Over the past two weeks, I’ve suggested that there are some sayings we should avoid when speaking to a grieving family. Too often, we revert to platitudes and cliches that reinforce unhelpful ideas about God and the role of suffering.
Q: My husband and I are retiring and he plans to play golf and rest. I want to do something worthwhile. Is it wrong to spend retirement years enjoying all the things we couldn’t do when we were busy working and raising our children? — R.Y.
At the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Carlsbad, Calif., guests were piling trash and dirty towels in the hallway, and by the looks of things you’d think the staff had gone on strike. In fact, it was business as usual on a weekend, when housekeeping shuts down and guests are reminded that cutba…
It wasn’t a difficult choice to watch the first of the NBA playoff games between Miami and Denver instead of Donald Trump’s appearance on “Hannity,” but when Denver built a 12-point lead, I switched channels to see if Trump might say something new? Nope, same old denouncing of opponents and …
Context. Perspective. Background.
Put your hands together for sane mature bipartisan centrist adulthood. It’s a whole lot better than apocalyptic bluster.
Q: There isn’t much said these days about people practicing self-control. This used to be part of society’s social graces. Is the lack of self-control considered sin? — S.C.
Rodney, my brother-in-law, is one of the South’s best storytellers.
Gun laws are curious critters. Apparently some legislators think you can control all people with laws, not just the law abiding. No law banning a gun or saying folks can’t carry them in specific places will stop anyone but the law-abiding, and often the law-abiding get entrapped by gun laws.
President Biden’s welcome-the-world border policy presents graver challenges than just admitting an estimated 10 million worldwide migrants by the time the Biden term ends in January 2025. Among the migrants are convicted criminals and terrorists on the FBI’s watch list.
It’s a positive trend that I hope continues: the resurgence of summer picnics.
As I have mentioned in previous columns, I look forward to bathing-suit shopping with my daughters almost as much as major dental surgery without anesthesia. But that’s exactly where I found myself recently when my youngest daughter informed me that we were a few days away from an upcoming h…
In a much anticipated chess match in February, 1996, the world champion Garry Kasparov faced IBM’s Deep Blue, the most advanced chess-playing machine. Kasparov lost the first game but went on to win the match in Philadelphia, 4-2. It was humanity’s proudest moment in competition pitting man …
It was either the best deal that could have been reached given the political makeup of the House, Senate and White House, or it was a bad deal that might have been much better had Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans held out for more.
Q: I sometimes wish that we could live back in Bible times, particularly when Jesus was on Earth because surely the people around Him had to feel the peace that He brought to Earth. The world we live in today is full of darkness, hopelessness, and despair. I know that Christians are to be th…
Haven’t we seen this never-ending story before?
Q: My longtime neighbor is agnostic and doesn’t want much to do with my family or me because we go to church. But we try to be good neighbors to her, and when tragedy strikes her, we are the first ones she calls. I don’t quite know what to make of it. Should we keep doing what we’re doing an…
Q: My elderly father is living with my husband and me following my mother’s death. He is a joy to have around and we are anxious to provide whatever comforts he needs. While he doesn’t complain, I don’t understand why he just wants me to sit with him and visit. If I just “sit,” I won’t be ab…
I grew up reading the big three outdoor magazines of the time: Outdoor Life, Sports Afield and Field and Stream. At one time I had every copy of all three from 1964 until about 2000. Those magazines made me want to catch salmon in an Alaska stream and shoot doves in Argentina.
Mark Edward Vanderheid was born in Tonawanda, New York, on February 11, 1949.
The Jezebel of the Republican Party is at it again.
If my math is correct, the 2024 Republican presidential contest is starting to look like the Marx brothers’ stateroom scene.
My best friend was around to my house on a recent Saturday for a long overdue reunion. Adult schedules and the demands of parenthood being what they are, it had taken UN-level negotiations to get our calendars to match.
The expected announcement this week from Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis that he is running for president will come as no surprise. While DeSantis won his re-election by 19 points and his accomplishments with the help of a Republican super majority in the state legislature have been…
Q: The church today seems much the same as the world. What does it mean to take up the cross of Christ, and would this make the church stronger? — B.D.
The math is pretty convincing: one out of every one person will die. At some point we will all find ourselves in the receiving line at a funeral home because someone we care for has experienced loss. What do you say in those moments? How can you be an agent of healing to a friend in turmoil?
Q: I follow an online Bible study where the instructor contrasts people’s opinions and God’s opinions. While I believe in Jesus, I have to admit that I don’t know much about His thoughts or opinions; I just try to go to church and live a good life. How can people tell when their thoughts are…
What was the biggest threat to America in the last seven years?
Sentiment is not something I was taught. It was born in me.
Griffin Daily News headline: “Democrats call for special session to address gun safety laws.”
Q: I make my living as a tech freak and admit that I spend hours each day on my devices. But I’m getting weary of it all and find myself going through each day groaning as I click from one site to the other. I try to pull away, but the instant connection to the world draws me in and has inva…
Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon infelicitously said a few years ago that the goal of the MAGA movement was “to flood the zone with s--t.” In other words, to disinform citizens — disorient them — to the point where they no longer can distinguish fact from fiction.
By now, you’ve probably seen the chilling video showing the murder (yes that what it was) of Jordan Neely, a 24-year old New York man killed on the subway by a former Marine named Daniel Penny.
Title 42 has ended, and the “Great Reset” is gathering a full head of steam.
Every year in late spring, parents of college students all over America travel to university campuses with stylish IKEA storage bags or (in our case) cardboard boxes that once held bulk orders of toilet paper and tortilla chips. When the parents arrive, they joyfully greet their academically…
Q: If God made us in His image, why are so many of us empty and disappointed with life and running around frantically trying to find the next happy thing to do? I’ve just returned from Disneyland and I’ve never seen so many cranky and unkind people, and this is supposed to be the “happiest p…
For years, I have been fascinated by the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, known as “chanoyu”. Traditionally held in a “chashitsu,” or tea house, one would find minimal furnishings inside — a few mats on the floor and small table on which to prepare the tea. The ceremony highlights the impo…
Q: My circle of friends is diverse; some wealthy, others brilliant, and a few of us are average but content — we enjoy volunteering to ministry outreaches. Those considered “successful” say I haven’t reached my potential because I don’t have a big home, a fancy car, or an ideal job. Is money…
AOC and her Green New Deal buddies in the Biden government are not just winning their crusade against fossil fuels.
To borrow a phrase from Claude Rains in "Casablanca," I was shocked, shocked! to find that non-stop lying was going on in the MAGA game room at CNN.
She was only 18 when rheumatic fever damaged her heart.
Sometimes it’s difficult to approach news items with the proper balance of bemusement, curiosity and wariness.
Newton Minow will always be remembered for a 1961 speech in which he described television as a “vast wasteland.” However, late in life he became less concerned about TV’s wastefulness and more troubled by its very vastness.
At the end of every trial, both the state and the defendant ask the jury to enter a verdict. “Verdict” is derived from an old Latin term, “verdictum,” which means “to say the truth.”
The crowning of Charles III as king of England and the shrinking realm of the United Kingdom was not the only coronation taking place in the world.
Q: I’m in a religion class and studying the great sermons ever preached. To my surprise, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount isn’t included. When I questioned the professor, the answer was that it wasn’t Jesus finest sermon because of His teaching on meekness, which does not fit into the success-driv…
How do you define “the good life?”
Q: I’ve heard many times that God loves me, yet when I ask Jesus into my life, nothing changes. There must be something for me to do to gain salvation that changes me. I’ve done many things in hopes that it pleases God, but there is no indication that He even knows who I am. Does God choose …
In its infinite wisdom — or lack thereof — Congress recently gave the U.S. Internal Revenue Service $80 billion in new funding as part of the Inflation Reduction Act before the agency had a plan for spending it.
Haven’t we seen this never-ending story before?
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a four-part series by Ronda Rich.
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