Before you finish reading my column today you may be saying that “Old Jim” has quit preaching and gone to meddling. I certainly don’t mean it to be this way, and you will have to be the judge. In this column I want to talk about the source of many of our problems, some that are urgent, and others that just seem to nag us on a day-by-day basis. This is not something that most people discuss, it just kind of happens. However, after you read what I want to…

Have you ever been really and truly poor at some point in your life? Well, I have, a long time ago, and it’s no fun. More on this a bit later. Believe it or not, we still have poverty here in Arkansas, and I’m sure in other parts of the country as well. The reason I know this is true is because each summer a Little Rock television station conducts a “cereal drive” to collect boxes of cereal during the summer months to feed children when they are out of…

If you have ever had a light come on in your mind, you will really appreciate what I want to share with you today. First, a little background because it will help to place what I am going to say into context. Back in my younger days, growing up in a small town, I attended church mostly because this is where the girls were. I remember we had a young man from a wealthy family and his wife who were the youth directors at the church I attended. This couple…

Janis and I have a good friend here in Conway who is a member of our Sunday School class. His name is Loren Wagner, and like us, he is past 80 years of age. His wife Kitty passed away a couple of years ago. Since he is alone, we have taken him to lunch after church a couple of times, just to have fellowship with him. Well, a couple of weeks ago he invited us to have lunch with him, and during lunch he told us one of the funniest…

If you have ever felt like things were getting more violent in the United States of America, your feelings are correct. It almost feels like we are having a mass shooting every single day, and we almost are. Here is my theory of why this is happening. I think in most cases it’s where someone determines they are tired of living and they decide if they are going to die, they may as well take as many other people with them as they can. If you want the statistics, just…

In the new book, “Keep Your Fork,” that my wife Janis has co-authored with me, the first two chapters are titled, “Today’s Americans Have a Great Heritage”, and “American History is Vital for Our Future.” It is here that I give specific details about our Christian heritage and how we became the greatest nation in the history of the world. Now, if you think about that, I believe you will agree it is quite a statement. It is here that I go into considerable detail that lays the groundwork for…

When I began this column back in 1995 in my hometown newspaper, the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway, Arkansas, I made a commitment to my readers that I would never get involved in partisan politics. To be sure, I have been true to this commitment all these years. And I have also learned that my readers are some of the most intelligent individuals in our nation. I do not plan on violating my commitment, but today I do wish to talk about something that is very important that can be…

Someone once said that luck is when the bread falls on the floor with the buttered side up. Now, that is hard to beat. Because there are millions of people in our prosperous country who base their future on luck, I felt it might be a good investment of our time today to talk about this a little bit. I am sure you have heard this statement before, “That man or that woman is the luckiest person in the world.” We have all been around people who seem to have…

Here is an interesting question that I would like to invite you to think with me about for a few minutes today. Have you ever seen a dog’s face right in the middle of him or her chasing a rabbit? Well, as one who has, I can tell you it’s the most interesting and exciting thing in all the world, especially for the dog. Believe it or not, this little allegory has a real principle that can make a tremendous difference in our lives. Before I get into it, here…

One evening last week the phone rang, and on the other end of the line was a lady who reads my column in one of our fine Kentucky newspapers. After she introduced herself, she made this comment: “I have been meaning to write to you for some time. Each week after reading your column I feel better.” She then went on to tell me that she works for a hairdresser in a beauty shop and is constantly around negative people. After thinking about our conversation, I decided to share some…