Mt. Pleasant News

This summer at First Presbyterian Church we are studying the book, ?The Good and Beautiful God? by James Bryan Smith. In one of the chapters he talks about self-sacrifice and how this is the greatest gift God gave us. It got me thinking ... Has there been a time in your life when you sacrificed something for someone else? I mean really sacrificed. Not skipping your daily bowl of cereal for breakfast so that your ...

Your friendly neighborhood sports editor wasn't at the office on Monday or Tuesday and he wasn't in Mt. Pleasant all weekend. Why? Because he was on vacation.Yep, that's right, the family and I went straight Griswold, hopped in the car and took some time for ourselves. By the way, that reference is meant to be for the Chevy Chase ?Vacation? not the recent remake starring Kelly Bundy and that guy from ?The ...

Editors note: Gloria's grandmother passed away last week and is taking this week off. ?The Amish Cook? column will return next week. Summer is the perfect time for backyard barbecues. Of course, the meat always steals the show, but side dishes are important, too. There's a serious side-dish rut about this time. Your friends get the fun job of selecting the meat: burgers or brats. But guess who is stuck with the ...

If your worship leader asked that question, and then waited, what might be your reply? Some come to be in familiar surroundings. The building arrangement, the windows, the feel, the sounds, the smells, the activity, a favorite seat.Some come to be among familiar people. Friends who have shared good times and hard times. Friends who listen. Friends who teach. Friends who need help. Old friends. New friends. Some ...

You want your family to wake up to a breakfast packed with whole grains and healthy nutrients, but you also want to get everyone out the door on time. Here are a few smart ideas to shake up the old cereal routine, and in a way that's equal parts nutritious and quick.Frozen yogurt barkLike little ice cream bars, only much healthier, this creamy but bar-like breakfast also doubles as a protein-packed snack. Ten ...

It was a normal day and all was going well. My sister-in-law and mother came to help me for the day. They were mending and hemming shirts, dresses and pants for the children when my Dad came downstairs where we were working and with a no-nonsense look on his face told Mom to come right away. ?The way it looks Grandma is having a stroke,? he said.With that, Mom was gone. Surely not Grandma. No, it couldn't be. ...

Ginnie told me to rent the metal detector again and search for the ring one more time before she bought me a new one. My 70th birthday was fast approaching and Ginnie was going to buy me a new wedding ring as a present. You may recall that Blossom, our Angus heifer calf, sucked the wedding ring off my finger. I figured scanning her pen again was useless, that there was no way I was going to find that wedding ...

As we move into late summer, the profuse color and interest of perennial gardens may be fading a bit. Some of the best bloomers of midsummer, such as day lilies, are past their peaks and roses are recovering from the assaults of Japanese beetles.The bloom period for some perennials can be prolonged by monitoring the plants as petals start to drop. For bee balm and phlox, simply cutting each stem back to the ...

?Destruction is certain for those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who try to keep Him in the dark concerning what they do. 'The Lord can't see us,' you say to yourselves. 'He doesn't know what is going on.' -Isaiah 29:15Go ahead and try it. Try and hide what you are doing or plan to do from the Lord. It cannot be done. The Lord somehow knows all about every detail of our living. He knows what we are ...

Ginnie and I are on a genuine, live, for-real vacation. And it feels like one. My mother's side of the family, whom I don't really know that well, has a reunion every other year. One of my cousins (a retired Army Colonel) and his wife, are the organizers. They travel around the country in a motor home and check out locations ? perform ?reconnaissance.? They look for sites that have a variety of accommodations ...

Our days are filled with their own twists and turns. Grandma (Mommy) has outlived all the guesses made by the doctors and nurses. Hospice is in and out each day since Mommy was brought home from the hospital. Over a week ago, they told us that it'd only be hours, but still she is hanging on.Late one night after we were all in bed and sound asleep, I was summoned to her bedside because it looked like it could be ...

Six years ago I was sitting on my couch in my tiny Wisconsin apartment Facebook stalking a guy I liked when I stumbled upon a picture of him and his friends red faced, mud spackled and grinning from ear to ear. I zoomed in on the orange headband they were wearing to get a better look at the logo ? the silhouette of a man running out of a fire ? they had run a Tough Mudder.I immediately opened up a new tab and ...