What we have here is a serious inability for the opposite sexes to understand what is sacred for the other side.

Take for instance, the significance of flowers to women and ballgames to men. Neither side understands why it is important to the other. The matter is further complicated by the human need to understand before we can accept. Due to the serious lack of understanding, these two issues become, without a doubt, the biggest source of constant conflict in the battle of the sexes.

Once, in a church I served in another state, a young teenage boy secretly smeared human feces on the walls of the men’s restroom several times before he was caught.

With its buying power diminished, a quarter many not seem important to most, but with tax time right around the corner, every quarter is really important to the government.

Amidst the rubbish rolling off the Hollywood production line there is the occasional gem, a surprisingly high quality film or perhaps an important movie that can teach us prized lessons of our humanity if we pay attention. There is such an important movie now playing, titled “300.”

In case you haven’t noticed, Mama has been banished from this column for several weeks.

Have you missed her?

It all started when she, for the first time ever, took exception to a piece I wrote on her crankiness following heart surgery. If I thought she was cranky before the piece, it was nothing compared to what came after that one ran.

Not that I meant to do it, but I’ve proven that one cannot safely or effectively combine cell phone usage with other routine activities. And I believe it has nothing to do with distraction and everything to do with the fact that the human brain can do only one thing at a time.

I had just taken my seat, number 2C, aboard Airtran Flight 569 from Bloomington, Ill., to Atlanta. The day was cold but clear and the sunset was but moments away in a near cloudless sky. I paid the upgrade of $40 for a business class seat because I wanted to read and relax after a busy two days in Champaign where I am helping to start a new church.

My mama was born in the great state of Alabama. She lived there all her life, until she married my dad, that is, then she moved to Georgia. I guess that makes her about as Southern as one can git.

Gone. It was gone. Two hours of work – gone.

My editor at Fayette Woman had challenged me on matters of punctuation, possessive plurals specifically, and I took the bait. She gave me one more chance to get it right by letting me proofread it myself.

Several months ago, a well-known, influential and prominent pastor was accused of drug use and sexual immorality. The minister, who was president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an organization representing some 30 million Christians, was the founding pastor of a church whose ranks had swelled to a phenomenal 14,000 members. The pastor resigned as NAE president and, eventually, was removed from his pulpit and the ministry.

Men and women are different – plain and simple. We look different; we talk different; we listen to the same conversation, but yet hear things differently.

When an experience is shared it is magnified. I’ve written often of our travels, especially in Europe, and people tell me they appreciate my sharing because they too love the continent’s antiquities, or famous art galleries, or its music.

During the recent state funeral for President Gerald Ford, someone observed that the great outpouring of gratitude and grief reflected a nation atoning for its errors of criticism and cynicism of the former president especially in pardoning Richard Nixon. Even Senator Edward Kennedy who had denigrated Ford for his pardon took to the Senate floor to say Ford was right and he was wrong.

For most of the Christian community, the season of Lent has begun. This season, which follows the Church seasons of Advent (preparing for the coming of Christ), Christmas (the birth of Christ), and Epiphany (a season of the “revealing” of Christ, which includes the story of the Wise Men), is almost like a liturgical “stop sign” in the middle of the Christian calendar.

The sun dipped below the horizon of 110 Flamingo Street as the orange and purple hues of dusk crept across the night sky. Thirty minutes later, I climbed the last hill before turning down our street, knowing that I was in trouble for being late.

Shortly after a series of windstorms ravished middle and southeastern America last month, a similar anomaly struck the European continent. Mary was in her nearly outfitted new apartment in Mannheim, and could not get back to Gelsenkirchen, and Rainer could not get to Mannheim.

You probably know someone like him. Undoubtedly, you have encountered a villain-like character that connives from a personal agenda that is often vindictive and petty.

After receiving numerous requests, columnist Ronda Rich is issuing an open invitation to readers of her Dixie Divas column to Dixie Dew’s sixth birthday party.

A few days ago, I went with a couple of our staff to a Mexican restaurant. It had been some time since I had enjoyed guacamole, so I ordered a large side order so that all of us could share.

Last week, million of viewers watched the rain-soaked Super Bowl on new flat screen plasma televisions. I was supposed to be one of them. The key word in the previous sentence: Was. The Wife had other ideas.

There is no doubt that the photo of the eternally embracing couple will remain printed on my mind just as surely as in the newspaper I’m holding. I’ve read and reread the story, and I’ve cross-checked with other sources. They all say pretty much the same thing.

If anyone needs proof that our mainstream media is focused on unimportant but titillating stories, witness the stampede to cover ad-nauseam the death of Anna Nicole Smith. But even worse, in my opinion, is how the media twists real news. Here are a couple of examples, one recent, one from long ago.

It may be interesting to you and even completely unbelievable to learn that I am an incredibly sought-after single woman. Many desire to make my acquaintance in unmasked hopes of leading to long-term romantic relationships.

Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s a day that tells it like no other. Americans will spend $12 billion on Valentine’s Day 2007. Ninety-two percent of the population will participate in one way or the other in making up that $12 billion. Thirty-six million boxes of candy will be bought and given for that one day out of 365.

It is 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning and I am in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., where it is currently seven degrees below zero with a wind chill factor of minus 22 degrees.

I really never gave it much thought. Growing old, that is. I figured I didn’t have to. The way I saw it, I only had two options: grow older or die.

This is the house that Jack built.

This is the roof that covers the house that Jack built.

These are the leaves that clutter the roof that covers the house that Jack built.

Men seem to be coming up short on sex appeal these days. Have you noticed how short in stature the men are who are widely proclaimed to be the world’s sexiest men?

When you write a letter in response to one of my columns, I sit and think about it more than you think. This past week I received a very sincere letter from someone who reproved me for seeming inaccuracies in columns of the last two weeks concerning the Sabbath.

In a story dated Jan. 23 posted on AmericaOnLine, “AirTran Airways defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff. AirTran officials said they followed Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seat belt upon takeoff.’