Feature Columnists

Do you know what you think about all day, and how much those thoughts impact your being? Little do we know how important it is to mentally keep track of what's going on inside our heads? Studies have shown that the direction in which our thoughts lead us often determines the condition of our...

Something a person should learn in writing for a newspaper is to make sure a pronoun clearly refers to its correct antecedent. Case in point: I recently saw a large welcome sign at the Indiana-Ohio border. The placard carried the emblem of the Buckeye State plus the following declarative sentence...

Summertime is the time to look for wild blackberries. Starting in mid-July and extending for about a month, native wild blackberries ripen in Southeast Missouri. Wild blackberries are borne on long, thorny, woody stems. When ripe, these blackberries are sweet and edible...

Many of us feel plagued with a sense of overwhelm and dread. The future is uncertain. Decisions you confidently made are now having some unintended consequences of devastating effects. Perhaps you can echo the words of the psalmist in Psalm 69:1, "I feel as if I am about to drown." The psalmist who...

Recently, the words of Exodus 2:23-25 (NAB) caught my eye and heart. "A long time passed," these verses state, "during which the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their bondage and cried out, and from their bondage their cry for help went up to God. God heard their moaning and God...

The oak leaf hydrangea is a native flower that grows in the southeast quadrant of the United States. It is an unusual wildflower in that it is quite large in many ways. The clusters of white flowers can grow to 18 inches long or longer. The leaves look like the leaves of a red oak tree, except that...

Last weekend, amid the sound of nearby fireworks, I talked to a friend in a Cape Girardeau coffee shop who began discussing Marie Curie, the renowned Polish-French scientist, who died on America's Independence Day, July 4, 1934. I suppose Curie's death date is the reason the discoverer of two...

Are you wondering if it's time to downsize and live on a smaller scale? It seems as if the subject of downsizing has been an issue recently with many people. They are attempting to decide if they should scale down their lives, or continue as they are, presently. Although the decision may seem like...

The brown eyed susan and the red legged buprestis by their names do not make you think of yellow. But when the insect and flower are combined in a photo, yellow rules the day. The red legged buprestis is a wood-boring insect native to Eastern U.SA. It is a member of the jewel beetles. It is known...

My Grandad grew up on a tobacco farm in western Kentucky. He spent his boyhood days planting, harvesting, drying and smoking tobacco. Shortly after he and my Granny were married, he shipped off to Germany to fight for the cause of freedom. The story handed down is a cease-fire was declared while...

I love the verses in Scripture that speak about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11:1-44. What I am specifically drawn to about this story is Jesus' intensely personal relationship with each sister and the way he knows and comforts each of them in their grief. I love each sister's honest...

I spotted two small insects battling on a rock. At first the gray insect was dragging the red ant. They moved very fast as I snapped several out-of-focus photos with my cellphone. Soon I identified the gray insect as a predatory tiger beetle. Ants are fierce predators, too. I didn't know which one...

The other day, a priest said something I thought was profound: Jesus lived more than 30 years of a happy life with people he loved; he was only on the cross for three hours. It was a good reminder that when times are good, it is a gift, and we can enjoy it...

Don't we all search for happiness? Think about it -- everything is geared toward our feeling of well-being and, a feeling of calm, or perhaps, excitement. If a loved one is ill, we want them to become well, or at least feel better. We can't be still, within, until we are reassured their health is...

I enjoy a brisk walk, which I manage to achieve most days of the week. It's a bit more of a challenge in the extreme heat, so I tend to amble in the early morning or well after dark. Typically, I'll listen to an old radio drama on my cell phone as I traverse around Jackson...

A few weeks ago I was surprised to find this lone purple coneflower blooming at the edge of a weedy field. Trees line the field to the east so I went back in the late evening to get this shot. I used my cellphone camera and shot the photo staring into the setting sun using a flash...

Much has been written about the phrase, "six degrees of separation," an idea promulgated in an old Great Depression-era short story of U.S. vintage in which a group of people play a game trying to connect any person in the world to themselves via an unbroken chain of five others...

Is work a dirty word? Although many revere the act of working, others shun the performance of work. As I drive around my town, I see numerous signs requesting help. From fast-food restaurants to retail stores, the need for employees is plentiful. Is work a curse or a blessing, we ask? As I read a...

The insect you see here is called a horned passalus beetle. It is a member of a family of beetles called Bess beetles. This beetle is pretty large as an adult being about 1 1/2 inches long. It is very strong and is capable of putting a weight 50 times heavier than its own weight. It spend its whole...

National Poppy Day is celebrated each year on the Friday before Memorial Day. Shortly after World War I ended, an American military officer noticed thousands of red poppies growing among rows of small wooden crosses lining what was a battlefield in Belgium. ...

In "Alice in Wonderland," Alice comes to a fork in the road asking the Cheshire Cat which way she should go. The mysterious cat replies, "That depends a good deal on where you want to go." "I don't much care where," says Alice. "Then it doesn't much matter which way you go," rebuffs the cat...

There is a scene at the end of the movie "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" that has always puzzled me. In it, Mr. Magorium, the whimsical toy shop owner, gives Molly Mahoney, the unsure young emporium employee, a block of wood. It is, clearly, a gift Mr. ...

Do you feel that you're never settled, that when you think you're on an even path, something goes wrong? Sometimes it's planned and other times, it's a shock or surprise. We constantly have to start over -- many times moving to a different environment. Consequently, our lifestyle and attitude has...

It has been 30 years since I worked under the pastoral leadership of Dr. John Richard Ray, a native of Bernie, Missouri, serving as his assistant before Ray was transferred to lead a church in Poplar Bluff. Ray, now living a well-earned retirement with wife Ruth in rural Kentucky, offered me a lot...

This is a photo of the head of a fish called a crappie. Crappie are regarded by many freshwater fishermen as the best tasting fish of all. In Southeast Missouri crappie fishing is usually done from a boat. Because crappie are prolific breeders, they can overpopulate a small farm pond in only a few...

My calendar has been flooded with graduation parties marking the closing of one chapter in someone's story and another beginning. These are exciting times to celebrate accomplishments and chase your dreams. It matters just as much how you chase your dreams as the vision itself...

Lately, I have been buying a lot of things and spending a lot of money. It feels like I can hardly help myself in this pursuit of food, clothes, gifts for people, really, anything to purchase that, before I click the button or swipe my credit card, I feel like I can't do without. It is fun and nice...

Sometimes all you have to do is step outside. I took this photo two weeks ago in my yard. It was a cool morning with a light breeze. The sun was shining bright, reflecting off the south side of the house, making it warm enough for this wood bee to be active, albeit a bit slow...

To forgive is often difficult to do. It is a much discussed topic, especially within the Christian faith, and other faiths, as well. To refuse to forgive can be a prison, within whose walls, one can never escape. Forgiveness is a many faceted action that is well worth delving into. ...

There are times in reading the Bible the meaning of a word seems ambivalent. Fear, for example, is such a word. In the book of Proverbs, we read "fear" is a good thing. From the New International Version, the most popular translation in terms of sales in the United States, we read, "The fear of the...

Two weeks ago I made a trip to Mingo Wildlife Refuge near Puxico, Missouri. One of the most interesting things I saw was the activity of the muskrat pictured here. Swamp maple trees along a stream had gone to seed, and thousands of their seeds were floating on the water surface. These seeds are a...

Looking at the Bible through the lens of Mother's Day brings several women into the spotlight. Women such as Eunice instilled the gospel into her son, Timothy, Paul's protege in ministry. Women such as Elizabeth, whose son, John the baptizer, prepared the way for the Lord. Women such as Mary, the...

I love the readings that take place after Easter, readings following the development of the early Church in the Book of Acts. They are stories about connection and community and amazement at the ways we need each other. They remind us none of us are meant to go through this life alone...

A walk in the Southeast Missouri woods during April can be full of surprises. Patches of beautiful wildflowers are enough to please any wandering soul, but there is more to discover. April 26 was a cool, windy day. It was not a good day to focus a camera on flowers that move in the wind. I was...

Spring? Yes! It seems I see the evidence of spring everywhere I glance. I see it in the environment exhibiting its beautiful displays of natural beauty. I feel spring in the air, and my step agrees. My feet hit the ground like a playful rubber ball, bouncing up and down as fast as I touch a...

A person ought to be judicious before taking a tutorial in morality and ethics from a TV show. Nevertheless, a recent episode of NBC's "The Blacklist" got me thinking about how each of us decides how far to pursue the things we want. Episode 14 of season 8 is a case in point...

The flowers pictured here are from the native paw paw tree. I found dozens of paw paw trees sporting hundreds of blooms in a Scott County woodlot April 12. This image shows two blossoms on the same limb. The green one is beginning to burst open and will turn purple like the other one that is a few...