Opinion

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.

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.

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.

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.

Recently, we reminisced about Dippity Do, Hai Karate, Mr. Bubble and other products from our youth. That opened the floodgates. Many of you shared memories of products we rarely see today. Let’s take another trip down the aisles of A & P, Piggly Wiggly, and Shop-Rite stores we visited every Friday night. As you know, pennies are being phased out of circulation. Let’s face it, most of us haven’t bent down to pick up a penny in years, so few tears are being shed. That said, I do have fond memories of “penny candy.” It seems like most of it stuck to my teeth. Many dentists built their fortunes on scraping off Bit O’Honey, Sugar Babies, Pixy Stix, and banana-flavored Kits. A penny could also land you a piece of Dubble Bubble or Bazooka bubble gum, with a color comic inside! Think about it. Bubble gum AND a Bazooka Joe comic, both for a penny. Someone made a pretty penny on that, for a long, long time.

We are 60 days into a “30-day” war. It is time to exit. We had Operation Midnight Hammer, then Operation Epic Fury, then Operation Economic Fury, and now Operation Freedom. We need our next maneuver to be Operation Skedaddle.

If you have ever grown Zinnias (a brightly colored, fast-growing and heat loving flower) then you are probably familiar with the term “pinching”. It is a technique that is done when the plant is around a foot tall and involves pinching off the top of the center stem encouraging the plant to branch out so that it can ultimately produce more beautiful flowers. If a Zinnia is not pinched during this phase, it does not mean that it won’t survive and produce blooms, but it will not be given the opportunity to reach its full potential. On Sunday we did just that with our over 600 plants already in the ground – many of which had produced their first bloom of the season. As a grower, this is always such a hard task for me because I hate to not allow the flower to continue growing in its own capacity.