initial assistance grants have been disbursed and we will continue to monitor the situation and deploy National Response Team members when it is safe to do so, at the invitation of the presbytery.
Please join us in praying for the thousands of people evacuating, the first responders working tirelessly, the wildlife and sacred lands that are impacted. May we be good stewards of our earth and provide compassionate care for our siblings in need.

Photo by Spokane Area Fires

08/06/2026

FYI…

GET READY 🚨 🔭 ⭐On August 12, 2026, skywatchers will have a chance to see a rare six-planet alignment. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus will appear lined up along the ecliptic before sunrise,

creating one of the most impressive planetary displays of the year. While the planets won't form a perfect straight line in space, they'll appear grouped together from our perspective on Earth, making it a great morning to look up.

08/05/2026

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