Blog

The Fantasy Comes Alive

I have long tried to pick winners in several pro contests, but had never played fantasy football. However, in August when a friend volunteered to act as the commissioner for a Yahoo Sports league, I signed up. We had real preseason festivities. With a pair of pizzas, participants seated around an oval table, and a…
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Learning to Turn the Other Cheek

When the lockdowns of 2020 shut down almost every facility in town, including the YMCA, I resorted to walking on a track at the city park for exercise. On the days I had an early morning meeting, I would stop at the park on the way home before starting work. Several times that fall, I…
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Finding Fun in Soccer

With the sporting world, blogosphere, and all things musical going ga-ga over whether singer Taylor Swift and Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce really are an item, I turned my attentions in a different direction recently: the soccer pitch. Nobody was more surprised by this turn of events than me. For two decades, my wife…
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Focus on the Family Is Vital

Earlier this year, an acquaintance talked about the estrangement she has observed in her family. She complained about some of her grandchildren telling their parents inquiring about their general wellbeing or academic pursuits that it was “none of their business.” “Where do they get this stuff?” she asked with a tone of incredulousness. One could…
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Vacation: A Dream on Multiple Levels

Although much of my work now involves book editing and ghostwriting projects, I still write articles periodically for several publications (in the spirit of the 21st century, most are online). And every so often, I work on a story that makes me sit up and exclaim, “How cool is that!” Such was the case in…
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Taking Time for Others

When we planned a late-summer “get out of Dodge” getaway, it was mainly to visit old friends—not just in age, but longevity. As the years slip by and casual acquaintances fade away, relationships that endure for 40 years are precious. In this case, the reconnection was even more special: they taught the new believers’ class…
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Prophecy is a Gift that Keeps on Giving

In recent months our pastor preached a series on spiritual gifts, a subject often rife with controversy and criticism over the excesses often associated with prophecy and speaking in tongues. He has pointed out an overemphasis on tongues is the opposite of what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 14:6: “Now, brothers, if I come to…
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“Pacman” Jones Stepping up to the Plate

With quarterback salaries mushrooming to the $40-50 million range, running backs getting dissed, and back-office deals attracting as much attention as the players, the offseason of the National Football League has been filled with drama. Fortunately, speculation, rumor and hype got a rest last night when Detroit takes the field in Kansas City, followed by…
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Laborers Can’t Afford their Own Vehicles

As we prepare to observe Labor Day next Monday, the question uppermost in my mind is: how can any worker turning out electric vehicles (EV) on today’s assembly line afford one? When Ford recently lowered its F-150 Lightning by about $10,000, it still left a sticker-shock-level price of $49,000. To buy one, a modest wage…
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All Hail to the Bacon

Bacon upsets some people. That’s what the president of the Macon Bacon discovered recently when he received a letter asking him to change the minor league baseball team’s name. “Macon Bacon’s glorification of bacon, a processed meat that raises the risk of colorectal cancer and other diseases, sends the wrong message,” the letter said. It…
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