LITTLE ROCK — It’s nearly 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve along a treacherous, snow-packed hill on Harmon Road in Washington County.
Rev. Lee Epstein, his wife Ruth and teen-age sons Noah and Levi are headed home in a near blizzard after Dad had delivered his message about miracles to 400 folks attending the New Heights community Christmas service at the Fayetteville Town Center.
The rear wheels on their truck suddenly begin to spin and slide sideways until the family winds up skidding completely off the highway. They’re unable to pull forward or backward.
Both rear wheels continue to spin as he guns the engine. Outside, snow continues to fall in a sheet. The family is hopelessly stranded.
After several anxious minutes, 13-year-old Noah offers a suggestion. Why don’t they pray for a supernatural roadside intervention, kind of a AAA-style miracle, if you will. An appropriate idea for Christmas eve, and it comes from the youngest person in the vehicle. Noah even asks to lead their prayer.
Following what might be the most earnest appeal to their maker the Epstein family has ever shared, the reverend holds his breath, again shifts into gear and mashes the accelerator. This time, amazingly, the truck begins to ease forward, all the way back onto the pavement. But how could it be?
Then in another unlikely feat, the truck is able to climb up and over the same hill that only minutes earlier had cast them aside.
The next morning the Epsteins spent Christmas together around their tree, feeling fully reassured of their celebration and redemption.
A timely test
Anyone else wondering when the lawyers who believe in individual freedoms and the historic values that made our nation the greatest in history will step forward to challenge on constitutional grounds this wholly partisan health care push that violates the wishes of the majority?
Where is it written in our Constitution that the government can force each citizen it supposedly serves to purchase anything? Thankfully, at least 10 states’ attorneys general appear ready to test the question in federal court, as well as the boondoggle of paying for some senators’ votes with our taxes.
Don’t bother comparing this mandatory health insurance with car insurance. I’m not buying it. Americans don’t have to own an insured vehicle to live their lives with uninsured freedom of choice rather than under government dictate.
Let’s all hope there are enough right-minded lawyers with internal substance to force this issue to a test. Some legal force with standing certainly needs to fight to uphold our liberties and, hopefully, a free and solvent nation for our children and theirs.
Serving the needy
For those who have followed the disappointment that former Razorback quarterback Matt Jones became in the NFL and with his personal life, I offer these words of encouragement.
A veteran sportscaster tells me that Jones was seen recently volunteering in the kitchen at Fayetteville’s South Church. The facility serves a hot evening meal for the homeless each Sunday. And in typical quarterback style, Jones was taking the lead in preparing and serving the meal. Working alongside him was former Razorback linebacker and safety Tony Bua, who also turned professional after an outstanding career at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Hopefully, Jones is gaining in perspective and maturity, which can translate to a move back into the NFL, where by all natural rights he belongs.
It’s a boy
On a closing note, the girls, Emmy and Hannah, presented me with a wondrously fuzzy Christmas present this year, complete with a big red bow.
Some old-timers may recall the columns I wrote in the Northwest Arkansas Times during the late 1990s about my lovable galoot of a golden retriever named Luke.
Luke was barely 6 weeks old when I brought him home from Oklahoma. He promptly began chewing everything in sight, including an entire boot one evening. He was focused on teething and it happened to be convenient for his need of the moment.
Well, now there is little Max, a floppy, big-footed, big-nosed, 12-week-old golden who also is all male. So far, he’s barked at his food, run big circles in the snow, whimpered and balked over negotiating the stairs, repeatedly checked his male status and even leaped in fear at the self-refilling water bowl, which makes a gurgling sound.
Yep. That’s my boy!
It remains to be seen how resident 9-year-old matriarch Allie the Bichon will accept this clumsy little fella, who’s intent on being affectionate with everything in sight, especially her. As with all goldens (as well as human animals), baby Max just wants to love life and be loved in return.
Mike Masterson is opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Northwest edition.
Editorial, Pages 17 on 12/29/2009