Opinions

Kind People are My Kind of People – Zach Crook Let me pose a question for you: What is something that we need more of in 2025? I think there are a lot of pretty good answers…things like love or joy. Or, on the lighter side, things like warmer weather or maybe even a few more zeroes on our paychecks! However, in all seriousness, I recently read a book that gave me a different perspective on what we need more of in 2025. That book, Christians in the Age of Outrage, shares some challenging statistics concerning the average American churchgoer. The author, Dr. Ed Stetzer, who is the Dean and Professor of Leadership and Christian Ministry at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, encourages the church to be a positive influence in our increasingly divided culture. The final chapter of the book begins with these two alarming statistics: 1. Only 14% of people with no friendships with evangelical Christians describe Christians with one or more of these positive descriptors: compassionate, principled, charitable, and/or ethical.

Dishonest people have no idea how many worries their Honest counterparts have. And it shouldn’t be that way. The Dishonest people of this world should be wringing their hands in fear and anxiety but they are not. It’s the Honest people who are encumbered with worry, for what if they are suspected of being Dishonest? It’s a grave concern. I’ve reached that dark place in Life where I require reading glasses in order to correctly determine prices or ingredients or warranties or expiration dates. But I honestly fear diving into my purse for my glasses while shopping, for what if I’m accused of shoplifting?

Amazing how quick some people are to assess problems related to money. If I had a dollar for every time someone said, “follow the money,” my freezer would never lack for Blue Bell. If there is one thing that riles up people, it is misuse of money by businesses, churches, non-profit organizations and presently, it’s open season on our government and its agencies for exploiting the system. Learning of the many examples of wasteful spending is surely the leading cause of high blood pressure in women. “You spent how much on that?” is a question that indicates she is rightfully loaded for bear. Should your answer include the word Temu, loss of credit card privileges are sure to follow one’s forced change of address.

I walked purposely into the store, looking for packaging tape. It was not stocked with the office supplies, nor with the gift wrap. “Packaging tape,” I said to the clerk. He took me to the four-pack of everyday, gift-wrapping tape. “No, the wide, stronger tape,” I tried to explain. “Like for wrapping a package for mailing…” I added. “Comes on a roll with a dispenser and a serrated little blade for easy use,” said I. Finally, we were within the same universe.

Which dog is it?

The vast complexity of the human mind has fascinated mankind since the beginning. As our divine book of instruction, the Bible says that as a man or woman thinks, so are they. Since we are the accumulation of our thoughts, we cannot overly stress the importance of believing what is true in order to live in God’s favor. This sounds easy and I guess it could be if we lived in a secluded garden where all there was to do is take care of the landscaping and play with the animals. However, when Satan was allowed access to the garden to tempt and influence humans, they began to reason within their minds and consider possibilities they had never dreamed of before. Once men and women understood good from evil, a new world of choosing and decision-making began and since that time life has been a minefield of heartaches and disappointments.

Our cat, Felix, has turned into an excellent little traveler. “What do you do with your cat?” we are invariably asked when we tell people we are headed off to Mexico to spend the second half of the winter. “Oh! Felix is from Mexico,” my husband, Peter, tells them. “He’s just coming back with us!” And it is true. Felix enjoys his international status.

There Bettylin and I stood in flip-flops and faded denim shorts ‘neath the old apple tree. Paying our last respects.

It’s been a big year for our cat, Felix. Sometime in late 2023, Felix was scooped up off the street in Mexico by a teenager and brought to the home of her mother and aunt. I’m not sure how he was received when he arrived. They already had 11 dogs, at least a couple of cats and several birds. They gave him food and a home, and I imagine the teenager, Daniela, thought that the fostering arrangement would eventually become permanent.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. But is the old rhyme really true? Can words inflict harm and pain? The ingenuity of man has seen them develop stones, clubs and tools during the stone age that became spears used to bring down mammals. Combining their managing of fire produced brontosaurus burgers. Those instruments were fashioned into weapons that both protected them from predators, sometimes including man.