One Sunday morning a few weeks ago, our teacher Mike used an expression that I had not heard in many a moon. First, the context. He said when he was growing up, their family lived on a narrow dirt road. When he was about 14 and it was time to learn how to drive, his dad took him and their pickup down in the pasture. The truck had a stick shift, which is what most families had those days. If you are not familiar with a stick shift, it is…

Have you ever run across someone who was just plain mean? “Mean” in this sense is the adjective form which refers to someone lacking elevating human qualities such as kindness and good will. Mean people are unkind even to the point of physical harm, and it’s obvious they do not care about other people. However, people’s motives for their actions really determine whether they are mean or not. On the surface people may appear to be mean, when in reality they are not mean at all. To illustrate the truth…

If I may, I would like to begin today’s column with a question. What is the definition of a conceited dolt? Well, a conceited dolt is a man whose wife thinks he’s funny! Wish I had one of those. Just kidding, Janis always laughs at my jokes, especially the good ones. A while back we had a speaker come to our Lions Club who was really good, and he was funny. So much so that I had a special request from one of our members, Jerry Boyer, who asked me…

A few weeks ago, a wonderful couple in our Sunday School class let it be known they had a lady friend who was down on her luck, and that they would like for our class to do an old-fashioned pounding. Because we have a loving, caring class, it did not take long for us to spring into action. It was quickly decided that a Sunday a couple of weeks in the future would be the day when everyone would bring what they wanted to give to her. In the next…

During our time today I have a very exciting, interesting and much-needed concept to share with you. But first, a quick disclaimer. I am well aware that over the past several months I have written a good number of columns about my new book “Your Future Begins Today” and the Character Education course we are developing to teach in our nation’s schools. The reason is simple, but it is important for you to know why I am doing this. Every Senior Citizen knows that our culture has changed over the…

It is often said that attitude is gratitude. From my own personal experience, I know this is true. I have never known anyone who had a great attitude who was not also grateful for what they had. Have you? I am an early riser, and the other morning about 5 a.m. I was thinking about this column. The thought came to me that we will be happier if we can be grateful for the small things in life. The reason is because there are so many more of them. To…

If inflation and the high cost of gasoline is causing you to change your habits, the way you do things and the places you go, I have a good suggestion that may be of interest. At our home, Janis and I have a new pastime that is very enjoyable. We now watch the Arkansas Razorbacks sports teams on television. Most recently we watched the Razorback baseball team as they were involved in post-season play. In the beginning, one of the things that really attracted us to the games is one…

Problems, Problems, Problems. Life is filled with problems. Fortunately, there are bad problems and there are also good problems. When Janis and I married back in 2015, we inherited one of the good ones. The good problem was that we both owned a home: hers was on Beaverfork Lake, mine was south of town near Round Mountain. The problem for us came when making the decision as to where we would live. I wanted to live here in my home, where I had been for 20 years and had my…

If I may, today I would like to begin by asking you a couple of questions. Please take a moment to ponder them. First, how much do you know about your state? And next, how much do you know about the other 49? And then, a follow-up question: Would you like to know more? In addition to today’s column about my own state, I am considering featuring a different state, once each month, and taking them in alphabetical order. The information in this column will give you an idea of…

You may have heard the old saying, “We may lose a few battles, but we are going to win the war.” I believe this accurately describes where our country is just now. Like millions and millions of Americans, I am terribly saddened when I learn about another tragic school shooting, like the one we just had down in Uvalde, Texas. Soon after each shooting the gun debate begins, but this time we may actually do something about the massive number of guns in our society. It looks like we may…