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One request the public has made of the Mountaineer is to have more Ob-Ed articles, which means “opposition to the editorial” page, in other words, more political articles. Consider this your invitation. However, please keep the following in mind. I have the “Freedom of the press, the right to publish and disseminate information, thoughts, and opinions without restraint or censorship as guaranteed under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” “First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohib...
Dear Community of Big Sandy, I wish to inform you that I am resigning as a provider at the Big sandy Medical Center. My last day will be October 28th, 2022. This was not an easy decision; however, I will remain in the medical field but choosing to specialize. I feel confident that your healthcare needs will be placed in the caring hands of my colleagues. I appreciate your confidence in allowing me to provide your health care needs. Thank you for letting me be a part of you and your family’s lives. I have sincerely enjoyed serving you. Please l...
Nearly 20 years ago, I started working at a children’s home in Indiana. It was an impatient mental health facility for kids. One of the people I met in new staff orientation was a fellow named Mark. He had been working at the home for over 30 years and was spectacular at his job. The day I met him, I decided I wanted to learn to work with kids as well as he did. He was a behavior specialist at the on-campus school and did all sorts of campus support work in the evenings. At every opportunity, I watched him do his job, asked him questions, l...
In the days right before Jesus entered Jerusalem, he was sitting at a meal with his disciples and some people he had encountered in his ministry. During the meal, a woman came in with a bottle of expensive perfume. Based on the description in the text, it was probably over 300 days wages (or about $54,500 in today’s money). The woman approached Jesus and poured the entire bottle over his head. It would have filled his hair and run down his beard. This was a sort of luxurious personal care type act. People would put oil in their hair and on t...
I was born and raised in Canada, so I have always called Queen Elizabeth the second my queen. I was raised in a family who loved the monarchy. My mother kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings regarding the Queen, especially when she was in Canada and Saskatchewan. When I return to Canada on my next trip, I shall dig them out and pore over them. As everyone knows, the Queen died on September 8. Surprisingly, the US TV stations have broadcast everything revolving around the funeral and, of course, the remaining family. There are some things you...
The gospel of Matthew includes an account where a group of Pharisees approach Jesus in an effort to trap him by posing a no-win question. They asked: “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?” Today this seems like a pretty innocuous question. We might disagree regarding taxes and complain about them, but very few people question the morality of paying taxes. However, in ancient Israel, it was a bit of a hornets nest topic. You see, if Jesus said it was immoral to pay taxes, then he could be accused of encouraging rebellion against the Romans. The...
One of the most common debates surrounding Jesus and his ministry revolved around the sabbath. The sabbath refers to the Jewish practice of not working on the last day of the week. It is important enough that it is actually mentioned in the 10 Commandments. “Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.” The idea is simple: Don’t work on the sabbath. In the first century, the Jewish people took the laws of God very seriously and sabbath obedience had reached a point where it was a paralyzing practice. The Jewish people took the practice so serious...
Dear Big Sandy Community: I do not typically feel the need to provide public clarification on personal matters; however, recent events have influenced me to do so. I devoted the past 10 years to Big Sandy Medical Center (BSMC) in more ways than is commonly known. I never asked for praise nor boasted about all I did. I grew up with BSMC as a major part of my life; and its success has been my focus for the last decade. In 2014, when the Board then (which included Gordon Moes, Dianna Webster, and Sharon Robertson) chose me as CEO, they gave me an...
In 120 BC, Rabbi Joshua ben Perachiah said, “Judge each person with the scales weighted in their favor.” The phrase ought to sound familiar to the average person because it is striking in its similarity to the words of Jesus: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” The reason for the similarity between the two is simple. Ancient rabbis often taught through citing and commenting on the teachings of the rabbis that came before...
Vikings-raids and War is a juvenile history book by Louise Spilsbury that I checked out from the library. I have always been fascinated by history, so I wanted to learn more about the Vikings. Who they are, and why they did what they did. The word Viking means a pirate in the Norse language, and they were originally from Scandinavia. The first Viking raid started in 793 A.D. when they raided and looted a monastery in northern England. They were very brutal and killed all of them so that they could get their treasure. Vikings were very violent...
Dear Big Sandy Neighbors, Friends, and Family: I am writing this letter to our community to say, “Thank you.” At the beginning of the summer, my family reached the 10-year mark of our tenure in the Big Sandy community. During my daily prayers, I rarely forget to spend time thanking God for the time we have lived here, the people who have become part of our lives, and the opportunity we have to serve the wonderful community of believers at the Church of God. As often as I have thanked God for the blessing, I realized I had not yet thanked the...
I am a great believer in equal opportunity when it comes to animals. People have heard that a particular cat is “ just “ a barn cat. So if we follow that line of thinking, people born poor are just “ poor,” so Because of the circumstances they were born into, they shouldn’t expect anything decent. Hogwash!! We have three barn cats working for a living. We have had them for around six years now. Mom ( Clementine) showed up with a large tummy. She was feral for sure, hiding out under our horse trailer for better than a year. We knew she ate f...
Nothing brings more joy than running into kids who want to share their lives with me. I love the park right next to the Mountaineer and walking on the sidewalk by the library. Of course, I have to know them before I join in their conversations, but that is one of the great opportunities we have in Big Sandy. We are a small community, and we know each other. After recently resigning from the Big Sandy Senior Center Board, I am still looking forward to my involvement with the Senior Center...
This week, I finished reading a biography of C.S. Lewis written by a student and personal friend of his. The book is unique in that it offered a personal account of the life of an author I hold in high esteem. I love Lewis’ writings, both his non-fiction and fiction works. I’ve read most of his books at this point, many of them several times. Even though I have read many of his books and letters, I have never read anything by any of his friends. However, this larger than life man whose work I absolutely love, was human. C.S. Lewis, the mos...
I recently came across a great line: “Every Olympic event should have an average person competing for reference.” I am not sure who said it originally, but it is brilliant. First off, it’s funny. I can only imagine what it would be like to race against world class athletes as an out of shape, middle-aged man. More importantly, there is an edge of truth to the idea. Comparing the elite to the average makes it clear what is really going on in the race. I may brag that I can outrun my neighbor, but only because I am not talking about racing Jesse...
Most people know Daniel in the Bible from the story of the lions’ den. The account of that event takes place in the 6th chapter of the book, when Daniel was around 70-years old. He had spent his entire life up until this point working in the courts of Babylon. When the Medo-Persian empire captured Babylon and took over, they appointed tax collectors/administrators to run their newly acquired territory. Daniel naturally rose to the top of the ranks because he was experienced, hard working, willing to say/do hard things in service of the king, a...
"Summertime and the living is easy," as the song goes. Not for our farmers and ranchers, but maybe for the children of the community. It could be that I'm getting older, but more children are riding bikes this summer. Don't get me wrong; I love that the children and their parents can feel safe in this small town. I love watching them laugh and enjoy each other. There are so many places where children can't play outside without adults present. There are so many places children have to stay in...
The Old Testament history of the Jewish people records a major series of events that changes the religion, how people thought, and in some ways, the course of Western Civilization. This story takes place a few hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Israel was conquered by one of the first great empires in human history: the Babylonians. Their leader, King Nebuchadnezzar, marched his armies all over the known world and made most of it his own. Israel had resisted conquest by lesser empires through God’s protection. Now, God announced that thei...
When I was a kid, my favorite books were the Choose Your Own Adventure series. These books usually told some sort of adventure story about time travel, monsters, knights, detectives, or some other exciting tale. Every few pages, when the main character reached a major decision, you would make the choice for them. Based on the path you decided, the story to take you would jump to a different page and continue on. I loved these books because I got to steer the story. One of the habits I developed was keeping a finger on the page where I made a...
So much has been written about mothers and so much misunderstood. So many topics concerning mothers have not become newsworthy. We, as mothers, know this. It’s only been relatively recent that miscarriages have been acknowledged as the traumatic event they are. That grief can continue no matter how short the pregnancy was. Popular sentiment amongst the medical profession was to “get over it; you can always have another.” Despite the fact, of course, that some would never have a viable pregnancy. Even though this pregnancy represented a son o...
We can complain all we want about gas prices. We can't go places as we want. Our fast pace style of living must slow down. We can't afford to go 100 miles an hour. We can blame it on a wide variety of reasons. Political rhetoric is off the charts. Let's stop. How can we use this for our good? My granddaughter Faith Cator made an idea jar a couple of days ago. It was painted like a strawberry with Summer Ideas across the front. One of the ideas was to camp in their backyard. Everyone family...
I got my first job when I was 16. I worked at a bakery/deli making sandwiches, serving customers, washing dishes, and doing other minimum wage-type restaurant work. Since then (for about 30 years), I have rarely had a stretch of time where I did not work. I’ve unloaded trucks, tracked inventory, made concrete roof tiles, been an exterminator, been a salesperson, done ministry work, and about everything else you can think of. At some point along the way I learned an interesting lesson. Mark Twain once said that “If you find a job you enjoy, you...
This Memorial Day week reminds me of Memorial Day's most powerful lesson learned. I was in Washington DC making the rounds of all the memorials. There is very little talking while you soberly view each monument. My father was in the Navy and served during the Korean War. It was important to me to see the Korean War Memorial. I walked slowly, quietly, thinking of my father and his experience. His job was to watch where the bombs landed. So he saw women and children, besides soldiers, being torn t...
When I was growing up, none of my family swore. The only exception to that rule happened maybe twice a year when I would hear--DAMNIT!!! A hammer usually preceded it on a finger or something similar. I first used that word at the tender age of five. I had been given a dog much against my parent’s wishes, and I loved her dearly. However, that particular Easter Day, she became a damnit dog for the day. I had been thrilled with my Easter basket that morning. I received no candy other than at Easter and Christmas, so it was a very big deal i...
Around 17 years ago I was hired to work as a chaplain at a metal health facility for kids. I had been a youth pastor for a number of years and was decent at working with kids. That was about all I had going for me, apart from interviewing well. I suspect that within the first few months, it became clear that I wasn’t quite ideal for the job, and I am absolutely certain I made a ton of mistakes over the years. The biggest redeeming factor for my time there came in the form of a few men who invested in me. They talked me through my errors and m...
