As a syndicated columnist, I am always on the lookout for stories and ideas that I feel will benefit you and help you in some way. For several months now, Janis and I have been hearing about a little restaurant up in Leslie, Arkansas, called the Skylark Café. It is off the main highway and the beaten path, but there is always a crowd of people there eating those delicious home-cooked meals they serve. So, one day Janis and I made the 75 mile or so trip up there to…

While working with people over the years, one of the most reassuring truths I have ever discovered is that we all have the potential to do a better job than we are doing and consequently earn more of the rewards that can be ours. The reason this statement is true is because of a natural law that operates in the universecalled “The Law of Consequences.” Are you familiar with this law? Do you truly understand that every “action” will have a “reaction” and for every act we perform there is…

The Holy Bible contains 66 books — 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. Sandwiched between the books of Nehemiah and Job in the Old Testament is the little book of Esther. It only contains 10 chapters but what a story it must tell. It took four years for the people in Branson, Mo., to build the set, select and train the cast and prepare the Sight and Sound Theater for overflow crowds to see a production of this story. We were among them several weeks…

If you are a regular reader of this column, over the years you have read and heard me say many times that “repetition” is one of the most important habits or ingredients in getting a good education. I have often quoted a university study that found a message read or heard one time was almost completely washed out of the mind a mere 24 hours later. However, a message read or heard several times each day for eight days is practically memorized, and after 30 days the mind retains more…

In my eyes, some of the lowest and most despicable people on earth are those who abuse children. It is just not fair when you have a grown man or woman take advantage of a helpless child and physically or mentally abuse them. As I said, these adults are truly the scum of the earth. Yet, this takes place every single day in our nation, and I am sure all across the world. I don’t have any statistics to back this up, but I think a good part of this…

The word “Phenom” is an interesting one in the English language. According to the dictionary it means “a person with extraordinary talent or ability.” To be sure, we have millions of people in our country who are worthy of this label, if I may use that term. One of these is a young lady who hails from the great state of Iowa by the name of Caitlin Clark. This is about the hottest name going these days in the sport of women’s college basketball. For starters, on March 3, 2024,…

The state of Connecticut is known as the “Constitution State” because of the important role it played in our nation’s history. The state’s delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 worked out the Connecticut Compromise that broke the deadlock over how many men each state should elect to the United States Congress. Connecticut is an important industrial state and a favorite vacation land. As a quick aside, my late wife and I visited this state several years ago when we went on vacation with the late Dr. Fay Smith, and…

The human mind has amazing powers. One of these powers is something we call a “flashback.” This is when we are thinking about something, and a thought or series of thoughts causes us to think about something else that is related to what we have on our mind. A good example is something that happened the other day that caused me to think back to the best and most rewarding airline trip that I have ever taken. This trip was made back in 2013 when I went on a trip…

For the past 17 years it has been my privilege to sit under the preaching and teaching of the most fantastic and gifted preacher I have ever known. Janis has had that privilege for over eight years, ever since we got married back in 2015. Brother Don Chandler can say more in a 20-minute sermon than most preachers can say in an hour. This is one of the primary reasons our church is growing, adding more than 100 new members for each of the past six years. Soon after Janis…

As I begin this most important column, I would like to do so with a little bit of humor and then I am also going to chastise the voters in my home state of Arkansas for being dead last in voter turnout in the last presidential election. Now, the humor: as the late Will Rogers has said, “Just be glad you are not getting all the government you are paying for.” One time I spoke at a banquet in Claremore, Oklahoma, and was seated next to Will Rogers’ sister. Her…