She stretched out her right hand with its long, slender fingers and delicate wrist, and smiled. “Hi, I’m Ronda Rich.” I was smitten, instantly, but trying not to show it, I replied only, “Nice to meet you.”

In 1980, singer Neil Diamond recorded a song that celebrated American immigration, first in the early 1900s and then more recently.

I have just finished preparing a Sunday School lesson related to Joshua’s experience of carrying out God’s plan in tearing down the walls of Jericho.

It happened the other day, but I just wouldn’t accept it. Then, a couple of days later, it was made clear that she had just given up the ghost and died.

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been'." -- John Greenleaf Whittier

The old saying "Revenge is a dish best served cold" is understood to mean it is better to deliver retribution for a perceived or actual injustice after time has passed, in order for it to be done dispassionately. Sometimes it is better not to serve that dish at all. Like perishable food left unrefrigerated, a different kind of "bacteria" can infect the nation.

Passing a florist truck, I couldn’t help but notice the advertisement on the side of the vehicle. The advertisement read, “Flowers Whisper How You Feel.”

The mob violence that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was deplorable and disgusting. It is the antithesis of a free society that wishes to remain free. Any supporter of President Trump and his policies must denounce this horror with even more vehemence than they denounced the riots of last summer, but the two are not equivalent.

Last year, Tink finally, after several years of being asked, succumbed and agreed to speak at a yearly prayer breakfast held at the Beverly Hills Hotel for Christians who are in the television and movie industry.

While much of the world experienced 2020 as the Year of the Pandemic, Europe has faced a second challenge: agreeing on the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

House Democrats keep coming up with ideas that are bound to sink their already low approval ratings to new depths, possibly giving Republicans a majority in the 2022 election.

As I was thinking about the new year, I recalled the late columnist Lewis Grizzard and one of his lists of new year’s resolutions. In speaking of them, he said, “The secret of new year’s resolutions is making an easy list.”

One of many things that will distinguish a President Joe Biden from his predecessor is that the incoming president is likely to speak less in public, mostly because of how he garbles his thoughts and words.

Back through years I sometimes ramble until I reach a time when I wore petticoats with a bell sewn into the hem that jingled when I sashayed.

“Moses is dead; Joshua carried on!“ So read the editorial caption in the evening paper “Chronicles” dated 1200 B.C. Though the headline is ancient, what better subject for a new year’s message in 2021?

I don't like making predictions for a new year because they are just guesses and like palm readers, fortune-tellers and "experts," guesses are often wrong.

From the looks of President-elect Joe Biden's selections for cabinet positions and other high offices it seems belief in "climate change" has become a litmus test. 

Normally, I stay away from New Year’s resolutions, but this past year has revealed a flaw in me that is so deep that I have no choice but to face it and resolve to fix it.

Christmas involves both a religious event of profound significance, recognition of the birth and enduring influence of Jesus, and the tangible largely secular exchange of gifts. The former can be traced back approximately 2,000 years; the latter is primarily a 20th-century phenomenon.

Of all the great and small events of 1991, the death of CBS News' "60 Minutes" co-host Harry Reasoner probably rates near the bottom in the amount of attention afforded it by the public.

As he was rushing through an airport, my late minister friend Dr. James W. Moore, said that he saw a young man wearing a T-shirt. Written across the front of the shirt were these words: “Been there! Done that! Got the T-shirt!”

A phrase one hears this time of year is about gifts that "keep on giving." Most store-bought gifts are soon forgotten, but are there some gifts with timeless value?

There he was, every day, standing outside his special learning class, watching as high school teenagers streamed the hall into our fourth period classes.

“Dreamer!” What do we think of when we hear this word? The dictionary defines “dreamer” as “an impractical person,” and that’s what numbers of us think.

The Christmas season emphasizes harmony, but includes the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, the largest battle in the history of the United States.

As Trump leaves office, where will Republicans go in 2024?

It isn't that the alleged exploits, profits and questionable business deals involving Hunter Biden and his father, Joe Biden, were not known for most of this election year. Much of mainstream media either ignored it or put it down as right-wing extremism.

Sometimes it’s a curse to come from hard-working people. The kind of folks who survived by the sweat of their brow and the turn of their hand

Wisdom is not the same as information, or knowledge. These days, there is more information available to everyone than ever before, thanks to the internet, but also, perhaps at least in part because of the internet, there is less wisdom.

The late Dallas Willard, American professor of philosophy, tells of a favorite story about the dog races in Florida. He says that they train these dogs to chase an electric rabbit, and one night the rabbit broke down and the dogs caught it. But they didn’t know what to do with it. The dogs w…

The rules of my raising were loose and mostly non-existent. But I always had an inner compass of sorts that kept me well behaved and mindful of how I should act.

Some people can't handle success. The latest jobs report shows that despite the pandemic President Trump's policies of lower taxes and reducing regulations continue to work.

Pearl Harbor continues to reverberate. The attack on the United States Navy base by Japan on Dec. 7, 1941 shocked an insular nation into direct declared combat in World War II.

Whenever president-elect Joe Biden makes a rare public appearance and is out of the immediate control of his team it increases my suspicions that he is not physically, and above all mentally, up to the job he is about to take over.

In totalitarian societies, governments suppress the church and religious worship. That's because dictators believe citizens should worship them as the highest authority and not a Higher Authority, which they view as a threat to their power and position.

So much has been and continues to be written about leadership.

Standing in the grocery line, 6 feet back from the person ahead, my eye landed on something at the register rack.

I have loved song lyrics since briefly flirting in my teens and early 20s with a career in musical comedy, settling instead for journalism after a sobering assessment of my talents.

Someone said that God has two dwelling places. One is in Heaven and the other is in a thankful heart.

In the midst of uncertainty, Tink and I were enormously blessed. Last December, we were traveling I-20 West, toward our treasured Alluvian in Greenwood, Miss., when, somewhere near Birmingham, a text from his manager binged on Tink’s phone.

Not long ago a man audited a doctoral seminar on leadership. One day the professor asked each of the 16 participants in his class to tell the one thing at which they excelled. The man said he dreaded questions like that because he still was not sure of what he did best. And besides, it sounded to him like bragging. But when his turn came all he could think to say was this, “I am best at not quitting.”

Everywhere one looks there are warning signs, from labels on cigarette packs warning that smoking causes cancer, to ridiculous labels on thermometers that read, "Once used rectally, the thermometer should not be used orally.

Several years ago, when Tink and I were still somewhat newly wed, we hosted a relative of his from Los Angeles.

Evangelical Christians have unquestionably been a loyal and largely unmovable base of support for President Trump since he has been in office and in some cases before. 

There is a meaningful story about the wife of a British Colonel in India who was expecting important guests for tea one afternoon.

If Joe Biden survives recounts and several lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign into what Trump says has been widespread vote-counting fraud (we await proof), do not expect him to be hounded over his and Hunter Biden's business ties to China and Ukraine as President Trump has been over "Russian collusion" charges and numerous other attempts by Democrats, the left and the media to undermine his administration.

Until Tink, a well-enunciating Yankee came along, I didn’t realize how badly, or at least differently, I pronounce words.

Why do some continue to employ pollsters who miss the "silent majority," or in this case "shy" Trump voters, many of whom refused to speak with or hung up on their robocalls?

We simply cannot keep the peace until we have peace ourselves and are willing to share it. Consequently, peace is the fruit of peacemaking.

Big government is going after big business again. That is not inherently momentous news, but the context and character of this prosecution is extremely important and overall reassuring for the public at large.