Beech Tree News Network

As a preacher, I am asked many questions concerning why I teach what I teach and why. The title above is a question someone asked me, and I thought this was an excellent question. After answering it, I thought perhaps the answer I gave might be helpful to others who might have wondered this.

Listening to my granddaughter cry while my daughter brushed the tangles from her hair brought back old memories, painful memories.  My stepmom was as frustrated with my hair as my daughter is with my granddaughter’s hair.  Sabria was allowed to protest and cry during the whole process.  I was not.

“I know how you feel,” I told her, “except, I wasn’t allowed to cry.  If I did, I was told to shut up or I would be given something to cry about.  One time my stepmom took me to the beauty shop and had my hair cut off above my ears.  The kids at school teased me and called me a boy.”

Last Memorial Day, we were all experiencing an absence of normality due to COVID-19. At that time, we realized that we take many aspects of our lives for granted and that we might have a genuine appreciation for these things until they are no longer available. We could not gather with loved ones, worship with our congregations, or spend time with dear friends as we usually would. Even the little things, such as enjoying a meal at our favorite local restaurant, were put on pause.

Saturday, I got let in on a pre-birthday surprise.  My sister texted that she and my brother-in-law had procured tickets for the family to meet Leslie Jordan at The Groove, a record shop in east Nashville the following day.  I was stoked!

With warm weather and the end of the school year, many will be searching for entertainment destinations. My youngest daughter, a seventh-grade teacher, asked her students to do some research and identify places in Kentucky to visit. Their responses included a wide variety of destinations.

The Kentucky destinations identified by these students included the following:

Mammoth Cave

Corvette Museum

Beech Bend Park

Louisville Zoo

Meanness Towards Those We Love

Up until now I’ve only stuck my toe into the water.  Now I decided to go jump in whole-hog with the question:  Why sometimes do we show meanness toward those we love?

When my mother-in-law, Aggie, was in elementary school, she landed the star role in the school play.  It was a musical.  Aggie played Mother Goose.  Aggie loved music and dancing, especially the big band sound of Glen Miller and Benny Goodman, tunes she listened to as a teen and young adult.  Aggie married a man who cared for none of those things. 

A few weeks ago, we spoke about some wrong attitudes that God answered in the Bible. The wrong attitudes we studied then was pride, covetousness, and self-sufficiency. The Bible shows us some folks who had wrong attitudes, and as a result, sinned. In this article, we will study about apathy. What does God say about that subject? What does God expect of us?

Spencer Silver, inventor of the post-it note, died last week.  In 1968, Spencer Silver was a senior scientist working to develop new classes of adhesives at 3M when he discovered an acrylic adhesive with unique properties.  It was formed of tiny spheres that provided a pressure-sensitive adhesive with a high level of tack but a low degree of adhesion.  Art Fry, a researcher

This time of year, many graduate from high school, post-secondary training, and college. Graduation has traditionally been a time for celebration, a time for gifts and parties. In 2020, many graduation celebrations were missed, so these 2021 celebrations are meaningful.