Opinions

I have been blessed with many cousins. My two cousins closest in age were both boys, Brian and Dane. We went camping and hiking together and stayed in the cabin up north. We all remember the day we made tea from red sumac berries, and -- after we’d drunk about a gallon each -- my Uncle Mike told us, “You know that stuff is a laxative, don’t you?” (For the record, it is not.)

I read a book years ago by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale called, “The amazing results of positive thinking” and I recommend it as an inspiration and encouragement to your spiritual life. He explains that our mind is constantly bombarded with all types of persuasions and each of us are held accountable to manage them. We have the ability to resist and ignore the negative influences that distracts us or we can pray and seek the Lord for a stronger discernment and sensitivity to deception. It was during this time of studying how the mind is considered the battlefield of spiritual warfare, that I had a powerful dream. I do not always place a lot of credibility in dreams, but on the other hand, the Bible reveals that some dreams are used by God as a way of communication. Anyway, here was my dream.

I haven’t gone camping in a tent in a long time. I grew up camping and, for much of that time, it was in a tent. My parents would take my sister and me to the Boundary Waters between Minnesota and Canada for about a week. We’d paddle our canoes from one lake to the next. We’d listen to the loons at night. We’d build a fire. We’d eat dried food -- which miraculously tasted better the farther we paddled from civilization. We’d drink water right out of the lake, before we needed expensive filters. We’d use the latrine deep in the woods. I still vividly remember the time I felt flies landing on my behind -- only to look down into the latrine and see a whiskered woodchuck looking up at me!

On the eve of sending my second child--yes, my baby--off to school for the first time in his life, I realized there were many subjects in my All You Need To Know About Life course that I had not covered adequatelt. His fifth birthday was only weeks away. Please tell me: how did this happen so fast?

Monday morning, we opened the office on South Jefferson Street, in the heart of downtown Perry, Fla., and noticed that one of two concrete planters flanking the front door of the newspaper office was missing a plant. There wasn’t dirt scattered around; the plant had been retrieved carefully, dirt intact, and was nowhere to be found.

Stop for a moment and closely observe this trial you’ve been going through. When you are wounded and perplexed, it seems all you can think about is the pain, but within this raging battle ask yourself (and be honest) if you’re focusing more on the circumstance than on God who has all the answers. Ask and allow Him to heal your heart. This situation will not last forever and after a period of suffering the time will come to crawl back to your knees, stand up, dust yourself off, and try to glean wisdom from what has happened so that you will be stronger and wiser next time. Yes, there will be a next time because life is a constant classroom filled with learning opportunities. This is how God develops us to help others in their times of disappointment, and frustration.

Watching politicians speak at rallies isakintopeprallieswherecheerleaders and the band cut loose in the friendliest of settings. You pretty much know what will be spoken and the results will be a charged-up base of supporters. Over the years, the Democratic and Republican conventions have drawn me like Blue Bell at a party full of Bubba’s. The rhetoric has gotten so nasty in recent years that what was feared most, finally transpired on July 13 in rural Pittsburgh. Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, took the stage in Butler, PA (pop. 13,176), just 41 miles north of Steel-town. Just minutes into his message, he took a bullet that grazed his right ear.

It is always interesting to me to hear the stories of what inspired great songwriters to pen their works. When you learn more about the lives of the writers, it gives you a greater appreciation for their works. One song whose story is pretty remarkable to me is the old hymn, “There is a Fountain.”

News has been pouring out at such a volume in the past month, it’s like trying to get a drink from a fire hose.