Matthew 24:21 “For then shall be great tribulation, such as not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” I have been writing these Biblical Gems on a weekly basis for many years, and not one has ever been written without Biblical scripture to document every word.

A disaster hits – do you evacuate or stay where you are? Obviously what you should do depends upon the situation. Either way, you must stay calm – being able to think clearly can make all the difference. Now, having answered that question, let’s break down a plan for both responses.

Regular exercise and physical activity are important to the physical and mental health of almost everyone, including older adults. Being physically active can help you continue to do the things you enjoy, stay independent as you age and produce long-term health benefits. Health experts agree that older adults should be active every day to maintain optimal health. Physical activities are activities that get your body moving such as gardening, walking and/or taking the stairs instead of the ele ...

Sharon Lee was in the hospital with pneumonia recently. She is home now and doing well. Maude Ann Kuykendall hosted the ladies from the Church of Christ and town at the new house for Ladies Night Out. We had lots of good food and fellowship. We also found out things about each other that was quite shocking.

There are times that we begin things that we may not finish. Have you ever done this? Sometimes it is easy to begin a diet, but it is hard to stay on it. When you see the sweets and high calorie foods, you have a craving that is hard to squelch.

25 Years Ago April 12, 1984 Mark Edmondson, a senior at San Saba High School is the Texas, Georgia, and Arizona State Rifle Champion. Mark has signed a letter of intent with A&M and will represent them to compete in the Championship of Universities in Portales, New Mexico. Mark is the son of Martin and Helga Edmondson and the grandson of Mabel and Tom King. San Saba voters elected Joe Ragsdale as Mayor.

Reading Recommendations: The Shack, Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, William P. Young. MacKenzie Allen Phillips young daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a camping trip and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment, he arrives at the shac ...

Robert Louis Stevenson was bedridden with consumption. But his disease didn't make him despondent. One day he was coughing badly. His wife said, "Do you still believe it's a wonderful day?" "I do," he said, as he looked out of the window. "I'll not allow a row of medicine bottles to block my horizon."

One of the wonderful teachings of the Bible is the truth that God is in absolute control of all things. Do you rebel at this? Why? “Well, I can’t believe in a God who brings about famine in Somalia, hurricanes in Florida, floods in Middle America, and earthquakes in California.” But “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?

Everyone survived April 1st, this year without too much trouble, as nothing out of the ordinary was reported. The weather is the biggest jokester in the county, one day hot and the next day freezing cold and of course the wind. No body can live without the wind, first from the North and then from the South.

There it lies on the ground waiting to be put up, over 77 feet long and 40 feet wide at the crossbar and weighs 70 tons. It took over two years to build by the largest art foundry in the United States. It will turn a reddish brown to emphasize the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

It’s hard to believe Easter is upon us and we are in the last grading period of school. Seniors having been counting days for a while but now the rest of the kids are experiencing spring fever. I’m sure no one has any cobwebs left in their minds because the winds have been so strong lately they should all be blown away. Go take a walk to blow the cobwebs out just doesn’t work too well sometimes.

Logan Lane Lock, daughter of Michelle McCoury Lock and Jeremiah Lock was born February 17 at the College Station Medical Center, College Station, TX. She was 5 lbs. and 18 inches long. Her grandparents are Gregg and LaVada McCoury of San Saba and Jesse and Shelia Lock of Midlothian. Great -grandparents are Billie B.

Ron & Buddie Groom of Bangs are proud to announce the birth of their son, Thomas Ollie Groom, born Feb. 20, 2009, weighing 7 lbs. 13 ozs. Grandparents are Terry & Ranita Richmon of Lake Brownwood and Michael Groom of Illinois. Great grandparents are Bud & Wanda Roberds of Richland Springs and Ronald & Jeanette Groom of Illinois.

Larry & Charlene Daniel are pleased to announce the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, Danielle, to Billy Sutton, son of Barbara Sutton of San Saba and Larry Sutton of Lufkin, Texas. Danielle is a 2004 graduate of San Saba High School and is currently employed at Super S Foods. Billy is currently employed for the City of San Saba on the Parks Department. An April 25, 2009 ceremony is planned at their residence.

Mr. Gaylon Addkison, of Mabank, Texas and Ms. Cherei Addkison, of San Saba, Texas, announce the engagement of their daughter, Angela Addkison to Scott Nelson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Nelson of Morrison, Illinois. Angela graduated from San Saba High School in 2003, and graduated from the University of North Texas in 2008.

Eating out has never been more popular. Almost half of the money we spend on food is spent away from home. You expect fast, friendly service. You also expect the food to be safe to eat. Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that approximately 1 in 4 Americans will get sick from eating contaminated food at home or at food service establishments.

Joan Orear of Burnet donated the framed art pictured above to Rylander Library. The original picture was on the cover of Life Magazine in 1966. Orear’s drawing called “Easy Living in San Saba” has left to right Walter Shaw, Dee Rutherford, Mark Sullivan, Dit Shaw and Lon Robbins. The framed art is hanging by the entrance of the library.

The Richland Springs School Board is hosting a town hall meeting to inform, discuss, and answer questions about the upcoming May 9 bond election. It will be held in the school cafetorium on Thursday, April 9, at 7:00 p.m. The School Board would like any citizen of Richland Springs ISD and anyone interested in the school to bring your questions, ideas, and comments to this meeting.

That ol’ time honored saying of “If you don’t like the weather here in Texas, just wait ‘til tomorrow”, has certainly been true the past few weeks. It’s as if Winter & Spring cannot come to a conclusion as to which one might be in charge. All good things, in time, will come.

Receipts totaled 968 head for the week. Packer bulls sold $3 higher while packer cows were $2 higher. Stocker heifers were $1 higher and stocker steers were steady in active trading. Feeder steers and heifers remain steady.- Rep. Sales James Baucum-Odessa-1 Steer-500@115.00 Bratton Ranch Co.-Rochelle-2 Steers-425@115.00 Johnson Ranch-Dripping Springs-5 Steers-519@109.00 Pete & Sam Sloan-San Saba-1 Steer-665@107.00 Pete & Sam Sloan-San Saba-1 Steer-720@98.00 Rance Bell-Buchanan-1 Heifer-4 ...

Hamilton, TX, April 1, 2009 - Dale Vann, Farm Loan Manager for USDA's Farm Service Agency in Texas announced today that FSA has obligated all of the $173 million provided in the Recovery Act for its Direct Operating Farm Loan Program, which gave 2,636 producers direct loans from the agency of which almost 50% were beginning farmers and 10% socially disadvantaged producers.

The Richland Springs 4-H Pet Show took place Saturday, April 4 at the Richland Springs Rodeo Grounds Pavilion at 11:00 a.m. The Richland Springs 4-H club was extremely thankful to have Charlie and Kitty Cummings as outstanding Judges once again. We would also like to thank Wayne Gossett, Weldon Faught, Lee and Paula Miller, Lisa Larremore, and Carolyn McDowell for all of their time, help and donations.

Leo Roy Beard, a world renowned hydrologic engineer, died in Austin, TX, on March 21, 2009, at the age of 91. Roy Beard had an illustrious career with the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1939 to 1972, retiring as (founding) Director of the Corps' Hydrologic Engineering Center in Davis, CA.

Rosa Dell Gervais, 86 of Clyde, died Wednesday at a local care center. Services were at 10:30 a.m. Saturday April 4, 2009 at the Bailey Funeral Home Chapel. Burial followed in China Creek Cemetery near San Saba at 4:00 p.m. Visitation was from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Friday April 3, 2009 at the funeral home. Mrs.

A 5th grade class from San Saba visited Stratton’s Egg Farm in Richland Springs on March 6th. Mrs. Stratton showed them how to feed, water, and gather eggs. They had fun looking at different kinds of chickens and holding the baby chicks. Mrs.Stratton gave them some eggs for the class incubator, and 21 days later, a chick hatched!

Competition is a fact of life. Students face competition in both UIL athletics and UIL academics. This week we focus on academic competitions. Richland Springs’ one act play, “All My Sons,” placed third at district zone competition. Only two plays advance. However, several Richland Springs’ thespians did receive honors: Kelyn Green – Best Actress; Emily Smith –All Star Cast; Mitchell Jacobson and Callie Teel – Hon.

Shelby Hardy fired a sunder par 67 to lead her Lady Dillo Golf Team to a 69 stroke lead over second place Coleman in the first round of District play. Hardy's 67 is her personal best and the lowest score ever by a Lady Dillo. To my knowledge it is a course record for the San Saba Course for a woman player.

The San Saba Baseball teams competed twice this past week.The JV lost to Coleman on Tuesday 8-1 and beat Dublin on Friday 28-0. The Varsity lost to Coleman on Tuesday 5-4, and lost to Dublin on Friday 4-0. The current district standings puts the Dillos tied for third place with Dublin at 3-3.

The San Saba Ladies Golf Association met April 2, 2009 for the monthly business meeting with the President, Anita Miles, calling the meeting to order and calling on the Club Chaplain, Nell McHorse, to open with special prayer for Bobbie Churchill and Pat Ribb, as they are having health issues.

On Tuesday, March 31st the Lady Dillos traveled to Coleman to play the Lady Bluecats. It was a rough afternoon for the Lady Dillos, who came up short 18-1. Tuesday’s game was a game that saw base hit after base hit find the gaps in the outfield. The Lady Dillos defense committed only two errors, while Coleman put up 15 base hits.

The San Saba Lady Dillos captured 4th place at Goldthwaite with only 6 girls due to Johna Reavis hurting her achilles. These girls scored 69 points and performed well. We hope Johna is okay and will be ready by District. Hopefully, the week off will help her. This week we have no track meet.

On March 28th the Brownwood Fair Barn hosted the annual HotBox competition for the 4-H Shooting Sports Teams in the surrounding counties. The HotBox had competitions in light rifle, three position precision rifle, silhouette, air rifle, and air pistol categories. Entering from the San Saba County 4-H in the light rifle category were Ron Gerhart, Melanie Hedley, and Caelob Hardmann.

On Thursday, April 2nd high school boys competed in a track meet at Goldthwaite. These young men should be congratulated on the fine job they did in their first meet. All of our athletes finished at least 10th or better in all of their events. Every one of them competed to the best of their abilities and as coaches we were very proud of them.

The entire faculty of San Saba ISD participated in a fundraiser for the new run through tunnel. The faculty donated money to wear jeans for the week after spring break, all went well, and we raised around 800 dollars. Elementary and middle school students participated in a coin drive, the winner has not yet been determined.

The High School UIL Academic team participated in the District 14 meet last Saturday. The team finished 7th overall. Those members who finished in the top 10 of their contest are: Brianna Garza, 7th- Current Issues Michael Crawford, 4th- Headline Writing, 2nd- Literary Criticism, 1st – Lit Crit Team; Haley Lohrke, 1st- Lit Crit Team, 1st – Poetry Interpretation; Yvette Torres, 1st – Lit Crit Team, 5th – Prose Interpretation; Heather Spence, 6th – Science, Physics alternate ...

San Saba ISD is embarking on a venture that will change our District and the quality of the education we provide our students dramatically in the future. In previous columns I have talked to you about the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS); the TEKS are provided to school districts by the Texas Education Agency and they are the curriculum framework that is mandated to be taught to school children of Texas.

The San Saba Tennis Team played in the Mason Tennis Tournament on April 2-4. There were 25 teams at the Mason Tournament. The teams were Bangs, Blanco, Brady, Cherokee, Christoval, D’Hanis, Eden, Fredericksburg, Ingram, Irion County, Junction,Kerrville Tivy, Lampasas, Lohn, Mason, Menard, Nueces Canyon, Ozona, Paint Rock, Reagan County, Rochelle, San Saba, Sonora, Veribest and Wall. Playing for San Saba were Jose Vega, Houston Casco, Josh Raiford, Diego Gonzales, Chase Key, Ariela De Giuli, ...

The Bottom Line: A Strong Parent-Child Relationship. You may wonder why a guide for preventing teen alcohol use is putting so much emphasis on parents’ need to understand and support their children. But the fact is, the best way to influence your child to avoid drinking is to have a strong, trusting relationship with him or her.

Young school age children in the community of San Saba have the opportunity to participate in many sports programs after school hours and on weekends. The San Saba Youth Basketball League is one of those programs that promotes basketball skills, competition, good sportsmanship and exercise. This group recently hosted a Youth Basketball Tournament at San Saba ISD.