February 2025

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Hearty winter soup for those chilly evenings Despite afternoon temperatures being in the mid to high 70s in the Last Frontier lately, we’re technically still in the midst of winter. As most of us know, the south, and Texas in particular, does its own thing when it comes to seasonal weather.

What is 'love'? Is it words boldly and colorfully painted on a poster? Is it letters embroidered on a fluffy pillow tossed on a couch? Is it the name embossed on the bottle of your favorite perfume? Love is a powerful four-letter word. It is a soft word filled with iron and honed by living in this world and tempered by the mighty hand of God.

Have you ever felt an emptiness that nothing seems to fill? That deep sense of incompleteness points to a spiritual hunger we often try to satisfy with success, relationships, or possessions—but nothing truly satisfies.

Recently we moved from the country into town. It is so different from all the other places we have lived. We were always a good number of miles from major towns. But we were able to be in the country and have various kinds of animals and different pets. Now we are down to one ol cat. One nice thing: It does not take very long to get around town, maybe 15 minutes at the max. We live up on the north end of town and there is a raised loop bypass that goes around the city. When we are driving around, I can see numerous white pointed steeples standing above the house tops. I know when I see one maybe there is a local church that I could attend and maybe even join. I have observed that in towns or cities where there are a lot of church steeples there seems to be less drinking, drunkenness, drugs and violence. We are told or instructed in the Bible if we are believers not to forsake or quit attending a local Church. It is there we can worship God, (Psalm 95:6, 99:5, 132:7),hear of learn of His word, the Bible, (2 Timothy 3:16, Joshua 1:8) sing praises to His name, (Psalm 30:4, 59:9, 71:23) and have fellowship with other believers, (Hebrews 10:24&25, Matthew 18:20). See you in one of those places that has a steeple next Sunday. Brother J

GARDENER’S MAILBAG Dear Neil, do you have an organic suggestion for removing the cane in my backyard? I’m about to start a major relandscaping effort and must get rid of the cane first. If the plants’ leaves are two inches wide and 10 or 15 inches long, that would be cane.