Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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That “politics makes strange bedfellows” is certainly true right now in our country with all the turmoil. The problem with strange bedfellows is when they see each other in the morning, they’ll remember being bitter enemies previously. Literally, by the dawn’s early light after our upcoming election, our flag may not still be there. But this article isn’t about politics. Kentuckians of say, “I’m for the Wildcats and whoever’s playing against Tennessee.” That is, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Kentucky’s next game might be against whoever...
May was hot; the fourth-hottest May in the past 100 years for the average daily high temperature and the fifth-hottest for the average daily temperature. We came within a degree of tying the record for the single warmest day in May. So far, in June, we already have tied one daily high temperature record and broken another, and the average daily high is well above the long-term average for the same time period. It’s been hot! This past Sunday was Father’s Day and the first day of summer (my calendar says that summer actually started at 5:44 pm...
Spring usually is considered planting time, and we’re almost finished with spring planting. But in this area, planting takes place somewhere almost year-round. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 states there’s a time for every activity under the sun, including planting. While harvesting isn’t mentioned in that passage, Genesis 8:22 states harvesting comes after planting, and it’s certain that no harvest can happen if the seeding wasn’t done. The lazy, worthless, wicked servant of Matthew 25:14-30 learned when you’ve been blessed, as we’ve all been, we’re expec...
During homeschooling due to COVID-19, I recalled “The Skeleton Song” used for teaching children the parts of the body. Here’s how it goes: “The foot bone’s connected to the leg bone. The leg bone’s connected to the knee bone. The knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone. Doin’ the skeleton dance. The thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone. The hip bone’s connected to the backbone. The backbone’s connected to the neck bone. Doin’ the skeleton dance.” This song is based on one written in the early 1900s named “Dem Bones,” or “Dry Bones,” bas...
Since the beginning of this month and almost within this past week, we’ve celebrated Cinco de Mayo (May 5), the National Day of Prayer (May 7) and Mother’s Day (May 10). Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexico’s independence day. However, that’s celebrated Sept. 16 to commemorate Mexico’s declaration of independence from Spain in 1810. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla, which took place in 1862 against French invaders. The defeat of the French was short-lived, and the second Battle of Puebla a year later didn’t go so well for...
During this COVID-19 pandemic, many people are losing hope, not only because of the disease itself but because of increasing joblessness and the now-depressed economy. But there’s hope because in many areas, the disease has reached its apex or will in the foreseeable future, largely because of the proactivity of our governments and the obedience, for the most part, of the people. God won’t let anything get so bad in this world for Christians that we cannot bear it (Matthew 24:21-31). Just over two weeks ago, the world celebrated the death, bur...
Today is April 15, and your taxes would normally be due TODAY. But, in light of COVID-19, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has extended the filing deadline to July 15, and, believe it or not, there are no extra forms to file for this extension! In fact, some of you already may have received your COVID-19 stimulus funds by direct deposit without having even filed your 2019 taxes because the government can use your 2018 tax return to determine the amount and how to send the funds. Anyway, many areas of our lives have deadlines, such as renewing...
My April Fool’s Day article will wait another year in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Our preacher’s sermon March 22, titled “Fear, Faith, and Hope” (the basis for this article), was exceptional for encouragement. You can view the entire 12-minute sermon at https://www.facebook.com/leonard.lauriault. Our church is complying with social distancing guidelines although worship centers remain exempt from mass gathering limitations. Since we have many at-risk members, several families met in homes in smaller groups (Philemon 1:1-2; Colossi...
When driving away from home, we generally travel a couple of car lengths east, then make a gentle U-turn westward. Recently as I was pulling away, I noticed two lines of information on my truck’s instrument panel. The first said, “492 MILES TO E,” and the second said, “E 211608 mi.” As soon as I made the U-turn, the top line remained the same, but the second line changed to, “W 211608 mi.” So, I think I probably found the halfway point between “E” and “W” because I was headed west and should arrive at “E” in 492 miles. Certainly by now y...
I didn’t have a good story to tell on someone, including myself, I could use as the basis for this Quay County Sun article. So I resorted to checking the internet for interesting facts about March 4 because there’s a maximum of 366 days each year and something of interest has happened on each date at sometime within the 5,000 years or so of recorded history. Believe it or not, one website states March 4 is Grammar Day (https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-grammar-day-march-4/) — Ewwwww! I’ll not say much more about that for fear of adding...
I write for work in addition to these religion articles for the Quay County Sun. There are a few words that took me a while to figure out. “It” is an easy word for me to deal with, but I used to get “its” contraction with “is” (it’s) confused with “its” possessive (its) because, as everybody knows, possessives are made by adding the apostrophe “s” to the end of any noun. Some Bible words have been confused by men, leading to many of the denominations present today, which isn’t what Jesus wants (John 17:20-23; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephes...
Stickers, like goatheads and sandburs, can get on shoes and clothing and be brought inside buildings, such as homes, where they can cause problems for us or others. They can even be transferred to couch cushions where they affect our backsides – Ouch! (Been there!) Our church goes to a place each month where, if you step off the sidewalk, you’ll get sandburs on your shoes. Recently, after entering that building, one of our members was observed to have something on his shoe that turned out to be a cluster of sandburs. He was teased for hav...
Surely you’ve heard statements about truth being stranger than fiction. Here’s one: During a recent out-of-town trip, we bought some groceries and other things hard to find locally. Before we left for home, a backseat passenger (I was driving) asked whether he could work the puzzle on the back of a cereal box. So I handed him the box and a pencil. After finishing the puzzle, he asked if/when we’d stop for supper, saying he was starving because staring at the box of Bran flakes (no raisins) made his mouth water. Mm mmm! Bran flakes! Now, how man...
“No more let sin and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground!” — verse from the hymn “Joy to the World” Quay County is infested with goatheads and sandburs that are moved around on tires and people’s shoes. However, very safe and effective herbicides are available to kill weeds as they germinate or after they emerge aboveground if the label is followed. So there are preventive and curative measures to stop the spread of weeds, including goatheads and sandburs. The ground has been weed-infested since Adam first sinned (Genesis 3:17-18). G...
I was working on an article about truth being stranger than fiction with a few real life examples when I realized that my next article would come out right at Christmas Day. So, thinking quickly as if on my feet while I sat at my desk, I developed a Christmas article with a similar theme because the real-life events of Jesus’ birth include some aspects that are truth stranger than fiction. Actually, his whole life was a matter of truth stranger than fiction, but it was all prophesied centuries before. So no one during his lifetime s...
There are fewer than 14 shopping days left before Christmas! Are you ready? I am — that is, if a replacement present arrives in time. You see, I had my wife’s present delivered well ahead of time, but it was delivered to our house (along with several packages she’d ordered) instead of my office, which was the address on the label with my name on it and she opened it accidentally. That was nobody’s fault but the delivery service’s, as my wife would never want to spoil Christmas surprises. Still, I felt I needed to get her another gift, and...
It's Thanksgiving week, and I pray all travelers and those staying home will have a safe and happy holiday. While we should be thankful to others for kind deeds or service they do for us, including our veterans, current military and first responders, the ultimate recipient of our thanksgiving should be God. Often, when I thank someone, I also thank God for sending him or her into my life, but a real eye opener occurs when I do something for someone else and receive a blessing. I immediately count that as a blessing for entertaining an angel...
Monday was Veterans Day. Thank you veterans for your service to our country! Without that, we wouldn’t have the freedoms we enjoy. Many of our nation’s veterans have come home physically and/or emotionally/spiritually maimed by the horrors they’ve experienced. It’s well past time we started honoring and taking care of our veterans, and I’m proud of the recently initiated changes to that end. Like Americans, Christians enjoy considerable freedoms in several areas. First, is freedom from guilt because our sins have been forgiven [Hebrews...
It’s Halloween time with all its symbols from various sources, even some based in Christianized pagan rites. Much of the Christianized component originally was associated with the fear of death and its defeat by Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Halloween; Hebrews 2:14-15). For example, the skulls so prevalent today originally represented the place of Jesus’ crucifixion (John 19:16-18). Also, dressing up as scary figures (guising) is based in poking fun at Satan because of his defeat by dressing up as once-...
Oct. 12 historically was celebrated as Columbus Day in most of the USA because on that date in 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on one of the Bahama Islands. This event’s celebration was made a Monday holiday, like many others, being celebrated this past Monday. I see several points of interest about Columbus and the day celebrating his “discovery” of America. First, the Vikings were in the Western Hemisphere centuries before Columbus, but they didn’t colonize it like the more southern Europeans who followed Columbus. Besides that, those w...
Recently, I wrote about picking up trash along U.S. 54 and that on one such occasion, I found a pair of unmatched left-handed work gloves. I threw them away because they didn’t match, and I don’t have two left hands (I do have two left feet, however!). That previous article’s point was we’re to test everything holding on to the good and throw out the evil. Another thing that reminded me of was, until not too long ago, naturally left-handed individuals were forced to learn how to write and do other things right-handed. Maybe that’s why I onl...
We’ve all heard comments along the lines of, “When the door of opportunity opens, you’ve got to walk through it,” or “When God closes a door, he always opens a window.” Just after stating we’re saved by grace through faith and not by our own works, God, through Paul, tells us we’re saved to do good works he prepared for us before we became Christians, and God says through James we must do those works to prove our faith (Ephesians 2:8-10; James 2:14-26). Our faith alone isn’t what saves, either. Nevertheless, while God completed the wor...
We pick up trash along U.S. 54 about twice a year and, every once in a while, we find something of potential value and put into a separate bucket with recyclable plastics, cans, bottles, etc., for further inspection after the picking up is done (we also carry a trash bag). You know, one man’s garbage is another man’s gold; or, sometimes people get in a hurry and unintentionally throw out valuables. I found a nice, full toolbox at an illegal roadside garbage dump once while walking home from school. Anyway, during the most recent trash pick-up o...
We found a paperback book at our house about a year ago that does not belong to anyone living here. So, we’ve been asking those who visit whether it’s theirs. Recently, we asked a mid-30s, single male family member, and when he heard the title, he said it might be his and asked to see it. Whether it actually was his, he was interested because of the title, that is, until he read the banner above the title, “Heartwarming Inspirational Romance.” Obviously, the rest of us had a laugh at his expense because he’d originally misinterpreted the title,...
I read signs and often find some rather interesting, if not outright funny. I saw one once on the back of a tractor-trailer saying something like, “We drive with lights on, hands-free and text-free.” I’m sure we all understand that was a safety promise about the driver keeping his or her hands on the steering wheel rather than messing with a cellphone; however, when I saw that, my first thought was, “Look Mom! No hands!” Most of us (guys, anyway) can remember yelling that the first time we rode our bike past the house after we learned h...
