By Myrna Conrad Webster defines responsibility as “the quality or state of being responsible: such as a moral or mental accountability; reliability, trustworthiness; something for which one is responsible. There seems to be a trend today of people looking for ways to avoid responsibility and blame others for their mistakes...
By Pastor Dave Holland “Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So, he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve...

The Little Girl

By Sean Dietrich There once was a little girl who lived in a tiny town, in the far-off land of south Alabama. A beautiful little girl. A girl with braided brunette pigtails, chocolate eyes, skinned-up knees, and a cherub smile. Hers was an era when men wore fedoras and women wore...
By Myrna Conrad Many people mistake humility for weakness, passivity or insecurity. However, a humble person is anything but weak, passive or insecure. It takes a person with tremendous inner strength to realize and admit his or her limitations and to live free from the ever-present pull of pride and...

Shifting Gears

By Courtney Lindberg, Arborbrook Advisors Since I was a very young man, I have loved fast cars and the thrill of driving fast. It got me into a fair amount of trouble, as you can imagine, with two speeding tickets the very first day I had my driver’s license. I...
By Pastor Dave Holland “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return.” ~Luke 12:35. Bursting through the clouds, the King of Kings will pierce the eastern sky, racing from east to west like a blaze of lightning. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, NIV,...

Destin

By Sean Dietrich DESTIN, Fla.—I’m in a traffic jam. Standstill. Cars are backed up to the horizon. I am stuck among them, trapped on Highway 98, suffocating within a cloud of blue exhaust and unspeakable misery. We are moving at 0.002 miles per hour. I look out my window and see...
By Myrna Conrad When I listen to what is going on in our world today, I feel like the things I am hearing make no sense. Logical thinking seems to have been replaced by exaggeration, pontification, fabrication and ideas contrived to cause fear, increase power through compliance and steer people...
By Dave Holland It happened one summer day when I was at Dad’s house. He lived deep in the desert. We were roofing the addition to the house he shared with his new wife. The sun blistered us with 105 degrees of pure hell as I slapped down the black...

4th of July

By Sean Dietrich On my kitchen counter is a pound cake, sitting on a pedestal, beneath a glass dome. Pound cake is the food of summer. It can make or break the entire season. A summer without pound cake is like church without singing. Or Monet without color. Or Andy without...