Soon after becoming a follower of Christ, I heard the phrase “divine appointments.” Namely, that God arranges opportunities to touch another person’s life with the gospel or a word of hope. For someone who makes a living taking notes, you might think I would have kept better track of such encounters. Sadly, I haven’t. Still,…
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Sometimes the most significant events take place in relative anonymity, outside of TV cameras, cell phone videos, or news reporters chronicling it as “something important.” Such was the case at a recent city-wide prayer meeting at the Huntington High School auditorium. The gathering of several hundred individuals followed the Sept. 7 “One Prayer” observance sparked…
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Until the recent Ohio River Festival of Books, I knew little of author Marc Brown or his phenomenal “Arthur” children’s books, which have sold more than 65 million copies. I knew they had been made into an Emmy Award-winning (six of them) series on PBS, but my primary reason for attending his keynote address was…
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The oil painting measured an impressive six-by-seven feet. Though it carried no clue of locale, its depiction of a bus rounding a wide, curved street reminded me of the New York cityscapes often featured on TV shows like Becker and Castle. And it was just one among many pieces of impressive art on display at…
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I missed Marshall University’s recent 30-point thumping of my alma mater, Ohio University. Ironically, the afternoon the Bobcats were playing in Huntington, I was at a family reunion 35 miles west of OU’s campus in Athens, Ohio. However, a week before the game, I warmed up for the current football season by attending an outdoor…
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Hundreds of Huntington, West Virginia churches came together—spiritually, not physically—on Sept. 7. The “One Prayer” initiative got its spark from Mayor Steve Williams, who asked churches to unite in prayer to ask for God’s help with the city’s serious drug addiction problems. The day after, a friend posted a Facebook link from her church of…
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A couple of positive reviews last fall of The Book Thief had me interested in taking in the film during a spate of interesting movies that hit theaters in the pre-Christmas time frame. Although we failed to make it during its initial theatrical run, the bonus behind today’s rapid DVD release cycles means that just…
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Despite my forthcoming addition to the Medicare ranks in 2016, I don’t want to spend my golden years as a grumpy old man. I’ve seen it happen to friends and others—advancing age stirs a litany of complaints about: the younger generation, one’s aches and pains, or the gripe, “In my day (blah, blah, blah)…” A…
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Drug addiction is a scourge that affects every state and countless municipalities across America. A prime example is the governor of one of our least-populated states devoting this year’s state of the state speech to the “full-blown heroin crisis” gripping Vermont. I grew up in a city of about 55,000 in northern Ohio. Yet last…
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The outpouring of sympathy and concern after the recent suicide of actor Robin Williams demonstrates how this talented genius affected millions of lives. Ironically, real life seemed to imitate art, reflecting his 2010 film, World’s Greatest Dad. Having never seen it, I didn’t know about this satire on the grief industry until a friend posted…
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