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By Dr. James L. Snyder

Since I have reached a certain age, I cannot reveal that age; my energy seems limited. I don’t have the energy I once had. Where it has gone, I have not discovered yet.

I once inquired of The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage where my energy went, and she replied, “Silly boy, you’re over the hill, and so is your energy.”

I almost asked her what that meant, but I didn’t have the energy, and I didn’t have the energy to climb back up that hill.

Not having enough energy does have its good side. One thing is that it is an excellent excuse for not doing something. For example, when my wife asks me to do something that I really don’t want to do, I say, “My Dear, I just don’t have the energy or I would do it.” Of course, she scowls at me because I think she knows exactly what I’m saying.

I have discovered that the word “retired” is something I didn’t understand before. It means that I am tired over and over and over again. How I long for those pre-tired days of long ago. I didn’t understand how tired I was until recently.

A little over a year ago, our great-granddaughter entered our lives. When that happened, the great-grandmother opened “Grandma’s Playtime Center.” Now, the great-granddaughter is at our home during the week while her parents are working.

Seeing how much this little rascal grows within a year has been interesting. Somebody thought they were teaching her how to walk when, in reality, she learned how to run. I open my office door, and before I fully open it, she ran inside before me. My challenge is finding the energy to get her out of my office.

Watching her running all day long it is a very tiring experience. I’m not sure where she gets all her energy but she seems never to run out. If only I could borrow some of her energy, it would be great. It would serve both of us well.

Since she’s been staying with us throughout the week, I’ve realized how truly tired I was. I still come back to that question: where did my energy go? If I can answer that question, I might solve some of my retirement problems.

Thinking back on my former years, I remember how much energy I had when I was younger.

As a young kid, my parents made me go to bed early, and sleeping early was difficult. I sought ways to convince my parents to let me stay up longer. No matter when I went to bed, I still had energy that I hadn’t used that day. Now, as I am older and in that tirement cycle, I look for excuses to go to bed earlier.

It has become a game between The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and me. We try to find new excuses to convince us to go to bed earlier.

Sitting in my chair, I will begin to fake a yawning session. Looking at me, my wife asks, “Are you ready for bed already?”

Looking at my watch and seeing that it’s not even 9 o’clock, I respond by saying, “Oh, no not yet!”

“You will tell me when you’re ready for bed, won’t you?”

I’m not too fond when she puts all the responsibility on me. If I had the energy, I would challenge her, but where do I get that kind of energy?

Occasionally, I will sneak a peek in her direction, and sometimes, I will see her eyes closed. I then say, “You’re not asleep are you?”

She would quickly open her eyes, looks at me, and says, “No, I was just praying.”

Finally, just before the clock hit 10 o’clock, she looked at me and said, “I think I’m ready for bed. I have to get up early tomorrow to take care of our great-granddaughter.”

Only she could come up with a legitimate excuse to go to bed early. If only I could come up with a legitimate reason, but I had to get up early in the morning I might be able to cash in on that.

Usually, I’ll respond by saying, “I’ll join you when I find the energy to get up off of my chair.”

I won’t give up the search for energy. Surely, there is something I can do to tap into some kind of energy. Thinking about this the other day, I remembered a Bible verse. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Based on this, I have learned that waiting on God is the real secret to my daily energy. Like many people, I try to find my own energy and have failed many times. Only God can renew the strength I need to live each day for His glory.

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., website www.jamessnyderministries.com.

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By Chris Edwards

The almanac predicted an “unseasonably cold winter,” and as I write this, it’s sho’nuff colder than a well digger’s something, somewhere here in deep East Texas.

We’ll come out of this, though, and crawl back into more routine weather for our region, but it couldn’t come soon enough. Here’s a few salutes and a few boos, uttered, of course, between shivers, of a few things that popped up in headlines here and there this week.

Jeers to the uncommonly cold weather

With temperatures in the teens and a mighty windchill producing a teeth chattering heard ‘round the region, this week has been more of a “huddle up and hibernate” sort of proposition for many, as opposed to business as usual. Although Tyler County has been spared the worst of it, nearby Angelina County has seen the city of Lufkin essentially close down on Tuesday, and most of the schools in the area closed. Stay warm, and safe, friends.

Cheers to Tyler Countyofficials

Tyler County Emergency Management as well as school officials across the county have kept everyone in the loop, and safe, during the rough weather this week. On Tuesday, all five of the county’s school districts had made the decision to either cancel classes outright or delay starting the school day.

Kudos, as well, to the county’s EMC for setting up warming stations in Woodville and Colmesneil and keeping the county abreast of developments with the weather and road conditions.

Cheers to bipartisanlegislating, tax relief

A bipartisan tax package was released on Tuesday that would beef up the popular child tax credit and restore several business tax breaks. The nearly $78 billion package would also enhance funding for affordable housing and disaster relief.

Although it faces an uphill climb to passage, the provision could save taxpayers more than $70 billion, which would pay for it, and help people hit by disasters by increasing the amount of investment a small business can write-off and provide families with disaster tax relief. A glass raised high for some relief and for legislators working together.

Jeers to ‘vote at all cost’ rhetoric

At a rally on Sunday, former President, and current GOP front runner Donald Trump, implored Iowans to get out and vote in the primary, even if it were to cost them their lives.

“Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it,” Trump was quoted. He was urging them to turn out and vote for him among concerns from officials, as the windchill temps dropped to -35 in the Buckeye State.

Voting is important, and in this column, I’ve stressed many times just how important making one’s voice at the polls is, but this kind of rhetoric is irresponsible. When a political leader such as Mr. Trump speaks, people listen. Voting is supremely important, but lives are more important.

Jeers to Jerry Jones

Another Cowboys season is in the books with the same predictable patterns played out. A 48-32 loss at the hands of the Green Bay Packers put Dem Boys’ season to bed, and it’s been a season of wins, high hopes from the Cowboys’ faithful flock and then choking in the playoffs.

The franchise is a reflection of its owner Jerry Jones and his bloated ego, and maybe, once he takes his finger off the button, America’s Team will find success again in the post-season. Facts are facts, folks, plus those Cheeseheads just wanted that win more.

Cheers to favoritebands reuniting

Texas has been a leader in the arts, especially in the sheer variety of exciting musical acts that have emerged through the years. In the ‘90s there were few rock bands as exciting as the Dallas-Fort Worth scene’s Tripping Daisy, which ceased to be right before Y2K when its lead guitarist died.

Sporadic reunion shows have popped up since 2017, but in a recent interview the band’s frontman Tim DeLaughter spilled the beans that the mighty Daisy is reuniting this year with a new record in store.

DeLaughter, in years since, aside from becoming a real estate and record store mogul in the Metroplex, has led the Polyphonic Spree, an ensemble that resembles a religious cult more than a rock band. Interesting as the Spree might be, it’s not the mighty Tripping Daisy.

Your humble scrivener can recall a time when TD gigs in Nacogdoches were so common, they may as well have been classified as a local East Texas band. Here’s to shows full of trippy visuals and loud, catchy tunes that made the band so great back in the day becoming a thing again.

Speaking of bandsreuniting and whatnot

Cheers to a possible return to regular performing from the enigmatic and unnaturally talented country troubadour Sturgill Simpson. Simpson has largely been laying low since a vocal chord hemorrhage put his performing career on ice in 2021, but a recent appearance at a Dead & Company-curated festival in Mexico last week made headlines, and videos posted to YouTube showed that he’s back in fine form.

With intelligent and catchy country acts now in the mainstream, like Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton and Turnpike Troubadours, the time couldn’t be more right for a Sturgill Simpson revival.

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By Tony Farkas
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In his latest political raspberry to the U.S. government, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has channeled his inner Davy Crockett regarding the influx of illegal aliens into the state.

To paraphrase, it’s “I’m securing the border, and you may go to hell.”

The governor has ordered the Department of Public Service and the Texas National Guard as part of the strategy to secure the border.

To quantify the problem, 2.5 million illegal crossings were documented in 2023, topping the 2.2 million from 2022. There are more than 6,000 crossings per week so far this year, and it shows no sign of stopping.

On top of his busing of aliens to the so-called sanctuary cities throughout the country, the DPS has taken over Shelby Park in Eagle Pass after the governor declared the incursions an emergency. The move allows troopers to arrest illegal aliens, as well as keeping out federal Border Patrol agents.

In response to this, the feds, constitutionally required to protect the border and regulate immigration, filed a lawsuit against Texas, asking Daddy (the court) to make Texas give back the toys.

While all of this is going on, the border incursion continues.

The use of emergencies to precipitate a power grab is a double-edge sword; power obtained is rarely, if ever, returned, but the failure of the federal government to do its job and regulate immigration, pushing Texas to this particular brink, is unfathomable.

The U.S. Senate currently is hashing out some sort of legislation to deal with the crisis that our leaders, particularly President Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, say really doesn’t exist. (They say this while the sanctuary cities benefitting from Abbott’s busing plan scream for funds to help with the immigrant overload.)

That deal is mostly amnesty, with an annual increase in green cards, work permits and taxpayer-funded attorneys while allowing 5,000 immigrants a day forever and limiting the authority to expel anyone. It says nothing that I can find about deportations or dealing with the fact that there will be no repercussions for breaking our laws.

It would be easy to lay this at the feet of the current administration, but anyone with access to a history book or the internet can see this pattern repeating itself since at least the mid-1980s — overload the border, Congress throws up its hands, amnesty is issued, and we’re on to the next administration.

I’m aware of the arguments for allowing this, like humanitarian reasons or asylum from oppressive regimes, and I fully support anyone seeking a better life in what still could be the best country ever (my mother came over in the mid-1950s as part of the wave of displaced persons fleeing Eastern Europe following World War II), as long as it’s done legally.

In this instance, though, when both sides don’t care what the law is, it means that the people who live in the U.S. are played for fools — those having followed the rules to become citizens, and all of us forced to carry the financial burden, since governments are giving away health care and welfare.

Something has to be done, and ignoring the ramifications of unfettered access to the country isn’t the way to go.

Whether Abbott’s actions are good or bad in your eyes, what we all can agree on is that it’s a crying shame that it was necessary.

Tony Farkas is publisher of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.

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By Tom Purcell

I forgot what it was like to experience a good old common cold.

Prior to covid, you see, the cold-getting experience went like this: I’d wake with a stuffy nose and scratchy throat and my only thought was to curse the gods for visiting a new virus cocktail on me that was going to make me cranky for 9 days.

I remember at first denying that a cold virus was feasting on me, then, as the hacking got bad, I moved on to the anger stage before finally accepting my fate that the miserable common cold is a fact of life.

But post-covid, few people respond to a common cold this way.

No sooner do our sniffles start than we are searching WebMD, calling doctors and telling family members we’re certain we are suffering from another covid variant that is sure to do us in.

“Headlines warning of new covid variants; unseasonal surges of flu, RSV and human metapneumovirus; and unusual symptoms stemming from viruses that usually cause cold-like symptoms, including adenovirus and enterovirus, have made many of us hyper aware of the germs that make us sick,” reports NBC News.

Experts tell NBC News that our overreaction to the cold is a bit of overkill — that unless it is an unusually strong bug (which means it may be something more serious) or unless you have a weakened immune system, just do what humans with a cold have always done: get some over-the-counter drugs and drink plenty of fluids.

There’s not much else we can do.

Look, back in 2018, Scientific American said scientists were getting close to curing the dreaded cold — two years before covid demonstrated that our scientists aren’t much ready for prime time where preventatives for easily spread respiratory viruses are concerned.

According to Scientific American, the search for a cure dates back to the 1950s when scientists discovered that the cause of the sniffles was a group of pathogens known as rhinoviruses.

The trouble is, there are 160 different strains of these bugs and, said one immunologist, it’s “incredibly difficult to create a vaccine or drug that will target all of those 160 [strains].”

Another idea is to crack the code on the structure that each of the 160 strains shares. Researchers at the Imperial College London have been working on that, which Scientific American reports would let them design a super vaccine.

But again, these reports date back to 2018 and scientists have still not found a cure for the common cold.

Which is why we might just as well enjoy a cold when it comes.

Being miserably sick, as I was last week, gives us license to shut down our most pressing adult responsibilities and completely let everything go.

A few sips of Irish whiskey in hot tea soothe a raw throat — just as a few more make the presidential election a wee bit less frightening.

Being unable to sleep is not so painful once you latch onto a streaming TV series you can binge watch until you finally nod off.

And when you get back to good health, you will be reminded not to take it for granted.

Hey, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports a lot of us are suffering from various bugs right now.

The least we can do is remember how to make the best of it!