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Staying in your present home may be the wisest choice

Tulsa Beacon

In 1997, we purchased the house we now live in. By all accounts, 24 years later, it is worth double what we paid for it. Maybe more. The housing market is exploding. In our neighborhood, when a house is listed for sale, an offer is made in day or two if not within hours. Why…

It’s time to pass the fried chicken and the mashed potatoes

Tulsa Beacon

I grew up as a Baptist, I am still a Baptist and will probably die a Baptist. Baptists are famous for two things: food and fighting. I don’t know if you realize this, but Baptists invented wrestling. Wrestling is one of the oldest forms of combat, referenced in The Iliad and depicted in what some believe are…

How did Kamala Harris become the first female vice president?

Tulsa Beacon

The American Dream is turning into a nightmare. When Emma Lazarus penned the words engraved on the Statue of Liberty it gave everlasting hope to those who sought the freedom and the opportunities the U.S. offered. All they needed to do was to knock at our door. As Ms. Lazarus put it, Send these, the…

To see corn, drive through Kansas, Nebraska, S. Dakota

Tulsa Beacon

Driving through Kansas, Nebraska and parts of South Dakota in the summertime is like seeing the set of Field of Dreams over and over and over again. For the second time in two years, we drove from Tulsa to Mitchell, South Dakota, on a long July 4th weekend. Our route was about 660 miles. There…

Grandsons provided eight+ years of blessing

Tulsa Beacon

This is my eighth year of being a grandparent. These have been some of the best days of my life. For years we thought we weren’t going to have any grandchildren, and then we found ourselves with three handsome, vivacious grandsons.  What I didn’t expect that they would be the teachers and I would be…

A search for your great grandparents can be revealing

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Who were your great grandparents? You do not know? A few weeks ago, the Pastor discussed heritage and cultures who venerate and respect elders and past generations. Our contemporary, new technology society discards heritage and tradition as quickly as the two-year old, out-of-date…

Here comes the 50th anniversary of the Game of the Century

Tulsa Beacon

I was 18 years old when No. 1 Nebraska played No. 2 Oklahoma in the “Game of the Century” in Norman in 1971. I was crushed when Nebraska won, 35-31. The Sooners, behind quarterback Jack Mildren played more like a track team than a football team. OU went 11-1 and Southern Cal was the only…

Cephas Washburn was similar to Epaphras Chapman

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Who was Cephas Washburn? Had you ever heard of him before a sign at Dwight Mission? Yet, like Epaphras Chapman to Union Mission, he blazed the trail for schooling to the Old Settlers Cherokee. Let’s back up to the American Board of Commissioners…

When it’s hot in Tulsa, there’s always someplace hotter

Tulsa Beacon

The worst heat I have ever experience was when I was a boy at Bible Memory Association summer camp in Ruston, Louisiana. This was in the 1960s. It was hot and humid. I was kind of used to the heat because I grew up without air conditioning in Tulsa. But this camp was in the…