What’s the longest you’ve had to wait for something? I imagine almost everyone has a memory of Christmas Eve as a child — squeezing your eyes shut and trying with all your might to go to sleep on Christmas Eve. For those of you with orthodox parents, you knew that even opening one present before Christmas morning was akin to high heresy. And so you counted sheep and waited. I would count to 100 and start over and over and over...

After Halloween, most people turn their thoughts toward Thanksgiving Day. Sometimes people even use the whole month of November to lift up what they’re thankful for each day. President George Washington first announced that the nation will celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on Oct. 3, 1789, by President George Washington. It was to be celebrated on Nov. 2, 1789. Thanksgiving Day was declared by President Washington to help the nation reflect upon the blessings...

I must admit that I’m a creature of habit. I usually get up at the same time every morning, go through my morning routine and have a couple cups of coffee and get ready for work (although as you know, many people say that ministers only work one hour a week). Then I usually travel my usual route down Westwood Boulevard, then to Harper Street and to my office...

I’ve never professed to be normal. I suppose it’s just not how I was wired. When I was a kid, I never liked the crust on bread, but my mother told me I should eat it. So, I decided to just eat the crust first. I saved the best stuff for last...

By the time this article is published, most schools will be back in session. With that being said I have seen some of my friends on social media who have children who have already begun pre-bedtime training by getting them accustomed to go into bed by a certain time...

If one goes outside, it doesn’t take long to figure out that summer has arrived. My entire life I have heard these very hot and humid days of summer called the Dog Days of summer. I had to do a little research to find out why they were called the Dog Days...

As the United States of America celebrates its 247th Independence Day on July 4, it’s worth noting the nation was founded upon the idea that God created human beings to be free. The Declaration of Independence states people “are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”...

It all started out last year when the Saint Louis Cardinals offered up the three Legends of Baseball as bobbleheads to be given out at the stadium as a giveaway. It was also the time that Albert Pujols was beginning to break the 700 barrier of home runs...

Blue line. Left wing. Center. Neutral zone. (Not the border between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingons.) My apologies, my Trekkies background came out. Zamboni machine Thus, this past fall and spring my wife and I had to learn new terms as we began to watch the St Louis Blues...

In my early years living in North East Louisiana I would often listen to the radio commentary of Paul Harvey. Every afternoon around 2 p.m. Paul Harvey would have a show on the local radio station called “The rest of the story.”...

WHAT IS FASTING? Nowadays we hear a lot about fasting. One of the buzz words is intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is an eating plan that switches between fasting and eating on a regular schedule. Not only does it help people lose weight but many say that it helps them by causing them to focus consciously on their daily activities...

Every year Fat Tuesday comes to an abrupt end at midnight. New Orleans police shut down the Mardi Gras festivities promptly at 12 a.m. in reverence for Ash Wednesday. The stroke of midnight is the moment Bourbon Street revelers must give it up...

It’s worth repeating. We become what we repeat. It’s what we do over and over again that changes us — and in life defining moments get all the attention. They open our eyes and awaken us to new possibilities. They turn us in a new direction but don’t transform us. It’s what we do after our defining moments that matter...

At the end of 2019, I wrote an article for January 2020 about having the proverbial 20/20 vision of physically and spiritually strength. But since 2020 many things have happened in our nation and around the world. In 2020, COVID-19 came to the forefront — and even with scientific evidence, many people denied it and it caused division in our nation and around the world. Also in America people were divided more strongly on red and blue political lines...

As one traveled the highways in Southeast Missouri in early November, you couldn’t help but notice that the corn, rice, and soybeans are starting to take on their fall colors. We pray this year that the farmers have had a great harvest...

As many of you probably may know from my writing, my wife and I are an avid trout fishing couple. This is the best time of the year to be on the Eleven Point or Spring River, casting a fly or tight line fishing as my wife does. The trout love the cold temperature of the water...

Sometimes after sitting in the office all morning, I like to go outside and sit in my truck in the parking lot at church and listen to the leaves rustling along the concrete driveway. There is a favorite church hymn that has the lyrics, “I hear the sound of the rustling of the leaves in the trees. The spirit of the Lord has come down to earth.”...

As I look out my office window, I can see the change of seasons as the leaves begin to take on the many colors of fall. I am drawn to how easy the trees accept this change. Do they know that with this change there will soon be another and their leaves will be gone, leaving them bare?...

Jesus came to earth for the sole propose of saving the lost. He was criticized for associating with sinful people. He stated in Luke 19:10, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (NKJV) When a person is physically lost, many people will come to help find them. That is what should happen. We never want anyone to suffer because they have wandered from their home. Sadly, some do not know where they should be...

Back in the spring of this year I received a letter from my former classmate of Bastrop High School in Bastrop, Louisiana, from which I graduated in 1972. It was an informational letter stating that this year marks our 50th anniversary of graduation from high school...