Archive for April, 2008
Reaching Half a Century
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Today is a milestone for me. The big 5-0.
I reach this point in life with mixed emotions. On the one hand, the toughest assignments in life—going to college, starting a career, raising a family—are behind me. On the other […]
Faith Behind Bars
Thursday, April 24th, 2008I like going to prison whenever I have the opportunity to visit Christian inmates, as I did recently in Malvern, Ark. (see this coming Sunday’s issue of TPE). The time inside the walls never fails to lift my spirits.
I come away heartened by the faith of men who are living disciplined spiritual lives. They spend […]
A Purposeful Delay
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008Fog in Texas had canceled one flight and caused a delay in another at the Tyler airport. The same circumstances prevailed in Dallas, where I waited for my connecting flight home to Springfield, Mo.
I felt rather grumpy as I finally sat down on a plane nine hours after my original scheduled departure. I had been […]
Women Rehabilitated from Drugs, Gangs, Prostitution
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008By John W. Kennedy
Since this article first appeared in TPE on April 29, 2007, New Life Farm has continued to expand. A new dormitory opened in November 2007. By July, 20 women students are expected to reside at the facility. Angela Carter has regained custody of her two children — and remarried her husband. Marelyn […]
Time to Retire the Penny
Thursday, April 17th, 2008In the 18th century Benjamin Franklin quipped, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” In the 21st century, a penny won’t earn you much. In fact, the one-cent piece is really only a nuisance, and an expensive one at that.
A couple of years ago, the penny began to cost more than its worth. Now, rising […]
Buy American?
Thursday, April 10th, 2008The spate of news reports about unsafe foreign products, from shrimp to toys, seems to have abated.
I’ve been trying to avoid many overseas products for a variety of reasons, including economic imbalance: it seems as though Americans are sending their entire paychecks over there.
I’m not alone in this feeling. In 2000, two-thirds of Americans believed […]
Mom at 90
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008My mother, Mescal, turns 90 on Saturday. She says she just as soon would not have the distinction of being the oldest person ever in our family (Aunt Lois died at 91 a few years ago). But, despite a broken hip over the winter, my mom’s doctor believes she could live to be 100 because […]