Here is a question I would like to invite you to ponder with me for a few minutes today. How many people does it take to make a crew? The word “crew” is usually associated with men, but not always, and regardless the number is always more than one.             This week I ran into one of the most unusual situations that I have ever seen in my whole life, and this is a crew that only had one woman. Her name is Pamela Gray, owner/operator of Creative Monument LLC…

“Each chapter of life holds a particular blessing. As a baby boomer from Pike County in Southern Arkansas, life was often tough along the Caddo River. We barely survived the droughts of 1953 and 1954. Though the Dust Bowl was more severe just west of us, cotton, corn and cattle had no bottom in price and yields were worse than that. We hung on with a hope and a prayer. We ate what we could get and mother seemed to always manage a meal. Thankfully, we were able to hold…

These days, to say that life is a challenge is really an understatement. If you have a tendency to get discouraged from time to time, I have some thoughts to share with you that I believe will be very helpful. One of the reasons many people get discouraged is that they get in too big of a hurry. A lot of these people are waiting on their ship to come in, and they never stop to realize they have never sent one out. During our visit today I want to…

One day a man walked into a small grocery store just in time to hear an angry customer chewing the manager up one side and down the other. This customer was unhappy about a number of things, including poor service, and he was letting the manager know about it. The manager just stood there taking his abuse, nodding his head up and down, and agreeing with everything he was saying. Finally the manager said, “You are right, Sir. We will try to do better in the future.             After the…

If the thought of not having rent or a house payment appeals to you, or even if does not, I believe you will have an interest in what I want to share with you during our visit today.             Back in 1995, my late wife and I decided to move here to Conway, Arkansas. We had quite a bit of equity in the house where we were living, and decided if we could sell it, build a new one and not have a house payment, that would be the way…

It is my conviction that all along the path of life we need to hear or read stories from time to time that will lift our spirits and give us a fresh perspective of life. This is true and it matters not whether our station is low or high, whether we are the janitor or president of the company, whether we are the star of the team or one who seldom gets in the game, or whether we’re a nobody or the most renowned person on planet earth.             In…

There is an old saying that goes, “You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.” Several years ago I got to know a fellow speaker by the name of Franklin McGee, who lives down in Anniston, Alabama. He often tells the story about a young lady from their neck of the woods who graduated from college and went to work in the New York office of the French National Airlines. After a short time it became obvious that her…

A few weeks ago we had a beautiful and talented young lady come to present a program at our local Kiwanis Club. Her name is Laura Monteverdi, and she is the evening news anchor on KARK Television in Little Rock, our local NBC affiliate.             Laura is originally from Florida but came to us from KDLT in Sioux Falls, S.D. About six months after coming here, she had a very sad and tragic thing happen in her life. Her boyfriend Brock died from a heroin overdose in September 2015, and…

It is a proven fact that people accomplish more and do more when they enjoy what they are doing. This is also true when it comes to learning. To be sure, learning should be fun.             This is the theme for an exciting new copyrighted word game that I am developing titled, “Mr. Jim’s Word Game.” This is a vocabulary building program that I believe, in time, will be marketed all across the country.             The reason I feel so strongly about the need for this product is that I…

The task I have today is not an enviable one. I want to pay tribute to a very special and long-time friend by the name of Dr. C. Dennis Schick. For 25 years (1979 - 2004), Dennis was executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, and he helped me in my career more than any other human being on the face of the earth. He died on Monday, December 7, 2020, and left a legacy that will be honored and revered for many years to come. I will always be…