Opinion

By Mike Ruffin

In these days following the January 6 attempted insurrection against the United States of America, lots of people have made claims such as “This is not who we are” and “We’re better than this.”

I’m afraid that we need to admit that the opposite of those statements is true. This is who we are. We aren’t better than this.

I wish that wasn’t the case. But the evidence is too overwhelming to ignore.

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By Walter Geiger

I rolled up my sleeve and got the first injection of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Monday. The second booster shot is due in three weeks and I will get it as well.

Making the decision on whether or not to get vaccinated was not an easy one. I admit I was initially a COVID contrarian. I was absolutely opposed to shutting down the country and remain so. Joe Biden best think long and hard about instituting a second one. After nearly half the country voted against him, he has no mandate to begin with and will face extreme backlash should he attempt it.
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“The song of the ruthless” is a phrase found in chapter 25 of the book of Isaiah. The full sentence reads,

When the blast of the ruthless was
like a winter rainstorm,
the noise of aliens like heat in a dry
place,
you subdued the heat with the shade
of clouds;
the song of the ruthless was stilled (vv. 4b-5).

The prophet has in mind a mighty city that God has brought down because of its oppressive practices. The ruthless oppressors had been making a lot of noise and doing a lot of damage, but God silenced and stopped them. In so doing, God has given shelter to the poor and needy (v. 4).
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Chaotic, disastrous 2020 will fade into history Thursday night and not a minute too soon. It has been a long, hard year and I pray it will be the last of its kind for quite some time.

Good things have happened in 2020. Young people have married. Young couples have welcomed new children. Grandparents have welcomed new grandchildren. Students have graduated, though many of them only virtually, and extended their educational journeys or joined the workforce if they were lucky. Some people, some entities and some causes have reached new heights but they are largely the exception to the rule.

In 2020, we welcomed COVID-19 to the world. Thanks, China!
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By Mike Ruffin

I was visiting Mercer University sometime during the summer of 1975. The Admissions Office staff member with whom I was chatting said, “What do you plan to major in?” “Christianity,” I replied (that’s what they called a Religion major at Mercer back then. They call it a Religion major now). “Then there’s someone you need to meet,” he said. He made a quick phone call, then we headed over to Knight Hall.

I spent the next hour talking with—mainly listening to—Dr. Howard Giddens, who would become my mentor and, in every sense but the biological and legal ones, my father (which I very much needed him to be after the untimely demise of my father, the late great Champ Ruffin, in 1979). Dr. Giddens died in 2008 at age 97, just three days shy of the sixty-eighth anniversary of his marriage to Gladys Holder Giddens.
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By Walter Geiger

Though many thought it should not be held due to COVID, last week’s Christmas parade celebrating Lamar County’s 100th birthday was a smash hit, drawing over 75 entrants. The parade took place on a weeknight, which was a detriment for some, but the crowds were still thick along much of the route through downtown Barnesville and many of those who participated are already planning floats for next year.

Coronavirus shut down BBQ & Blues and Buggy Days. We managed to get in the high school football season and portions of the college season but it just has not been the same. Crowds were down. Some of that was by design, some by lack of interest and some due to fear. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Some people don’t mind when I say “Happy Holidays” in person or on social media. Some folks don’t care for it. Others dislike it very much.

To my way of thinking, it’s a non-issue. Please allow me to explain.

To my way of thinking, the holiday season begins on Thanksgiving Day and ends on Epiphany, which falls on January 6. Several holidays occur between those beginning and ending days: Hannukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa among them. The Christian season of Advent encompasses much of the period.
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By Mike Ruffin

As our annual day of Thanksgiving approaches, I thought I’d share some of the things for which I’m thankful this year.

1. I’m thankful for my wife, our children, and our grandchildren. They are the greatest gifts I will receive in this life.

2. I’m thankful for science. We need all the facts we can get. And we need to take them seriously.

3. I’m thankful for leaders who take science seriously.
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By Walter Geiger

At last week’s meeting of the Lamar County Board of Education, school superintendent Dr. Jute Wilson expressed “deep concern” at the fact many of the system’s students have fallen behind in their work since the coronavirus quarantine began in March. He was especially concerned for remote learners - those who require a parent, grandparent or some other adult to make sure they are doing their school work.

Many are not.
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By Mike Ruffin

I started “preaching” (I mean the quotation marks in the sense of “so-called”) when I was about fourteen years old. Preacher Bill Coleman, our pastor at Midway Baptist Church, would let anyone (well, any male) who wanted to speak at a Wednesday night prayer meeting do so. I remember him once saying that he hadn’t preached on a Wednesday night in three years. The streak may have lasted a lot longer than that, for all I know. I signed up occasionally. It was good practice. Most of the good folks who had to listen to me are long gone. I hope they received extra stars in their crowns for their kindness to me.

When word got around Lamar County that a boy preacher was on the loose, I got invitations to preach at some other churches in the area. One such invitation came from Rock Springs Congregational Methodist Church. This was around in the early 1970s, so back when it was a pretty small congregation meeting in a pretty small sanctuary. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but my parents had to take me because I wasn’t old enough to drive.
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I watched Saturday night as throngs of trick-or-treaters traversed Barnesville’s Thomaston Street corridor. Some residents who had given out candy in the past opted out this year and that is understandable.

Several businesses and organizations chipped in to take up the slack and those along the street who did give out candy had massive stockpiles for the kids.

I went to a trunk-or-treat event and a drive-thru trick-or-treat activity and both were packed out. Each required police to handle traffic control. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

You are probably reading this during the week before Election Day. (I am aware that with early and mail-in voting, we actually have an Election Season now. I am also aware that the presidential election may not be decided for a while. Or maybe we will know the winner when we go to bed on November 3. I’m further aware that one Georgia Senate race will almost certainly go to a runoff.)

Now that the election will soon be over or eventually will be over, I’d like to offer a few thoughts and one prayer on the subject.
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Eric Trump raised eyebrows recently when he alleged COVID-19 would “disappear after the election”. His argument was ‘they’ have used the virus to put a stop to his father’s huge campaign rallies.

That idea is a little far-fetched. Trump still draws huge crowds to his rallies and his supporters stage gigantic boat parades to show their allegiance. But, Eric Trump’s instinct is correct in that COVID-19 is just as much a political issue as it is a medical one. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Well, here we are, three weeks from Election Day. We’re in the stretch drive. It’s a sprint to the finish. This one’s for all the marbles. (Apply other cliches as you see fit.)

I guess we think every election is potentially world-altering. Maybe they all are. There’s no doubt that events would have unfolded differently had any election gone the other way. I mean, imagine if the two most recent presidential elections in which the winner got the most electoral votes but not the most popular votes had been won by Gore rather than Bush and by Clinton rather than Trump. Some of us think things would have been better, others of us think they would have been worse, but I’m sure we all agree they would have been different—and drastically different at that.
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