Subscription Lists

One of the items that I keep handy on my desk is a tape measure. It's a small one. It only measures about two inches square and is barely a half inch thick. Yet this diminutive Stanley PowerLock will measure distances up to ten feet which makes it indispensible as an aid for me in my office. Most of the measuring I do in my office is to see if a bookcase or other piece of furniture might fit in a certain area.

This very day I will be using my sleek little steel encased beauty to rearrange my bookcases so I can get a little more room for books in my office space. Since our…  ( Click for more )

Life is great, isn't it? Evening comes, work is done, and we sit back in our easy chair and watch a little something on the telly. We grab this device with rows of buttons on its top side and start pushing buttons until we achieve the desired result. What were our ancestors thinking making televisions without remote controls?

Consider this. Since the 1950's, just after TV's invention and coming of age, America has grown obese and more sedate according to recent studies. Guess there was something to having to get up off the couch to turn the TV on and off and change channels.…  ( Click for more )

A newspaper that is curculated in the Louisville, Kentucky area ran a story on Kentucky basketball in this week's rag. They tied the idea of "passion" into it, which, in and of itself, was not a problem. However, the front cover showed Jesus holding a basketball with the story's caption emblazoned in print reminiscent of the move, "The Passion of the Christ", just below the picture of Jesus.

The owner of the paper said that he was not mocking the Lord in any way. One of his deliverers saw it differently. David Wine refused to deliver the paper saying it was, indeed, a mockery…  ( Click for more )

I had just finished reading an e-mail and there it was. That little tag at the end. The e-mail was a moving piece concerning God's love and then I got to the end. There at the end was that addendum that just aggravates me. I'm sure you may have seen it sometime. It goes something like this: If you love God you'll pass this on. If you delete this... You get the picture.

Just this morning a dear friend of mine sent me an e-mail concerning 9/11 that ended this way. "Pass this on to someone else if you'd like. There is NO LUCK attached. If you delete this, it's okay: God's…  ( Click for more )

In twenty-seven years of playing golf I have seen people who absolutely did not belong on a golf course. How do I know that? I had to follow them for the day. Someone once said that, "Golf is a good walk spoiled." Well, following people who have enough money to buy golf clubs and pay greens fees but know nothing of the game must be at the very heart of that statement.

That is the problem with golf. People can afford to play the game. But they refuse to invest the time to learn the game. They will not read about it, study it, practice it or even watch it. Then they go…  ( Click for more )

Marshalltown, Iowa. Why Marshalltown, Iowa? Because Marshalltown, Iowa is where the legend began. Legends always have to begin somewhere and this one began in Marshalltown, Iowa in the mid 1920s. A young man with a drive in his spirit that few had seen before was new to this small town in Iowa. The school had a limited budget as schools did then. Many of the teachers were not only coaches but also coaches of several sports.

Adolph Rupp was the coach...of the wrestling team. Before he came, the team had struggled to get boys involved and those who were involved weren't very…  ( Click for more )

Someday I plan to write an article called, "You know you're getting old when..." I know, someone has probably already written it. As the popular response is today...whatever! I never thought I'd say this, but that word carries a world of meaning. Of course it depends on how it's said and why as to the reaction of those receiving it.

Two people are involved in a heated argument. One feels that their point is crystal clear. The other responds that they just cannot believe it. "Whatever!" A teenager has been confronted by their parents with being late getting home from a date.…  ( Click for more )

Ever listen to a baby's cry? Over the past few years I have been in the homes of several young couples who have new additions to their families. Someplace along the way that new addition has awakened and seemingly has not been too happy about doing so. The parents take a certain measure of time to try to quiet the little bundle of upset emotions.

But is a baby's cry the cry of emotional distress? Consider this. In raising three children my wife and I found out that babies cry for different reasons. If they are hungry they cry. If they are needing changed they cry. If they…  ( Click for more )

I have always found nature fascinating, even frightening at times. Lightening and thunder storms have been able to keep me riveted for their duration. I have sat and stared at tornadoes in the distance from the front porch of my ancestral home in Ohio. But what has kept my attention more than anything else are the critters that populate nature. Not the big ones that big game hunters bag for wall decorations, but the little ones under our feet that collectors obtain for...uh...er...wall decorations. You know, insects.

Many of the people I know are shorter than me while some…  ( Click for more )

Ever see a bottle of champaign opened? The cork in a bottle of wine is inserted before the fermentation process is completed. As a result, great pressure builds inside the bottle from the fermentation. The cork, when given a little nudge, pops off the bottle. Sometimes it gets fired across a room, sometimes it just pops up a tad.

Fermentation is the introduction of a living organism to a fruit juice which causes the sugar to change to ethyl alcohol. The process causes carbonation which builds the pressure under the cork. It's kind of like what happens when you shake a bottle…  ( Click for more )

Paul Dickson once said, "Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig." I used to work on farms during the summers of my teen years. One farmer, Robin Wright (no not THAT Robin Wright...this was a guy 20 years older than me), raised hogs. Every now and then I would have the chance to work the hogs with him. It was difficult work but fun, nonetheless.

One particular day we were trying to get the hogs to go through a run to a chute and into a pen. One sow wasn't cooperating. She kept turning around and going back the other way which created confusion…  ( Click for more )

An amazing story has come out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A woman named Luz Cuevas saw her six year old daughter at a birthday party she was attending. Why is that amazing? Her daughter had been declared dead six years ago in a house fire.

Here is what went down. In 1997 Cuevas was married to Pedro Vera who, that year, had fathered their daughter Delimar. A fire suddenly blazed in Delimar's room where she was supposedly sleeping. The blaze was so hot and so sudden that no one was able to get into the room to rescue the child whom fire officials assumed burned in the blaze.…  ( Click for more )

Johnson Bible College has been affectionately called The Hill for a number of years. Seeing the sparawling forty acre campus now as compared to old photographs from the early 1900's reveals why. J. B. C. was built on a hill originally. Ashley S. Johnson, the founder, set it there to be easily seen. From the White House, the President's home since it was built in the early 1900's, to the old administration building which bears the evidence of the "School of the Evangelists", Johnson's dream was realized.

The Hill has, over the years, rendered the results that many hills do.…  ( Click for more )

A number of years ago I quit watching the National Basketball Association. I quit for a several reasons. I felt the quality of play was declining. There were too many dunks and way too many jump shot contests. A friend of mine took umbrage with that and said it was exciting. I countered with the fact that, for a person to get free for a dunk in a half court offense, someone had to blow a defensive coverage. Same with a lot of open jump shots.

Evidently I am not alone. "This is the worst basketball being played since I can remember, and it's not becacuse I'm an old guy."…  ( Click for more )

The last two days have been fun and informative. I had the opportunity to spend Tuesday evening and all day Wednesday at Johnson Bible College near Knoxville, Tennessee. Though I graduated from Kentucky Christian College I also claim Johnson Bible College as my alma mater having spent two years there prior to my enrollment at K.C.C. Being back on campus brought back the proverbial "flood of memories."

I drove all the way through the campus up past and around "Old Main", the combination administration building and dormitory which formed the guts of the campus for so many years…  ( Click for more )

Almost every town has one. People quicken their pace walking when they pass by. It becomes the subject of conjecture and legend. Some are consumed by needing to know its history. Still others make it the subject of mindless dares. It stands silent yet speaks volumes. It commands attention simply by its enduring presence. It is an empty house.

I can remember just such a house when I was in my pre-teen years. It sat back a lane just about a mile out of town. We called it the haunted house. It was ramshackled. To walk through the front door you walked across the roof of…  ( Click for more )

Car choices are a thing of personal taste. A car can say a lot about a person. A jazzy little roadster says, "I think I'm fun and I pamper myself." A minivan says, "Hi, I have kids and I like hauling them around places." A midsized sedan says, "Hello, I'm practical and a little on the frugal side." Some just pick a beautiful or rare car and own it just to look at it. So, what do I drive? I drive a Dodge Stratus.

For me, it was, and still is, the perfect fit. I was able to get one nicely loaded for under $20,000 with a solid performing four cylinder engine for economy.…  ( Click for more )

In all the Scottish lore which comprises the rich history of golf, there is a tidbit concerning the naming of the area on which the game was to be played. As the story goes, two gentlemen were contemplating their attempt to advance a round object toward an area of green grass.

"So, Angus," began one of the men, "how will ye advance this wee ball ta yonder beautiful green?" "Tis not so much a problem, Collin," replied Angus, "I'll just strike her in that direction. That looks like a fair way." "Aye, the fair way it is then." Thus was born the term "fairway" because it was the…  ( Click for more )

It was one of those days right after a rain when the weatherman had said that the skies would be clear for several days. I washed my car. Actually got out the car wash formula, hose, wax and chamois. Spent some serious time working over my little gem to make her shine like the sun. I was proud of the way she looked and relaxed in my home that evening smug in the thought of a job well done. Then came the morning.

My wife left for work and I settled in with my computer to get some work done. About ten o'clock I decided to head to the local hospital and check on one of our church…  ( Click for more )

Many years ago, in an ill-fated move which has left them gasping for breath, the Boston Red Sox of the American League of Major League Baseball, traded a promising young pitcher to the New York Yankees for a position player. After almost seven hundred home runs and several World Series wins, the New York Yankees were grateful that they took a chance on George Herman Ruth and made that trade.

Prior to the trade of "Babe" Ruth from Boston to New York, the Red Sox had been the toast of baseball. They had won five World Series titles from 1903 to 1918. Since the trade they have…  ( Click for more )

Recently my nephew, Scott Snyder, got to play in a national pro-am golf tournament. He won a spot to compete on behalf of his company in the Phoenix Open Pro-Am. A pro-am is an event in which four amateur golfers are teamed with a golfer from the professional ranks in a team event for the right to play over the weekend and win some really neat prizes. Scott is a reasonably proficient golfer and won the right to play in a group with PGA pro, Billy Mayfair.

Scott was thrilled that, on the holes with rather large galaries, he played fairly well under pressure. He did say that…  ( Click for more )

Ah, I love election years. Everything you never really wanted to know about anyone and were just not interested enough to find out.

The case in question right now? President Bush and his military service with the National Guard. Did he or didn't he report to Montgomery, Alabama? The man who will probably oppose him in this year's presidential election is thrice decorated John Kerry, a veteran of the Vietnam War. His service record is impressive and his dedication to his country unimpeachable. But did President Bush fulfill his service?

The proof that is being offered…  ( Click for more )

My mother used to have no problem with me watching sporting events. She always saw them as safe. She felt that watching sports would keep my mind off those things which might curry sin in my life. Then one day Dad and I were watching the Dallas Cowboys play the Cleveland Browns and the camera panned to the newly added Cowboys Cheerleaders. My mom looked at the screen with a shocked look on her face as she viewed navels and ample breasts challenging the fabric which was struggling to contain them.

Oh, that that were the least of our worries now in televised sports. Free speech…  ( Click for more )

It's late morning for me to be doing this. Usually I am up around 4:30 A.M. EST and at the computer around 4:50 preparing to submit this column. Right now it is almost 7:30 A.M. I am late doing this and I apologize. However, I do have a valid reason. My son has come home.

My oldest son, John, is in the youth ministry in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He drove down yesterday, having left after a meeting following their morning worship service. He arrived here sometime around 10:30 last night. That's a half hour after my usual bedtime for Sunday. His mother went on the bed and John…  ( Click for more )