If you have ever worked on a project and had to scrap it because it was not working out and “go back to square one,” you will relate to what I want to talk with you about today. To be very realistic, this is exactly where we are in our nation today. The recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, where more than 30 people lost their lives to senseless violence, have served to highlight the tremendous need we have to scrap many things in our current…

While it’s true, and it has not always been this way, today knowledge is power. If you want to learn just how true this is, just become a contestant on “Jeopardy” sometime and you will find this out in a hurry. In this case, not knowing something could cost you several thousand dollars. These thoughts came to mind sometime back when my friend Joe Lehmann sent me a group of old sayings that I had heard often but did not know where they came from. This was so interesting that…

As a general rule, we don’t get too excited about something bad or negative until it hits close to home. This happened to me just recently, and it is so important that I want to share it with you in the hopes it will help you or someone you love. I have a dear friend by the name of Dr. C. Dennis Schick, who was director of the Arkansas Press Association for 25 years. Dennis has been retired for several years and he has helped me in so many ways,…

When I started reading Carl Barger’s new book, “Sons of War,” I had no idea what was in store for me and how thrilled I would be with my decision to read it. Carl is a master storyteller, and in this book he is able to capture the essence of America’s bloodiest war, the Civil War. From a historical family perspective, he transports his readers back to the years leading up to and during a war that would take the lives of 620,000 Americans, wound 475,000 more and have more…

After you read what I have to share today, you are probably going to say that Jim has quit preaching and gone to meddling. Well, what I am going to say may not be popular in some circles, but it is still something that needs to be said. To be sure, I am part of the older generation; you know the one whose tithes and offerings pay most of the bills for our churches, and I am not as efficient on using IPhones, social media and most of the other…

When you think about the state of national politics in America today, it makes millions of us very sad. There are a number of words I could have used instead of “sad” but when you think about what is happening in our nation today, in both political parties, it is truly a sad state of affairs, and somehow it has to improve. I have some suggestions that may help. First, let me say that as a syndicated columnist I have been very careful not to take sides because I don’t…

If you would like to expand your knowledge, especially in the area of the Civil War, I have a suggestion for you: buy and read a copy of Nancy Glenn Powell’s terrific book “Where Grass Grows High: And Slavers’ Hounds Don’t Howl”. I can promise this will do it, at least it did for me. To begin, please allow me to pass along the “Author’s Note” at the beginning of the book. “This creative nonfiction novel is based on the life of Samuel Glenn, and contains family stories passed down…

There is a scourge that is attacking our land today and it needs to stop, or at least be reduced to a minimum. This is the scourge of fraud, people being victimized by others, and it is particularly hard on the elderly, who in many ways are the most vulnerable of all our citizens. This is because the elderly among us, including yours truly, come from a generation when the vast majority of our citizens were people who had integrity and good morals, and telling the truth was a virtue…

Well, it happened again. How many times have you attended a conference or a seminar and some really big names are on the program, and at least one other person’s name is there that you have never seen or heard before. This is what happened to Janis and me several weeks ago when we attended The Jubilee Conference in Branson, Mo. We had heard the names of Bill Gaither, Dino, The Melody Boys, Karen Peck & New River and The New Speer Family, but had never heard the name Charles…

One of the main reasons America has become the greatest nation in the history of the world is something we call volunteerism. This is simply people helping other people with no thought of personal gain. Here in my later years one of my favorite sayings has become, “A community becomes great when its citizens plant trees whose shade they will never sit in.” For most of my life I have worked hard to earn enough money to meet our needs, and to save enough to have a little left over…