Opinion

An outsider looking in may scoff at the notion but America, despite all its flaws, is still the greatest country on God’s good earth. Though they could not have dreamed what the world would look like 240 years hence, the founders of our system of government put together a pretty good framework back in 1776 that has stood the test of time.

Has America made mistakes though the years? Absolutely. So has every other nation and every individual. But no nation has done more to atone for its mistakes than has the USA.

This is a time of deep political division. But there is always an example of reason to offset the rhetoric. There is always an act of kindness to serve as a counterweight for hostility.

Driving, I had just listened to Sen. Kamala Harris compare agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement with hooded, cross-burning members of the Ku Klux Klan. She wants to be president. She has no shot. I turned a corner and came upon a man who had gotten out of his vehicle with a trash bag and was picking up trash that a cold wind had blown off the back of a trash truck that was just down the street. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

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

1. I am thankful for people who are self-aware enough to know they’re not self-aware enough, open-minded enough to know they’re not open-minded enough, and well-read enough to know they’re not well-read enough.

2. I am thankful for people who give me hope for the future by doing risky things like getting married and having children.


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The second College Football Playoff rankings come out today and, with three quarters of the season gone (time flies, doesn’t it?), teams with championship aspirations want to be in the top six when they are released. The Dawgs were ranked sixth last week headed into Lexington for a battle with the Kentucky Wildcats who were ranked ninth.

The Wildcats had changed the culture, they said. Mark Stoops is building a dynasty, they said. Josh Allen is a first round draft pick and will dominate Georgia’s young, battered offensive line, they said. Bennie Snell is the SEC’s best back, they said. Snell talked a lot, too. He runs his mouth too much. The Dawgs shut that mouth.

Snell had 73 yards on 20 carries. Allen picked up two fumbles that were dropped at his feet but, otherwise, is not on the stat sheet. He was completely neutralized. He also got faked out of his jock strap by UGA’s De’Andre Swift on the prettiest 20-yard touchdown run you will ever see. Allen is still looking for Swift at this writing.
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By Mike Ruffin

In an Oct. 21 story on NPR’s Weekend Edition program, I learned about a course that Professor Eric Smaw teaches at Rollins College called “Zombies, Serial Killers, and Madmen.” It’s the most popular course at the college. It’s a morning class now, but Smaw used to teach it at midnight. Spooky.

Toward the end of host Lulu Garcia-Navarro’s interview with Smaw, the following exchange took place.
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I used to spend a pretty good bit of time in the Macon County Mennonite community participating in dove shoots. There were 42 dairy farms packed into a relatively small area and all those farms were producing corn silage. That meant lots of grain and lots of doves.

The Mennonite culture has changed some now though I am sure there are still some strict adherents. Back then, their trucks were black and had no chrome and no radios. There were no televisions or radios - other than a weather radio - in the houses either. There were rumors that two Mennonites were excommunicated for sneaking off to a motel on the interstate in Perry to watch the Super Bowl. I never got to the truth of that but it made a good story.
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By Mike Ruffin

According to the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we have until about 2030 to make drastic changes to prevent environmental catastrophe. If we can hold global warming to under a 0.9 degree Fahrenheit increase, then, as a story at PBS.org says,
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Brett Kavanaugh is now Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He was sworn in as the newest member of the U.S. Supreme Court Saturday. The partisan vote to confirm him in the United States Senate came after seven FBI investigations, making Kavanaugh easily the most scrutinized justice ever sworn and possibly the most most scrutinized American citizen ever to draw breath.

Thank God the process is over! Our system of selecting those who serve on the high court survived somewhat intact but American civility did not.
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By Mike Ruffin

Jesus tried to help his disciples understand who he was and what it meant for them to be his followers. He’s still trying, and we who are Christians need to do better at listening to him.

One day, Jesus asked his disciples what they were hearing people speculate about him. They offered various answers. Then Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was. A disciple named Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” (“Messiah” is a Hebrew word meaning “anointed one.” “Christ” is the Greek translation of “Messiah,” so when we say “Jesus Christ,” we are saying “Jesus the Messiah.”)
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We just finished up with a very well-attended 45th annual Buggy Days. Unfortunately, there was a huge snafu with the parade that overshadowed what was an otherwise great weekend.

Of course, there were other glitches. There always are with events so large. It was extremely hot and emergency personnel were busy dealing with dehydration and other heat-related medical issues. The Friday night concert conflicted with LCHS homecoming. It would seem just a little pre-planning can avoid that in the future.

Still there was a nice crowd at homecoming and, from all accounts, the downtown concert featuring The Swingin’ Medallions drew the largest crowd for any event ever held at that venue.
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By Mike Ruffin

As I write these words about a week before you’re reading them, the Atlanta Braves are seven and a half games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the battle for the National League Eastern Division pennant. The Braves’ magic number (the combination of Braves’ wins and Phillies’ losses that would give the Braves the championship) is 10.
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I visited Chicago once. It was winter. It wasn’t even warm in my hotel room. I was glad to get out of there. Two things come to my mind when I think of Chicago: murder and Lewis Grizzard’s quip that he was “held hostage” there when he went temporarily insane and took a job with the Chicago Tribune.
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By Mike Ruffin

Sometimes before a worship service in which I’m going to preach, I’ll tell the folks staffing the soundboard, “Try to make me sound better than I am.” We share a laugh. But I’m always suspicious that they’re thinking, “We would if we could!”

I don’t really mean it, though. I want my real voice to be heard. I furthermore want my real voice to reflect my real life.
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Our youngest, Livia Lanier, is now a freshman at UGA. She called one day last week to let us know she had gotten her football tickets for all the home games in Athens this fall. She was excited and with good reason.

Kirby Smart has exorcised all that remained from the Mark Richt era of underachievement. We need look no farther than last season when Smart took his team to the national title game in a year most of the pundits thought he would go 8-3 or something like that. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Whenever an election was approaching, my father, the late great Champ Ruffin, would tell me, “If you don’t exercise your right to vote, they’ll take it away someday.” He started telling me that long before I became eligible to vote in 1976.

I figured he was exaggerating to make his point, which was that I should vote. It turns out he wasn’t.
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