Opinion

By Mike Ruffin

1968 was a tough year. The Vietnam War was raging. Assassins struck down Dr. King and Sen. Kennedy. Riots tore apart major American cities. The divisions between people were sharp.

But something happened at the end of that year that showed us something we really needed to know. And many of us watched it on television.

I was ten years old, sitting on the floor in front of our nineteen-inch black and white television set in the little den of the little house on Memorial Drive. I joined millions of other people in watching the images of the moon’s surface being beamed to Earth by the astronauts aboard Apollo 8. I listened as the three explorers— Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders—read the opening verses of the creation poem found in the first chapter of the biblical book of Genesis.
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By Mike Ruffin

My Good Wife and I like to watch classic Christmas movies. Among our favorites are It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, A Christmas Story, Elf, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

We have a broad definition of “classic.”

The other night we turned our attention to an under-appreciated admittedly non-classic made-for-television film: A Very Brady Christmas (1988). That’s Brady as in The Brady Bunch.
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When I think of Christmas Eve, I think of the late Holland and Louise Jackson and the fabulous party they hosted for generations on the night before Christmas at their Thomaston Street home. It was amazing.

In the weeks before the big event, many of us would go help prepare for the party. We would help put up the Christmas tree, decorate it, polish silver and brass and polish off all sorts of other chores. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

I remember when I wanted lots of things for Christmas. “How many things?” you might ask. Well, let’s just say that had I sent a letter to Santa, it would have required extra postage.

Somewhere there’s an 8mm film of nine-year-old me monopolizing Santa’s time as I tick off the items on my list while adults in the background laugh. But I wasn’t one to take chances.
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This is the best Alabama team ever, they said. That makes it the best college football team ever because Bama is the nation’s elite football school, they said. Tua is the latest incarnation of the greatest player ever, they said. Bama will hang 50 on Georgia, they said.

Alabama did, indeed, defeat Georgia 35-28 in the SEC Championship Game Saturday afternoon in a game they led for exactly one minute and nine seconds. The Dawgs took it to the Tide for much of the game. The Dawgs came to play. The UGA coaching staff - or at least some of them - apparently stayed on the bus.
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By Mike Ruffin

I’m grateful that Walter Geiger allows me to occupy this space every other week. I don’t know if he’s grateful that he agreed to our arrangement. I don’t plan to ask him. I figure he’ll let me know if he changes his mind about it.
Sometimes I hear from people who agree with or appreciate what I write. I hear much less often from people who disagree with or don’t appreciate it.

You expect both agreement and disagreement when you write an opinion piece, which is what I do. You know what they say about opinions: everybody has one. Someone’s opinion might line up with mine. Or it might not.

Back when I was a pastor, I’d sometimes say to my congregation, “Sometimes I’m right and you’re wrong, and sometimes you’re wrong and I’m right.” My saying that is #9 on my list of Forty-Seven Reasons I’m No Longer a Pastor.
Here’s the thing, though: I do think I’m right. I do think that my opinions are more correct than the opinions of people who disagree with me.
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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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