Beech Tree News Network

The Christmas shopping season is about to begin. Over the next few weeks, many of us will examine our Christmas lists while watching for deals to help us stay within budget. Christmas shopping is a joy, but it can also be a big job.

Blind Prejudice:
    A judge in a high-profile murder case refused to hear new DNA evidence which cast doubt on the guilt of a person who had already served 16 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.  “There is no new evidence”, he “all the evidence was there at the original crime scene”, he declared.  He refused to grant a new trial.  Blind prejudice- a closed mind.

“Do you want your teeth to fall out?”  That was the question my daughter put to my granddaughter one evening during a heated exchange over teeth brushing.  Usually, there is no resistance by my granddaughter.  She has all of the tools invented to entice a little one to brush: a Little Mermaid stool upon which to stand in order to reach the faucet, a Monster High electric tooth brush, and Tom’s strawberry-flavored toothpaste.  That particular night, however, she just wasn’t feeling it.  The back and forth between the two made me think about the questions parents pose to children in the hope

The gospel of Christ is something that deserves our respect. Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). The words of the gospel are inspired by God (II Tim. 3:16-17). Why does the gospel deserve our respect?

Country fans will remember Sugarland.  They were comprised of Jennifer Nettles, Kristian Bush and, in their original incarnation, Kristen Hall.  Hall decided to leave the group after they established stardom, leaving the trio a duo.  They were rolling along quite nicely with hit after hit.  Then, the Indiana State Fair incident occurred.  Without going into specifics (because we’ve all heard the story), the band pretty much ceased to exist after that show.  Both members were pretty torn up about the incident, obviously.

What else do we know about some of our U.S. Presidents?  Ulysses Grant: Hand drinker; after graduation from West Point, rose to rank of general; fought in Civil War battles of Chattanooga, Richmond, and Vicksburg; given command of all Union Armies in 1864 by Lincoln. 

Recently, I’ve recognized some changes in my behavior. I understand that age changes us, but some of these changes just slipped up on me. They became normal without my noticing.

Occasionally, I’ll decide one task is worthy of all my attention for an entire day.  It has to be a task I believe I can complete in that one day, come hell or high water.  On Saturday, I took on one such task.  My goal was to clean and organize the small room in my house we call the BBC room, the one that doubles as a TV/play room for my granddaughter and a reading/writing room for me.  I t has never seemed like a particularly large room, I was soon to find out the reason for that was because of all the stuff that resided in that room.

Jesus warned the apostles: “These things have I spoken unto you … the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service….” (Jn. 16:1-3). This is an eye-opening statement to me. Jesus warned of folks who would kill the apostles, and in so doing, think they were serving God! How wrong can people get?

The 49th Annual CMA Awards Wednesday, November 4, started with our hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood doing a Star Wars send-up with help from Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Little Big Town and Garth.  Eric Church and Hank Williams, Jr performed Hank’s new song “Are You Ready for the Country”, not to be confused with Hank’s ‘80’s album of the same name.  John Mellencamp performed his classic “Little Pink Houses” with Keith Urban.  Keith then performed his hit “John Deere, John Cougar, John 3:16”.