Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

It’s August and hot

August 16, 2025

Let’s face it, this is true. I have known this all my life. The year I was born is the ninth hottest here in Springfield, Missouri. I have watched the high temperatures this month for years. Forty years ago, I told our daughters each time the high for that day was in my birth year.

Checking the statistics, I find that from my birth to last year there are only four Augusts with higher average temperatures. 2007, 1995, 1983, and 1980 are the only years in the last seventy years with temperatures that exceed my year.

Mom reminded me almost every year on my birthday how hot it was when she was pregnant with me. Ladies, I must honor her and apologize to you who are currently new mothers or still expecting the heat. While I have nothing to do with your discomfort, I was instrumental in my own mother’s.

I remember growing up and hearing that we were on the verge of a new ice age in the 1960s. Now there are people that want us to believe that we are all going to burn to death if we do not accept the doomsday prophets that tell us there are holes in the ozone layer.

While researching this column, I find that this does not seem to be true. There are as many scientists who do not share this view as the ones that swear, they are correct. Most scientists know that their estimates are only guesses and may be in error.

Stop and think about it. What other job than meteorologist can you be wrong that often and keep the job? I respect these trained professionals for doing their best and being willing to take the ribbing that sometimes comes when they predict flurries and we have several inches of snow fall, right Dale Noah?

Every woman who is becoming a mother needs respect and patience even when it is not this hot. This is the most difficult job there is. Some are life threatening, but none have the rewards or stress than motherhood does.

Yes, fatherhood has its share of difficulties as well. I know that. But, guys, we must admit that our wives and children’s mothers have it rougher than we do. Even the President of the United States is calling for women to have more babies to keep our economy active.

Remember that this is not an original idea. God told us to be fruitful and multiply to populate the earth. He has also encouraged us through the prophet Malachi that the Jews and we as Christians should produce new generations that will follow Jehovah.

Parenthood is an honored and useful profession that is not a political concept. God created families to raise children in a loving home. Mothers and fathers are instructed to teach them to be good people. This is nothing new.

Tariffs are here

August 14, 2025

OMG. What are we going to do now that all these prices are going up? With over forty years in purchasing and procurement, I have done extensive research with my sources in the business community and have identified seven steps to minimize the impact of this crisis on your life.

If you work in the transportation industry, prepare for a possible layoff. Depending on the impact of these higher costs you may have cutbacks on the amount of time you work. Cut back on expenses. Don’t take out any more debt. Try to save as much as you can. Don’t buy frivolous items. Sodas, coffee, lunch or dinner, alcoholic beverages, or lottery tickets are a few things I will eliminate. For the most part it may not affect you at all.

Buy American made. I am talking about things that are made from beginning to end in this country. In our area this is the season for local festivals. Handmade gifts are in abundance at these annual events.

Make your own gifts. You have time. Draw or paint a picture. The next time a friend or family member tells you they like a painting or t-shirt that is a simple design. Get the materials to make it and give it a shot. My walls are festooned with creations from makers I have known for years. Every morning an eagle swoops down on me in bed. Identify what your talent is and create something.

Buy early. Christmas is coming. It will be the same day as it has for over two thousand years. Buy now. Do not wait. I like to save money as well. This is not the year to pass what you want or need because it may be cheaper tomorrow.

Do not create shortages where they are not needed. Did you know that much of the toilet paper and paper towels used in this country are produced in this country? Remember the TP shortage during the COVID pandemic? That was due to shipping problems because there was a truck driver shortage.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. That was popular in the 1970s. Bring it back. Don’t buy things you do not need. Need another piece of furniture? Repurpose something you already have. When I say recycling, I mean give or sell things that are perfectly good to someone else. We have been selling and donating items we have stored for years. We need the room. We do not need the stuff.

Buy items coming in from nontariff Countries. Forget Canada, Mexico, and China or any other country that haven’t kissed the ring. Freight comes in from north, south, west and east. Now is the time to limit ourselves.

There are probably other ways you can think of to save stress over this increase in prices. I won’t call it inflation because certain people don’t want anyone to use that word. I would love to hear your comments. You might be the person who has a better idea than all of us talking heads. Or in some cases the other end of the donkey.

Happy Birthday, Gary

August 12, 2025

Old friends are a treasure that some do not have in abundance. I am not one of those. In the 1960’s we lived on Nichols Street. The house sat on one lot, and the lot next door on the corner of Warren Ave. also belonged to Dad and Mom. To the east on Nichols was Rick. Rob lived on West Ave. Frank and Gary lived north on Warren. I’ve lost track of all of them except for the last. Over the last several years, I have tried to call him on his birthday. This year, I am going to write about some of our joint experiences.

I could call him a hand-me-down friend, but I prefer the terms longtime family friend or brother from a different mother. Gary started school at York Elementary, the same year my brother Sam did. Four years later, when I began my education there, they did not want a kid like me hanging around. When my brother graduated from high school and joined the Navy, the process of being a family friend had already started.

We attended the same church, and when I was in the Youth group, he was in High School and graduated the year I finished Junior High. He took a year away from SMSU and his degree to join the National Guard to begin his military career. He returned as a part-time student and was there when my college career began four years after he started.

Lunch at the cafeteria, or Bear’s Den, bowling, and pinball games at the campus union solidified this friendship between my brother Bud, Gary, and me. If it had not been for him bringing the new pastor at church to meet me and invite me to a group for college students, I might not have been called and accepted my call to ministry. Because of that, I left SMSU and transferred to Southwest Baptist College.

As a side note, Gary’s first nephew was born on my sixteenth birthday, the day before his. I don’t know if I have been forgiven for the ribbing I gave him about that. He may not know it, but one of my daughters was born in August. Fortunately, she came before either of our birthdays. I was glad because I didn’t want the teasing I gave him.

Gary graduated and was promoted and moved by the company he worked for. We saw each other briefly at Christmas. When Sam went back to the Navy, he drove to visit Gary up north and through Pennsylvania to see me where I was pastoring a church that summer, and then down to his duty station in Florida.

The next phase of our relationship was when he returned to Springfield and began working where Cindy, my wife, worked. I remember the night he came by our house and told us he had been terminated. That was when he started dating his future wife, who also worked there.

He raised his family, and I mine these last forty years, and we have talked from time to time. Some special occasions brought us together. Birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, and even the occasional Walmart trips meant short or protracted conversations.

He is still employed, unlike Cindy and I. From time to time, I visit him at work, as I did when I was working, and he is someone I can confide in and share memories with him that no one else knows about.

We can truly be called old friends in more ways than one. This is my way of saying, Happy Birthday to you, my dear friend. And many more.

The unknown holiday

August 11, 2025

That is correct. Most Christians and non-Christians alike in Springfield, Missouri, and all over this country and the world miss the significance of this day every year. It is not a national or religious holiday, but an event that took place on this date years ago that transformed the universe as we know it. Explore some of the lesser events that took place on August 11th.

Calvin Coolidge, John W. Davis, and Robert La Follette, held a presidential debate in 1924 that was filmed for a Newsreel for the first time. In 1929, Babe Ruth was the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs. Not the best he would do, but it was a start. The first prisoner to Alcatraz Island arrived there in 1934.

1942 saw the patent issued to Hedy Lamar and George Antheil for a frequency hopping spread spectrum communication device. What is that, do you ask? That was the first use of technology currently used in wireless devices and the Wi-Fi everyone uses.

Frederick W. Smith founded FedEx in 1944. In 1969, the Apollo 11 crew members were released from quarantine. Hip Hop was born at a teen party, and American Graffiti opened in 1973. The Mall of America opened in 1992.

It is also Flag Day in Pakistan and Independence Day in Chad. Today was the day in 1984 that President Reagan said on national radio, “We begin bombing in five minutes.”

Today is the birthday of Alex Hailey, author of “Roots”, Hulk Hogan, wrestler, Lloyd Nolan, Actor, Jerry Falwell, Evangelist, Frederick W. Smith, the founder of FedEx, and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers, me, Colby Rasmus, Michael Cavin, and Mike Douglas.

Mr. Douglas also died on this date. Also dying on this date were: Andrew Carnegie in 1919, Jackson Pollock, Painter in 1956, Phil Harris in 1995, Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 2009, Mell Taylor of the Ventures in 1996, and Robin Williams in 2020.

I am sure that your question is which of these things would be considered a holiday. None is by most people. For me, the one that I consider a holiday is my birthday. Most of us think that we should be celebrated every year. My sixteenth birthday was special, not just for getting to start driving. Recall another birthday I listed for Michael Cavin?

He is the nephew of a friend of mine who was born that day. I call him my twin brother. On his sixteenth birthday, I wished him a happy birthday at a youth event at church. He knew I was friends with his parents, but did not know about us having the same birthday. Now we wish each other happy birthday almost every year.

You should think of the day of your birthday as an unknown holiday. Those who care about you should celebrate with you on that day. And while we are talking about it, don’t forget those you love on their special days. Everyone should have their own holiday.

There is nothing new under the sun

August 8, 2025

This statement is made in the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament of the New International Version of the Bible. This is one verse that many say is not one hundred percent true. We all know that since this was written, many new things have come about. Or have they?

We have recorded history that tells of the technological progress that we have had in the last five hundred years or more. Over two thousand years ago there was no electricity, gasoline, steam power, or so many of the things that even our great grandparents had.

No indoor plumbing. Fireplaces heated homes and were used for cooking. They had not improved much from the previous two thousand years in the necessities of life. Animal power had been the modern technique to travel and farm or move equipment.

The problem is that we only have records of how things were in the last four to six thousand years. We are told our world is millions of years old. Is it possible that other cultures progressed to where we are today and then were destroyed? We have theories about what happened to certain types of animals that no longer exist.

Some say a worldwide flood. Others believe there was a catastrophic collision with a comet or meteor. Still others have speculated that civilization collapsed due to other circumstances. I would like to look at possibilities to see if the flood is a possible explanation.

The Old Testament of The Bible says that Jehovah asked a man named Noah to build a boat. He wanted all the land and air creatures to survive this flood. Stop and think about it. If there was even only one type of dog, cat, horse, cow, bird, or other animals that we currently have, the size of the vessel to transport a pair of animals is huge.

Today we know how to do this. Who is to say that at some point in the past we have not progressed as far as we have in the last few thousand years. Prehistoric may not mean that there was no technology. Things may have caused us to start over again.

I personally wonder about where the pyramids and many other structures that were built which archeologists can’t explain how they were created at that time. Easter Island and other ancient structures seem to have been created by someone who knew things that were only learned a few hundred years ago.

Some scientists believe that ancient astronauts came here and made these areas. I think if they did, we would have found proof of this somewhere in our universe. My theory is that all the flood stories in all the cultures in our world must have a common source. This event caused us to start over again at least once in all those unrecorded years.

Solomon could be correct in his assertion that there is nothing new under the sun. If they made it to a point where Noah or some other ancient man could build a ship to survive a devastating flood, what was destroyed by that tragedy? Don’t discount the Biblical account just because you don’t want to believe in a creator God. Use the brain you possess to decide if this could be possible, even if He did not give that mind to you.

Insurance

August 6, 2025

I listen to a lot of commercials as I watch television. Life insurance, health insurance, pet insurance, automobile insurance, insurance to cover repairs on vehicles and houses, and anything else that you can think of. Lloyds of London will insure almost anything for their price. It is like gambling. If you want to give them your money on their terms, they will take it.

There are good kinds of insurance and ones that are not worth the payments. These companies use statistical probabilities to determine if they will make a profit. They also advertise that they cover certain problems, but they do not tell you what they do not cover. Did you know your homeowner’s insurance does not cover floods or earthquakes as a standard part of your policy?

Some car insurers tell you that they have a pricing gun to give you the price you want. What they don’t tell you is that to get the price you want, your coverage may decrease, or your deductible may increase. Want new car replacement coverage? There goes your budget.

For people my age, there are life policies with no health questions. The only question they have is how much money do you have? One company says you can get coverage for under ten dollars a month. Another is less than seven. Neither tells what amount of insurance you will have, nor whether you can expect full payment if you die tomorrow.

Then there are the auto service plans. Car dealers offer extended warranties when you buy a new car. Then lenders have their plans if the vehicle is new enough with lower mileage. Now you can buy one from people who advertise on TV. Read the fine print. Your plan may not cover what you want.

In high school, I learned the Latin phrase, “Caveat Emptor,” which means “let the buyer beware.” I’ve worked as a salesman on more than one occasion. I gave out $100 cameras that cost me less than one dollar each. Another company had pricing structures that ranged from 300 percent profit to twenty-five percent.

I’ve mentioned before in columns that if you want to know what profit a retailer makes on their products, wait until they mark them down for clearance. Some stores sell seasonal merchandise as low as 90 % off a few days after the holiday. That tells me that their cost is about ten percent of the suggested retail price.

My Uncle Clyde did not believe in insurance. He seldom bought it. Fortunately, he never lost his house to a fire or other tragedy. He knew God would take care of him. As far as I know, He always did. Don’t take chances, though.

And if there are questions you have about something you see advertised, ask questions. My wife buys and sells items on Facebook Marketplace. She always tells people that we meet at the Springfield Police Department to exchange goods and money. There are times when the other party is no longer interested. Go figure.

NAMES

August 4, 2025

Wouldn’t it be awful if your parents named you something weird, like Rainbow, Teflon, or Young White Child? Or even worse, Sue, as the young man in Johnny Cash’s hit song “The Boy Named Sue” was monicured. Fortunately, my parents named me Charles Eugene.

Growing up, I often asked my mother where my name came from. She told me that Charles was from a soap opera that she watched when I was born. I have searched IMDB to find either an actor or a character from the soaps she watched when I was a kid. I could not find any. If you know of someone from the 1950s, let me know in the comments.

When our children were born, my wife and I chose names that we thought would prevent teasing. All three had first names that became some of the most popular when they reached high school. Our youngest was given a name that my wife thought she had created by combining the names of two friends.

Later, a character in a current soap opera had this name, and it became so popular that her name was no longer unique. I have noticed over the years that this is the way things normally happen. Trend setters want to be unique. I guess we should be happy to be the first. The problem is that you are usually just ranked as another follower.

My oldest brother was named after Dad and Mom’s fathers. My other brother was the second Evan in our family. Dad was the first. I am happy to report that his name is now coming back into use. My name, however, seems to be falling out of style.

With all three of our daughters, I suggested an old family name, Beelzebub. She did not find it funny. She also does not laugh anymore when she says that something is driving her crazy, and I reply, “That’s not a drive. It’s a short putt.”

We currently have a dog named Biscuit and a cat called Essa. Biscuit has the coloring of a biscuit, but nothing like the dog in the picture books by that name. We don’t know why the Humane Society personnel called the feline Essa. I guess someone thought that was what she looked like.

Some of you may wonder about my name being Charles, but my friends call me Chuck. I worked with a young man who answered the phone one day and told the person on the other end that we did not have a Charles. It was my Mother. She informed him that we most certainly had a Charles, but they called him Chuck, which was not my name.

I changed it to Chuck because I was tired of being called Charlie. I waited until I hoped I was old enough not to be called Chuckie, and then a doll by that name starred in a horror movie, and suddenly people were calling me that. My roommate in college called me by a nickname that no one else has ever used. Ron, if you are reading this, keep your mouth shut.

I haven’t published a lot of fiction at this point. What I do write is under the name of Chuck Kensinger. I decided in deference to my Mother that all my non-fiction would be under what she calls my real name, and any fiction under Chuck is just a made-up nickname.

MONDAY, MONDAY

August 2, 2025

Remember in high school how you could not wait to get to school on Monday each week and see the friends that you did not hang out with on the weekend? You didn’t? That seems odd. I was going to relate that experience to how you look forward to working every Monday morning.

You say you do not look forward to Monday mornings? That seems odd, also. The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to do our work as if it were done for Jesus. If you were working for Jesus, you would be chomping at the bit for Monday, wouldn’t you? While our fellow workers are praising God for Friday, shouldn’t we praise Him for Monday and the opportunity to earn our own living?

Most think there is something wrong with “TGIM”. The universe began on Monday morning. According to the Western point of view, the first full day after Jesus’ resurrection was Monday. Since work should be looked on by the Christian as a blessing, shouldn’t the beginning of the work week be a blessing also?

I’m talking about craziness. No one likes Mondays, and they never will. While unemployed, I dreaded the work week. Others returned to the job. Thousands like me joined the unemployment lines. We went to our computers and looked for work. In today’s modern society, the line is online. Most companies do not accept applications in person anymore. When you go to Wal-Mart to apply for a job, you are directed to an in-store computer where you can fill out the employment application.

The hardest job I have ever had was searching for employment. The agencies had my number. I received a few calls from them. Mostly, I received rejections from everyone. My twenty-five years in sales and customer service aided somewhat in keeping me from being overly depressed. Almost three years without regular work does take its toll.

These are the things I thought about this Monday. TGIM, thank God it is Monday and there is work to be done. My work now is writing. This is also my continuing ministry. I spent over forty years as a workplace minister until there was no workplace to minister in.

When I worked at Positronic Industries, that was my ideal job. I began as a buyer in the purchasing department and became a purchasing supervisor three months later. I was excited to go to work every day. Turn your work life over to Jesus and let Him become your boss.

The job I retired from was not as easy to handle as Positronic. There was stress from a boss who did not want me to make any of my own decisions. Everything had to be done the way he wanted it, and he did not understand when delivery dates or truck pickup times did not fit his schedule.

I kept telling myself that I was working for Jesus and not him. I made it through every day because I wasn’t trying to please anyone but my Lord. That worked for me. I hope it will work for you as well.

President of spin

July 31, 2025

Am I talking about Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, or Joe Biden? I’m not talking about any of the democrats that the seventh district Republicans like to denigrate. We all want to condemn those with whom we do not agree. We can’t agree with those who want abortion to be legal. We cannot approve anything that the LGBTQ+ community supports.

The fastest way for a candidate to gain support from the “Christian” community is to attack abortionists and gay organizations. One can divorce and remarry, and that is tolerated. You may abuse your wife or children. You may call the people you disagree with names. You can lie about them. Accuse them of destroying our economy when their policies have caused it to recover from the bad decisions that you made.

Be sure that you spin them as being bad. Criticize what they have done. Take credit for the positive things that you had nothing to do with. Find groups of terrible people that we all want to force from our society. Criminals are perfect for this. There is no one worse than those who are not in our country legally.

Promise to deport these lawbreakers. When you start this process, do not worry about what it means to be a criminal. You are from the wrong side of the border, so you must go even if you follow our laws and have done nothing wrong. How can we make this sound like it is appropriate? That person is a gang member, even if there is no proof of this.

How many times does it take for you to tell a lie before people believe it? Do not look at those you don’t like as being innocent until proven guilty. Yes, that is in our Constitution. Who cares about that old document? If it disagrees with me, I will not let it stop me from doing what I want to do.

If I am the governor of a state, then what happens on the national front is of no consequence to me. If it looks like the Attorney General of the U.S. or any state has lied, misplaced, or destroyed documents, this is of no interest to any other politician, especially from the same party. Whatever you do, you cannot allow any facts that might make one of your own parties look bad to reach the voting public.

You do know that we are right and anyone who disagrees with us must be pure evil. We want to help those who need the help the most. Billionaires are having such a difficult time paying for their seventh house and supporting their twentieth mistress and her family. After all, I helped her get off welfare, at least if she has sex with me.

It does not matter what party you vote for; if these are your beliefs, you will get what you voted for. A despotic government that will turn on you when they’ve murdered all the intelligent people. Pull your head out of your rear and look at the candidates in 2026. How have they treated their enemies for the last year? You could be one of those evil people they will hate.

July 4th, 1975

July 29, 2025

I have a few more stories about fifty years ago that I thought you might enjoy. A few days before Marianne and Phil, and the rest of the family left on their annual vacation to see their other son in Tennessee, he showed me how to light the heater in the house I was staying in.

I thought this was unusual and said as much. This Ozarks boy knew that you did not need a heater in July. Apparently, that is not true in the Allegheny Mountains. The weather forecast predicted a cold front coming to the area during the next week. On the morning of the fourth, the temperature was 32 degrees in Gifford. I lit the gas.

I mentioned in a previous column that I had made two trips to Niagara Falls that summer. The first was on the church bus with the youth from Bolivar Road and Hilltop. A month later, my brother Sam and I went back when he stopped to see me on his way from Chicago to Florida.

We visited some museums and spent a lot of time on the Canadian side. On more than one occasion, a young boy kept crawling under the ropes that were designed to keep tourists from getting too close to the cliff edge. Each time this happened, we remarked that the parents should keep a closer eye on him.

After we drove back to Gifford, we went to bed, and after seeing him off the next morning, I had my regular Sunday schedule. That evening, I went into the main house with the family to relax and watch television. The broadcast was from a station in Buffalo.

A story was headlined about an accidental death on the previous day in Nagara Falls, Canada. As we watched this story, they showed a photograph of a boy who had fallen off a cliff because he had gone beyond the safety barricades. It was the same boy we had seen the day before.

After returning home, Michelle and I spoke to a few churches about our experiences during the summer. Remember, Michelle was another student from SWBC who was in Bradford. Summer missionaries are out there right now working in churches and ministries all around the world. If you know one, thank them for me.

Walk With a Servant