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Easter weekend is fast approaching, landing on April 9th this year. For years, I wondered why it moved around so much. In addition, when I began to learn more about my faith, I wondered why Easter doesn’t always land during the Jewish Passover. The history behind the floating holiday, and the disconnect from its Jewish roots, is fairly interesting and worth sharing as a part of my series on the history of Lent/Easter traditions. A little background is necessary for understanding the whole matter. Easter is the celebration of the resurrection o...
One of the neat features of Facebook that turns up in my timeline every day is the flashback from the same day in past years. Last week, an 11 year old picture popped up. It was my wife in a borrowed coat, holding our 1 year old daughter, in a corral. It was early March, much colder than we expected, and we were at the Bitz’s home. The picture was taken when we came to Big Sandy to interview for the pastor job. My wife and I had looked at a handful of churches, but we fell in love with the people at Big Sandy Church of God. We also loved the t...
Saint Margret Mary's Catholic Church held a community fish fry last Friday for Lent. A steady stream of patrons came through during my time at the event, which is noteworthy as there was a wrestling event in town that evening. The Fish Fry was held as a fundraiser for the youth program, which set up the event, served guests, and ensured that those who attended had an enjoyable experience. They will be holding a second fundraiser fish dinner on March 31st, which will feature fish tacos rather...
It is the Lenten season, which is the 6 weeks preceding Easter in the church calendar. Last week, I dug into the origins of fasting or giving things up for lent. In the process of researching the early church origins of the practice, I was surprised to find that they began in the earliest days of the church. This brought up many additional questions about Easter traditions. Easter Eggs, in particular, has often seemed wholly unrelated to the story of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The connection never seemed obvious to me....
Your time is like water. Water naturally flows from higher places to lower ones. In the same way, everyone has both strengths (higher places) and weaknesses (lower places). We tend to spend less time in our areas of natural talent and more in areas where we struggle. I came across this strange law of time management recently in a lecture from a gifted preacher. He explained that public speaking has always been easy for him due to an abundance of natural talent. He didn’t have to try hard, train, or prep to preach above-average sermons. So, h...
CJ Hanson is the new president of the North Central Montana Stockgrowers Association. The association is an organization that represents the growing needs of North Central beef producers and ag interests through education, advocacy, community programs and other means. The organization represents Blaine, Hill, and Chouteau Counties. I spoke with CJ about the association, their work, and plans for the future. He explained to me that the organization has a number of areas of focus. One that has...
“What are you giving up for Lent?” For years growing up and as a younger adult, I heard this question bandied about every year. While living in Indiana near Notre Dame, the heavily Catholic community introduced me to Fat Tuesday and the various Polish pastries associated with the day. For years, I’ve known that Lent was the 40 days before Easter and it was somehow associated with Jesus fasting in the desert. I’ve heard quite a few nonsensical stories, like the argument that Lenten fasting began as a way the church encouraged medieval peasant...
The 18th century Danish Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once wrote a story about a circus performance. With a large crowd out front, the performers were preparing to a start the show, when suddenly a fire broke out backstage. Knowing that the huge crowd was in great danger, one of the circus clowns ran out on stage to warn the audience. However, the crowd saw the clown and assumed it was a gag. They laughed and applauded. Frustrated, the clown repeated his warning louder and more frantic. The crowd laughed and applauded even more at the joke....
The young people from the Big Sandy Rock School played a show at Pep's on Friday evening. The students were divided into two groups based on age groups and played a mix of covers and original music. Chris Myers, who runs the school, explained that the show was one of two public performances they do every year. "I split the Rock School into two different sessions or semesters. Normally, I would try to get this done before Christmas for this winter semester, but everything kind of got pushed back...
Alecia Raining Bird, Big Sandy Schools' newest teacher, is serving students in the special education classroom with patience, grace, and a heart for teaching. It was her compassion of kids that prompted Alecia to come into the classroom in the first place when she stepped into a staffing gap in the local school. Alecia started her teaching career at a Middle School in Browning Montana, where she worked as a teachers' assistant. She made the transition into the classroom in response to a class...
“I got the bug that’s going around.” We’ve all heard it more than a few times in the past few weeks as sick season rolls through Big Sandy, as it seems to every year about this time. There’s never any shortage of rumors and theories about what bug everyone is catching, but what are we really dealing with this year? Krystal Kulbeck, the Physician’s Assistant at Big Sandy Clinic, explained that the seasonal illnesses hitting Big Sandy are pretty diverse: “There are currently multiple viral illnesses in town including common cold, COVID-19, RSV...
National FFA Week is coming to Big Sandy from February 18th through the 20th. The Big Sandy FFA will be holding various activities and events to celebrate. Due to the event landing during Basketball tournaments for a second consecutive year, plans have been limited to Monday to Wednesday. Last week, the FFA club met to discuss and plan the week. FFA/America Monday will kick off the week. The club is encouraging everyone to either wear an FFA t-shirt or, if they don't have a FFA t-shirt, to...
While doing sermon prep this week, I came across an obscure quote from a book from the period between the end of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus. The book of Sirach was written by a Jew who was watching his country struggle to remain distinctly Jewish while most of the world was adopting Greek philosophy and culture. The author was encouraging Jews to return to their culture and intellectual roots. The quote is simple: “The scribe’s wisdom increases wisdom; whoever is free from toil can become wise. How can one become learned who gui...
The Big Sandy Gun Show, which took place two weekends ago, featured a memorial display for Duke Pursley. Duke, who passed away last year, was a well-loved neighbor. Keith Hanson, who organized the show, described him (and the Little Sharps Company) as "pillars in the gun community and pillars in the town of Big Sandy." The display featured examples of Duke's work, photos of him and his wife, and various glowing recollections of his life. One summary of Duke's life described him as a "man for...
A little over a year and a half ago, my family bought a house in Big Sandy. Most folks know it as the Brumwell or the Faber house. Over 100 years ago, it was the Shamrock Hotel. While doing renovation work underneath the house recently, I unearthed all sorts of odds and ends dating back to the earliest days of our community. I've written a couple of articles detailing items I've found and their associated stories. In response to the feedback, I'll be sharing a few more of the items I uncovered....
The Big Sandy Gun Show took place last weekend and was deemed a great success by the vendors and organizers. The event typically draws several hundred people into the community over the course of the weekend. Those people patronize local businesses, giving the local business community a shot in the arm. The show included a memorial display for Duke Pursley, who was well loved in the community. Some of his engraving work was on display and many in attendance spoke at length about his personality...
The Big Sandy High School Ag Program took 12 kids and 3 adults to Texas two weeks ago to attend the Fort Worth Stock Show. This is nearly double the number of students who are typically able to attend this type event. In addition to the larger number of attendees, the destination of the trip was also unusual as our FFA usually travels to Denver for the Denver Stock Show. I spoke with Lane Taylor, Big Sandy High's Ag teacher, about the outing. He explained that the stock show trips came into...
The Big Sandy Food Bank has emerged from the 2022 holiday season having served more families than ever before. Between the Angel Tree Basket program, F.E. Miley's Thanksgiving food boxes, and the donations from local businesses, they have managed to meet a growing need in our community after a year of ever-inflating food, energy, and gas bills. "Without the community's support, we wouldn't be able to serve the people that we serve," explained Terry Grant, who helps run the local programs. While...
The Big Sandy Booster Club makes a significant impact on our student athletes and participants in extracurricular activities. I spoke with Cheryl Strutz about the club’s direct impact on our kids. Cheryl is a member of the Booster Club and the mother of three boys, who have been prominent in Big Sandy Athletics over the last few years. If you’ve watched a football game in our town recently, you’ve seen Kyle, Kade, or Kody take the field. Cheryl explained to me that, “It’s really important that the community knows that the kids actually...
The community of Big Sandy has always impressed me with their wholehearted support of local sports and student activities. You always see the stands full at basketball games and the sidelines crowded for the football team. When the team bus rolls out of town for a tournament, the windows of shops and the roadsides are filled with signs supporting our student athletes. I didn’t grow up in a small town and have only been in town for a little over a decade, but I have been deeply impressed by the volume of outpouring of support from our little tow...
Being the parent of a child with ADHD can be frustrating. Careless mistakes, clutter, distraction, fighting over school, dealing with their messiness, and a slew of other “quirks” make their schooling and daily lives challenging to say the least. It’s no different for adults, who struggle with what appears to be absentmindedness, disorganization, or laziness. The truth is that what appears to be character flaws is actually a result of the portions of the brain that control executive functioning being less active. The effects of this condi...
Coach Bob Wooden led the UCLA basketball program to 10 national championships in 12 years. His success as a college basketball coach is legendary. The philosophy that he implemented in his record breaking tenure at UCLA has come to be known as the Golden Pyramid. Because I am not a basketball fan, I learned about the coach from a TV show recently. I picked up his book, explaining the principles behind the Golden Pyramid. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it is actually a collection of Bible studies explaining the various character qua...
In 1923,Big Sandy won their first football district championship and were highly favored to win state. Several days later, the title was stripped from them and their trip to the state championship tournament was cancelled over a technicality. The team that was awarded the district title went on to state despite having fielded a 21-year old player in the tournament. For context, The Mountaineer pointed out that the Great Falls team fielded a 22-year old "high school student" against Big Sandy...
Big Sandy Schools will be making a “Mental Health First Aid for Youth” available to the community on January 23 and 24 from 4 to 7 pm both nights. The Monday and Tuesday trainings are part 1 and part 2 of a 6 hour course that will cover a wide range of issues to help equip parents and anyone who works with young people. I spoke with Diana Keane who organized the training. She explained that, “This is a training that is open to the public for adults (18 and older) to help youth with mental health. It covers a wide range of mental health issue...
Last week, I found a treasure trove of Big Sandy history artifacts while doing some work on my house. What started out as a cold weather attempt to protect my plumbing and insulate our 3-seasons porch rapidly turned into an adventure in local history. For background, I need to explain that my family bought a house in town last year that many locals know either as the Brumwell or the Faber house. Before it was either of those, it was the Shamrock Hotel. In the early days of our town's existence,...
