Opinion

Coming of age in Savannah, as I did, one was constantly in the presence of military personnel. Savannah, with its strategic port, has always worn a target around its bejeweled neck and thus has always been well-fortified and defended.

When I was a kid, Savannah had Hunter Field and Travis Field. Travis Field was home to the Air National Guard. Today it is Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Nov. 1 was All Saints’ Day. The observance started off in the early church as a way to remember and celebrate the martyrs, those who were faithful to the Lord at the cost of their lives.

It eventually evolved into a day to honor all of the Lord’s saints who have made it home.

Many churches observe All Saints’ Day by recalling the lives of those members who have died during the preceding 12 months. We did that in the last couple of churches I served as pastor.
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By Walter Geiger

With Veterans Day on the near horizon, I started thinking about Laura’s grandfather, Maj.

Oliver Quimby Melton, and the other veterans of World War I. Major Melton was a bona fide hero, having received a battlefield promotion after being one of the few officers to survive the slaughter in the Argonne Forest.

There were many like him. Many of them died. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

It was very late on Tuesday, Oct. 21. The Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox were locked in the titanic struggle at Fenway Park that was game six of the 1975 World Series.

Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk strode to the plate in the bottom of the twelfth inning. The score was tied 6-6. Pat Darcy, the Red’s eighth pitcher of the game, threw a pitch that Fisk lifted high and deep down the left field line. Fisk hopped down toward first base, waving his arms to the right, trying with all his might to convince the ball to stay fair. He leapt into the air as the ball struck the foul pole 310 feet away and just above the 37 foot high left field wall known as the “Green Monster.” [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

I watched much of the first Democratic presidential debate last week and came away unimpressed.

There is little doubt Hillary Clinton will get the nomination. Bernie Sanders is an out and out communist who could never get elected and, though I am sure they are fine people, the other three candidates were mere window dressing.

I could never vote for Hillary. She just has too much baggage and huge trust issues. I have friends who think she is the most experienced person for the job and will vote for her. I respect their opinions but do not agree. So, I will be voting Republican and there is a far more interesting slate of candidates vying for the GOP nomination.
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By Mike Ruffin

I’m writing these words on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 – the day that some “Christian” online group that I had never heard of before they got a little publicity this week – says will be the day the world ends. You’re reading these words on or after Tuesday, October 13, 2015, which means that they got it wrong. That’s no big surprise, given that all of the other – and there have been a lot of them – individuals and groups who made such predictions before them, also got it wrong. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger


It was wet Saturday in Athens. It rained all the way over there. It rained all during the game and it rained all the way home – a long delayed trip back for Laura and me.

It was so wet in Sanford Stadium, the now expected bed-wetting by a Mark Richt coached team in a big game was just drops in the proverbial bucket.
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By Michael Ruffin

I work as a Bible study curriculum editor in my day job. One of my responsibilities is to write an every-other-week blog post (my Assistant Editor writes the ones for the intervening weeks, thankfully) offering additional commentary on the lesson for the upcoming Sunday. In one of those coincidences that sometimes happen, last Sunday’s Scripture seemed to offer an opportunity to apply the text’s message to a current event the discussion of which has been using up a lot of newsprint, airtime, and megabytes. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

Occasionally, my wife, daughters or the sweet ladies at my office will approach me with wrinkled noses and ask, “Do you smell something funny?”

This continues though they are all well aware that I bear the scars of five sinus surgeries - at least two of which were botched. During the last one, my friend, the superb Dr. Warren Dunn, went in through my left eyebrow and removed a honey-colored batch of MRSA from my frontal sinus.
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By Walter Geiger

Part reunion, part homecoming and pure Americana, Barnesville-Lamar County is in the throes of the 42nd annual Buggy Days it has hosted.

A group of community leaders, searching for a way to bring visitors­and their money - to the community came up with the idea of the festival honoring Barnesville’s heritage as the center of the Buggy manufacturing industry before the horseless carriage put an end to it all. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Bobby Ross Phillips died in Adel, Georgia on August 31st. I had the privilege of speaking at his memorial service on September 3rd. Chances are pretty good that neither Bobby nor Adel mean anything to you, but they both mean a lot to me.

Chances are also pretty good that you’ve had someone like Bobby and someplace like Adel in your life, by which I mean that you’ve probably had somebody and somewhere that gave you a chance and, in giving you a chance, made a huge difference in your life. It was the summer of 1986. I had just finished my Ph.D. in Old Testament at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky; I had three degrees and no job. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

Somehow or another I got a farmer gene in my DNA. I’m not sure where it came from but I know it is there. My Dad came here from Switzerland with his parents as a small child.

They immigrated legally through Ellis Island. We’d be better off if all immigrants still came through that checkpoint but that is a column for another day. His dad worked in butcher shops in New York City and elsewhere. His mom worked in a college cafeteria. Daddy graduated from the University of Connecticut and Duke University with a masters degree in forestry. He spent years in the woods but is not a farmer.

My mom’s folks were all country people from around Bulloch County. [Full Story »] 

By Michael Ruffin

The year was 1974.

George Roy Hill had just won the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on the wonderful film The Sting when he received the following letter: [Full Story »] 

By Michael Ruffin

Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the graduation of my class at Lamar County High School, the Class of 1976. The 1975-76 school year was the first year classes were held at the “new” high school, so we were the first class to graduate from there.

I wasn’t there, though.

Well, I was there for our graduation, but I wasn’t there for our senior year. [Full Story »]