Opinions

A homicide in Chicago is not an unusual occurrence. A weekend without a homicide in Chicago would be considered wonderfully rare. But, on this particular weekend, when the victim of the shooting was the cousin of a National Basketball Association star, the flurry of rage extended in concentric circles as the media stretched, molded and compacted the story for all to read, hear and see.

Undiscipline is never an accepted mode of behavior - by those in the military, nor among those known in East Texas as “the law,” that as – the police.

The corn was planted late. We knew that at the time. Because their house is located so deep in the woods, my mother has had no luck getting vegetables to grow. When my parents heard there were garden plots available in town, they signed up for one, and have had a garden in town for several years. The rhubarb was already up when they were told there was a garden plot next to theirs that was not being used.

I saw her from across the room. She made eye contact with me and immediately began walking in my direction. I knew this could play out one of two ways: she could be angry about a story which appeared in the newspaper, and ready to personally slam me against the wall, or she could be heading in my direction simply to bear greetings and good tidings.

With apologies to award-winning author, Judith Viorst, who, at 93 is the current poetry editor for The New Yorker, her wonderful children’s book, “Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day,” a 32-page classic in its own right, comes to mind when recalling President Joe Biden’s July 21 bad day.

Many will disagree, but a happy and successful marriage is based on a personal relationship with Christ. And why is this? There are many reasons, but we can begin with the character traits and attitudes of a true follower of Jesus is what takes marriage to the highest level of joy, emotional well-being, and contentment. Those committed to Christ are model spouse’s and parents. In today’s society, people use the term “Christian” loosely, and it’s at the point where I use this label more cautious than ever. If you ask people if they are a Christian, you will receive a wide range of responses and some that are without a personal connection to God at all.

Our original mailbox has been on life support for more than a year. About a decade ago, I painted it to match our house and I wasn’t anxious to repeat that process again. Instead, I periodically added dirt to secure its moorings, always handled it gingerly and repeatedly coaxed the latch into closing securely so the mail inside wouldn’t get wet. To shore up the latch, rubber bands were retrieved from bunches of broccoli; they’re the perfect size and often a good color. Everyone should eat more broccoli so that mailbox kept us healthy.

I’m usually pretty good about doing things I don’t want to do. I’ve been alive long enough to know that getting started is always the hardest part. But nothing is harder for me to start than doing weights. I say “doing” weights because I don’t actually lift anything other than myself. I started out with push-ups because a friend suggested a “100-push-up challenge.” I had never done any upper-body exercise of any kind. I couldn’t imagine I could do 100 push-ups -- and it turns out I was right. I couldn’t for almost two years.

As I write this article, my church, Tabernacle Baptist, is in the midst of our annual Engage Week. From September 22-28, we set a goal of giving 500 local missions hours to our community. We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our community. We have had the incredible opportunity of partnering with our city, our school district, and many different nonprofits and serving our community this week. Why are we doing an initiative like this? We believe that the gospel should be explained in both word and deed. Our vision at Tabernacle is to glorify God by making disciples who are empowered to engage our community with the hope of the gospel. We don’t need to just sit and soak in our chairs on Sunday mornings. We need to go and share the gospel outside the walls of the church building!

Daylight Savings Time is about to end. On Sunday, November 3, we return into standard time by setting our clocks back an hour. It happens just a few days after Halloween and we all know that sense of dread when it gets darker a lot earlier.