Lifestyle

The Rev. Matt Curry’s parents were children of the Great Depression, just like “The Waltons” — the beloved TV family whose prime-time series premiered 50 years ago.

In September 2001 I was a newly ordained pastor serving as an associate in a church near downtown Dallas. On the evening of 9/11 we hastily organized a prayer service. We all felt angry, confused, worried, vulnerable. We prayed for our country, its leaders, its people. We lifted up emergency workers in New York City, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania. We thought of hundreds of Dallas folks who turned out to donate blood, seeking any way to offer help. A couple of days later, September 14, 2001, our church hosted a prayer service at noon. Obviously I was not in ministry in the days after Pearl Harbor, so I had no idea what to say or do. The Sanctuary was absolutely packed with people from the neighborhood on their lunch hour, many of whom without a church home. I remember walking to that pulpit with a profound feeling of inadequacy. I had no words to explain God’s will in this act of evil. I knew folk were struggling with existential questions of why God would allow such a thing, where was God, what had we done to deserve this. All I could think to offer were psalms of lament, the great tradition of laying out all our hurt and anguish before God in a desperate act of prayer and trust. So I read words from a psalm. And we offered reflective music. And I read more. And there was more music. And somehow it worked, as far as I know.

DENISON - Alpha and Omega Baptist Church will host its 18th pastor and wife’s appreciation at 3 p.m. Sunday.

For the past several weeks, I have noticed something gnawing at me. I brushed it off as a temporary glitch until I realized it was not so temporary. Everywhere I went, I was holding a mixed bag of emotions that were fighting against one another.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Voting opened Wednesday on which toys should go into the National Toy Hall of Fame this year. The class of 2022 finalists are: bingo, Breyer Horses, Catan, Lite-Brite, Nerf Toys, Masters of the Universe, piñata, Phase 10, Pound Puppies, Rack-O, Spirograph, and the top.

Dear Neil: We need some help identifying and controlling this wild growth. It originated where we had a non-producing pecan cut to the ground last winter. It came up in the spring and has grown more rapidly than anything we have ever seen. Should we dig it up and trash it, or will it turn into something desirable?

Lindheimer’s beeblossoms, Clockweed, White Gaura, Pink Gaura, Indian feather, or Whirling butterflies, what do you call them? Gaura in our area is usually tall, short or velvety. The tall Gaura species spend a good deal of time growing during the spring, but as we arrive at the hottest time of the year, this Gaura explodes in flowers.

Dear Abby: After three years together, my fiance and I plan to be married next year. While we have the usual couples’ things going on, one concern is making me consider postponing the wedding or ending the engagement. My fiance has a son whose mental illness led him to withdraw from high school at 16. He has done nothing since. He doesn’t work, and his father hasn’t gotten him treatment for his issues.

Dear Dr. Roach: I am an 88-year-old female in relatively good health.

Dear Dr. Roach: I am a 61-year-old white woman who is 5’5” tall and weighs 150 pounds. I walk two miles just about every day, and easily hit more than 10,000 steps almost every day. I have never smoked. I do not have high blood pressure.