By Nancy Patrick On Saturday, July 12, my husband and I hosted a memorial reception to honor my late sister, Peggy Smith Burkman, who died Jan. 10. Because of complex relationships in her life, the family had postponed the celebration to honor her. In spite of the delay, I think all who attended experienced a time of understanding and healing.
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By Loretta Fulton Once only a dream, Hendrick Medical Center now has a historical marker of its own. The marker, issued by the Texas Historical Commission, will be unveiled at a public ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 14, outside the main entrance. West Texas Baptist Sanitarium, the hospital’s original name, opened on Sept. 15, 1924. It was the dream
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By Glenn Dromgoole I’m kind of biased when it comes to August, it being the month I was born in. It’s also the month when school and church start back up (used to be September), when football season actually kicks off, when families try to cram in last-minute summer vacation weekends, and when we count down how many more days
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Individual tickets and table sponsorships are available for the Summer Dinner Show benefitting West Texas Rehabilitation Center. The dinner show will be held 5:30-9 p.m. Aug. 21 at the Abilene Convention Center. Country singer and actress Gabby Barrett will highlight the dinner. Barrett, whose debut single, “I Hope,” was the first top 10 Hot Country Songs debut by a solo
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By Jim Nichols Consider with me the following list of categories: UnthinkableRadicalAcceptableSensiblePopularPolicyPopularSensibleAcceptableRadicalUnthinkable In the 1990s Joseph Overton developed the concept of the “Window of Political Possibilities.” This has been an influential concept in public policy, and it has enough logic that we can spin it into church policy and, in fact, personal behavior policy as followers of God. As you
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By Danny Minton As I thought back about my past this week, I remember going from Plano to Howe to see my Mamaw (Mother’s mother). I remember the smell of the creosote that soaked the fence posts. We drove with the windows down in those years since many cars did not have air conditioning. Another memory I have is seeing
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By Loretta Fulton First Christian Church will host a dedication ceremony for an extension to its building on Sunday, Aug. 10, but the celebration could just as easily be a “tribute to dedication.” That’s what members of the church showed when they sold their historic downtown property in 2021 and took a leap of faith by relocating to far south
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By Jim Nichols It was a conversation I had multiple times in my academic office at the university. A student (frequently in their second or third year of college) appears in my office. They have a serious expression on their face and, eventually, appear to be pushing back tears. A compressed version follows. “I came to college with a well-defined
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By Glenn Dromgoole I thought I was a better than average hitter in the City Church Slow Pitch Softball League, playing for the Methodists that summer. I was the catcher and leadoff hitter, but I wasn’t a Methodist (I was a Baptist), but then neither were our pitcher (Lutheran), first baseman (Church of Christ), shortstop (Catholic), left fielder (Agnostic) or
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Spirit Of Abilene 