Opinion

Nearly 60 years after discovering “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” I still watch the classic sitcom, but some of the punchlines haven’t held up particularly well. Or maybe I’m the one who hasn’t held up so well.

Amid the howls of outrage and shouts of jubilation over the indictment in Georgia of former president Donald Trump on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election, a few cautionary voices were raised quietly expressing concern that government prosecutors appear to be piling on the ex-president and creating sympathy for him.

Dear Neil: I’m having one or two large limbs breaking out of my 100-year-old pecan trees every week. We’ve had no wind or storms. They just snap and fall. Is this being caused by the heat and drought?

I remember the time I was on a fishing trip with friends. and we decided to hike up into the mountains and go trout fishing. It was quite a hike over five miles with many ups and downs and climbing all the way. Our friends that lived near there instructed us on what to take and I volunteered to carry the backpack with the water and food and supplies. The climb became steep and the trail difficult and because of the heavy backpack I could not keep up. One of my friends came back and said, “Let me carry the backpack”. Oh man, It felt so good to be relieved of that heavy backpack. That experience reminds me of something in the Bible. We all are carrying heavy backpacks, the Bible calls it sin, (Romans 3:23) and it weighs us down and separates us from God, (Romans 6:23). When Jesus died on the cross He personally took my sins and everyone else’s, (1 Peter 2:24 & 3:18, Revelation 1:5, Hebrews 9:28). Jesus is the only one who has the right and authority to forgive sin and if we ask Him, He will, ( Matthew 9:6, Mark 2:5,1 John 1:9, Luke 24:47).

Irealize such headgear has fallen out of style in our self-esteemobsessed culture, but maybe I should belatedly don a dunce cap. You see, one of my first columns (nearly 25 years ago) was a snarky dismissal of the nascent homeschooling movement.

Half the country has no idea why the front page of Thursday’s New York Post was so hilarious. That’s because, thanks to the liberal media, half of the country still has no idea who Hunter Biden is, or why he is in trouble for raking in millions for his extended family from foreign businessmen by selling access to his father Joe’s “brand” and political influence.

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV) “God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.” The story behind this verse is that God has sent Samuel to anoint the new king of Israel.

Dear Neil: Our redbud is about 10 years old, and it appears to be in distress. It has been losing leaves, but now the pace has really picked up. It has so many yellowed leaves, and many are falling. Can you see what the problem might be?

The Trump Trials, a multiact drama of intrigue, deception, ego and struggle for power, is scheduled to debut off Broadway in March, opening what will likely experience a longer run than “Phantom of the Opera.”