Wednesday, March 22, 2017

• Twain, trains & Jesus' westward trail

  by Dave Arden, posted Wednesday, March 22, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  Photo by Dave Arden

  NORTHEAST CALIFORNIA (BP) -- Standing with my feet in the water on the banks of Donner Lake, I was in awe of the pristine summertime scene. The clear mountain lake against the deep blue sky, with the lush-forested Sierra Nevada Mountains towering above me, made an impression on my soul.

  It's hard to believe that just mere miles from the lake one of the most horror-filled stories of the American West unfolded in 1846 as the Donner Party's 89 travelers struggled to survive a fierce winter in harsh terrain, their number reduced to 45, as claimed, in part by cannibalism. Read More

• Africa drought victims 'family' to Ky. volunteer

  by Diana Chandler, posted Wednesday, March 22, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  Kentucky Baptist Convention photo

  SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Residents of drought-stricken Lesotho, Africa, became like family to 64-year-old Karen Smith of Shepherdsville, Ky., the first time she took them food.

  "You go with expectations of doing a job and it quickly becomes more than a job. It becomes personal," Smith, volunteer feeding coordinator for the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC), told Baptist Press.

  

  Kentucky Baptist Convention photo

  "That first little boy that came and sat in my lap, it stopped being a job. It began to be personal, because then I met moms and dads and just got to know the families."

  Smith served on two of the six disaster relief teams the KBC has sent to southern Africa since 2016 in response to a drought affecting large swaths of sub-Saharan Africa. The U.N. has described the drought and famine, which extends into South Sudan and the greater Horn of Africa, as the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945. Read More

• Gorsuch defends religious liberty ruling in hearings

  by Tom Strode, posted Wednesday, March 22, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from C-Span

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Neil Gorsuch steadfastly refused to provide judge-like commentary on such issues as abortion and assisted suicide in his confirmation hearings but was not reluctant to explain his ruling in a vital religious liberty case.

  President Trump's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court answered questions about his role in supporting the free exercise of religion rights of Hobby Lobby Tuesday (March 21) as a member of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Gorsuch responded to questions about the religious liberty case from both Democrats and Republicans during 10 hours of questioning by the 20 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Read More

• Frank Gillespie remembered by Clemson's Dabo Swinney

  by Gerald Harris, posted Wednesday, March 22, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  Photos courtesy of ClemsonTigers.com

  VILLA RICA, Ga. (BP) -- Frank Irvin Gillespie's last year playing football at Clemson was 1949 -- 20 years before Dabo Swinney, coach of the university's national championship football team, was born.

  However, Coach Swinney called Gillespie's son Frank the day after his dad died to offer his condolences -- a call evidencing that Frank Irvin Gillespie's influence at Clemson is legendary and still being felt nearly 70 years after his last football game. Read More

• Wyo. judge censured for gay marriage opposition

  by David Roach, posted Wednesday, March 22, 2017 (7 years ago)

  CHEYENNE, Wyo. (BP) -- Proponents of religious liberty have expressed mixed opinions on the Wyoming Supreme Court's censure of a judge for saying her religious beliefs would prevent her from performing same-sex weddings. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: Beware 'cardiospiritual disease'

  by David Jeremiah, posted Wednesday, March 22, 2017 (7 years ago)

  A person can suffer not just from cardiovascular disease but also 'cardiospiritual disease,' David Jeremiah writes, posing the question: "How many people hit the gym faithfully each week to keep their physical heart in shape but never hit their knees to care for their spiritual heart?" Read More