Every year, the pressure to create life-changing New Year’s resolutions looms large. At first, I jotted down a modest list—something short enough to be a humble little Facebook status. You know, something breezy like, “Drink more water. Be less sarcastic. Pet more dogs.”
But then the wheels started turning.
The hunter spent his spare time chasing deer in Mississippi when he wasn’t chasing fires. Starkville firefighter Rob Robinson, 44, had been stalking bucks in his home state for years, but when he learned that Kansas, the state where his sister resided, was one of the best places to turkey hunt, Robinson made several trips there throughout the years until he scored a record-breaking kill in 2007 that ranked seventh in the world.
Motivated by success, Robinson decided to go for the “Grand Slam of Turkeys” in 2008, and wandered upon 1,600 acres of farmland owned by Gillan Alexander in Nicodemus, Kansas. He had no idea that when he knocked on Alexander’s door, he would eventually save his life. The chance meeting later led Robinson to donate a kidney to Alexander.
To most people, Missy and Ross Parker had the kind of love story that sounded too good to be true. They met at church, served together in ministry, and built a joyful blended family of six. Every morning, they’d read the Bible, speak affirmations, and spoil each other like lifelong honeymooners.
Ross, a Mississippi College graduate and longtime Boy Scout leader, lived to serve — fixing things for friends in secret, helping with Habitat for Humanity, and leading divorce recovery sessions at church with Missy.
Near the end of the school year at Brandon’s University Christian School, the art teacher gave his first-period students large canvases, leftover paint, and the freedom to go at them Jackson Pollack-style.
Danielle Parkman, 14, dipped her hands in color and splattered it against the white, tossing pink, blue and red across the rectangle. Then she threw it on her friends, who laughed and retaliated until, pretty soon, everyone was engaged in a colorful, carefree mess of creativity.
You must be logged in to post a comment.