Remember when we all had the “2020 Vision” lines and sermons? (Yes, I preached that one, too.) This was going to be a fantastic year. Instead, a lot of this year has been a struggle and has kept us feeling down. Okay, so the “If 2020 were a…” memes are hilarious, but other than those, this year has been pretty down for a great number of people. I told someone the other day, after they had said that 2020 has been awful, “Yeah, I’ve had better years…like, every one before this.” But before we just write off this entire year as awful, how about a little different perspective? For some,…

I am writing these words just after finishing my morning walk. That’s also when I took the picture that you see below.  To many people, this is just another morning. To me, my morning walk was just another walk. That all changed when I approached what you see in this picture: My wife and I moved into the neighborhood in which we now live a little over five years ago. We were just getting to know the people in the neighborhood and were gradually becoming aware of some of the customary ways of doing things.   We had driven through this neighborhood during the holiday season a few times before moving here and had…

One of my favorite cars we have owned during our marriage was a big red Buick. We bought it used (of course), but it was in great shape and was a really nice car. It was rather large and had plenty of room for all four of us. The story I remember most about that car involves a trip to Gatlinburg for a vacation. We had a great time on that trip and saw lots of beautiful scenery in the mountains.   As is our custom we made plans to attend Wednesday night Bible Study with the church there, but it had been a long time since we had been to that…

I thought that I would take the liberty of posting some material from a “guest author” this week. I appreciate brother Hugh Fulford for writing this and for giving me permission to use it here. This was written ten years ago, but, except possibly for the comment about football, I believe it is still very relevant.  – Jim Faughn UNUSUAL THINGS FOR WHICH TO BE THANKFUL (Hugh Fulford) This week many of us will gather with family and friends and enjoy a bountiful Thanksgiving feast. We will talk and laugh and reminisce and swap stories. We will watch football. But will we actually give thanks beyond the perfunctory “blessing” before we eat? How many of…

If people in history could have looked to the present time and seen the outfits that some people wear, they would have fainted. For a long time around the world, girls rarely wore skirts, so the fact that we wear pants would be hard for them to believe. Wearing pants is not wrong, but this just shows how much things have changed over the years and centuries. Changing from dresses to skirts to pants is one thing, but as time goes on, it gets harder and harder to find modest things for young Christian ladies to wear. Trust me…I am one! As Christian young ladies, we should strive to help the…

Have you ever been at a loss for words? There have been a few times in my life when that has been the case. I know that’s shocking to some of you reading this, because most of the time I have too many words to say! When I was little and living at home, my parents used to tell me that I talked too much…and I probably did. In high school, one of my favorite classes was speech (imagine that) and I went on to major in communication in college and began my career teaching, of all things, basic speech to high school students. Over the course of my life I have…