Opinions

I inquired about “something to kill the moles that are tunneling up my yard.” He shook his head in a “Wish I could help you” way, checked online to see if there was a product he didn’t know about and then admitted: “We don’t have anything.” “Okay,” I said, wondering how we can send a man to the moon but we can’t keep a blind mole out of our front yards. Another sad soul was nearby and looked at me with shared angst. “Good luck,” he said. “I fight them all the time.” Then he studied me seriously, trying to determine if I was an undercover agent for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and said, “I tell you what I did. I paid a boy to sit there with a shotgun at the top of the tunnel where the mole would come out.

Whatever we are concerned about today, faith and discernment are key components of our prayers. Without spiritual sensitivity, we do not understand God’s plans, which is why seeking Him empowers and activates our communication with Him. We believe in miracles because we know that God listens and is the only one who has the authority to restore and provide for us. If someone is having a health crisis, the Bible declares that He is the Great Physician and our healer. This is an exciting truth until doubt and fear sneak through the back door, and Satan repeats the same strategy to deceive as he did with Adam and Eve in the garden. His favorite temptation is to sow seeds of uncertainty and fear in our minds, causing us to question whether faith is real or just an illusion. In our times of trouble, we are bombarded with opinions, but we must become unmovable in knowing that God’s promises cannot fail.

“You could live on a dollar and 27 cents a day,” the husband said to me, shaking his head.

One of my closest friends, an Italian in Florida, often shared his point of view of what the real story is, by saying “You think you know.” But in his Connecticut accent it sounded more like, you “tinkayoono.” And we always listened. He either had a tough-guy explanation or he was about to offer a funny response. Either way, we were all-ears.

I still retain my 2014 calendar and I’m not even a certified hoarder. It’s still with me…

You can hear a lot and even learn a thing or two from sitting across the table. It was 1994 and I was at a restaurant off 183 in Irving. Probably 6-or-8 guys were there to plan a large summer event. A college football player was in the group. You know the look… thick neck, a snarl for a smile and a penchant for eating their own. A waitress approached and began taking orders. When she got to the 240-pound linebacker, he uttered the classic words of hyena Banzai, from The Lion King. “I gots to have me a wildebeest!” he ordered in the voice of the character, by comedian Cheech Marin. The table laughed hysterically.

A brand-new year is here, and I’m excited to see what the Lord has for us! Keeping Christ at the center of our thoughts takes a great deal of discipline and determination, but so does everything else we really care about. We often hear people discussing their resolutions, which are serious intentions, desires, and promises they believe they can achieve. What are your goals and visions for the coming year? Would you like to draw closer to God and experience His peace and joy? I can tell you, according to His word, He loves you and waits for you to be more involved with Him. James 4:8, and Jeremiah 29:12-14 talk about this, but it will take more than just a whim. It will take a drastic lifestyle change.

American journalists have an obligation to the great unwashed masses, the general populace, to inform them of news and events objectively. Oftentimes the understood facts are viewed with disdain when they mention a person or group. Countering those who respond by blaming the reporting as showing partiality, makes the public’s right to know nearly impossible to accomplish. Here is an example. A common description of murdering a group of people can be worded in terms to soften or worsen the event. For example, a mass killing conjures up many thoughts or images. But, just how many people must die for that term to be used? Good question. I would say, ten or more. U.S. federal law describes a mass killing as an incident resulting in three or more fatalities in a single event.

I left the department store and eyed the sea of vehicles before me.

When it comes to country kinfolk, there were plenty to go around when I was growing up. Born and reared in Dallas, it wasn’t far from where my cousins lived. Just 50 miles from Big D, most of them were in Mabank, Kemp and Gun Barrel City back when Cedar Creek Lake was becoming a man-made lake in the early 1960s. There were 10 in my mother’s family - four of them uncles. One of them, Pat, would tell me stories about living in the country. He was 6-foot-6 and raced his Chevelle on weekends. On the streets. That last part made him fairly acquainted with the Law in Kaufman and Henderson counties.