An Arkies Musings

This is my article as published in the July 31, 2014 issue of The Mena Star. I love driving on the back roads in western Arkansas. I love the scenery. I love the adventure. I love to just take off and explore new roads. When I see a road I always wonder where it goes.  Just last weekend we had an adventure on the back roads of Arkansas. On our way back home from Dierks Lake, we took a "shortcut" over gravel mountain roads.  Within just a few miles of the highway we came to the Cossatot River bridge that was impassable because there was three feet of water flowing over it.  We had to turn around and go all the way back to Dierks Lake so we could take the paved roads. On our way back to the lake we followed our GPS and were stymied three different times by locked gates across the roads.  After an hour we finally made our way back. Sometimes exploring a new road can be quite an adventure. When you are traveling a rural Arkansas road you just do...

C is for Child, my entry for this weeks ABC Wednesday . A few years ago my friend Richie Owens spent a year of his life writing and recording an album. I remember his enthusiasm as he would bring me new songs to listen to. Songs just seemed to pour out of him as he focused on this project. One of my favorite songs that he wrote was titled "Like A Child". Richie ended up choosing the song as the title track of the album. Here are the lyrics I remember the story from when I was young Where Jesus was teaching one day And there were some little ones come to see Him But the men tried to send then away Little did they know this gentle young man Was the one by whom all things were made He decided to make an example of them To explain something He had to say Let them come unto Me For such is the kingdom of God Come ye also like them For unless you do you'll be lost We have to trust fully in Him, not ourselves Rely on his word before anything else We can gr...

While we are traveling in the car, my wife and I like to listen to audiobooks.  We recently listened to Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery.  We enjoyed the book so much that I looked for other audiobooks by L. M. Montgomery. I found and purchased the book, The Story Girl, and we are currently listening to it. The Story Girl was published in 1911 and tells of the adventures of a group of young cousins and their friends who live on Prince Edward Island.  The book is narrated by Beverley, who with his brother Felix, has come to live with his Aunt and Uncle on their farm while their father travels for business.  The Story Girl is their cousin Sara Stanley, whose many stories fill the book. One story in the book really caught my attention.  On their way home from school, Felix has some interesting news.  "Jerry Cowan told me at recess this afternoon that he had seen a picture of God–that he has it at home in an old, red-covered history of the wo...

This is my article as published in the July 24, 2014 issue of The Mena Star. In Matt 21:28-31, Jesus tells a parable. A father had two sons. He went to the first and said, "Go work in my vineyard." The son said, "No." But later he felt bad and went and did as his father had told him. The father then went to his second son and said, "Go work in my vineyard." The son said, "Yes." But he didn't actually go. Jesus asked, "Which son did the will of his father?" The answer was: The first son, the one that actually went and worked into the vineyard. There could easily have been a third son in this parable: The father says, "Go work in my vineyard." The son says, "No." There's a discussion between father and son and in the end the son says, "Fine! I'll go and work in your stupid vineyard. Now quit pestering me." He's the son who gives grudging obedience, half-hearted obedience. That...

Does Greek philosophy affect your thinking?  That’s probably not a question you have thought about.  What do you know about Greek philosophy?  Whether you know it or not, you probably view the world through the eyes of Greek philosophy. If you are part of what we now call the western world, your brain is Greek.  The ancient Greeks gave us western civilization. The Romans spread Greek philosophy to world. When we refer to Greek philosophy we are usually talking about the thoughts, teachings and writing of three important Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  They helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Socrates always emphasized the importance of the mind over the relative unimportance of the human body. His teaching inspired Plato’s philosophy of dividing reality into two separate realms, the world of the senses and the world of ideas. Plato came to the belief that the material world as it seems to us is not ...

This article was published in the July 17, 2014 issue of The Mena Star. Marjorie Maurine Jordan Burden passed away in August 2013. She was born in 1922 on an Indian Reservation in Winnebago, Nebraska. During World War II she was a real Rosie the riveter, working at Schrillo Aero Tool Engineering Co. in Los Angeles, California. She married in 1951 and had one child, Conrad in 1952. Her son had numerous health issues and passed away in 1956.  She spent the final years of her life at Peachtree Assisted Living in Mena, Arkansas. I attended church with her since 1999. She was a quiet little lady who never talked about her past. She had no family in the area. When church members were going through her meager possessions while cleaning out her room they found file cabinets full of writing and family genealogy research. The following story was found in her writings and was read at her memorial service. It was a heart wrenching moment, but the story was so well written that...

This article, written by Andy Philpot, was published in the July 10, 2014 issue of The Mena Star. Each year at the Polk County Relay For Life celebration, new stories are shared on the battles, victories, and caregiving involved with cancer and our local community members. When recognition awards were given at this years Relay, held at the end of May, Lyndell Smedley of Hatfield, was named Caregiver of the Year.  For those who attended Relay, they know at least some of the story behind why Lyndell was awarded Caregiver of the Year.  Lyndell's story of dedication to his daughter and his family is a testimony of true dedication to being there for his daughter, and determined to see her through until she was healthy. Telicia Smedley, daughter of Lyndell and Michelle Smedley, is a former Hatfield graduate who has gone on to become a teacher in Little Rock.  When she had gone to a doctor's appointment on Valentine's Day in 2013, she had been experiencing s...

This week the letter for the ABC Wednesday Meme is Z.   Z is for Zealot.  According to the dictionary, a zealot is a person who has very strong feelings about something (such as religion or politics) and who wants other people to have those feelings. The online world seems to be full of zealots.  I really wonder if anyone's mind has ever been changed by hateful vitriol that they read on someones Facebook feed.   I did not write the following words, but I fully agree with them.  I would love to give the original writer credit, but I don't know the source. Dear Friends, Family, and Anyone Else I Know; As we all know, there is a rather major election happening this year. I know, no matter how loud or quiet you are, you probably (definitely) have opinions. You probably lean more toward one political party than the other, more toward one candidate than the other, more toward one side than the other, just as I d...

This is my article as published in the July 3, 2014 issue of The Mena Star. Over the past several months I have enjoyed attending several reunions.  In July I went to Tennessee for my aunt’s 85th birthday celebration.  Then in August I was able to attend my cousin’s 50th wedding anniversary.  He was the best man at my wedding.  I had a great time with relatives I seldom see. Two weeks ago, my wife and I attended our 40th High School reunion. We both attended Campion Academy in Loveland, Colorado and graduated in 1973.  It had been 30 years since we had seen most of our classmates - we attended our ten year reunion.  As we pulled onto the campus of Campion Academy we were a bit nervous.  What would our old classmates be like?  Would we have anything in common? Would we recognize them?  Would they recognize us? As I parked the car and walked up to the registration table my apprehension was confirm...