THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury At commencement exercises several decades ago, the speaker droned on about the attributes of a graduate whose mark on the school was incomparable. The crowd hung on his words, uncaring that his extended commentary would throw the ceremony off schedule. So what? A mother–unknowingly standing next to the esteemed graduate’s mom–whispered, “I’d give
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By Penny Biddy In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” Matthew 2:1-3 As the church calendar turns from Christmas to Epiphany, I
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By Jim Nichols Approaching the time to change to a new calendar, there are expected events in the public scene. One is the onslaught of college football bowl games, of course; there are 43 scheduled so far, Google says. Another, more serious in my opinion, is the annual listing of public people who have died during the year. I find
Read moreBy Danny Minton On Easter morning in 2009, Doug White, with his wife Terri and daughters Bailey (16) and Maggie (19), boarded a King Air 200 to travel home. They had been at Doug’s brother’s funeral in Florida, and a friend, Joe Cabuk, offered to fly the family back to Mississippi, where Doug had left his car. From there they
Read moreBy Marianne Wood I learned to sail on Lytle Lake and later Lake Brownwood as a teen. I’m not good at it, though my husband has the knack. He recently used a practical sailing term, “coming about,” to describe our pivot in life due to a great loss. His comment got me thinking about “abouts.” “About that time Caesar Augustus
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By NANCY PATRICK Living in today’s world seems more difficult than living in other historical times. Logic, however, defies that assessment. I think most of us tend to see our own world as the only one of relevance or importance; however, if we reflect on world history, we see that moral, political, religious, military, and cultural conflicts have filled the
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Let us welcome all who proclaim Jesus as Lord to the Lord’s table. Glenn Dromgoole is a former editor of the Abilene Reporter-News and the author of numerous books. He and his wife, Carol, own Texas Star Trading Company.
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Greater Abilene Minister’s Alliance will host this year’s Watch Night service at New Fellowship Baptist Church, 1142 Tracy Lynn St. The service will be held 10 p.m. to midnight Sunday, Dec. 31. Rev. Andrew Penns, pastor of Valley View Baptist church, will preach. The service also will include music and a time for testimonials. Watch Night is a tradition that
Read moreThe Community Foundation of Abilene has created a first-ever searchable online nonprofit directory to make it easy for users to donate to a favorite cause. Katie Alford, president of the foundation, issued the following news release: “I have been with the Foundation for more than 18 years and the question I’ve been asked the most, “Where can I access a
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Spirit Of Abilene 