A few weeks ago, as I was preparing worship services and sermons this past Holy Week, my mind went back four years ago to when the coronavirus came to visit, the year the unthinkable happened.
We recently published a story about a situation at Lighthouse Private Christian Academy. Most people are familiar, but if you are not, the school came under scrutiny from the Midway fire marshal and fire chief after an inspection. The inspector determined two campus houses needed a sprinkler system and he shut down the houses immediately, displacing 24 students. Things got a little out of hand in how the chief responded.
Colleges aren’t supposed to have “closed for business” signs posted on their doors.
But, here we are with the news of another institution of higher learning, Birmingham-Southern, announcing it will close for good at the end of this school year.
There is an unwritten rule in Christianity requiring men’s prayer meetings to be scheduled for O-dark-thirty. No problem, I am one of those annoying “morning people” who wake up before their alarm goes off, bright and cheery, ready to meet the day. So, in my present role as lead pastor at COMPASS Church, I scheduled our weekly leadership prayer meetings for 6:30 am.
For Christians around the world, Easter represents a time of renewal, and a time of remembrance of the death of Jesus and his resurrection. However you choose to celebrate Easter, whether it is in Church or in your backyard hunting for Easter eggs or both, we at Navarre Press wish you a day of renewal. Consider it perhaps a transfiguration of sorts; a shedding of whatever is old and stale and an embrace of new things, habits and ideas.
I have always had an interest in history, and mythology and when I was in elementary school. I read every book my school library had regarding myths and mythical creatures that make up the culture of many nations. I was also brought up in a Judeo-Christian Church and home and loved the Bible stories as well – which some, not me, believe to be mythical stories. And, I’ve also had an interest in Nostradamus, a French astrologer, apothecary, and physician who made predictions – and I give Nostradamus the same weight as I give a horoscope – none. But it is still interesting. I wish my Bible study teachers had put more weight on all the predictions otherwise known as prophesies in the Bible – because they actually come true. My column this week may be considered “religious” but I’m going to be as factual as possible and even include a historian that wasn’t a believer.
I learned last week that a picture of goalposts can sometimes attract a lot of attention.
While over at Central for a track interview, I thought it was cool the goalposts were finally up at the football field. So, I did the 21st century thing, taking a picture and posting it on social media.
The note addressed to my wife was curt and accusatory, castigating her for an oversight that was unimaginable in its ramifications – it appeared that we had run out of peanut butter. The judge was my oldest brother; he and his wife were visiting us from Venezuela. “No Bannon household should ever be without peanut butter,” he chided. It was a Sunday morning; my wife and I had left early for a morning full of ministry responsibilities at church. My brother and his wife were having a late breakfast and had promised to join us for the last worship service of the morning. His breakfast plan? Toast with peanut butter, but after searching every shelf in the pantry and every cupboard in the kitchen, there was no peanut butter in sight. It was in the refrigerator.
In February, Santa Rosa County commissioners approved letting RaceTrac install underground fuel storage tanks in a wellfield zone that supplies clean drinking water to about 100,000 residents. On Monday, Commissioner Colten Wright, who voted to approve the variance allowing the tanks, proposed updating the wellfield protection ordinance to address issues raised during the RaceTrac debate – including what to do about existing underground tanks in the area.
