Early one rainy morning in 1945, on a runway 90 miles north of London near Peterborough, England, 20-year-old Tech Sgt. Dick Dodds discovered that courage is doing your job while your life is on the line.

He was the radio operator in the second aircraft in a 457th Bomb Group flight of 36 B-17s, waiting for tower clearance to roll and take off on another high-risk mission over Nazi Germany when the bomb-laden lead aircraft just ahead suddenly detonated into a huge ball of fire, shrapnel, wreckage and scattered remains of young men who had played volleyball with Dick the day before. Read More»

I am so sleep deprived right now I can barely think. In the last five days, I have been to the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Times Square, Dallas BBQ, HB Burger, Central Park, Statin Island, Manhattan Island, China Town, the Guggenheim Museum, Grand Central Station, Ripley Grier Studios Broadway Workshop, and on a New York City tour.

I watched “Phantom of the Opera” at the Majestic Theater. I was on “Good Morning America” with the rest of the FMS Fine Arts people.

I even sang at the Apollo and was named Apollo Ambassador Billy Mitchell’s honorable youngest daughter. Read More»

Mama was stubborn. “Set in her ways,” is what country folks call it, and boy, was she. When she made up her mind, nothing stopped her. Especially when she set her jaw and punctuated her declaration with a firm nod of her head. If she also threw that crooked forefinger in your direction, you knew that it was set in stone. Destined to be. Read More»

As I made a visit to a local hospital early the other morning, a vaguely familiar scent filled my nostrils. It was the smell of concrete — fresh concrete, as in “new construction.”

Sure enough, the hospital was constructing an addition which requires lots of concrete. Sniffing the aroma, I was transported back in time. Read More»

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m not the sharpest crayon in the box. Of late it seems older I get, the duller my point becomes.

Luckily, The Wife still loves me. She thinks my constantly repeating my stories to her, my not being able to find anything in the refrigerator, and my always losing things are actually endearing qualities of mine. OK, didn’t think you’d believe that one, but I had to try. Read More»

On the subject of the importance of religion in America it seems we have the proverbial “good news and bad news.” I read a most interesting article recently that is an adaptation of a speech given by R.R. Reno, editor of “First Things,” a journal of religion in public life. Sit with me in the lecture hall. This is quite shortened and slightly edited. Read More»

April 15th came and went, and there was a sense of resolve this year.

I didn’t hear about Tax Day Rallies from Tea Partiers — probably because Tea Partiers are still a bit burned out and discouraged from last year’s election.

I didn’t hear stories about last-minute filers waiting in long lines to get their tax forms in on time — probably because many filers did their taxes online. Read More»

[Editor’s note: A version of this article was first published by the Reformed Theological Seminary.]

When the rats begin to scramble on board a ship, it is a sure sign that the boat is sinking. Read More»

[Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com.]

Republicans are flailing about these days, trying to rebrand themselves before the next election cycle. A certain amount of introspection and internecine debate is inevitable after suffering a stinging loss against an opponent with a dismal record.

One thing the GOP needs to do to gain greater acceptance among voters is to improve their credibility by outgrowing a tiresome, unthinking opposition to any and all tax increases. Read More»

Back in the summer, unwillingly, I would rise early and take a run to beat some of the oppressive heat and humidity that smothers the South when the sun inches higher in the sky. Many mornings, I encountered something that would stick with me for the rest of the run.

Few cars were out so early on non-school mornings, but I often saw a rusty pickup, perhaps 25 years old, ancient according to today’s need for new vehicles. A man, whose face was covered in gray whiskers, hunched over the steering wheel while a lanky, teenage boy slumped in the passenger’s seat. Read More»