We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
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With the 2022 Stephenson County Fair under way, we hope you’ll stop by and see the Stephenson County Farm Bureau in our Farm Fun Zone across from the beef corral. We are excited to see many familiar faces and meet new people. Each day the Farm Fun Zone will be open from 11:00a.m.-9:00p.m. The fair runs from Tuesday, July 26 through Saturday, July 30th. We will have a different hands-on activity for the kids each day as well as the visitor favorite, the animals! Information about the S...
Every year in Illinois, thousands of families lose a loved one to the preventable tragedy of opioid addiction and prescription drug abuse. Unused or unwanted medicine needs to be disposed of properly to help prevent accidental poisoning, substance abuse, and contamination of water resources. Let’s take a quick look at the statistics and then get specific about what each of us can do to make a difference. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, there were 2,944 Opioid Overdose D...
As cataclysmic events are taking place all over the world, and we see so much evil manifested in so many unprecedented (to us) ways, many Christians are wondering, "Is the Holy Spirit going to revive the church before Jesus returns or is this the great falling away in the last days that the Bible talks about? The New Testament is filled with predictions of a last-days falling away. False prophets will rise up and lead many astray. Wolves will come in sheep’s clothing, deceiving many. W...
Recently, some friends and I were talking about our middle names, and where they came from. And the conversation turned towards a story I thought I had relayed – because it is well known in my family – but apparently, nobody had ever heard it before. So, let me relay it now. My maternal grandfather, Lewis Peterson, was where I got my middle name – Lewis. Like most kids growing up, you never really heard it unless your parents were seriously mad at you, “Daniel Lewis Stevens you should be smac...
Sometimes I’m asked what kind of advice I have to give during tough times? Well, good advice for hard times is the same thing as good advice for good times - Worship God faithfully. Tithe. Minimize debt. Save. Invest in people. And cultivate practical skills that will always be useful. There will never come a time in your Christian life where you can just coast along. You will never reach an age where it will be unnecessary to trust God. There will always be something that you need to trust G...
I think I have come to the realization that God got our lives backwards. I mean, think about it – instead of the current timeline we are all familiar with, what if “life” followed this pattern instead? - At birth, we are diapered, fed food that is healthy for us, but shipped off to a home with other newborns where we are convinced that we are generally ignored except for birthdays and holidays. - When we turn 18, they give us a gold watch and send us off to work for the next 45 years. - When...
Last Friday was a historic day as the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. I have always held to the belief that God would not bless our nation as long as the bloodshed of the unborn was on our hands collectively as a people. I am praising God today and thanking Him that President Trump kept his promise to appoint conservative judges to the Court. In the words of an Executive Director of a Crisis Pregnancy Center: “This is a new beginning for our nation! We have taken a monumental step in p...
“Hand over your Man Card!” Several people have told me that – from my cousin to Barry Homan to Rhett Roethe … and for those of you who do not know what I’m talking about, let me explain. You see, my wife and I have very different hobbies and tastes. Whenever we go out to a restaurant for a nice meal, they will hand me the steak and beer, and put the fried shrimp and Diet Coke in front of my wife … which always leads to us then having to trade. The point being, I love fried shrimp and Diet Co...
As your State Representative, I take my responsibility to fight for the best quality of life for our senior citizens here in Northwest Illinois seriously. Our state owes a great deal of gratitude to retired Americans, and those about to retire, who have contributed so much to our community. I am determined to do everything I can to help provide security in your retirement years. My role is to be an advocate and connection to the resources and services that you deserve from your state...
Our family has done a lot of grieving the last couple of weeks over the loss of our nephew’s little boy, but our faith is well-grounded and we are trusting God in all His Sovereignty to bring good out of this tragedy. I’d like to dedicate this column to reprinting my great nephews obituary: Christian Joseph Cernek, 2, of Secor, passed away on Wednesday, June 1, 2022 at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria. He was born November 24, 2019 in Peoria to Jacob and Samantha (Zehr) Cernek. Sur...
“Bring out your dead … Bring out your dead …” “I’m not dead yet.” “Oh, yes you are.” “I’m feeling better.” “But it’s a killer rabbit … with, with the teeth” “We need the Holy Hand grenade.” “Yes, the Holy Hand grenade. Pull the pin and count to three. The number to count is three, and three is the number to count. Not two, not four, but three …” “Five is right out!” “Don’t be silly, it’s only a flesh wound.” “I just cut both of your arms off!” “Have at you! I’ll bite off your knee caps!” “We are...
If you have ever visited me at my office at the Farm Bureau building, you may have noticed a few frames hanging on the wall. On the left is my degree from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and on the right, you find my American FFA degree. But in the middle, there is a poster with “72 and we’re still farming too.” This was the theme and poster of the 2018 Harvard Milk Days. The seven glass milk bottles in the poster pay homage to the seven dairies that were once found in my hometown of Ha...
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.’” I’m getting tired of crying all the time. It’s been another roller coaster week emotionally. My family is enduring much sorrow at this moment in the loss of my nephew's 3 year old son due to a drowning accident on Memorial Day. That, and the loss last month of a 10 year old boy from our congregation in an accident and we are weary with grief and sadness (not to mention the national tr...
(Ouch) I love my wife, I really do … honest … but there are times I’m convinced she’s trying to kill me. For those who don’t know – and that would be just about all of you – we have had a pool for many years. It was a vinyl one for a long time held up with a metal frame, but we eventually put in a hard sided one about a year ago. My wife and kids were always pool rats, and for a long time they were the only ones who used it. Not because I’m scared of water or anything, but because the ric...
I’ve been serving the Lord in “my” church (it’s not mine at all) for almost three decades. The paradox of that is that it is a long time, but also, it’s not a long time. At this stage in my life, I look back and wonder where all the years have gone? It seems like yesterday my wife and I were moving across the country pursuing God’s will and purpose for our lives. Then we were moving back. Then our children were babies. Then toddlers. Then adolescence, teenagers and now married. Time flies. The...
I usually know exactly what I’m going to write about for my column, but every once-in-awhile, I do try and get a second opinion. So, when in doubt, I call my attorney. “Hey, it’s me. I have a question.” “Why do I think this is going to be dangerous?” “What’s the statute of limitations on destroying a mailbox?” “You did what?” “I never said I did it. But let’s just say - hypothetically - that I knew someone who was, well, accidentally, ... somehow, ... possibly, ... involved in destroying a mailb...
Occasionally when a member of our church is moving out of the area, they will ask me what they should look for when they are searching for a new church? I always tell them one of the first things they should look for is to see if the people are carrying their Bibles into church with them on Sunday. If they are, that most likely means the Pastor uses the Bible to preach from, and they are turning there to follow along as he preaches. I would have to wonder why one would even go to church, if...
The senior prank stories keep coming in, and what I just heard took place at Aquin could be a classic … not by the students, but by the parents! You see, apparently, the seniors pulled a couple of pranks on a pair of popular teachers. One had her classroom totally covered in toilet paper – complete with a hanging wall when you opened the door. While the other had his entire floor covered by red solo cups – all half filled with water – we’re talking the entire floor was covered by thousands...
A day in the life of … With the advent of the Internet and the smartphone and everything in between, I enjoy going online and watching farmers at work in different parts of our country. These farmers take a camera with them everywhere they go and record their days’ activities. Simple things like hauling corn to the elevator, sorting cows, pumping the manure pit, or working a field becomes entertainment. It’s basically all the same work, just different. I don’t really have a desire to carry a cam...
I need to begin by giving some kudos to the Lena-Winslow senior class. Apparently, they took my column about senior pranks to heart and pulled off a good one - listing the nice truck owned by Principal Mark Kuehl on the Facebook Marketplace. From what I heard, he was inundated with phone calls from people looking to buy it. And fortunately, he took it in stride - seeing it for what it was, and laughing it off - some might have gone overboard and gotten mad. But the way I see it, it only shows...
In the 21st century it is hard to imagine a civilized country openly invading a neighboring democratic country with no provocation. We are seeing it happen with Russia invading Ukraine on numerous fronts. We have all watched in awe for months as Russia continued to amass troops all along the Ukrainian border under the guise of “training exercises”. Then on February 24th all hell broke loose. I think we all, at least down deep, suspected that Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin recognized that now i...
Recently I officiated at a funeral for a child who died suddenly. I’m sharing part of the message from that service in today’s column. This is a difficult day. We all want to help, but none of us knows what to do. So we pray. But we don’t even know how to pray. But we still pray because the Bible says “when we don't know how to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes with groanings on our behalf that are too deep for words,” (Romans 8:26). Thank God for that verse, because that’s where we are right n...
My apologies to all area principals, but now that graduation is upon us and most seniors are out of school - I can do what seems to be turning into almost an annual column. The topic, if you haven’t guessed yet, is about senior pranks. At least when I was in school, it was the traditional obligation of the seniors who were leaving school to mark their exit with some form of “prank”. The key is that it can’t be vandalism. One year when I was in school, some idiots tried to take a chainsa...
Traditional wisdom comes from the old adage: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” In the technology-saturated world we live in today, that wisdom may be challenged, but it still holds true for the most part. There is no substitute for hard work. A friend shared with me a quote from his grandpa from years ago: “When you and I are dead and gone there is still going to be work to do and some darn fool trying to get it done.” We mused about the two sayings for a w...
A lot of stuff has been coming in recently in regard to Summer Camps, and that got me thinking about when I was a kid and going to YMCA camp. Every year my parents sent my brother, sister and I off to camp at Camp Tecumseh in Brookston Indiana. For a full week, we slept in the little cabins they had that were divided up by age and gender – as the youngest in my family, I was down in the cabin with the other ten, or eleven year olds, while my brother was with the “big” kids – 13 to 14 – and m...
