And when he came to himself, he said… “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee…” Luke 15:17a-18 The story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) is the story of a young Jewish boy who decided the life planned for him and the rules he must live by are all too confining and dull. He goes to a far country, gets in with the wrong crowd, suffers financial reverses, and winds up in a pigpen. For him, as for so ma

I understand money can get tight when you don’t have a lot coming in. Add a new baby to the mix, and things can get a little scary and stressful.

The worn-out hay wagon creaked beneath the weight of too many bales as the tractor pulled over one-too-many ruts in the field.

Under Missouri’s open meeting laws, in most cases, closing a session is permitted, never mandated.

Head lice is something that a large number of us know how to deal with at some point and these critters are much more likely to infest children than adults.

That passage took on new meaning this week as I tuned in to a special update from Iran Alive Ministries, a Christian ministry that shares the gospel via satellite in Iran and provides encouragement and support for Christians there

Children carry more than we often realize.

Many of us have grown up in suburbs, but have we ever thought much about the fact that at some point, pioneer suburbanites began bridging the gap between America’s cities and rural communities, developing neighborhoods, schools and faith communities, with some residents opening service businesses or professional offices while others continued to commute to jobs in the city? For a look at this piece of American history, join speaker Karole Friemann at Kimberling Area Librar

Of all the mammals I am aware of in the Ozarks, and birds too for that matter, the squirrel is the only one I know of that both hibernates and migrates.

Wonderbooks, produced by Playaway Products, are a curated collection of print books, each accompanied by its own audiobook right inside; kids can simply press “play” to read along with their favorites.

I point this out because this is the time of year that bass fishing can be very good if you have a bucket of crawdads and a gentle wind.

Sneezing is a curious thing of which I never paid it much mind until my significant other asked me to research the why’s and how’s of it. So, I will do this one—for him. A sneeze is merely a mechanism of clearing the nose of foreign bodies such as pollen, dirt/dust or smoke and any manner of foreign objects. This can irritate the nostrils as well as the entire breathing apparatus so the sneezing tries to nip it in the bud and retard further irritation or damage. As well, we

While a teenager, she took on a weekly newspaper column in the Taney County Republican as the Kirbyville correspondent.

Summer was also once the space of afternoons that soared on forever, a place of dreams and strange, childlike spaces dangerous only in that such spaces allowed us to get to know ourselves too well.

A company comes along and makes a deal with the restaurant owners for the name of the place. They pretend they’re reopening the closed business, but they only hire back the maître d’, one waiter and Bill, the prep cook. So, basically, they started a new business using an old name, brought back a few token employees, and pretend it’s not something new.

Continuing my study of the minor prophets, I find those guys exceptionally relatable in light of current events. A few days ago, though, a verse jumped out at me as not only meaningful in context of biblical prophecy, but in personal context as well. That verse was Habakkuk 2:2, “Write down this vision, and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it” (BSB). If you’re not familiar with Habakkuk, his prophetic writings were in the context of waiting. T

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1 Peter 4:12-13 As August slowly sets in, I hopefully anticipate the end of the dog days of summer. That sticky, nauseating heat that makes you want to stay in the air conditioning all the time and creates

Joe Shearrer, CPFA® is Vice President and Wealth Advisor at Fervent Wealth Management. As second-quarter earnings season comes to a close, the financial media continues to focus almost exclusively on artificial intelligence and the handful of mega-cap technology companies driving the market higher. While those businesses remain impressive, they are no longer the most interesting story. What has caught my attention is the growing number of companies outside the technology se

Branson’s live entertainment scene has changed dramatically in the last ten years. The era of the out-of-town celebrity, which fueled Branson’s 1990s “boom,” has largely exited stage right. The marquee names that once defined the town—Andy Williams, Roy Clark, Mel Tillis, Ray Stevens, Mickey Gilley, the Osmonds, Glen Campbell and Box Car Willie—are gone, leaving a vacuum for other shows to fill. Branson’s roots lie in the “Hillbilly Jubilees” of the Baldknobbers and Presle

Pay for Dad's life insurance policy?