Hope.

What we cling to when we stand before a fresh grave, when we are challenged to be a caregiver for a loved one, when our bipolar, adult child refuses to take her meds, when the judge hopefully will give a second chance, when the downsizing causes us our job.  From where do we find our Hope?

From the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the reason for the Easter season.  I hope your Hope, like mine, comes from the knowledge that in the future (many believe sooner than later), we will find ourselves meeting Jesus, the Lamb of God, either in the air or in Heaven.

And yes, in times of despair, it’s easy to cry out, “Come, Jesus, come,” but Scripture lets us know that God is patient, waiting for more to meet His son.  The best news is that Hope has a way of reshaping despair, turning it into anticipation rather than defeat because the time will come when God makes things right, all the bad will be replaced with good, and, best of all, we will be like Jesus.  Hallelujah!

Because of Hope, we can put all our eggs in one basket: a day of restoration and renewal is ahead, a day that speaks to our deep longing for something better.  Jesus will be the one who meets his people as they cross from death to life. The crippled will run marathons, the blind will see color and form, the hungry will feast on all-you-can-eat buffets, the paralyzed will dance and the mentally deficient will sit around the Heavenly campfire, conversing with the Creator of the universe.

I love Easter, not for the egg hunts but because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a truth that, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is echoed by well over five hundred witnesses —beginning with Mary at Jesus’ tomb and ending with the apostle Paul—who saw the risen Christ at various times and places.  It’s no wonder the Christian Church exploded during that first century.  They had seen Truth, and from that, their Hope was alive.

Our religion hinges on that one event.  If the Resurrection never happened, then our faith is useless. If Christ is not risen, then Christianity is just a myth. We can live any way we want, act any way we want, do anything we want, say anything we want, and it doesn’t matter at all. But because Jesus has been raised, it matters…if we too want to rise!

Jesus’ best friend, John, wrote of our Savior’s promise: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies” (John 11:25 NIV).  That was true in Jesus’ day, and it’s true today.

Put all your eggs in that basket.  It’s the only one that matters.

Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker

Birdbrains Fly Smart

As I was driving to church one Sunday, I noticed a flock of migratory birds flying in a V formation. I was impressed with their precision and strength. Once again, nature reminded me that there’s a Creator God who instills instincts and intelligence into all His creatures. The brilliant brains of these migratory birds demonstrated impressive abilities in navigation, memory, and communication. So I don’t know how it got started that calling someone a “birdbrain” would mean the person lacked intelligence or made stupid decisions. Where I come from we’re more apt to call a silly person one of these colloquialisms: nincompoop, idiot, halfwit, moron, ignoramus, dimwit, nitwit, dum-dum, numbskull, knucklehead, lamebrain, dingbat, goofus, airhead, dipstick, ding-dong, goofball, ding-a-ling, or harebrain. I can just hear my dad using every one of these names.

I did some research on migratory birds and discovered comparative spiritual lessons.  Here are nine interesting points: (1) When flying in a V formation, the birds save energy by drafting off each other while following the leader. [We need one another.] (2) In order to fly 1,000 miles, birds cannot fly alone. [Some jobs are too big to accomplish alone.] (3) Scientists have proven that all the birds contribute almost equally in the job of leading the flock. [Help your pastor share the load of the flock.] (4) Flying in a V formation reduces fatigue in the flock. [Flying by the seat of your pants is exhausting.]

(5) A large or strong bird will take the lead. [Church leaders must be strong in the Lord.] (6) If the leader becomes tired it will rotate back into formation and another bird will take the lead. [Do whatever you can to protect your pastor from burnout.] (7) When the flock changes direction, a new leader will take the helm. [Change is inevitable. Moses handed the Israelites over to Joshua so he could lead them into the Promised Land.] (8) A sick bird will drop out of formation and one other bird will follow it until it recovers or dies. [Keep tabs on one another and do what’s necessary.] (9) If a bird falls out of formation it will notice the extra resistance and immediately get back in line. [If you get discouraged, don’t stop attending church — it‘ll just make things worse.]

Let’s face the facts — people need people. We need one another. It’s a given that believers have God watching over us, Jesus interceding for us, and the Holy Spirit abiding in us.  But God designed us to need and thrive on close relationships with fellow believers. Sometimes life is too hard or too fun to do it alone.

I love the incident in the Old Testament when the Amalekites attacked the Israelites: “Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset” (Exodus 17:10-12 NLT). As a result, the Israelites overwhelmed the Amalekites and won the victory. Moses was a strong leader, but he was human and when his strength gave out he needed two faithful men to stand on either side of him to hold up his arms. We are no different from Moses.

The Key: Even birdbrains know they aren’t supposed to fly alone.

Maybe “Cranky” should be allowed at times. I know some Christians who believe otherwise, but instead of us preaching to those dealing with crankiness, maybe we need to give them a pass.  You know, a simple “I cannot imagine what you are going through.”                          

Better yet, maybe an “I’m here to help.”  And then help.                                                                 

Take caregiving, for example. According to a report issued by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 42 million Americans provide assistance to older family members. Forty to seventy percent of family caregivers report clinical symptoms of depression, and 23% claim that caregiving has negatively affected their physical health. And get this! A Stanford University study reported that 41% of Alzheimer’s caregivers die from stress-related disorders before the patient dies, and caregivers have a 63% higher mortality rate than non-caregivers.                                  

Yesterday, a friend copied a letter from a Christian woman who is struggling with 24/7/365 caregiver duties. “Sometimes I feel guilty for feeling cranky.”  Talk about heaping pain upon pain!  Caregiving duties are exhausting.  Those individuals have not only their own physical limitations that provoke them to grouchiness but also the needs and wants of the person they are tending.  Add to that an emotional involvement with the loved one they care for, and it’s no wonder they are not skipping merrily along. 

Talk to people trying to keep an advanced Alzheimer/Dementia family member in their home, never knowing if that person will stray from the house, cuss them out, slug them or make unreasonable demands on them.  “Pick those spiders off the ceiling.”  “Sit here and talk to me, Don” (the deceased spouse).  “Cook something I like for a change.” “You look ugly today.”                   

Years ago when I was teaching, I would arrange for my speech students to go to the nursing home to play Bingo with the residents. Typically, the high schoolers were terrified of the elderly, but my goal was for them to learn to communicate with everyone, no matter the age.  Each student was assigned a Bingo partner who, as it turned out, took the game seriously.  After all, there was a quarter to be won.                                                                                                       

We had been playing for about 10 minutes when Chad mouthed to me across the table that his companion-lady told him to cheat.  What should he do?  I shook my head “no” and he told her that he could not do that.  She threw a fit, yelling at him for not being her friend.  As an aide pushed her wheelchair away from the game room, she continued her tirade.                                               

Rosalyn Carter said it well: “There are only four kinds of people in the world–those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.”  According to Pastor David Huss in his article “Helping the Helpers,” “Caregivers need to watch for exhaustion from the details, frustration from not having time for self, guilt for wishing they did not have those attitudes and feelings, anger that other people don’t help more than they do and concern that personal irritability will affect their caregiving and personal health.”

Couple the demands on the caregiver with the lack of affordability for a reprieve from their duties, and it’s no wonder these individuals get cranky.  When they seek support from fellow Christians who insensitively recite Colossians 3:23 (^“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart…”), well, there’s that guilt thing again.

So, today I’m playing the part of a spiritual counselor for those caretakers who are burned out.  Today, you get a “Cranky Pass.” No guilt allowed.  It’s called grace. Don’t thank me. I’m just passing it on from the Lord.

Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker

Shut Up and Stand Still

If Mom said it once, she probably said it 100 times: “If you can’t say anything good, then don’t say anything at all.” She was quite excellent in following her own advice. She taught me by her example — it’s just that I’m a slower learner when it comes to my big mouth. I’m definitely a work-in-progress so I plan to keep following the teachings of Jesus until He leads me Home.

When the Israelites were fleeing from Egypt and saw that the Egyptians were beginning to overtake them, they began flapping their whiny jaws to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? …Why did you make us leave Egypt? …It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!” (Exodus 14:11-12 NLT). Moses didn’t even respond to their annoying accusations and simply told them, “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Exodus 14:14 NASB). This was a walloping statement of faith spoken by the meekest man on earth. Sometimes the most-difficult thing to do is be quiet, stand still, and watch God work.

We’re supposed to refrain from saying “shut up” when we need someone to be quiet. Moses would’ve probably been tempted to use a few of the following colloquialisms if he’d known them: cork it, put a sock in it, hush your gums, shut your biscuit hatch, put a lid on it, shut your pie hole, clam up, pipe down. If anyone could push Moses’ buttons, it was the 3 million people he was responsible for leading. In the Book of Exodus, we read about the many times the Israelites complained against Moses and God. These wilderness wanderers were suffering from chronic irritable jowl syndrome but didn’t seem to be interested in getting rid of it because they’d it for 40 years.

David understood the importance of words. He prayed, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3-4 NKJV). Maybe his mom taught him the same thing mine did. There are often occasions when I pray for God to put a guard over my mouth because I need grace to shut my pie hole. Just because I have an opinion doesn’t mean I should share it, especially if I know it might rub someone’s fur the wrong way. We humans have always been prone to tongue-sins and we earnestly need God’s grace to keep us from speaking amiss.

In the New Testament, we find Paul and Silas stripped and severely beaten with rods, and thrown into prison with their feet fastened in the stocks. This day was not going well for these two missionaries. But on the flip-side of the Israelites, Paul and Silas were not having a silent night. Around midnight, they were praying and singing hymns to God. “While all the other prisoners listened to their worship, suddenly a great earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. All at once every prison door flung open and the chains of all the prisoners came loose” (Acts 16:25-26 TPT).

It is no secret that God does the miraculous when His children are either practicing silent faith or actively praising and thanking Him. God does His best work when He is welcomed, revered, and obeyed. If we’re complaining and whining the same sad song, God won’t work in that “Debbie Downer” atmosphere. When we stop griping and start believing, we’re giving God what He requires in order to move our mountains.

The Key: Put a sock in it or sing. Then stand still and watch God work.

Stories of Christians who witness on airplanes to fellow passengers confirm that my objective while flying—to read or snooze—is selfish. Maybe it’s navigating the traffic to get to the airline two hours before the flight departs or figuring out how to apply the sticky computerized luggage tags or watching the luggage scale inch up towards the 50-pound limit or navigating the terminal before entering the TSA maze, for starters.

Then here’s the actual TSA line.  Heaven, help me.  Does this airport want me to remove my computer and Kindle from my 80-pound backpack?  Did I accidentally leave a four-ounce—instead of the maximum-size, three-ounce—hand lotion in one of the zippered bags?  Can I place my shoes and purse inside the same carton as my boarding pass and belt?  Do I have a stick of gum in my pant pocket, causing me to be frisked as I exit the Xray?  Can I hold my arms above my head for the x-ray to do its magic?  Is the agent laughing at my flabby triceps as I do?

By the time I navigate the airport and find my gate, I need a nap.  But I’m not finished. Now there’s the humiliation of boarding in Group 9 because I chose the cheapest flight possible.  Everyone and their service animal get on ahead of me, so I feel everyone’s stares as I head for Row 35, Seat B…you know, in the back, in the middle of two strangers and directly in front of the restrooms.  You get my point.

So, I apologize to God in advance for not looking at my seatmates as potential Jesus-followers and instead want only to read or sleep.  This past flight was no different.  Leaving Las Vegas and heading to Kansas City, I had one stop in Dallas where, yes indeedy, I was in the back row.  The young woman in the window seat seemed uninterested in conversation.  Perfect.

And it would have been, had the Lord not nudged me multiple times to strike up a conversation, much against my selfish desire to be alone.  I gave in.  “Are you from the K.C. area?” I asked.  She was.  Lee Summit.  Case closed, I told myself.  God had a different idea. To Him, it was more like, “Case Open.”

“What brought you to Dallas?” I continued.  I asked her about her job and family, at which point she became more conversant.  When she asked why I was flying into KC, I told her that I was heading to Iowa to speak to a church on the evils of sex trafficking.  Her eyes lit up…and then she shared her story.

Two weeks before, her 13-year-old daughter was talking on the phone when her mom overheard her say, “I’m not comfortable sharing that.”  When questioned, the young teen said that she was talking to a boy from her middle school.  The mother (“Beth”) said that she didn’t believe her daughter.  After some time, the daughter told her the truth: it was a stranger she had met online and had been talking to for several weeks.

The more Beth shared, the more I recognized that that man fit the profile of a pedophile/trafficker at work.  Beth listened, alarmed, as I told her how they operate, the very thing I would be talking about in Iowa.  I asked the widowed mother if she and her daughter attended church.  They had…and loved it…but stopped going.  I recommended that they start again and find a church with a great youth program.  She assured me that they will. We exchanged contact information as we exited the plane.

As usual, I learned something I pray I never forget: When God nudges, His purposes are far greater than my selfish desires. Isaiah 55:10-11 makes that clear.  Just as God sends rain to grow our crops for food, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

In this case, God’s words, His desire, might have saved a life.

Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

Bad Bite of a Bay

I was in my early grade school years when my dad bought a little Bay horse for me. I named her Judy, which must have been one of my favorite names because I also named one of my baby dolls Judy. This horse was a well-behaved animal and I liked her. One day when I emptied the feed scoop into her trough, she turned her head and bit hard on my abdomen as I walked away. If she had simply nipped me with her soft lips, I wouldn’t have thought  anything of it. But because she hurt me, I couldn’t trust her anymore. I never rode her again, so Dad sold her. I didn’t care, because I no longer liked her. I couldn’t trust this equine any further than I could throw her.

“Some trust in chariots. Some trust in horses. But we trust in the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7 NIRV). Although I found out I couldn’t trust my horse Judy, I have proved that I can always trust God. I’ve been trusting Him for over 58 years and He’s proven to be a faithful and never-changing Father. He’s not up one day and down the next. He’s not an angry God. He’s patient and kind and not willing to leave us alone even on the darkest night.

David sang this scripture song to the Lord on the day He rescued him from all his enemies and from King Saul: “God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock? God is my strong fortress and He makes my way perfect“ (2 Samuel 22:31-33 NLT). Even though God sometimes does things we don’t understand, He remains trustworthy.

We can trust God with everything because He is reliable. Here is a strong affirmation of faith: “But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand…” (Psalm 31:14-15 NKJV). The latter portion of this scripture has been a huge comfort to me in recent years. Our lives can be so disrupted and different from what we assumed it would be, that we have to resign ourselves to God’s care. Let’s face it, our times, our lives, and our future simply cannot be in our own hands. Why? Because God didn’t design us to be in charge of our own lives. Believers must entrust every part of our lives to the One who makes our way perfect.

It’s sad when a Christ follower says, “I know I should trust God, but I don’t.” In this case, my humble advice is to make a decision to believe what God’s Word says. A change of mindset is absolutely necessary to take appropriate steps toward trusting God in every circumstance — past, present, and future.

Solid principals for trusting God in difficult times are found in His Word. “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding” (Proverbs 3:5 AMP). God is telling us not to depend on our frail human understanding, but to trust Him to know and do the perfect thing in every tough and mind-boggling situation. He’s got a great track record from Genesis to Revelation. Need proof? Read it for yourself.

The Key: No matter how bad you’ve been bitten, you can always trust God.

“Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself, and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves.  Living for others is a rule of nature.  We are all born to help each other.  No matter how difficult it is…Life is good when you are happy but much better when others are happy because of you.”

The same day I read this quote from Pope Francis, someone sent me this post: “If God is making you wait, then do what waiters do.  Serve.”

The photo shows a man who stands outside the church Dave and I attend in Las Vegas.  Faithfully, each Sunday he is on the corner after the service, smiling to every exiting vehicle.  Granted, he’s not on the stage preaching or singing, but his service is no less appreciated.

Ephesians 2:10 (TLB) says this:  God . . . has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others. I have met people who say they “serve” in their church.  When I ask them how, they answer “by going to church” or “attending a Bible study.”  Those are good things to do, of course, but that’s not what Paul was writing to the Ephesians about.                                                        

What makes people prone to take care of their own needs and no one else’s?  Fortune Magazine ran an article and referred to Faith Popcorn, a New York City marketing expert, as the “Nostradamus of Marketing.”  Faith addresses a shift since Covid: “One of the major changes that is taking place in American culture is the ‘cocooning of America.’ It is ‘looking for a haven at home – drawing their shades, plumping their pillows, clutching the remotes. Hiding . . . and everybody is digging in’.” She refers to this as “hypernesting” or “reality retreat.”

Churches reflect this behavior as Christians choose to stay at home and “play it safe” on Sundays instead of obeying Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV): And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

The bottom line is that we Christians must be inconvenienced for the Gospel.  We must be willing to pay a sacrificial price so that others may come to know Jesus. Why is it so hard to think of others first, to remember that every person we see is someone Jesus thought enough of to die for?

Even praying for someone becomes an after-thought instead of an intentional, purposeful opportunity to bombard the thrones of Heaven to serve them.  And Heaven forbid we take the time to mentor someone with the good news of eternity.  In Romans 10:14, Paul asks how people will come to believe in Christ.  Answer: through us.

Three Scriptures in Romans pave the road to sharing the gospel.

1.  3:23—For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

2.  5:8—God shows his love for us that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

3. 4:4-5—Salvation can’t be earned (or else Jesus wouldn’t have died.) We need to believe in Christ.

Reread the quote by Pope Francis and ask yourself this simple question: “What is the best thing I can do sacrificially to make others happy?”  I pray that leading others to Christ is at the top of your list.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Earlier this week, I wrote an opinion piece suggesting that there is no positive outcome to be had by commissioners using their personal money to fund a lawsuit against themselves and then spending your taxpayer money to defend against that suit. I walked through my logic as to why this is true regardless of whether you 100% support solar, 100% oppose solar, or fall somewhere in between. I maintain that there is no possible positive outcome (regardless of how you feel about solar) where the commissioners continuing to sue themselves is beneficial to the county. This is true regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit. Based on this, I called for the commissioners to drop their role as plaintiffs on the lawsuit.

At first, I was delighted to see that Mary Pemberton wrote a response and looked forward to reading what part of my logic she disagreed with. However, after working through her 1,100+ word submission, I was disappointed. While she definitely articulates her anger at a number of things and is clearly upset that anyone would suggest the commissioners’ lawsuit isn’t in the best interest of the county,at no point does she address the concerns I raised in my argument. She doesn’t point to any possible outcome where the county benefits by the commissioners maintaining their position as plaintiffs on a lawsuit they started before they were elected.

She mentions a number of grievances with how decisions have been made in the past. She calls on people to join her in unsubscribing from the places that publish her opinion because…they publish people’s opinions. She expresses her fear of fires, claims that Halloween is a “scary date” for signing contracts, complains about the county being responsible for maintaining roads, and offers her insights the lifespan of power inverters. There is plenty to read on various subjects, but there is one thing missing. She doesn’t dispute my argument. There is no mention of a path forward where an overall positive state is achieved by the commissioners’ continued use of their own money to pay for a lawsuit against the county and use your taxpayer money to defend against their suit.

My original point still stands. No matter how you feel about what has happened in the past, we need to look at where we are today and think rationally about where different paths will take us in the future. Whether you share Mary’s outrage at past commissioners, whether you give any credence to her concerns about “scary dates,” whether you are indignant or indifferent about solar, the path forward is based on where we are today. It branches from here. One path has the commissioners continuing to join a few plaintiffs against the county and burn taxpayer money to defend against that suit. There are no possible good outcomes for the county on that path.  But there is another path that has them drop off the suit and continue working to achieve the best results for everyone they represent.

Mark Shead

Note: FortScott.biz publishes opinion pieces with a variety of perspectives. If you would like to share your opinion, please send a letter to [email protected]. 

Bourbon County finds itself in the singular position of having every county commissioner joined with a few landowners as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the county commissioners. Like most people in Bourbon County, I want to see more industries come to the county. Also, like most people, I want my county representatives to be fully engaged in carefully understanding any potential side effects, finding ways to address concerns, balancing risks, and working hard to facilitate healthy growth without throwing up unnecessary roadblocks.

The lawsuit creates an extraordinary state of affairs that has made me question whether the concerns of people like me were being represented fairly. I reached out to my commissioner, asking how he felt they could fairly represent all their constituents as a whole while actively joining a few citizens in a lawsuit against the county. I explained that this seemed like a pretty significant conflict of interest, but I wanted to have an open mind and hear what he had to say before fully forming an opinion.

I’d encourage you to ask your commissioner the same question. After carefully reading my commissioner’s position and re-reading the lawsuit a few times, I now have no doubt that the commissioners have positioned themselves such that it is impossible for them to make decisions for the best of the county as a whole—especially when it comes to working with solar companies. Whether the commissioners win or lose in their lawsuit against the county, the citizens lose by being deprived of commissioners who can ethically execute their duties.

I recognize that in their capacity as individuals on the lawsuit, they think they are doing something good for the county, but they are no longer merely private individuals. Their activities that may have started as individuals ruin their ability to function as commissioners for the county in this matter. Citizens should want commissioners who are sympathetic and will listen to the claims of the landowners who want to bar their neighbors from renting land to solar companies. However, remaining party to a lawsuit suing the county creates conflicts that prevent them from fairly executing their duties.

As plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the commissioners are making a bet that they can sue themselves to undo their predecessors’ decisions. Should they succeed as plaintiffs, it would catastrophically undermine the ability of this and future commissions to make agreements with any business that wants to expand into the county. It would likely expose the county and taxpayers to much larger lawsuits from landowners who have signed contracts to lease their land. It is hard to imagine any way for the commissioners to work with their defense lawyer and try to bring the lawsuit to an end to preserve taxpayers’ money while simultaneously funding and participating in the lawsuit as plaintiffs who are trying to take the lawsuit all the way to trial. Even for people who oppose industrial solar in any form, a win for the plaintiffs could hardly be seen as a net positive once the collateral damage is accounted for.

It appears to me that the most likely outcome is for the county to win the defense against the lawsuit, even with the commissioners’ best efforts as plaintiffs to make the county lose. In the scenario where the county wins the lawsuit, the commissioners will have squandered their ability to work with solar companies to address citizens’ concerns during the time that those concerns have the best chance of being addressed.

This isn’t hypothetical. Advance Power tried to have a meeting with the public on March 19th. This is precisely the sort of meeting that constituents would want the commissioners to attend. They could hear citizens’ concerns along with the solar company’s responses and information. However, the commissioners let everyone know they were refusing to attend, saying, “With everything that’s going on and things that we’re working on, we’re not going to associate ourselves with them at this point in time.”

Their response makes perfect sense from the standpoint of an individual who is suing both the solar companies and the county commissioners, but it is the exact opposite of the type of leadership we need from our commissioners. The commissioners are spending their personal money to sue the county and spending your taxpayer money to defend against their lawsuit.

As citizens of the county, we all have a vested interest in seeing our county commissioners remove themselves from this lawsuit as soon as possible so they can fully function in their capacity as our elected representatives, free of the ethical conflicts with which they are currently encumbered.

Based on all of this, I have asked my commissioner to drop himself from the lawsuit so he can function as a representative of all his constituents. I would encourage you to do the same.

Mark Shead

Note: FortScott.biz publishes opinion pieces with a variety of perspectives. If you would like to share your opinion, please send a letter to [email protected]. 

Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

Rumble Strips are Lifesavers

The implementation of highway centerline and shoulder-line rumble strips have proven to be an excellent idea. This road-safety feature helps prevent drivers from running off the road and reduces head-on accidents. I’ve occasionally been annoyed by rumble strips while digging in my purse for my lip balm but, honestly, I’m very thankful for them. The loud noise and vibration alerts inattentive drivers of lane drifting. The rumble strips were partly designed for distracted drivers guilty of looking at a flock of wild turkeys, a herd of cattle, a tractor for sale, or a big field of soybeans.

During one winter late afternoon, a dear couple invited me to go with them to supper. I asked them if they were sure about driving out of town since it was starting to spit snow. The husband, John, assured me we could go anywhere since he drove a 4×4 truck. His  wife, Chick, agreed that we should go out for a nice meal together. So, I donned my knee-high leather boots and long down coat and away we went. The further we drove, the heavier it snowed. But no worries. We arrived at the restaurant safe and sound, enjoyed the good food and good company, and then loaded into the truck and headed west.

The sky was as black as an ace of spades and 54 Highway was totally covered in several inches of fast-falling snow. Unless we were meeting a vehicle and could benefit from its  headlights, it was impossible to determine where the road was. Since John couldn’t see where the centerline was, he would drive closer to the shoulder line and hit those rumble strips. Well, Chick didn’t want to linger too long too close to the ditch, so every few minutes she would say, “To the left. Go to the left.” This scenario was repeated over and over until we hit the city limits of Fort Scott. Being a widow, I found this husband-wife interaction to be very normal and quite entertaining. Neither one lost their cool, and it took both of them working together as a team to get us home in one piece.

Those shoulder-line rumble strips warned us of impending danger. It reminds me of how God tenderly warns mankind of danger. God doesn’t want anyone to go down a wrong and precarious dark road. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV).

Jesus taught that the lives of Christ followers actually light up the world. “Your lives light up the world. Let others see your light from a distance, for how can you hide a city that stands on a hilltop? And who would light a lamp and then hide it in an obscure place? Instead, it’s placed where everyone in the house can benefit from its light. So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others…” (Matthew 5:14-16 TPT). If God impresses you to do so, don’t be afraid to shine some light on family or friends when you see them beginning to wander off the shoulder.

Believers can serve as human rumble strips for those we love. And, hopefully, should we ever be headed toward the ditch someone will love us enough to gently bring us back to the center line. It works both ways — and must always be done in love.

The Key: Love others, shine your light, and be ready to rumble!