The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Well, we finally made it to the month of February and we only have 6 days left in deer Season. But in February in Alabama another subject comes to my mind and that is the subject of Prescribe Burning. The following article is from one of the premier land managers in our state, Mr. Ted DeVos Of Bach and DeVos Forestry and Wildlife Services. Images and thoughts of woodland fire are typically that it is bad! However, this is probably because most people are not familiar with the benefits of...
Several years ago, I read John Ortberg’s book, Soul Keeping, which I highly recommend. It’s one of my top ten favorite books. John opens the book with a Prologue entitled: “The Keeper of the Stream”. I invite you to read it carefully and reflect on this powerful parable about your soul. The Keeper of the Stream "There once was a town high in the Alps that straddled the banks of a beautiful stream. The stream was fed by springs that were old as the earth and deep as the sea. The water was cle...
As is my custom at the close of the year, I like to memorialize great Alabamians who have appeared and lived legendary lives upon the stage of political history in the Heart of Dixie. This year we have had some real legends. I have expanded the geographical limits to outside of Alabama to include two of the greatest men in American history. America’s greatest preacher and one of the nation’s great presidents passed away. Most of these fellows lived a long time. One of my favorite men I ever had...
November 7, 2018 | By Kip Adams This simple shot placement technique will help you make more effective shots this season. It happens to every hunter at some point in his or her hunting career. They hit a deer with a marginal or poor shot, and then must endure a long and difficult recovery, or worse yet, they’re unable to find the deer. Losing a deer is a terrible event and has caused countless sleepless nights for hunters. What percentage of wounded deer aren’t recovered, and more imp...
Dr. Karl Stegall is a great friend and mentor to me and to many other United Methodist Pastors in Alabama and West Florida! Karl served as the Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Montgomery for 25 years before his retirement. He now focuses most of his time, energy and effort on the Stegall Seminary Scholarship Endowment Foundation which has raised millions of dollars for seminary student scholarships. Many of us United Methodist Pastors benefitted from the scholarship monies that...
The only sport that Alabamians enjoy more than Alabama politics is college football. We especially love the Alabama vs. Auburn football game. Folks, this is Alabama/Auburn week in Alabama. The Alabama vs. Auburn annual event is one of the fiercest of college football rivalries. It is the game of the year. It is a state civil war that divides friends and even families. It is bragging rights for the entire year. The loser has to live with his boasting next door neighbor for 364 days. It seems...
I know a lot of you folks have deer on the brain for just about every waking moment, and I can say that I’m no different. I’m always thinking about all the different things that go with it, and with my work at QDMA, I’m also looking at what hunting means to us as both individuals and as members of society at large. Ultimately, I’m also thinking about what will lead to maintaining deer hunting as one of our great heritages that we can proudly pass down to the next generation. For starter...
“For you are saved by grace through faith…” [Paul, Ephesians 2:8] “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” [Jesus, Matthew 5:48] “I’m just an old lump of coal, dear Lord, but I’ll be a diamond one day.” [Johnny cash] Sanctifying Grace Sanctify – (Sank’ tə Fī) – To set apart as holy, to consecrate, to make holy, to purify. In this article, I’m going to be talking about sanctifying grace. Over the last two months, we've covered two other kinds of grace that John Wesley taught us about...
“General Election Next Week” This time two years ago, I was bubbling over with anticipation with expectations that I would have two years of fun following an exciting governor’s race. Well, Ole Robert Bentley spoiled my parade. Back in the old days, governors could not succeed themselves. They were governor for one four-year term and then you were out. That means we had a governor’s race every four years and man would they be doozies. We would have 10 candidates, about half of them would b...
It’s that time again, folks. The weather’s cooler, the air feels more crisp, and football’s on the TV again; it’s time to get back out in the woods and do some deer hunting. Right now, Alabama Bow Season is in full swing, and the deer are moving! Of course, Gun Season’s just a few weeks away as well, so I hope all of you are just as geared up and ready to go as I am! Naturally, if you’re going out into the woods, you want to be prepared. Any seasoned deer hunting veteran knows that hunting is...
Part Two in a Series “Grace for all, Grace in all . . .Free for All, Free in All” – John Wesley Justifying Grace Jus’ta-fi – to be made right, to free from blame or guilt. Remember, the whole point of this series of articles is to help us to discover the three ways that we can experience the power of God's grace. True freedom leads to fresh power in our lives! And true freedom comes as a gift from God’s grace. Let’s look at Paul’s beautiful message of grace found in the letter to the Ephesian...
The State of Alabama’s fiscal year begins next week on October 1. Our state’s finances are not the best in the world. However, they got a boost from the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, The high tribunal ruled that states can collect sales tax on internet sales. This was one of the most inequitable scenarios I have ever seen. If you went to the corner hardware store or Lowe’s or Walmart to buy a hammer and paint, you paid sales tax. However, if you bought these same items online you did not...
By now, most of the Summer planting has been completed. As for me, I’m not really into Summer planting, as the areas I like to hunt all ready have a rather large amount of browse for the deer to go through later in the year. But in some areas, that extra bit of green thrown in there can make a huge difference in improving deer habitat. Of course, aside from the usual Summer planting, there’s another option that eludes most hunters; establishing soft mast in your neck of the woods. Soft Mast Som...
Long ago in an ancient but not forgotten letter, a man named Paul wrote an encouraging word to his friends in a town called Ephesus. In this letter stands one of the most famous and exciting passages ever written about God’s grace: “God saves you by His grace when you believe, and you can’t take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,...
Alabama Power is and has always been a force in Alabama politics. Some entities may have influence in the Legislature, but the power company has the ear of folks in all three branches of State government: Legislative, Executive and Judicial. If you sat down with all 35 state senators, especially the veterans who know the ropes and the system, and you had an extensive off-the-record private conversation with each of them, and you asked them if you had to have one special interest group in your...
Plenty of rain, plenty of heat, plenty of humidity, and plenty of reasons to love the other seasons in Alabama; Summer is here and in full swing. Aside from endless grass cutting and edging, there's some good fishing to be had this time of year, as well as the usual road trips and beach stays. That's fine and all, but I'm still ready for the cooler months to get here, because that's when hunting starts to really kick back into gear. And maybe football. A lot of football. Of course, Deer Season...
Jesus talked a lot about forgiveness! As I mentioned last month in the Alabama Gazette, forgiveness isn't optional. If you know anything about Jesus' teachings, you will know that he ties our forgiveness to how we forgive others. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, "forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your...
More Analysis of GOP Runoff Currently, congressmen/women win reelection at a 98 percent rate. The communist politburo does not have that high of a reelection percentage. Maybe we have more in common with the Russians than Washington CNN reporters think. It is hard to get beat as an incumbent congressman. Martha Roby tried but even though she was the most vulnerable Republican incumbent congressperson in the country, she shellacked a former Montgomery mayor, one term congressman, and doggone...
I hope all of you fine folks had a wonderful 4th of July! The heat's been cooking us all this month, but it's still only the start of Summer. Make sure all of you stay hydrated, stay in the shade, and stay cool! Over the last year or two, I've gone out of my way to mention all the nasty sort of things deer and other critters have to deal with in order to survive. Between the obvious stuff like habitat loss, disease, predators, and the lovely Alabama weather we get from time to time, there's also...
Do you have someone you need to forgive? We all do! Perhaps, someone has wronged you recently or in the past. Maybe you have experienced being lied about, betrayed, sabotaged, undermined, misquoted, left out, used, exploited, intentionally hurt, physically harmed, sexually abused, emotionally damaged or sinned against in some way. Maybe you can think of someone right now that you really don’t think you can ever forgive. In fact, you really don’t want to forgive them. Deep down (maybe no one even...
Best races of the year have been for Attorney General and Lt. Governor June 27, 2018 The best races of the year have been for Attorney General and Lt. Governor, as well as Agriculture Commissioner and for the 2nd Congressional district. The Attorney General post is considered the best stepping stone to Governor and U.S. Senator. It is very high profile and prosecutes bad guys who go to jail and cannot vote against you, and you look like a good guy to the rest of the law abiding voters in the sta...
Conservation. It's a word with a whole lot of different meanings to different people. While the general idea might be the same, it's a distant after thought for many Americans. To those of us in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, hiking or camping, conservation is a constant effort to maintain the precious resources we have. As a member of QDMA, conservation is one of my primary goals. After all, you can't go deer hunting if there aren't any deer left! The amount of research and education we...
Worldviews Shaping American Culture What’s Your Worldview? You’ve got a worldview. Everybody has one. What’s a worldview? It’s everything you believe about what’s real and what really matters in life. It’s the filter by which we process all of our information. The lens through which we understand reality. Ronald Nash in his book, Worldviews in Conflict, defines it this way: “A worldview is a set of presuppositions (or assumptions) which we hold (either consciously or subconsciousl...
Less than Two Weeks to Primary – Governor’s Race As we get down to the lick log in the 2018 June Primary, there are few if any surprises in any of the major state races. Polling indicates that all of the contests are about where they were three or four months ago when the races began. There is a tremendous amount of apathy and indifference as we head into the final days. This lack of enthusiasm has also affected fundraising. Most of the high-profile races have not attracted the amount of dol...
Congratulations to all the High School and College graduates! On behalf of all of us in the cities, towns and communities in the River Region, we honor you this month, and we are proud of you all! No doubt all of you have been blessed, encouraged and challenged by some great Baccalaureate Addresses and Commencement Speeches. But, may I add my three cheers and offer three big C’s to think about as you step out into your next season of life? I’ll keep it short and give you the Cliff-notes ver...
