A few weeks ago, I got a letter from a prison inmate in federal prison in the state of South Carolina. You will never believe what he wanted. This man is originally from the state of Arkansas and spent some time in a rehab facility here in our community known as The Renewal Ranch. This facility is for recovering addicts and this man has been involved in drugs. While I don’t know the details, this is why he was in a federal prison.  Apparently while he was here in Arkansas,…

Today I would like to tell you about one of the greatest places in America to live, and that’s my home state of Arkansas.           First, I want to make a disclaimer. If you happen to live in a state other than Arkansas, and you have family and roots there, in no way is this an attempt to get you to leave and move here, and I know that Chambers of Commerce would frown on that anyway. But the statistics say that about 8.4 percent of our population move each…

You know, life is just not fair. I will tell you why before I finish, but first I want to tell you why this is true. For the past 20-plus years, I have enjoyed one of the greatest blessings and highlights of my life. I have been a member of what I believe to be the best church in the United States of America, Central Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas. Did I tell you that our city is now the fastest growing city in our state and one of the…

Back on Oct.16, 2024, we had a beautiful young lady speak to our Kiwanis Club that brought back a ton of good memories for me. Her name is Jessica Clawson, and she is the Executive Director of the United Way of Central Arkansas. As I listened to her presentation that day, my mind took me back to my younger days when I was a printing salesman in Little Rock. I had just been hired by the late Bert Parke, President of Democrat Printing & Lithograph Company, to sell printing and…

The state of Florida has been nicknamed the “Sunshine State” because of its large number of sunny days. It’s also called the “Peninsula State” because it jets southward about 400 miles into the sea. Florida is one of the leading tourist states in the nation. This land of swaying palm trees and warm ocean breezes attracts visitors the year round, and many older people spend their retirement years in this state. In fact, the population of Florida, which is now approximately 23 million people, is growing faster than all but…

We have a unique one-of-a-kind destination here in our state of Arkansas called the Crater of Diamonds State Park. It is the only place in the world where you can go and search for diamonds, and when you find a big one, you get to keep it.           This state park near Murfreesboro is public, as anyone can pay the $15 entry fee and search to their heart’s content. A lot of people find diamonds — 700 to 800 diamonds are found each year by the 150,000 to 170,000 people…

While in the “people” business for the past 50 years, there is one thing I am relatively sure of, and that is most people in our nation and world have no idea of the great value of that mass of gray matter between their ears. This “mass” contains the human mind that is responsible for every product, service, book, song, play, building and everything else that was created to meet the needs of human beings and of animals. By God’s grace I learned this fact early in life because I…

As I begin this column titled “The Role of the Food Pantry,” please allow me to make a confession. While I knew our church, Central Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas, had a food pantry, I did not know much about it, other than we provided help for needy people twice a month. When I did some research on this subject, I was really enlightened. If you have not done this, I suggest you do it at your earliest opportunity. One thing I learned that is rather sad is that my…

My friend, if you don’t think God is serious about sin, let me read a few verses of scripture for you. These are the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 5:27-30: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘thou shall not commit adultery’. But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offends thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee, for it…

Back in the days when I was working for the late Earl Nightingale, I remember him saying, “There is no price too great to pay for creditability.” I have thought of that saying many times since then. Here is my question for you as we begin our time today: How many times do we have to catch another person in an outright lie until we begin to doubt everything else they say? The correct answer is once, because from that point on, we will begin to doubt everything else they…