Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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There is an old story about a man who was praying to God. He said, “God!” God responded, “Yes?” “Can I ask a question?” “Go right ahead,” God said. “God, what is a million years to you?” God said, “A million year to me is only a second.” “God, what is a million dollars to you?” God said, “A million dollars to me is as a penny.” So the man said, “Can I have a penny?” And God said, “Sure! Just a second.” But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. (2 Pet...
Only 243 days left until Christmas! Sadly, that is how long it might be until we see some people in our churches again now that Easter Sunday is past. Even though we often remind people that our churches are “open for business” between Easter and Christmas, too many don’t really seem to care. For a growing number of people, being genuinely committed to a church family is not a priority in life. Recent survey statistics by the Barna Group reveal that 51% of American adults say that church attendance is not important to them. Among those 30 ye...
Alleluia! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! These shouts of praise and joy will be heard throughout Christian churches on Easter morning. Easter! What a glorious time for Christians, as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is a time of great joy, as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection and acknowledge and give thanks for our Saviour’s undying love for us, the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting! A dear family member of mine lost her only child, a son, a few months ago. His birthday will fall on...
This weekend, Christian people in churches throughout the world will gather to celebrate Palm Sunday. On this day, some faith traditions distribute palm branches and invite their worshiping communities to take part in processions that recall the entrance of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem those many years ago. Jerusalem was the city where Jesus would accomplish the work of our redemption. The accounts of that first Palm Sunday are written about in all four gospels (Jn 12:12ff; Mt 21:1ff; Mk 11:1ff and Lk 19:28ff). We can’t help but be s...
Lent is drawing to a close. Sunday will be the 5th Sunday of Lent and there is only one more week to go before we reach the special Church Season of Holy Week. The season in which we commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entrance into the Holy City of Jerusalem. His giving us the Eucharistic Feast; followed by His passion and suffering and His death in the most ignominious way – on the cross, despised by those who, only a few days before, had honored His arrival. Then His glorious Resurrection from the dead, proving His power over death. The chu...
According to a 1993 census bureau publication, the most common street name isn’t First Street, it’s Second. Wait there is more! Third is second place and First Street is third. Had enough trivia for one day! In Acts chapter 2, Peter told his listeners about Jesus’ terrible death that took place. Their sins made that death necessary and his excitement for living was built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. He spoke from a heart filled with urgency. “But God raised him from the dead. He set him free from the suffering of death. It wasn’t...
A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and he was made clean. Mark 1: 40-42 Two things present themselves in this passage. First, the leper approaches Jesus which is something unusual for that day. Lepers were expected to stay clear of others and to announce themselves from a distance. Second, the text says that Jesus reached out and touched the leper. Jesus isn’t afraid even though most people would have been afrai...
Prophecy can save lives if heeded. A merchant seaman, Morgan Robertson, wrote a novel called “The Wreck of the Titan.” Many publishers refused to publish it because the story was “too unbelievable.” But more than 13 years later, the Titanic would set sail and prove those publishers very wrong. Some of the eerie parallels of the voyage of the Titanic and the fictional vessel, the Titan, are almost beyond belief. Both vessels were about 800 ft. long and 90 ft. wide. Both ships could travel at a top speed of 24 knots, and carried approxi...
Let me tell you a story Horatio G. Spafford was an attorney in Chicago when the Great Chicago Fire broke out and left 100,000 people without any place to live. Mr. Spafford had invested heavily in Real Estate and lost a great deal of money. Mr. Spafford and his wife also lost their only son to Scarlet Fever at this time. Mr. Spafford worked to help rebuild Chicago. Mr. Spafford decided to take his family away from Chicago on a vacation, to visit D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey in England. Mr. Spafford and D.L Moody were friends and Moody was holding...
I would like to share information from World Day of Prayer USA about The World Day of Prayer. This year the service will be on Friday, March 7th at First United Methodist Church in Sidney 2622 11th Ave at Noon. Since the nineteenth century, Christian women in the United States and Canada have initiated cooperative activities in many areas of concern for women and children, emphasizing the role of prayer in mission work and the promotion of world peace through involvement in mission work worldwide. The first organized “day of prayer for the w...
I spend a lot of my time helping people in the midst of a crisis. Life is not easy, and we cope with disease, accidents, bad weather, and relationships that have gone bad. You can add to the list from your own experience, or the experiences of people you love. I recently was reminded of the story of a man named Horatio Spafford. Wikipedia tells his story. He was a successful lawyer and investor in Chicago in the 1870s. He had a wife and four beautiful daughters. Life was good! In 1871 things began to go bad. The Chicago fire of 1871 ruined him....
“Nothing says, ‘I love you,’ like a half-mile wide heart made out of manure.” That was a news headline on the internet just before Valentine’s Day four years ago. The headline was in response to a romantic display of love by a farmer for his wife in Minnesota. Bruce Andersland created the half-mile wide heart outline in a snow covered field using his manure spreader. The brown colored heart which included a cupid arrow was then photographed from the air by a local pilot. Bruce’s wife, Beth, thought is was “cute” and confessed that she wasn’t...
Over the past few months, I have heard a couple of songs playing over the radio, that have caught my attention. Each of the songs carried the same theme. In the lyrics of one of the songs, a husband tells how, in spite of his sinfulness, his wife “.... loves me like Jesus does”. The other song is a young man assuring his sweetheart that he “will love her like Jesus does”. Whenever I hear those two songs, my first reaction is, “Good luck on that!” However, luck has nothing to do with helping us to love others as Jesus loves us. In John 13:34,...
Camping is never been my cup of tea. I prefer my own bed over a cot in a tent. No protection when storms are around. Indoor plumbing seems to be another great convenience along with the thermostat that I can control. All these things make me a lot happier because I have all the modern conveniences there at my fingertips. When it comes to camping out in tents, I think God shares my thoughts. Second Corinthians 5:1 it says it this way. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we would have a building of God, an hou...
As I sit here in my office, trying to put together a column for this newspaper, I wonder what I should say. A great many things are happening in the world in religious circles. Those Orthodox Christian Churches who use the Julian or Old Style Calendars in two days will be wrapping up their Christmas Season and celebrating the Octave of the Feast of the Epiphany or Theophany. The Feast of the Circumcision which was celebrated on our January 1st commemorates Jesus’ dedication to God as the first born son of Mary. It was also the day when Jesus r...
Imagine this if you will! Before the Grand Canyon was formed. Before the sun rose in the East and sets in the West. Before the mountains were formed. Before creation began... Even before running water... If you can even imagine. We were on God’s mind. In fact, we were in His heart! God the divine architect created each of us in the total design of his plan of creation and salvation. We are so special to Him, we were made in His very own image. That means when you get to Heaven, you will not be surprised when you see God. He looks like us! Or r...
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17 I read that back in the spring of 1608, the people of the Jamestown, VA colony discovered what they thought was gold and so devoted their time and efforts to digging out the precious metal. They let the planting, building and repairing go because they had more important thing...
Well, the year 2013 has come and gone, and 2014 has begun. As a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, I believe that every year’s passing brings us closer to the Second Coming of Jesus. Here we are, more than 2,000 years after the first coming of Jesus with prophecy foretelling His soon return and the end of the world. Jesus, speaking about the signs of the times, said, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know tha...
Merry Christmas! We will not hear it said or hear the Christmas carols playing after this week, as some radio stations have already switched back to the regularly schedule everyday music. The Christmas ornaments will be wrapped carefully and placed into the storage boxes. Decorations will be taken down off the house and the lawn. In other words we are approaching the last of Christmas for this year. Perhaps you have already done this at your house. Perhaps you have already put Christmas away. Perhaps you have placed the remaining Christmas...
Everyone loves a good story, and Christmas has the best ones. What's your favorite Christmas movie? Is it A Wonderful Life, as George finds out that his life has meaning? Or is it Home Alone as Kevin defends his home and learns the value of family? Or perhaps it's The Christmas Story with the stern warning to Ralphie his wished for BB gun will "shoot your eye out!" I like the classic Christmas Carol, where Scrooge, "... a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!"...
Bishops elect Louisville archbishop new president BALTIMORE (AP) — The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have elected Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Kentucky to be their new president as they grapple with changing priorities under Pope Francis. Kurtz, who leads the Archdiocese of Louisville, won just over half the votes in a field of 10 candidates during a Baltimore meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He succeeds New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is ending his three-year term. The new vice president is Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of...
I make it a practice never to review a movie I have never seen or to discuss a book I have never read. This may seem to be an obvious thing after all how can one review a movie that one has never seen? Yet, I have seen over and over again people talking about things that they only know second hand. If I were to believe the politicians that are out to win elections by stirring up the populace, then I would believe that my 1st and 2nd amendment rights are endangered. My copy of the constitution must differ than the copy that they are reading... Full story
Congratulations to the class of 2013! You have now completed your high school education and are moving on to the next exciting phase of your life. As you embrace the future I want to challenge you to do three things. First: Always be grateful for the good things you have been blessed with. As Americans everyone of us owes a huge debt of gratitude for the incredible privileges we enjoy living in the United States. God has blessed our country in amazing ways, and many men and women have sacrificed much to maintain that blessing. You should...
As a little girl, I loved fairy-tales. I always loved stories that had happy endings. However, real life is not a “happily every after” fairy-tale existence. Christians will live happily ever after when we are taken to our heavenly home, but in the meantime we face various struggles. We see and hear of these struggles every day... in the world, in our nation and here at home. It seems our prayer lists grow longer and longer. It is easy to become discouraged after a steady diet of bad news in the media, along with our own struggles. I rea...
For many, Easter 2013 is a faded memory. However on the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, we are smack dab in the middle of the 50 day “Easter Season”. The significance of the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb is just so profound, so significant, that we can’t quickly pack it away with the Easter baskets and colored plastic eggs. Our liturgical prayers, songs and scripture readings hold before us the joy of the Risen Christ. Our environment inside and outside the church speaks of new life and resurrection even as new life sprin...
