I recently read an online article from The Atlantic that I found interesting.  The title was… After 2,000 Years, These Seeds Have Finally Sprouted Six date seeds as old as the Dead Sea Scrolls are now flourishing as trees on a kibbutz. Below a picture of some date-palm trees, the article provides some information about some seeds found at ancient archaeological sites. Some of these seeds have been planted in recent years. According to the article, “These seeds, according to radiocarbon dating, were about 2,000 years old.” The article explains that some researchers planted some of the more well-preserved seeds. It also discusses the surprise of the researchers about the fact that some…

This is one of those times when I am going to have to ask our readers to stick with my often-strange train of thought. I hope it will be beneficial to those who do. We begin with summer yard work … I bought myself a power washing wand–not a pressure washer, you understand, because those are too expensive–but a power wand that you attach to your regular garden hose. And, boy do I love it! It is much easier to use than a pressure washer and it was one of those rare times when the bargain buy actually does the job you were hoping it would. It is so satisfying…

At Central, we have been meeting in person for five weeks, but we have had to have two services. It looks like that will be changing in the next couple of weeks. Many other congregations are doing similar things (holding more than one service), some have not met in person yet, and others have begun meeting again, but are still seeing very small numbers. All of those are very understandable and leaders of each congregation should be commended for their thoughtful and prayerful consideration of very delicate matters. However, as more congregations prepare to reopen (or to resume more normal schedules), I have a few things that I would like…

I read about this the other day and it broke my heart once again. I read about it from time to time and I have the same response every time those words are read. In my mind I always think, they just had a mob mentality.  Let me share with you some of the things that are included in what I read that caused me to define the situation as a mob mentality. There were accusations.  Accusing someone of something doesn’t make it true. Knowing the facts about a person or a situation is so important, but, sadly, the facts are often unknown or ignored. There was mocking.  Mocking means to make fun…

A neighbor of ours recently had a couple of trees removed. Now that, in itself, is nothing unusual. We live in a neighborhood where most people keep their yards fairly neat, so having trees worked on is rather common. However, what was left behind after the removal helped my mind formulate a reminder that I needed. The trees that were removed were evergreens (I think they were some type of cypress, but I’m not too good at that type of thing). There were two of them, and they were quite overgrown, as their branches covered a large section of the road. I would presume that was the main reason they…

What is your first reaction to reading the title of this post? Is it not the case that those four words are usually used by somebody who is making an attempt to “wash their hands” of any responsibility? I hope that you will consider some thoughts about those words that are totally foreign to the idea of using them to absolve myself of any responsibility. Instead, they can be used in the context of being coupled with responsibility.   Some who read this already know that I serve as one of the elders of the Central church of Christ in Paducah, Kentucky. The New Testament teaches that this means that I am…