LEATHER BOTTOM. "This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you." Not sure I ever bought that one. However, on becoming a parent, I fully got it. My depth of love drove my duty to love. Our oldest son never went through the "terrible twos." However, he did go through a short time of defiance during which he fitly earned the affectionate nickname of "leather bottom." As Bible-believing parents, we saw God's wise counsel play out as our loving, consistent, spiritually-focused discipline won the day in our young son's life. We had a simple 3-part rule: Obey (1) immediately, (2) completely, and (3) sweetly. In other words, we expected our him to obey right away, to obey all the way, and to obey in the right way/with the right spirit. Oh that life as adults was that easy! Yet that is the heart of our Heavenly Father. He simply desires that His true children (and ultimately that all whom He creates) obey immediately, completely, and sweetly. Sadly, there have been times when God has had to call me "leather bottom." Thankfully, through the small, still voice of the Holy Spirit, He has rebuked my occasional defiance according to His Word where He says, "Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend" (Prov. 27:5-6). Being a true friend, God lovingly "wounds" those He truly loves by speaking truth. It's no surprise that Jesus spoke truth seeing He is "a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24). Jesus exampled loving rebuke by speaking truth to Peter. Do you remember Jesus telling Peter in Matthew 16:23, "Get behind Me, Satan!"? Wow! What a rebuke! And do you remember after Peter denied Jesus the third time that with only a simple look, Jesus rebuked Peter to the depth of his soul? The depth of Jesus' love drove His sense of duty to love "leather bottom" Peter. Do we know someone who needs some tough love? May God use us to love them with His truth that they need to hear!

The call log for the Rooks County Sheriff’s Office for the week of April 20th through April 26th reads as follows: Administrative Calls 318, 9-1-1 Calls 18, Criminal Cases 1, Miscellaneous Cases 4, Traffic Stops 1, Motor Assists 1, Papers Served 4, Animal Calls 2, and Average Num ber Of Inmates Housed For The Week 8.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added six new possible symptoms of the coronavirus to its list: chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and a loss of taste or smells. The additions come as health experts’ understanding of the confounding disease evolves.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is urging Kansans to use caution against a new text message scam involving COVID-19.

Even though she is mostly hidden behind a homemade safety mask, we recognized former Stockton resident Kathy Ross in a full-color photo on the front page of the Rawlins County Square Deal.

Kansas is once again a national leader in wind-generated renewable energy, according to the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) Annual Market Report.

Kansas has received its annual tobacco settlement payment totaling $53.3 million, Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced last week.

The Kansas Department of Transportation began work last week on a bridge replacement project on K-9 in Norton County.

Please read the message in this week’s issue from Dr. Doak Doolittle and the Phillips County Hospital explaining their surgery schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dan Melton surprised his folks, coming home on Saturday and Sunday to help haul bales and cattle. Dan had been furloughed for three weeks from Textron Aviation in Wichita. He then worked two weeks, and was happy to be out in the country after being cooped up inside. Dan was not sure when work will begin but perhaps sometime in May, with the shift workers returning at different times. His wife, Michele, had been keeping him fairly occupied with “projects” around their home besides house painting. Michele is doing her teaching online from home for the Hillsboro School, and Josiah is holed up in his apartment in Wichita with online classes from Wichita State and summer classes will be the same deal.