A STUDENT IN our community today will walk the halls of Congress with a pinned American flag on their chest. A student in our community today will pray their knees still hold when their nerves get...

"I SAW MYSELF as a teacher, in a bank, as a doctor — never prisoner number 00660725 at the Bedford County Correctional Complex,” wrote Shawna Barrier. “My pathway to becoming a habitual offender...

DURING HIS formative years in Maryland, Kasey Kesselring’s mother and three siblings gathered around the dinner table each evening, taking turns reading from the devotional “Our Daily Bread.”...

NINETY-YEAR-OLD MARY Sadler’s eyes twinkle as she studies the eager faces around the kindergarten classroom at Cascade Elementary School. Every morning, she lovingly delivers the bags of hot...

SOMEONE IS unresponsive and has quit breathing. A loved one is struggling to breathe or appears to be experiencing a heart attack. A child is choking on a grape. Any one of us could find ourselves...

THE SKY blushed with shades of peach and coral above the metal bleachers of Shelbyville Central High School (SCHS). Wild honeysuckles sweetened the slight summer breeze. One by one, the stadium...

AFTER DAYS of nonstop chemo infusions, Ezralee Swing was much too weak to open his eyes. Above the metal headboard of his hospital bed, a machine beeped. Had he finally completed his seventh day of...

THE SOUNDS of the self-checkout registers beep through the entire store. The short lines of people with baskets and carts move across the reflective tile like a conveyor belt and out the door. Uh,...

You know that first breath of spring? The way the warmer air gives you goosebumps — the air is soft, full of promise, carrying hints of something new. After months of cold, we step outside, and for...

Courtney Clardy awoke before her alarm clock. All five of her children were still sleeping, but there was another child who needed her. She quietly settled into the dining room chair and reviewed...

Jeremy Smith, the lead pastor of The Experience Community Church’s (ECC) Shelbyville campus, has dedicated his life to serving both his faith and his community. Married to his wife, Kelly, for...

JFigurines from your favorite games and movies, such as “Dungeons & Dragons,” “Star Wars,” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” alongside colorful backpacks adorned with iconic characters, such as...

A nurse walked down the hallway his mother walked decades before he did. Beep … beep … he could hear the sounds from patients’ rooms. He kept a small keepsake pinned to his scrubs, a pin his mother...

Buddy Carter settles into the seat facing the sewing machine. Turning the handwheel, he ensures the needle pierces the folded edge of the purple and blue calico fabric. He pushes the toe of his...