Holidays hurt for some people, especially the big three for a Christian, which are Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. As we grow older, more and more family and friends have passed, more seats are empty and more loneliness creeps in. Years rapidly pass and then it’s just one or two of you left. Christmas becomes more about memories than presence, and presents are few if any. As Christians we know the best gift has already been given to us. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15. The indescribable gift is the Son of God that offers us eternal salvation.

Back in July of 2023, we started our study of the Corinthian Church, set up in the first century A.D. by Paul. Our goal, as always, is to foster readers’ interest in the Holy Bible, that they may study the scriptures further for themselves.
So as not to lose our readers’ interest, we attempt to keep our articles reasonably short. We also try to choose pithy titles, to help capture the intent of the original author’s subject matter.
For our introductory article to 1 Corinthians, we chose “A church gone wild” as our title to help summarize what 1 Corinthians is all about.

The deer population has been steadily increasing over the past few decades, as has the human population. The recent trend of wanting to build a house in the country or in the woods has put both populations in closer contact with each other. Deer are opportunistic feeders and will eat food wherever they can find it, which could be your favorite apple tree, tomato plant, or landscape shrub.

Here is another zucchini recipe. Zucchini goes with anything. You can even bake bread with it. However, the only bread in this recipe are the crumbs in the patties. They’re good, too.

Welcome to another new year, Dear Reader!
One of the things that helped me most during the past year was the philosophy of our current Director of the Union County Schools, Mr. Greg Clay. He has impressed upon the Central Office staff that obstacles are opportunities.
Perhaps if I’d had his vision my life might have taken a different path during the year just past.

In the midst of school shut down in 2020, Van Richardson’s baseball games and others came to a halt and he had to look for an activity to occupy his time.
Growing up on a small farm, he had always enjoyed being out in the pasture working cattle but amid the pandemic he decided to try something new.
After some brainstorming, Van bought his first show heifer in May of 2020

The pendulum of opioid prescribing for pain has swung sharply in the last decade, as the epidemic of opioid overuse, addiction and overdose has led policy makers and health care providers to ratchet back on the prescriptions patients receive.

But for about 5 million Americans who have taken prescription opioids for years to address their chronic pain, that pendulum swing has led to trouble getting refills, finding new providers when their former ones retire or relocate, or getting access to multi-modal pain care that goes beyond pills.

Surprising others used to be a challenge for me. If you read “Christmas Present Fiasco,” then you’re very well aware of this fact. After I grew up, I not only conquered that, but I lifted my ability to surprise to another level.

How strange it seemed when during the Christmas break of 2023 that I should suddenly have so vividly remembered something that has never left my mind.
As I do practically every day, my eyes wandered to the picture of the old house where I spent most of my growing up years. It was the original home of the Burl Warwick family, located on Old Luttrell Road, near the intersection with Highway 61. My family rented the house from Jack Warwick, and we moved there just as I entered first grade.

Gas tanks full, car and truck maintenance were all up-to-date, goats received thiamine shots to help their rumens with stress, hay bag hanging in the cargo trailer, wifi camera working to monitor goats on the iPad in the front seat, Leo the livestock guardian dog loaded into the car back seat, goat and dog feed in the back of the SUV, everything in the RV closed or tied, RV fridge full. With a stomach full of butterflies and already missing family and friends, we headed eastward to Ramsay. The plan was to take it real easy for the whole trip but especially for the first day.