Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 1215
Many of the elderly frail ones die in the winter time. Grandpa A. J. always said, “If I can make it through March, I can live another year.” There were five deaths all in their eighties in one week. Rose, 83, has had Alzheimer’s disease and has been absent from us for several years already, wandering around in her body, confused and lost. Now she is free, free to fly over her dear farm and check on her chickens and baby calves, and see the garden spot now grown up to weeds. Her roses are still blooming bravely by the porch. She catches a whiff...
Q: What does the phrase “’Vengeance is Mine,’ says the Lord.” really mean? A: “Vengeance is mine,” Is an oft repeated promise from God to right the wrongs that surround us in this world (Deuteronomy 32:35; Psalm 94:1; Romans 12:19). Any time we see wrong done to ourselves or others we can often feel a strong desire for payback or revenge. If we act on this desire the Bible calls it taking vengeance. While the Bible does not say that wanting justice is wrong it does tell us that we are not to take justice into our own hands (Romans 12:17-21)....
While gathering information for this week’s installment of the First National Bank failure series an advertisement placed in the Nuckolls County Herald in 1904 caught my attention. I don’t know about you but I am tired of winter and having to deal with ice underfoot. With a headline of California, the advertisement placed by the Rock Island Railroad seemed to describe the winter of 2024. It read: “Pick up any paper you please and items like these greet your eyes: “Bitter cold and high wind” “Mercury near zero mark” “Cold wave covers country...
Every so often a person reads, or hears, or sees something that strikes him in a particular way. It may be humorous, serious, or just plain interesting. A couple of items caught my attention this past weekend which I’d like to pass on. You may think uninteresting, or silly, or just wonder if I don’t have something better to write about. Basketball . . . A sport that maybe doesn’t have as much interest as football, but a sport I enjoy watching. High school and college versions of this game is what I enjoy and this year’s Nebraska Cornhus...
Now that it’s warmed up just a bit, Duke is enjoying the snow. I’m surprised he doesn’t have tunnels burrowed in the backyard, as sometimes all I see of him is his rear end sticking up out of the snow drifts. Unfortunately, he doesn’t stay still long enough for me to get a picture. I’m glad he is getting to enjoy it because he is a big boy, with lots of energy and I’m glad to be able to put him outside for some exercise. He was going crazy and taking me along with him from being cooped up in the house. My birthday week was cold but awesome, I...
This week there seems to be three main subjects being considered. They are the results of the Iowa Caucus, who will the Chiefs be playing in the next division game, and snow...when will it quit, when will school be held again, and if the country roads will ever get fully open. Snow is one of the topics perhaps because we haven’t seen this much snow on the ground in a few years. But for many, being home bound in the last three or four days is stressful. We are ready for a break in the weather. We have seen lots of snowy pictures and perhaps h...
Saturday evening I was looking at a Jan. 18, 1934, issue of the Lawrence Locomotive, I was surprised to read a story the Locomotive editor had written about a good luck piece that appears to have been identical to the one lost in one of my desk drawers. Naturally, I wondered what had become of that lucky piece. Does a member of the editor's family still have it or was it tossed out in a cleaning spree? The story said the Union Pacific Railroad had one million of the pieces made to mark the...
Our house in Pennsylvania was in a valley at the foot of three large hills (probably considered mountains out here on the prairie.) The one to the east had a gentle slope with several rolling hills. Behind the house, facing south, was a hill with several fields. From the back of the house to the top of this hill was about half a mile straight up but longer if you went through the fields. Across the street from the house was another hill facing north that was about the same height as the south hill. The north hill, however, was tree covered and...
Q: The Bible says, “Blessed are the meek.” When I look around at real life it doesn’t seem like the meek are being blessed, it seems like they’re getting passed over. How can this verse be true when experience seems to show the opposite? A: The truths of God’s Word often contradict what we think we know about how the world works. This forces us to choose between trusting ourselves or trusting God. Christ’s teaching about meekness in Matthew 5:4 is a great example. To begin, let me first explain what it means to be meek. In the Bible meekn...
Something to talk about . . . The weather . . . This was one of the major things that impressed my sister-in-law who was born and raised in Chicago. On one of her first trips to Nebraska, she was impressed with how people talked about the weather. She noted that in Chicago, one person might mention receiving an amount of rain during the night. The other person in the conversation would reply his experience and that part of the conversation would be over. (Maybe a minute or two at the most.) She quickly learned that in Nebraska, any question...
Last Wednesday, while I was making my paper deliveries, I slipped and fell. Falling on ice is so weird, one second you are upright, walking, minding your own business, and the next you’re on the ground looking at the sky. I thought I had broken my finger, but after a visit to the doctor, turns out I just sprained it. I didn’t even know that was a thing, but believe me it has been reminding me just how real it is with every key typed. Other than the finger, I seemed to have gotten lucky. My bottom hurt for a little while but is fine. LOL! Goo...
Monday, looking out the window, there was snow covering everything, even the country roads. It was a much needed wet snow and floating down were the biggest snowflakes. The limbs of the trees were covered, the roofs of the farm outbuildings were glistening with snow. Even the cattle in the lot near the barn had snow covering their backs but it didn’t seem to bother them as they munched away on a bale of grass. It was hard to tell the boundaries of where the sky ended and the land began as clouds and snow seemed to combine the lines. In the c...
As you know, I’ve used statements from books I’ve read that somehow relate to our current living conditions. I’m currently coming to the end of a good book called “The Universe Behind Barbed Wire.” The book is the memoirs of a Ukrainian Soviet dissident and written before the current Russian-Ukraine war. The author, Myroslav Marynovych, was a Ukraine citizen but lived in the late 1970s through the 1980s in a Russian prison because the Soviet Communist considered him to be a threat to the Russian government. I am not through reading the book yet...
We got a ton of the heavy, wet, fluffy, white stuff yesterday morning. I’m not sure how much though. I scooped about three inches off the sidewalk around 11 a.m., and a couple more filled in its place, so my best guess was about five inches. It’s the good stuff too, perfect for snow ball fights and black eyes! LOL! It snowed again last night and the wind blew, so who know what we got here in town. If I had to guess I’d say six inches, maybe 12 inches, I can’t tell, but it’s much appreciated moisture. I hate the cold and the snow but I know we...
Q: What does it really mean to love God? A: The first thing to know about love is that the Bible sets God Himself forward as the ultimate example of what it means to love (I John 4:8). This is one reason why love is so difficult to define: to understand love we must understand God! The best I can do is share the biblical passages that describe what love is. From these we can glean the elements of real love and work towards a definition that lines up with Scripture. One clear element of love is that it involves self-sacrifice. John 3:16 and I...
I was shocked this week when an 18-year-old woman visiting the newspaper office asked if she could touch and closely examine the Burroughs cash register that sits on our front counter. I’ve had a love-hate relationship with that machine since I joined the newspaper staff more than 50 years ago. I’ve never considered it old, since it is newer than the first cash register I used. I’ve forgotten the maximum sale that could be entered but expect it was less than $100. Perhaps less than $10. It was used as a cash drawer in the fireworks stand...
After Christmas thoughts turned to remembering special Christmas gifts from the past, including childhood years. It was during the week after Christmas while still on school vacation, that children got the chance to enjoy and play with their new Christmas gifts. I remember some of my special childhood Christmas gifts. Of course, my sisters and I mostly received dolls. My dolls were nothing like the girls receive today as they didn’t talk, didn’t drink from a bottle and then had to have their diapers changed. They didn’t look like thin model...
I’m trying to learn to write 2024 but as usual it isn’t going so well. When I started to type these notebook entries, I said 2024 in my head but typed 2023 and had to go back and correct my typing. It is safe to say I am a slow learner and slow to change. Occasionally I still write 19 when starting to write a date. Seems like only a couple of years ago we worrying about Y2K and being told all our electronics would crash when the century turned and our vehicles might stop. Actually it appeared to be a bunch of worry about nothing. We still hav...
As I was watching traffic on O Street in Lincoln, I noticed a small compact with something I had not seen since the 1950s – it had fender skirts. I remember the family 1950 Chevrolet Sedan had fender skirts on the rear wheels. The idea was to make the car look more sleek and streamlined. Of course you could not put them on the front fenders because the front wheels had to turn. Not only General Motors products had vender skirts, but also Ford and Chrysler models. The skirts were metal sheets that filled the rear fender opening. They attached t...
Q: With everything going on in the world today, why aren’t there more people going to church? A: It might be a good idea to put this question to those who aren’t coming! I for one would be interested to hear the answers. I know many avoid church because they have never been taught the need for church. Others are turned off by hypocrisy or double standards. Still others may never have been invited or are nervous about going since they are not familiar with how church works. It is also possible for a church to disqualify itself from growth and...
I thought it fitting to start the New Year with a comment by Pope Francis. “My hope is to remind people that the ‘Christmas Spirit’ is not over.” The Christmas season extends far beyond the commercial season we’ve been taught to believe is the reason for the season. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas Day and the message below stays with you all the yearlong. The message of Bethlehem is indeed “good news of great joy.” What kind of joy? Not the passing happiness of this world, but the joy that consoles hearts, renews hope and bestows peace...
Welcome 2024. Christmas at the Bruce house went well. Christmas Day George and I opened our gifts before going to Mom’s house. The gift George worked so diligently on was a keepsake box. He used a wood burner to engrave the inside bottom with the army and marine corps logos and says, “To the one who gives her all so that they can give their all.” I have to admit I cried a little when I opened it. I have already gathered up the boys letters from boot camp and placed them inside. Those are probably my greatest treasures, that is besides the b...
It’s time to change the calendar and begin a new year. 2023 offered some challenging times for our family but it also offered some rewards. We had a granddaughter graduate from high school and head off for college at K-State. Another granddaughter was married and we finally gained a grandson. Recently another granddaughter graduated from Fort Hays University and went right into a teaching job. Who knows what 2024 will hold? It looks like at least two wars will continue. Iceland is having some nasty volcanoes and the conflicts will go on a...
On the old 1930s and 1940s era automobiles there was a pedal at the extreme left side of the floor board which the driver used to switch the headlights from high beam to low beam. When my Aunt Lena got a Buick Super (three portholes instead of the 4 portholes of a Roadmaster) in the early 1950s, her car had an “automatic dimming” feature on it. A device on the dash was pointed forward and would register when a bright light came toward it and dim the headlights. This device was not perfect and often would dim the headlights from the return off...
Q: Did you say in a previous article that you are neither a pastor nor a Christian? A: Whoops! I’d better clarify! In responding to the question about how a healthy church can benefit its community, I said this: “While I am neither a Christian nor a pastor because I believe all churches are perfect, I do believe that faithful Churches and Christians have the greatest potential for blessing both individuals and communities throughout the world.” In saying this, I meant to say that neither my faith nor my calling as a pastor rests upon the quali...
