By Steve Straessle My neighbor’s son died the other day.  He was a beautiful kid only 21 years into this world.  Police and ambulance sirens blared as they raced up our street in an effort to revive him, but the sirens served only as an alarm that a life had been extinguished much too soon. The boy’s parents are constantly soggy-eyed now, and they busy themselves in the yard in the hope that physical exhaustion will somehow exorcise the pain in their souls. The boy’s father was mowing the … [Read more...]

  My husband and I are actively involved in several ministries in our church, and we were absorbed in planning for Christmas events including planning meals, making all kinds of lists and cleaning and decorating our house. In the midst of these thoughts the phone rang.  When I answered, an unfamiliar male voice said, “Is this Jared’s mother?”  I answered yes, trying to remember if I had ever heard the voice before.  He continued, “This is Mary’s father, have you seen her or Jared?  They … [Read more...]

When you get to be over 60, it’s probably best to skip the cocktails and other alcoholic beverages. To some this may sound grim, but embrace it, says Dr. David Lipschitz. The benefits can be huge. Dr. Lipschitz, director of the Longevity Center at St. Vincents Hospital in Little Rock and a noted author and former chairman of the geriatrics department at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine (UAMS), makes a good case. “Substance-related disorders of all types … [Read more...]

The Pat Summerall story By David Palmer Pat Summerall’s epiphany, that moment of truth when he knew that he was in serious trouble with alcohol, came while he was broadcasting the 1992 annual Masters Golf tournament at Augusta, Georgia for CBS. It was something he had done and done impeccably for 24 years. In a radio interview, three years ago with Dennis Rainey, President of Family Life in Little Rock, Summerall, a former Arkansas Razorback, New York Giant and premiere broadcaster, described … [Read more...]