Life – Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Last Call for Football

February 8, 2026

Thank God. I get tired of the fall, Christmas, and New Year’s onslaught of NFL and college games. I do not like sports of any kind. I know most of you do not understand that. I do not get why some of you would rather watch TV or movies and never read a book. To me, that is crazy.

I am also tired of Christmas movies at this time of year. If I wanted to see a Christmas rom-com, I have a streaming service and can watch it there. I subscribe to the company I am with to receive specific types of programming. No news, no sports, and many channels that do not offer the latest movies and TV.

We like reruns. We also like new movies and programming from certain channels that are more Christian oriented that the typical providers. We like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and The Waltons, and we want family shows of that type.

Another one that we enjoy is Seventh Heaven. Hallmark, MeTV, Cozy, and Great American Family, where is it? Is it too expensive to purchase? I get that. I see it available for purchase on Amazon. It just isn’t one of the freebies, and we are frugal.

So, at this moment, it is Sunday afternoon, February 8, 2026, and the TV is not on. Later, when the Olympics or the Stupid Bowl is on, we will watch something else. We also have a library of Blu-ray and DVD discs to choose from. We might just watch Fraggle Rock. We have the entire Jim Henson series.

The commercial that has the line “Last call for football” is another type of ad I would like to see removed from my channels. Sports gambling is now legal in Missouri. I am sick of Kevin Hart. One syndicate uses him, and the scripts they give him make him look like an insensitive idiot. I know that is one type of character that he portrays.

I hope they paid him enough money for that so that he never needs to work again, because it will be a long time before I will pay to see him in anything. I think these spots are hurting his career, not helping it.

But what do I know? I took a job because I thought God wanted me to, and I ended up unemployed for three years because they lied about me to other companies. How do I know that? In every position I was considered for until I dropped them from my resume, I did not receive an offer. As soon as I left them off the list and made it look like I was working through a temp agency at that time, I got the next job.

Not everything you do is good for you. You can still learn something from everything you do. Maybe even watching football or Christmas movies in February. Whatever floats your boat. Just don’t invite me to your party. I will politely decline.

Life Through the Valleys and Over the Mountain Tops.

January 9, 2026

A Bible Trekking experience.

INTRODUCTION

The preacher was not an ordained minister. He was the Vice-Principal of our local High School. He was at our church to thank members who assisted at the school and to encourage others to join them. His topic was mountains and valleys. He is the inspiration for this book.

In the mountains

Day One

“Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil: for you are with me. Your rod and your staff comfort me.”

Psalm 23: 4

In the summer of 1975, I spent ten weeks in Pennsylvania. I was working as a summer missionary with the pastor of the Bolivar Road Baptist church in Bradford. My main responsibility was to serve as student pastor for the Hill Top Baptist Chapel in Gifford. I do not remember how many lived in that small mountain community at that time. It was so small that we walked to the post office to pick up our mail.

I taught a youth Sunday School class, preached in the morning, and led an evening Bible study. On Wednesday evenings, I led the prayer meeting. We were amid the Allegheny mountains, and many times that summer, I would take a walk into the woods. Early on, I purchased a flashlight that I took with me in the evening in case the sun began to fade before I returned to the house. It got dark early in the forest, and often I would turn off the flashlight as I stepped out of the trees.

Studying the Bible had been my life for over a year. I entered Southwest Baptist College as a junior transferring from a state school where I had been a creative writing major. My plan was to transfer to a different university to study journalism. God’s plan was for me to study His Word.

This was a mountain top experience in more than one way. I have lived all my life in the Ozark Mountains. Nothing in my experience prepared me for the Alleghenies.

If you have never been to the Ozarks, you don’t know that this part of the country is just hills. There are no true mountains in the Ozarks. Some refer to it as the Ozarks Plateau.

The valley is often looked down on by those that live in the highlands. David knew a great deal about hills, valleys, and mountains. He fought the lion and the bear as he protected the sheep. He played for King Saul when he was depressed. He killed Goliath and helped route the entire Philistine army but had to run from the King to save himself because of jealousy.

What causes you concern? Use His rod and staff to comfort yourself. His rod is what the shepherd uses to pull the lambs back from the edge of cliffs. The staff is the weapon that defends him and the flock from predators. We will continue to investigate the highs and the lows of following Christ.

Typewriter

January 4, 2026

As a writer, this was my right arm when I was taking journalism in high school. I started journalism classes in my junior year. To be ready, I took typing in my sophomore year. I knew I had to be able to compose a story while at the machine.

If you are not aware of what this contraption is, let me explain. Before computers, word processors, and smartphones, people used typewriters to type messages, letters, or other documents. You put a sheet of paper, like copy paper, onto a roll and type on a QWERTY-style keyboard.

Is that something else you do not understand? Computer keypads typically feature the QWERTY layout, with the first letters on the top line. That is the same as a typewriter. Most cell phones have the same onscreen configuration for typing messages. There are many things that we had to do back then that are not needed now.

I did not double-space at the end of each sentence now. It has taken me years to learn not to do that anymore. Over thirty years of writing takes a while to change habits. Another practice that I have not suspended is the -30- at the end of each article. I still end each column or story with that designation. I’ll show you what I mean at the end of this page.

Another thing we did was hit the return twice after each paragraph. I am happy that I do not need to load the paper onto that roll. One more blessing is the elimination of an eraser or whiteout to make corrections. Have you never used correction fluid? It is liquid paper in a bottle with a tiny brush inside the cap to block out ink on the page.

It was an essential office supply for my first thirty years in business. I was one of the few, the proud, purchasing agents who typed their own purchase orders and letters. Secretaries knew how to do this for most of us men in business. That was what my wife did for years in different companies.

I enjoy the fact that I can change manuscripts in many ways before putting them on a page. One beautiful thing about computers and phones is the ability to edit. Apps give features to add graphics, edit text, and even create videos. You will notice that these stories have videos or images that add to what I have written. I love adding songs or clips to illustrate what my article is about.

Technology is great. I am fortunate to have been one of those to grow up without digital media. When these devices fail, we know how to use other systems as a backup. I can dial a phone, write on paper, or even walk into a warehouse to check stock. This was what I did fifty years ago. I have not forgotten how to do these things.

Progress is wonderful. Knowing how to do it the old-fashioned way may someday come in handy. Read any modern dystopian science fiction story, and you will see a world where the only ones who survive are those who can live without our modern comforts. Even knowing how to move an outhouse every few weeks might be a skill we need. What is an outhouse? That is another column, or ask your granddad.

-30-

WHERE ARE YOU IN LIFE?

December 30, 2025

2026 will begin on Friday and this is the (?) New Year I have seen. The first eight or so, I do not remember. Since 1961 I have been amazed at the way we greet the turning of the pages in the chapters of time. Many are making resolutions this time of year and promising themselves to change who they are or what they do.

I decided not to make these types of choices. I have attempted to define corrections to be made daily. Life is a process. Mine began over seventy years ago. Yeah, that makes me an old fart. For some of you, I am your contemporary. That means that you are also a baby boomer or old.

For others you are in your teens or twenties. Some are new parents; others have teenagers of your own. Our daughters now fall into this category. That is what I want to talk about in this column. We are all in a stage of life. As we begin the new year I am looking at where I am.

I dislike the way many writers describe the generations. Gen X, Z, Y, A, PDQ all mean something different to all of us that refer to these broad strokes in our stories. You need to know what I mean when you are reading what I produce. Let’s talk about where we are at this moment.

Are you beginning your life? You may be a teenager, young adult, parent or in another group. Refer to yourself in the most positive way that is available. I tell people I am good looking. When you look at my picture, you may not agree. That’s fine. You’ve been wrong before and so have I.

These are opinions. They are like noses and most of us have them. One problem some of us have is we take other’s ideas as truth. They may be wrong as well. I don’t want to lie to you and there are even politicians and salesmen that do not want to lie to us. They may think that is their job. They are also wrong.

As you begin 2026, try not to be one of those. My Bible says that I am to tell the truth but use love to make it more palatable. That means it is easier to swallow. We all know the song “Just a Spoon full of Sugar.” It does make the medicine go down. When I tell people things that they may not want to hear, I attempt to do it in a sweeter way.

Join me in this and I will spend this year helping you to stay on track and you can comment below and try to keep me on track. Do not be afraid of this button. The way my pages are programmed I see your comment and I will not send it out to everyone. WordPress has a safety feature that blocks comments that have nothing to do with a story. I don’t see these.

When you start out rude or try to use my site for your own purposes, it is blocked. Most advertisers or scam artists have already learned this about me. If you do not want what you say to me to go to anyone else, start out with Off The Record. This is reporter speak for “don’t tell anyone I said this.”

My advice to you is to do this in your personal life. When you are told you are stupid, ugly, don’t know what you are talking about, or any other negative comment, block it out of your life. Make it off the record in your own soul. Don’t ever remind yourself about these comments.

This is why good social media sites have a blocking feature. When they do not, I do not use them. Some of my social media contacts have lost their connection with me by attempting to speak their opinions as if they are the truth. Even the President of the United States does this.

For this year, wherever you are in life, make it a better year. When your child says, “I hate you” understand they are children. You are an adult, even if you are only fourteen. When you became a parent, you had to become a grownup even if you don’t want to be. I speak of this often on these pages. Follow me this year and let’s work on our lives together.

“Happy New Year.”

Happy Birthday, Cindy

December 25, 2025

I was thinking about my first Christmas when Cindy and I were dating. She was fifteen, and I was twenty when we started dating. I do not remember what I gave her for her birthday. I do remember picking her up that morning and bringing her to our home.

She had been there several times before. Mom and Dad had no problem with this girlfriend coming for Christmas dinner. Cindy did not know that there was another celebration scheduled for that afternoon. When we were eating dessert, there was a birthday cake.

Mom, Mary, made the statement that Christmas was over. It was now Cindy’s birthday. If she were alive, that birthday would have been remembered after we had Christmas dinner. This has been the tradition with our girls and the entire family almost every year since then. First, it’s Christmas, and then it is over, and the birthday begins.

After her sixteenth birthday that year, she earned her driver’s license. When she completed her sophomore year in high school, we were engaged. After she turned seventeen, we were married, and that first December after we moved to Joplin, she turned eighteen and brought my lunch to me at the convenience store where I was the assistant manager.

We now spend her birthdays at home with our grandchildren when they can all make it. The problem is that as she has celebrated her day of birth, it has been overshadowed by the so-called birth of the man named Jesus. Someone thousands of years ago determined to change a pagan festival to Christmas.

Happy Birthday, Jesus is a great song to sing today, but we will sing Happy Birthday, dear Cindy. She is a few years past her twentieth, and our time together has been spent remembering the actual day of her birth, not some holiday concocted by the manufacturers and retailers to guilt us into buying stuff they could never sell without advertising.

This year, our family will remember Christmas in a few days, and tomorrow, all I must do is celebrate Cindy’s birthday with a quiet meal. This is my way of wishing Cindy a happy birthday and telling her that I love her as much or more than I did when we honored her at her sixteenth birthday party the first Christmas we spent together. 1-4-3, baby.

Good Times

December 24, 2025

I spend a lot of my columns remembering the good times of my life. This time, I would like to speak to my younger readers. If you are sixteen to twenty-four years old, these should be some great times for you. It is Christmas on top of that. Let’s talk about what is going on right now for you.

You probably still live at home with mom and dad if you are fortunate, as I was. Even if you only live with one parent or some other responsible adult, I hope you are having a great time. You have friends and family around. Enjoy them by going to school or church functions.

Don’t skip the family or work parties. I had a great time with the guys and gals I worked with in high school and college. We had a good time. No one got drunk, or high, or shot, or arrested. That is what I hope for you.

Don’t worry about the bad stuff in the news. Most of us are blessed enough to go through life without being directly involved in situations that make it to the local news. I know you do not think your parents and other adults treat you the way they should. That’s life, get used to it.

Enjoy the parades, concerts, parties, and just driving around looking at the decorations and lights. You are young. Someday, you will be old like me, and you want to have those memories. What memories? Read my other columns, and you will learn of my recollections.

If you are in a choir, band, orchestra, or clubs, go to the parties. Stay away from the drugs and drinking and the “friends” that ask you to do things you don’t want to. There are times that you don’t have anything to do so grab a couple of friends and do what you want to do, as long it is legal, mostly.

I lived in a small city where it was safe to walk or drive around town and enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of this time of year. Have a good time with people that you know and care about.

Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy and happiness. Make the most of each moment. Take the time off from school and work, and do what you and your girlfriend or boyfriend enjoy doing. Maybe don’t spend a lot of time alone with them. Enjoy their company and double date or go to parties.

God created us and said that His creation was good. It becomes bad only if people make it bad. Don’t be one of those that spoils the fun, if you can help it. Walk away from fights and arguments. Stay with those who aren’t trying to get themselves arrested or killed. That was easy for me.

There will come a day in thirty or forty years when you will say, “I remember when . . .” Let them have good memories of the music, friends, laughter, and fun. OK, now for the rest of us. I just talked to a friend of mine who celebrated his ninetieth birthday before Christmas. I never heard of a sixteen- or twenty-one-year-old who had more fun. Make this Christmas your best.

Canceling Christmas

November 2, 2025

No, I do not want to stop Christmas from being celebrated on the twenty-fifth of December. I want to discontinue Christmas in October, November, and especially in July. Any month except December. Christmas is not what it should be. The name means a celebration of Christ.

What we call Christmas is an advertising gimmick. Companies want to hook you into their products, movies, or TV shows. I know many people find Christmas as enticing as pumpkin spice everything. Personally, I like pumpkin pie, but all these other concoctions that seem to be everywhere around the holidays seem to me to be just stupid marketing ploys.

Christmas was designed by the Catholic Church to replace a festival held in December. The trees and some of the other traditions that we have today were part of the original feast. What has created this monster that covers almost the entire year is the legend of Saint Nicholas and his desire to give gifts to local children.

Gifts are one reason that the Christmas season has been extended. Another is that many seem to enjoy decorating. Does it seem to you that some go overboard in decorating? I have also noticed this same desire to decorate for other holidays.

Halloween is over, and there are many who may not be into Christmas but enjoy decorating. If Halloween is their thing, that is why they go all out for this holiday. The thing I noticed in previous years is that many of these decorations are adapted to the upcoming Christmas season. I understand why they make these conversions.

The worst offenders are the TV networks that inundate me with Christmas year-round because some folks want to watch Yule tidings all year. This article is to advise these stations or networks that they are wasting their advertising money, telling me about these out-of-season premieres.

They probably don’t care any more than the networks that air football and other sports all weekend and two or three nights a week. I do not watch sports at all. I am sure I am not the only one.

It is not that I want everything my way. I would just prefer that those who have the power to force their opinions on us would slacken it off a little. Let’s not cancel Christmas; let us simply concentrate on the birth of our Lord and Savior.

The minus

October 27, 2025

Everywhere I look everything seems to be adding a plus. Me-TV+, Hallmark+, and savings plus are just a few of them. This is supposed to show you that something has been added that was not there before. It is better than what has previously been available.

Our society is always wanting the next big thing. New, better, best is what we are always craving. Faster, easier, and quicker are all things that we look for. It occurs to me that what we really need is what we once had. My 1966 Chevy was the best car I ever drove.

Why? It wasn’t just what it had; it was what it did not have. It did not have all the gizmos and gadgets that we need today. All it had was power and the ability to take me where I needed to go fast. It was also the first car I drove that had seat belts. That was the epitome’ of safety for the time.

Maybe what we need most is not more but less. Take away what is not good for us and continue to be what we knew was good. Missouri passed a law that allows sports gambling. We also approved abortion and labor changes that our state officials want to overturn. They think we need more of what they want and less of what we want.

Walk back with me to the things that our grandparents believed in. Mine knew there was a God and that Jesus was His son and that the Holy Spirit could take up residence in our lives. About fifty years ago, I decided to accept that this was true. I’ve lived my life the way the spirit has instructed me as well as I have been able to.

I have had setbacks, but most of my life has been better than I ever imagined. I am not one of those that goes overboard and eliminates modern conveniences from my life. My wife and I have smart phones that link to our car that we drive so that we do not violate current Missouri law.

I like our two air-fryers, microwave oven, and laptop computers. Our house also has a fireplace, skylight, and a landline. We have security on our Wi-Fi, phones, computers, and tablets to prevent hacking. There are so many new things that we do not have. We do not have the systems that we can just talk to and play music or make phone calls.

I enjoy my smart phone because it allows me to read a book anytime I have a few minutes to spare. I also have an audiobook app that I use to increase my ability to read more. Reading is one thing that I do not want less of. Adding people to your life is a plus. Adding things is a minus.

When was the last time you added a new friend? I like to talk to people. Some people don’t do that as easily as I do. Take a chance and talk to someone new. You may find out that you are the kind of person who people want to talk to.

I think I’m in love.

May 5, 2025

In college, this was a saying that many guys my age used. One of my friends or acquaintances would say this when we say a beautiful girl or woman walks by. A friend of mine at Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, MO, changed that slightly. He was a ministerial student like me. He changed it to “I think I’m in lust.”

There is a difference between love and lust. Let me define the two words. Love is not an emotion. Lust is a desire for something sexual. I do not like to use dictionaries for words like love. Secular scholars are more interested in contemporary usages of the word and not what the Biblical examples indicate.

I agree with Paul’s definition of the love of God. You’ve read it in First Corinthians chapter 13. It includes patience, kindness, lack of envy, boasting, and pride. This is what we should strive for in our romantic love.

Do you know how to define what you mean when you say “I love you” to your spouse? The Association referred to it as “Cherish” in the song in 1966. “Cherish is the word I use to describe all the feelings that I have” is the opening line. This song also tells us that all the other guys say, “I love you.”

All they want is to touch your face, your hands, or hold you. Others say they will love you all the rest of their lives. When I was dating the girls were warned not to believe us when we said that we loved them. Most of these guys would use the line, “If you really love me, we should have sex.”

I never was one to do that. I had one girlfriend that I learned later and she stopped dating me because I never tried to have sex with her. Cindy will tell you that I haven’t had that problem for a long time.

On television and in movies, young people ask their parents or other adults how you know if you love someone. For me, it was because I wanted to be with her. Not every minute of every day like the songs say. When we are apart, I need to get back to her. I hope you have someone that gives you that kind of security.

This is not sexual. That is why I say that sex is not the same as love. I do not like to use the term making love. That makes love a noun, not a verb. Love is something you do. As Paul says, “It is patient, it is kind, it never fails.”

I explain to those who say that they fell in love and have fallen out of love by adding I did not fall. I jumped in. I can leave if I do not want to continue to love. I have a choice to love or not. It is the same for you. Jump or stay where you are.

Love is a choice as the book title says. It is up to you. Like Doc Brown said at the end of the third installment of the Back to the Future Trilogy, “Your future isn’t set. Make it what you want it to be.”

Boomers go bust

April 3, 2025

As the years and the decades increase in your life span, you will notice that references that younger people do not recognize are readily caught by you and your contemporaries. My contemporaries are the kids of the baby boom. There is a lot of misinformation about this generation.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau this group was born between 1946 and 1964. We are 79 to 61 years old. If you refer to those younger or older than this as boomers, you are making an error.

Just to let you know, we are not older than dirt. Our parents were familiar with dirt when they were children. They told us thousands of stories about getting in trouble when they were kids for getting themselves or the house they lived in dirty. Some of us even remember our grandparents talking about dirt before our folks were born.

We do not remember World War I or II, the civil war, or the Roman Empire. We are not as old as God or Jesus. Both have existed for all eternity. We know that you are not as intelligent as we are. Don’t prove to us how stupid younger people are. We try to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Keep in mind that whatever you say to your children about us will come back to bite you in the backside. The generations after you will repeat these fallacies and may someday refer to you as boomers, old fogies, or the ancient of days. We remember using these same phrases on our parents and grandparents.

I look forward to hearing my grandchildren insult their parents the way they criticized us. I remember when I was fourteen and thought that I was smarter than my dad because the highest he went to school was the eighth grade. I hope all of them will get their B.A. as I and their mothers did.

Master’s or doctorates would be even better. I won’t tell them they are stupid if they do not know who or what the Mercury Seven were as long as they don’t roll their eyes when I question who all the current movie stars, TV and music performers are. Even I can identify Lady Gaga. Your children will agree with us that she was just some weirdo.

We hate it that there are a lot of commercials for medications for our ailments, adult diapers, and supplements that are recommended for older people. Keep in mind that in five years the next generation will need to sign up for Medicare and they already can join AARP.

The only way any of you can keep from getting as old as we are, is to die. When President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, we were told “only the good die young.” We know that was not true because we see bad people die in their twenties, thirties and forties. It is tragic, but it happens.

I wish you what parents have hoped for their children and grandchildren for centuries. To live long and prosper. We know where this quotation came from. Do you?

Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Walk With a Servant

Tag: Life