By Myrna Conrad, We all want to be shown respect. Do you remember when people used to say “Yes Sir/Yes Ma’am” or “No Sir/No Ma’am”?  Do you remember when people got up and gave an older person their seat if there were no more seats available, opened doors for people, or...

Missing Christmas

By Gueary Clendenning Christmas is just around the corner. After Thanksgiving, the pace quickens toward the big day! We’ll find ourselves in a big rush, always pursuing one more thing we need to get accomplished. We look for the nearest parking spot in the crowded mall, searching for the perfect...

Beautiful

By Sean Dietrich My wife and I are going out to dinner tonight. I am waiting for her to get ready. She is in the bathroom, standing before a mirror, pinching her tummy. She asks if I think she is fat. “No,” I say. She frowns. “You sure?” “Yes.” “Well, I feel fat.” She...
By Sean Dietrich We had a major potato salad crisis at our Fourth-of-July barbecue. Someone forgot to designate a family member to be the official “bringer of potato salad.” So everyone took it upon themselves to bring potato salad. We had 2,927 varieties. There are few things more American than a...

The Tree

By Sean Dietrich My wife is putting up the Christmas tree and we haven’t even rounded the corner toward Thanksgiving yet. But then, this holiday season can’t arrive quickly enough for us. My wife is ready to get this show on the road. After a long year of sheltering in place,...
By Pastor Jeff Wade, The Rock of Panama City Beach One of the things I love about September is that it begins a seasonal change. Living in Panama City Beach, we all know there are still many hot days left ahead here on the beach, but like it or not,...
By Dave Holland “But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ I tell you, it...

Mother Mary

By Sean Dietrich I‘m sitting with my Methodist mother-in-law in the living room. We are replaying old memories like worn out records. There is a ballgame playing in the background. Braves are winning. She sits in her wheelchair, nursing a nightly glass of Metamucil. I am sitting in a fold-up rollator...
By Dave Holland My mother says I was born 40 years old, a quiet and serious child. Expressing emotions has always been difficult. So, I have to work at showing love. When I became a Christian, I considered my sober demeanor to be a godly, sort of a gift from...

Dear Sean

By Sean Dietrich DEAR SEAN: I don’t think my school is going to have prom for 2021, everyone is guessing this is the case. We don’t know yet, but it’s probably not happening. It just sucks that we might not get to do this because we have nothing to look forward...