Alva Review-Courier -

Imagine the snow falling over the landscape, floating effortlessly as huge flakes make their way to the barren ground. Mother Nature has deposited a dreadful cold this time of the year that makes travel outside the home or business miserable....

When I was a young child, I was deathly afraid of the dark. Actually, today I will admit that I do not like dark places, so I guess you could say that I am still somewhat afraid of the dark. When I go into dark places today, I am way more cautious,...

Most of us have had that neighbor, co-worker, or relative that we just can’t seem to get along with, no matter how hard we try. Maybe they have done something that you are unwilling to forgive them for. Whatever they try to do, to reconcile the...

I like to play golf but I’m not really good at it. One of the wonderful things about golf, especially if you’re playing by yourself or with a very good friend, is that if your last shot was one of the most horrific shots you have ever played,...

In just a couple of days, we will be celebrating one of the three greatest days this world has ever known. Jesus the Christ died on one day and rose again on the third day, but it would have never taken place if he hadn’t been born into this world...

In I Kings 3:16-28, the story is told of the wisdom of Solomon. Two prostitutes were living together, and they both had baby boys just 3 days apart. One of the women lay on her baby one night so that it died. She promptly got up in the middle of the...

This is the season of giving where we all make up lists of family members and possibly some close friends for whom we spend hours thinking up and purchasing the perfect gift. There is such an emotional rush we get when we give that gift to the...

As we talked about last week, we all have our temptations and trials that we go through, and we might ask ourselves, “How am I to escape or overcome them?” In the Holy Scriptures, we know that we are encouraged to overcome our sins and...

We all have our temptations and trials that we go through, and we might ask ourselves, “How am I to escape or overcome?” In the Holy Scriptures, we know that we are encouraged to overcome our sins and temptations, but how does that work? Well,...

It snowed here in Alva earlier this week and it was beautiful; I mean it was so beautiful I almost cried! The big flakes came floating down so lightly and slowly that it immediately took me back to my childhood living on the farm. One of my most...

Many of us who have been Christians a long time recognize this title to a beautiful hymn sung for many years. The first line goes like this, “Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord.” What a powerful string of words these are, as they call...

Okay, there are two things that we are taught growing up that should never be talked about at the dinner table or family reunion. Those two subjects are politics and religion, but my question to the reader today is, “can you mix the two?” Is...

Baptism is a subject that was once a given passage into the church. For centuries, the church went all over the world baptizing people as the act of conversion into Christianity. But in the last century, the question has arisen across Christendom as...

How do we view God? I mean, what is our perception of Him who we have never seen face to face? We go to worship the Lord every Sunday, we say some prayers along the way, and we claim to be a Christian to those we think are just like us. But how do...

The time is fast approaching for the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas in which we all stuff our faces and bellies until we are hurting in such a beautiful way. Food is a wonderful, satisfying, aromatic pleasure that we as humans can’t ever...

Have you, the reader, ever had the opportunity to help someone who was lost or just needing directions? I was working outside one day at our local school during a basketball tournament, and someone drove up looking for the wrestling tournament in the...

“If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all, gloom despair, and agony on me,” are the words to a popular little song on the show “Hee Haw” back when I was a child. We would all sing along and laugh together as we watched that...

We all remember the Parable of the Sower in which Jesus is describing to his Apostles how the kingdom of God is to be preached and the people to whom it is to be preached. This parable is given in three out of the four Gospels but I will be using the...

Going for a walk in the cool of the day is a very relaxing exercise that is beneficial in so many ways. It gets our heart rate up and running for a certain length of time, which helps our cardiovascular system become healthier. If we have a partner...

Have you ever felt called to do something? Maybe you have felt called to serve on the local school board, sit on the city council, or the board of some charitable organization. You may have felt called to some profession such as a teacher, doctor,...

Simon and Garfunkel sang a song titled “The 59th Street Bridge Song” (Feelin’ Groovy), released in 1966. The premise of this song was to slow down and take life a little slower or a little more easy. What a busy time of the year it is. School...

There seem to be a lot of verses in the New Testament that teach us about prayer! Some scriptures teach us to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17), another scripture teaches us how to pray like in Matthew Chapter 6, still another scripture tea...

We all have, or have had, a best friend at one time or another. Best friends spend time doing things together; they share things with each other, especially secrets, because they know that they can trust them! Best friends will do anything for each...

Something that is easier said than done is to be kind to one another. Being kind to someone you like or love is easy, but to be kind to someone that you don’t know or even don’t like, is another story altogether! Our lives as Christians are a lit...

One of the reasons that we have so much chaos around the world is because everyone has their own truth by which they live their lives. You have your truth, and I have mine. We live in a world where everybody’s truth must be considered and...