Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

Recently, I was sitting at the computer in my quiet office/utility room when I heard an extremely-loud banging on my glass front door. I was both startled and annoyed at the unnecessary intensity of the knocking. When I answered the door, there stood someone I knew. I guess the individual was just excited or ate too many bowls of Wheaties for breakfast.

The classic painting of “Christ at Heart’s Door” hung on the wall of my parent’s living room for most of my life. Since the 1940s, this beloved painting by Warner Sallman has been a long-standing favorite in the home of many believers. It depicts a loving and patient Savior willing to come into a person’s heart and life, but the individual has to open the door because there’s no handle on the outside.

Jesus says, “Look! I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20 TLB). No doubt, this was the scripture that inspired Mr. Sallman to paint the beautiful picture of Christ Jesus standing at a door. The Son of God described Himself as gentle and humble in spirit (Matthew 11:29). His knocking is not abrasive because it reflects who He is. I appreciate the fact that He knocks constantly because He’s not willing that any should perish but that everyone would welcome and accept Him as their personal Savior.

The choices we make with the doors in our life will determine our final outcome. The first and most important door must be opened by us so Jesus can come in, cleanse us, and make us right with God. When Jesus was crucified and died, the thick curtain (which represented a door) in the temple was ripped from top to bottom signifying that we could come directly to God now. “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22 NLT).

Back to our resurrected Lord standing at the door, I also like this translation: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you will eat with Me” (Revelation 3:20 NCV). “Here I am” indicates that Jesus is as close as the mention of His name. He has to be very close in order to knock on your heart’s door and tenderly speak to you. But in this contemporary age, most people don’t like to be quiet. But quiet is a necessity in order to hear a gentle voice. “God says, ‘Be quiet and know that I am God…’” (Psalm 46:10 NCV). If you refuse to be quiet you might not hear the knock on the door or the voice of the Good Shepherd.

The Key: If you’re an unbeliever, Jesus is knock, knock, knockin’ on your heart’s door.

Crime

Before my wife and I moved to Bourbon County, we reviewed the crime statistics to make sure it was safe. After moving, we were surprised to hear rumors about the high crime rate in the county. What are the latest crime statistics in the county? Are the rumors true? Let’s take a look.

The most populous county in SEK, Crawford, had the highest crime index at 39.8 crimes per 1,000 people in 2019. Bourbon County compares favorably with a crime index of almost one-third of the county to the south, but our violent crime rate was higher than Crawford County.

In 2019, Montgomery County had the highest violent crime rate in the region at 5.6, followed by Labette at 4.4. Who had the lowest violent crime rate in SEK? Neosho County at 0.7; in fact, Neosho County was by far the safest county in SEK in 2019 with a crime index of just 3.5, down from 6.5 in 2018. Bourbon County had a dramatic drop in the property crime rate between 2018 and 2019.

Property crimes were down for the whole state, falling to 25.0 in 2019 from 27.2 the previous year; however, violent crime was up one decimal point to 4.3, yielding a state crime index of 29.3. The lowest crime county in Kansas? Wallace County reported zero crimes in 2019. Wyandotte County had the highest crime index at 47.0.

I have been a part of welcoming two new families to the area in 2021, both of whom have experienced property crimes in their short tenure here; one of which has had three occasions to call the police already. As one might expect, they are questioning their decision to move here. Continued investment in public safety is critical if we want to continue welcoming newcomers here. If we want to save money in policing, look at efficiencies by sharing services, not reducing our commitment to public safety. Ask yourself, “Would I rather drive to work on a bumpy street, or have a greater risk of experiencing a crime while I am there?”

Rumors to the contrary, crime statistics are not a major deterrent to those considering relocating to Bourbon County; however, we need to maintain our commitment to public safety. This factor is critical to our ongoing economic development efforts.

I delight in sports fans. Well, most of them.

Not the ones who boo, but the ones who dress up in goofy outfits, paint their faces in team colors, scream until they are hoarse, hug strangers in celebration and embarrass their dates.

When the NFL or MLB cameras pan the audience and zero in on one of those crazy devotees, I have to smile. Gosh, they love their teams. And I think that’s cool!

Arriving hours before the game, they schmooze with strangers while waiting for the turn-styles to open. They join like-minded buddies and tail-gate in the parking lot, grilling hotdogs and betting on who will win

. It can be 20-degrees below zero, and there they are, sometimes shirtless with painted chests, reinforcing just what a wimp I am. They stay long after the game has ended, trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite players as they leave the park, desperate for an autograph.

That life is not for me. I, instead, will cheer from my couch, buttered popcorn in hand (with no concession stand delay), rooting for my favorite teams (Go, Chiefs and Royals!), second-guessing coach’s choices (You called WHAT play?) and appreciating replays.

Sometimes my comment precedes the television analysts’, making me question aloud if I missed my calling. When Dave hears that, he begins talking under his breath. I take that as an affirmative.

I am not a true fan. True fans will do whatever it takes to support their team. Some have faces of football players or club logos inked on their bodies. They sacrifice time, money, ego, travel, jobs, family get togethers, their vocal cords and their newborn’s names in honor of the team they support, and conversation about their favorite team dominates their talk.

Oh, that we would be that loyal to Jesus! After all, the day will come when his true “fans”–those who sacrifice everything to share him with whomever they meet, who risk ridicule to be “fools” for Jesus–will be given Heavenly crowns to celebrate their loyalty.

Are you a fool for Jesus? Do you awaken to check the box score of blessings from the day before? Does he dominate your conversation and your time? Are you willing to travel from house to house (or town to town) to share your passion for him? Or are you a wimp? Does potential ridicule or inconvenience prevent you from showing your unwavering love for the one who gave his life for you?

Think about it. Professional athletes will not die for you, no matter how much you idolize them or their performances. And even if they did, there would be no eternal gains from their death.

Oh Christians, we cannot be content to watch from our couches, unwilling to be bothered, keeping our faith to ourselves.

Maybe it’s time to be a little embarrassed.

Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

I’ve eaten biscuits with chicken gravy, sausage gravy, quail gravy, bacon gravy, squirrel gravy, and chocolate gravy. My Mom was one of the best gravy makers in Cedar County. Gravy is basically a food group all by itself. Do you know some people won’t even eat certain food without gravy on it? As a new bride, one of the first things I learned was that my husband wouldn’t eat mashed potatoes without gravy. It’s like there was a hidden gravy clause in our marriage vows. I hadn’t the foggiest idea how important gravy was to him when we got married! So, in order to save our marriage, I quickly learned from Betty Crocker how to make gravy.

“Ain’t Gonna Give Up on God” was written by Chaz Bosarge and Phil Johnson; pianist/vocalist Gordon Mote recorded it. From start to finish, this song really butters my biscuit. Here we go: “Been busted and bruised, battered and torn. Walked through the desert weary and worn. I’ve had me some biscuits without any gravy. But in every situation the hand of God fed me. So I ain’t gonna give up, ain’t gonna give up on God.”

I’m gonna stick with God and live for Him all the days of my life. The Lord says, “Don’t be afraid…I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up — the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, your Savior…” (Isaiah 43:1-3 TLB). God will not forget to help you. He’ll give you hidden treasures in the darkest night. And even when you don’t see it, God is working above the storm clouds.

We tend to be in a hurry when we ask for God’s help. But He doesn’t work on the same timetable as we do. The Bible says a thousand years and a day are the same in heaven. I can’t wrap my head around that, so I just accept it as truth and keep stirring the gravy. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8,9 NLT). It’s comforting to know God’s thoughts and ways aren’t like mine. It would be hard to place my faith, hope, and trust in someone as goofy as me.

Our trust and confidence in God builds up over time and experience. Believers are to hang in there and not give up or get tired of waiting on God to act. He is our only true and trusted source. “…For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help. …He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries” (Isaiah 30:18,19 NLT). So we’re blessed when we wait in faith — I like that!

Looks to me like it’s a win-win whether we’re waiting or receiving our full-blown request. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 KJV). Don’t believe a word the devil whispers when he says you’ll never have gravy on your biscuits again.

The Key: When you’re lookin’ up just to see bottom, God’ll pour gravy on your biscuits.

The growth of government regulations has proceeded at a vigorous pace over the last several decades, and is accelerating.

From 1970 to 2017, the number of words in the Code of Federal Regulations nearly tripled from 35 million to over 103 million, according to a 2019 article published on Forbes.com, authored by Adam A. Millsap.

His study showed that a 10% increase in regulation increases consumer prices by 1%.

This excess hurts all of us, but the burden falls disproportionately on the poor and rural Americans.

Estimates are that the national poverty rate is 2.5% higher because of government regulations.

For example, a 2013 article on Meatonomics.com, written by David Simon, noted that a Big Mac cost a consumer $4.56 that year.

The price includes the costs that McDonald’s incurs to comply with laws enforced by the EPA, OSHA, EEOC, USDA, IRS, and FDA, just to name a few.

The author points out that the price tag to produce the sandwich costs the consumer even more in the form of additional taxes required to pay for government expenses such as animal cruelty enforcement, environmental clean-up of farms, meat and dairy subsidies, and health care costs borne by the government due to unhealthy eating.

The final tab for you and me? $12.00 per Big Mac, including the cost of the sandwich and the taxes you have paid for the privilege.

Another example, my bank employer is a Kansas public company with over $1 billion in assets managed. We are required to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed in 2002 in response to the Enron scandal which requires the generation of a substantial number of internal reports. The law is extremely complex and the penalties for non-compliance are substantial; so much so, we are required to undergo an independent audit just to make sure we are in compliance with this one law. The internal cost to comply is hard to discern, but we do know that we spend $220,000 annually on the external audit alone.

The result of this additional cost of regulation requires a business to grow revenue or watch profits go away. In banking, the number of charters has gone down 73% since 1970, and the shrinkage has occurred disproportionately in rural counties. Why is Western Insurance gone? The primary culprit is the cost of increased regulation that required consolidation in the industry.

Some amount of regulation is necessary for public safety, but we have created a huge bureaucracy whose incentive is to advocate for more laws to enforce in order to perpetuate their own existence.

Politicians love the chance to make their mark on what they perceive as the public good.

Case in point is the proposed law to require banks to provide confidential financial information to the IRS on their customers on a regular basis. Can we trust the government to do the right thing with this information and protect its confidentiality?

For the sake of the poor and rural America, we have to hold our politicians accountable to defeating this hidden enemy of rural America by decreasing regulations.

My friend, Carol, scanning her items in an Indiana Walmart, noticed a curious behavior from the couple buying groceries next to her.

Since the store’s attendant was texting and not paying attention to the customers, the man and woman used this as an opportunity to scam the Supercenter. The woman twisted each item so that the code faced away from the electronic reader. She pretended to swipe but made sure the machine was given no opportunity to read and record her “purchases.”

Her partner-in-crime husband had perfected the “Beep” sound made when a purchased item was logged onto the screen and mimicked it with faultless pitch and timing.

Carol stood amazed at how these thieves operated and didn’t seem bothered that we all pay higher prices because of shoplifters like them.

We could only guess what would happen if the employee at the exit asked for their receipt.

My reaction would not have been my friend’s. Either I would tell the pilfering pair that I was going to rat them out if they didn’t pay for the groceries, or I would quietly alert the texting employee to what I had witnessed

. Carol did neither, fearing the thieves would realize that she was the stool pigeon and shoot her in the parking lot. (I have some over-reactive friends.)

More alarming, my friend said she actually was pretty impressed with the talent of the couple. Say WHAT?

It’s never easy to chastise someone, but doing nothing accomplishes…well, nothing.

I appreciate the story in the Old Testament following King David’s arranged murder of his lover’s husband.

The clever prophet Nathan was sent by the Lord to chastise David. He said, “There were two men in a certain city. One was rich, and the other was poor.  The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cows, but the poor man had only one little female lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up in his home with his children. She would eat his food and drink from his cup. She rested in his arms and was like a daughter.  “Now, a visitor came to the rich man. The rich man thought it would be a pity to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler. So, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared her for the traveler.”

David became livid, claiming that the rich man deserved to die and must pay back four times the price of the lamb. Nathan then exclaims that David is that man and life would not go well for him because of his sin.

The prophet modeled Proverbs 17:27: A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered.

Most of the time, I work towards that goal. Sometimes, not so much. I don’t mean to be heartless, but I’ve had it with robbers who believe they are entitled to improve their lives by taking from others.

We’ve all watched phone videos of crooks walking—or riding their bikes— out of stores with their stolen goods in hand. My husband fears that this will happen when I am nearby, and he will be forced to defend me as I show neither restraint nor even-temperedness when I tackle…and scream…and grab the thieves’ wares.

And no, this does not make me over-reactive like Carol.

It doesn’t.

Sometimes we need to be brave because, let’s face it, our entire life is lived on a witness stand. God invites us to give compelling testimony to what we have seen and heard about our faith. 

Wimping out is not an option. Carol needs to know that.

Maybe Walmart is a good place to start practicing.

My wife and I are relatively new to Bourbon County, and we love it here as it reminds us of the small towns in which we were reared. Our reception by Bourbon County was relatively warm compared to the cold shoulder we received for five years in a nearby SEK county. We have earnest business and faith communities here.

Bourbon County has a significant amount of practice in this regard, as we welcome hundreds of newcomers to our county every year in the form of college students. Additionally, we are a tourist destination and host many people here for short visits. These individuals come from a variety of cultural and racial backgrounds. Even as far back as the Civil War, we welcomed an African-American military unit to the fort. Hospitality is a natural part of our culture.

It is exciting to me that we have that in our social DNA because we need new people who will be productive citizens in Bourbon County. Statistics show that Kansas is far less diverse than the rest of our Great Nation, and Bourbon County is even less so. We have some room to grow in this regard.

I am not advocating for open borders. Understanding who is entering a country is a critical part of any nation’s sovereignty; however, we need to take a strong look at altering our legal immigration system to attract more workers who lack economic opportunity where they currently live. Congress should put a program together to allow a greater number of potential immigrants to fill out the proper paperwork, undergo a background check, and wait (hopefully not too long) in line. This process needs to be as efficient as possible.

I know that some do not want any foreigners in their fields of vision. Many Americans opposed the influx of Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, Asians, etc., over the years. I wonder how the Protestant-dominated counties of Crawford and Cherokee reacted when the Italian Catholics migrated to Kansas to work in the mines. All of these waves of immigrants throughout our Nation’s history assimilated and prospered. We learned to live with them, and they with us.

Why is immigration critical for rural America? We need workers. Birth rates have fallen below replacement rates, and we are losing Baby Boomers rapidly. Our high school graduates are heading to colleges or jobs in big cities. Great jobs are going unfilled in Bourbon County.

Let’s see what we can do about supporting and welcoming newcomers and immigrants to our area. Let’s help them become part of our communities, teaching them our language, sharing our way of life, and learning about theirs. Let’s ensure that Bourbon County continues to thrive and, hopefully, grow again.

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches…” Jeremiah 9:23

Dave and I were standing in line to board our flight when a fellow passenger noticed Dave’s name on his backpack label. Not quietly, he yelled—and I mean YELLED— “You aren’t the Dave LaRoche who pitched for the Indians, are you?” This fan needed no bull horn. Caught off guard, my husband nodded. The over-excited man turned to his friend standing a good 10-feet away. “Jim, you aren’t going to believe this. This is Dave LaRoche!!! Come on over and meet him.”

I turned my back and struck up a conversation with the young couple in front of me who had pivoted to see what the commotion was all about. “So, how about those Chiefs!” I said. They, like many in line, were far too young to have heard of Dave.

This was more of an annoyance than a reason to ask for an autograph. Dave, now embarrassed, answered quietly the questions of the man with the 60-foot voice. “Who was the best pitcher you ever saw?” “When did you retire?” “Who was the toughest hitter you faced?”

The security line could not move fast enough. One of my husband’s greatest strengths is his humility, a quality he instilled in all of our children.

No home run was ever hit when our kids raised their fists as they ran around the bases. None of them pumped their arms in order to get the fans to clap louder for them. The most acknowledgement I ever saw from them was a tip of their baseball cap following a standing ovation for something they did on the field.

As Dave always said, “Act like you’ve done this before, not like it’s a big deal.”

This past Sunday, All-Pro NFL player and game commentator, Rodney Harrison, stood alongside three other celebrity analysts, Harrison the only one not holding his own umbrella during the pre-game rainfall. Responses were not kind, speculating whose hand clutched Harrison’s umbrella and questioning why he was too cool to hold his own.

Let’s face it. Self-exaltation impresses no one, yet social media offers a platform to boast about our strengths or accomplishments.

Recently, a friend shared a series of pictures a mutual acquaintance posted on Facebook, each an elegant dinner she had prepared for her husband. Crab legs. Kobe beef. Escargot. Every time the couple goes to a classy restaurant, a picture of the meal is shared. But what does that do for those who will never be able to afford such flair? (How can my Taco Bell super taco compare?)

Saint Augustine had great advice: “Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.”

The inventor Samuel Morse once was asked if he ever encountered situations where he didn’t know what to do. Morse responded, “More than once, and whenever I could not see my way clearly, I knelt down and prayed to God for light and understanding.” Morse felt undeserving for the many honors received from his invention of the telegraph. “I have made a valuable application of electricity not because I was superior to other men but solely because God, who meant it for mankind, must reveal it to someone and He was pleased to reveal it to me.”

So, let’s finish where we started. Verse 24 of Jeremiah 9 completes the sentence: “…but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.

Which is precisely why I keep my super taco photo to myself.