Opinion

I recently read a posting by Meredith Houston Carr entitled living a “round up” kind of life. In her article, she relayed a story about checking out of a store when the cashier asked her if she would like to round up her total in support of a children’s charity. As she went about her day, she wondered: “where else in my life can I do round up – giving just a little more?”

Dear Readers, Since I moved back to Kansas, I have earned a reputation among friends and family that I am directionally challenged. Because I do eventually get where I’m going, these days they are more bemused than worried (I hope) when I find, as playwright Edward Albee wrote in The Zoo Story, “… it’s necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly.” My detours are often because I don’t care whether I’m headed North, South, East, West. Ever. I’m much more interested in what or who I’ll see, and how much fun I’ll have driving down a road. I insist my inattentiveness toward my bearings does not mean I have no sense of direction. My most recent case in point—the other day I had to get myself out of a road construction pickle and find my way home all by myself, even though I didn’t get into a mess outside of August, KS all by my lonesome.

Dear Amy: I am married with two children a daughter who is 15 and a younger kiddo who is five. I am sometimes a mean mom.

DEAR DR. ROACH: My wife’s handicap parking placard expired, and she asked her primary care physician to fill out a renewal application. The new placard was received, followed by a letter from the DMV instructing my wife to return her license within 10 days because a medical professional had deemed it unsafe for her to drive. There was no discussion with my wife about driving.

I’m not sure why, but when I was a kid growing up, my father was always the one who took me to buy my school shoes each year. I normally got three pairs of shoes a year—dressy shoes for Sunday, tennis shoes for gym class and sports, and school shoes, which Daddy said had to be “sturdy and reliable.” My mother always took me to get the first two pairs, but Daddy was the one who took me to get my school shoes.

Ministry and mission work are often referred to as “accepting the call.”I also feel this applies to teachers and educators. When asked to think of an example of people who live out their faith at their workplace, I had several people come to mind--almost all are teachers.

For centuries, Christians have understood that Scripture is God’s truth meant to govern our lives. We turn to it for strength, guidance, and wisdom. We naturally go to it regarding matters related to forgiveness or kindness, but sometimes we forget that Scripture speaks into a far broader range of issues.

“Lord, when did we see you hungry and forsaken, helpless and imprisoned, a stranger in need? “What you do for the least of these, you have done for me. When you care for the least of these, you have cared for me, you have cared for me,” From the song, “The Least of These” by Bob Hurd.