Opinion

One of my fondest memories on the farm as a child was when my Papa would break out the slip n’ slide in the front yard draping it down the fastest hill I had yet to know. As I look back, the hill looks smaller, the slip n’ slide isn’t as long as I thought as a child and the fear of breaking a hip has most certainly ceased the slip n’ slide days. This of course does not prevent me from purchasing one for my own children over the weekend – a secret hope to relive those simpler times through their eyes. As I threw out that thin bright yellow piece of plastic and hooked up the water, I could see my ten-year-old a little disappointed that the slide wasn’t longer. I could see that she was most certainly not impressed but did enjoy the break from the heat. I then watched my four-year old’s eyes light up with excitement as he ran as fast as his legs would allow just to land in a puddle of cold grassy water at the end. In that moment God reminded me just how life can also be a slip n’ slide.

You can’t always get what you want…” The words of the Rolling Stones often echo in my mind as I ponder the countless rejections we humans face over the course of our lives. (The words of the Rolling Stones also often echo in my mind as I ponder the many senior moments we face over the course of our lives. “Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name…”) I nearly died before I took my first breath, but Dr. K.J. Phelps went the extra mile for me in the delivery room. So I’ve always had a “thing” about people getting a fighting chance in life.

Annual visits with a primary care provider are a great opportunity to check in on your overall health. The purpose of an annual physical is to identify potential health concerns early so you can make small, proactive changes to help avoid more serious conditions in the future. Even if you feel healthy and maintain an active lifestyle, there are a few key health metrics (measurements) that should be checked each year. This is because many chronic conditions, such as heart disease or hypertension, can develop gradually without exhibiting obvious symptoms in your daily life. These include blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, body mass index (BMI) and preventive screenings based on family history.

In a spectacular ceremony at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, President Trump received an extravagant welcome to China last week. China is 6,500 miles from the USA and is protected by its military. China represents our largest adversarial army, navy and intel operatives. It is also the safest place President Trump has been in two years. Chinese state media handled the visit carefully. Their coverage portrayed Trump with the cautious respect normally reserved for a live tiger wandering through a fraternity party. Trump had just come from a hunting trip in the U.S. where he killed more RHINOs than any president since Teddy Roosevelt.

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.” Revelation 2:20-23. If you are serving the Lord, sowing into your community and on a path of Kingdom anointing then there is no doubt in my mind you have encountered the Jezebel spirit. I encourage you to read 1 Kings 19:1-8 to understand what it looked like for Elijah as he himself came face to face with Jezebel – a power-hungry queen who would stop at nothing to gain control and influence. First, I want to give you some characteristics that you can look for when discerning this specific spirit in your own walk.

It’s been a long road / Gettin’ from there to here…” Yes, some of us with students in our lives have had “Faith of the Heart,” while others have had “Faith of the Administration Continuing to Force Dubious Students Through the Pipeline”; but it all ends in the same milestone: graduation.

In today’s world, it’s easy to forget how little we once knew about major league baseball. When I saw my first game, it was on a TV cart in a 4th grade classroom. Our teacher was a baseball fan, and she didn’t let simple arithmetic get in the way of the World Series. This was when postseason games were played in the afternoon, and we only got to see one regular season game per week, Saturdays on NBC. You could safely bet that announcer Curt Gowdy and his crew were in a major-market stadium: New York, Boston, Chicago, or Los Angeles. With any luck, a small-town team like my favorite, the Atlanta Braves might be on TV once or twice a year.

Before there were bombastic businessmen like Donald Trump and later Elon Musk, there was Ted Turner. He was called the “Mouth of the South,” full of bluster and humor. For better or worse, as he later admitted, he was the man who created 24-hour cable news. There was a time in the news business that “breaking news” did not happen every ten minutes. If one more person on that boat with Hantavirus got sick at 9 p.m., you’d have to wait until morning to be told.