The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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I had been handling things pretty well, until we went to the Piggly Wiggly last week. And I’m hardly alone. There are mothers everywhere feeling like I feel. It’s the road all parents walk. We know from the time they enter the world that they are going to grow up. That is our entire purpose, preparing that child to be independent. I managed to get my oldest daughter down the aisle without falling apart. And the second daughter moved out at 20 without me having a complete breakdown. Now she is...
Few of us knew before the new gas tax that the Alabama Legislature was capable of moving any bill through both houses and having it signed by the Governor in one week. Governor Ivey announced it on the Tuesday night she delivered the State of the State address, and the next Tuesday she signed that baby into law with people standing around protesting. Governor Ivey has said in the past that she would like to give the people of Alabama the chance to vote on a lottery. Senator Jim McClendon (R) has...
Based entirely upon my casual observation, women seem to be more susceptible than men, and children ag it on, but for some reason many people who have never so much as grew a turnip patch suddenly get the urge to raise chickens when daytime temperatures start climbing toward 70. All that has to happen for someone to catch chicken fever is to visit a farm supply store. A woman can go in there, maybe just shopping for a new pair of bib overalls, and then, innocently enough, she will see the cute l...
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart...” Jeremiah 1:5 “And they are beginning to realize that the world they live in is a place where the right thing is often hard, sometimes dangerous, and frequently unpopular.” Lois Lowry, Number The Stars. I was scrolling through social media the day the law was passed in New York. My heart broke as I read posts declaring our country has taken another bold step in the direction of complacency. A step taken so that...
There seems to be a recurring subject in the headlines from various news outlets over the last few weeks concerning the American dream. Evidently it is out of reach, not available to everyone, and otherwise unattainable. I had to look it up to see what is has even become. I feel like it keeps changing. Growing up I didn’t have a dream. Mine was more of a goal. I wanted out. I marked the last 5 months of my senior year of high school off the calendar like a prisoner. I walked on the stage and g...
Another New Year lies ahead, and while each day is always new with possibilities for individual growth and change, there’s something about our culture that hones in on New Year resolutions with the hope of a clean slate for the coming year. An early December Bible study message regarding the book of Haggai was especially timely for me as I reflected on 2018 and the year to come, and the key Scripture remained with me throughout the Christmas season. As our political system and culture continues...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report last month announcing that for the third consecutive year the life expectancy of Americans is dropping. Another statistic that emerged from the report was the fact that more Americans died last year than any other year since such findings started being counted – over a hundred years ago. That alone is disturbing, but if you consider why this is happening it becomes even more concerning. The reason so many of us are dying and the r...
It was Tuesday evening, one week prior to the November mid-term elections, and I was in attendance at the annual His Vessel Ministries Celebration Dinner listening to the featured speaker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Admittedly, I wasn’t a supporter of Gov. Huckabee during his most recent presidential campaign, my lack of enthusiasm due largely to how he had embraced the Common Core State Standards Initiative back in 2013 while numerous conservatives were fighting tooth and nail to stop...
I cracked-up in the middle of a root canal a few days ago. I didn’t just giggle. No. I went all out. I laughed until the dental assistant, the dentist, and an assistant in training who was just observing this fine spectacle all laughed too. This of course from my perspective and angle – at that moment – was hilarious. Things have sure changed. When I was a kid, my mom came home from work one day and announced that there was a new dentist in Grove Hill and she had made us appointments. My broth...
While my skepticism regarding all things political seems to increase with each passing day, there is one element that keeps me engaged: elections matter, and this November mid-term is no exception. Elections, specifically this mid-term, matter because of the pure ugliness of the Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation process. What started as a three-ring circus of protests ended with Americans more divided than ever, and in my mind, was the result of calculated political maneuvering to influence...
As I write this, there are people in the southeast corner of the state who are still cleaning up downed trees and are without power. There are farmers in the wiregrass region who have suffered extensive losses. Our hearts go out to all of them, and to our neighbors in Georgia and the Florida panhandle who were in the direct path of Hurricane Michael. Floridian columnist and author, Carl Hiaasen, has long confessed that a huge portion of his work has been inspired by actual headlines out of his h...
The Wilcox County line sign is missing on Highway 41 in Hybart. I stopped once to take a picture of it. I guess that’s why I noticed its absence. I’m sure others have noticed too. It has been gone for several months now. I keep waiting to see how long it will take for it to be replaced. Currently, we are building on at least six months or two seasons, depending on how you want to look at it. By this time of year, yellow butterflies are darting along the sides of all highways leading into Wilcox...
We build houses like we will be here forever, but it is all very temporary. “Fleeting,” I think is what the Bible says, “The twinkling of an eye.” We are given, on average – if we are lucky – about 78 years. This average of course is not always accurate. You can’t depend on it. It is more unpredictable than Alabama weather or hormonal women. Nobody gets promised any tomorrows. There will come a day for each of us when there will be no next week. It is all a balance between the uncertainty of tim...
As the 2018 primary season thankfully ends, King Solomon’s lament in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “So there is nothing new under the sun,” might well be applied to Alabama politics, with the “nothing new” being the absolute viciousness of campaign politics. I think after each election that it can’t possibly get any worse, yet I’m proven wrong each cycle. Worse is the fact that this latest nasty war of words was waged amongst those who ran under the same political banner. The next time you question why...
Travis came into my life in 1990, when he was two and I was 18. His mother was not involved at that stage in his life and my life had not prepared me for being a stepmother. But I changed my schedule at AUM, and switched from working nights at Country’s Barbecue to working days at Colonial Bank. I would drop Travis off at daycare before 8:00 and pick him up just after 5:00. Up until now, I don’t think I have ever written a word about those years of my life. It is not as if 18 to 23 didn’t exist...
Because of my Biblical worldview, for which I do not apologize, my view of current culture and events is filtered through that belief, and I can’t help but reflect on the similarities of the mindset of many in our nation with that of the Israelites many centuries ago. After generations of captivity in Egypt, the Israelites were finally free of the tyranny of their harsh taskmasters and were being led by Moses into their Promised Land. But as with anything worthwhile, the journey wasn’t eas...
One reason Wilcox County stays broke is because people steal. That is not in any way meant to take away from the gross mismanagement we’ve come to call normal, but theft happens too often and audits are too few. The latest sin to slither out of the courthouse emerged when the bank called retiring Probate Judge Jerry Boggan and informed him that funds were not sufficient for the checks that were being presented. Now I don’t know, but I would think that in that very moment, the Honorable and kin...
With each news cycle describing incidents reflecting the increasing political and cultural divide that exists in our nation, the more the following Scripture repeats in my mind. Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. - Matthew 12:25 The mainstream media is on a daily mission to exploit every possible area of division in an effort to ramp up envy and hostility between the races, genders, and economic groupings of Ame...
It has been almost 40 years since I spent my last summer with Fannie. She would not believe the lives we live now. Even in the 70’s she lived somewhere far back in time. It was partly, I suppose, because she was in rural Marengo County. We lived only minutes away from one another, but we were worlds apart…minus the weekdays we would spend together. I would often arrive at her house early enough the fog would still be rising over the farm fields. It would slowly lift, surrendering to the golden b...
To all the boys who don’t feel smart on paper. I call them the lost boys, these young people who seem in one way or another to be left behind or forgotten by what we tend to consider as traditional school standards. Of course this includes a certain number of girls too. I overheard one of my son’s friends talking last week. He was talking about his own self saying, “I am so dumb.” I couldn’t help but interrupt and tell him that he most certainly was not dumb, and to not say that. He told me t...
Like so many of the Alabama Gazette readers, I strongly believe in the power of prayer, and I’m so very thankful to live in a nation where citizens can still gather for times of corporate prayer. Such an event will take place in our city on Thursday, May 3rd at the Alabama Activity Center on Dexter Avenue, 7am, at the annual Montgomery Prayer Breakfast. Since 2004, and in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer, the Montgomery Prayer Breakfast has been a time of praise for our Lord and p...
Facebook is fabulous at providing us with fun ways to waste time. The latest is a link that lets you submit a picture of yourself and it shows you what you would look like on the cover of a fashion magazine. We all look pretty in the pictures they design. We also all look very much alike. It’s as if they stamped us all with the same pretty stamp. A lot of us will probably be wearing more make-up this week after seeing their pictures, but that may not be what real beauty looks like. I met a w...
I can't write about politics this month. My heart just isn't in it right now, and I honestly don't know when it will be again. Almost all of the current “debate” involves anger and accusations lobbied back and forth, and nothing is resolved in that atmosphere. I recently described myself to a group as a "recovering political junkie," and little did I know at that time just how irrelevant politics would soon become. Those readers who know me are aware that our family recently lost one of our you...
It took me a long time in life to learn evil is a real thing that actually exists. Some people are evil. Some people have evil tendencies or evil ways about themselves. It is difficult to accept evil when you are genuinely not. Evil hides well and is easily camouflaged, but you best trust it is there. It is probably not a far drive from where you currently are. I don’t know if it started in the ‘80s or if that was just when I came of age enough to be aware of it. There seemed to be this soc...
The news alert came across my phone that Tuesday morning as I was preparing to leave home for my new discipleship class, an extremely timely one titled God of Order. Another school shooting, this time in Kentucky. Two more innocent teenagers killed, 16 others shot, and 7 more injured as they fled for their lives. I remember thinking, “Not again, Father God…please, not again.” Yes, and yet again, while the families and loved ones grieve the loss of these children, another senseless tragedy become...
