Resources from 2007

WASHINGTON (BP)--The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision would be history had the person who probably was President Reagan's first choice for the Supreme Court accepted a nomination, a political biographer says.

DALLAS (BP)--Early in December, I visited my daughter at college. Spread across her floor was a project she was working on for an elementary education class.

SENEGAL, West Africa (BP)--Dustin Allen, 22, didn't even notice the potent smell of fish in the saltwater air that had overwhelmed his senses a couple months earlier when he arrived at a seaside village in Senegal, West Africa.       It was just part of daily living for the missions volunteer from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga.       He rose every morning from the foam mat on the floor where he slept and bathed using a bucket. He ate rice and fish with his hands out of a bowl on the floor along with his friends. He slipped on his flip-flops and trekked through thick sand to visit the homes of young believers who have never been to church in a building.       "This is a great life," said Allen, who learned enough of the local language to teach simple Bible studies to the believers. "I could really see myself doing this long term."

SENEGAL, West Africa (BP)--Jenny Barker is not a typical summer missionary. With colored streaks in her hair and a tiny rhinestone stud in her nose, she's an artist confident that "the Lord can use that for His glory."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The youth minister asked everyone in the circle to stand up and join hands to pray, but Roger Rice didn't have any arms, much less hands. It was his first time at church after a long absence, and he was skeptical about how he'd be treated.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Marian Jordan's life was much like the four characters on HBO's hit show "Sex and the City," characterized by casual sex and expensive fashion.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (BP)--Building a log cabin is something I've dreamed about since I was a boy. One day last summer, I thought my dream had arrived when the company I'd ordered the logs from finally called to say the shipment would arrive on an upcoming Monday.

PINEVILLE, La. (BP)--A small artificial Christmas tree adorned with ornaments and Hershey's Kisses sits on the stand next to one patient's bed. [QUOTE@left@120=In the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, too often men like Vance Stokes and Carl Hudson, both retired World War II Navy veterans, both Southern Baptists, spend their holidays mostly in solitude.]       There are Christmas cards, candy and cookies, a small framed photograph of family, some plaques, as well as other personal items hanging on the wall. Lying to one side of the nightstand is a well-worn Bible.       It's homey, but it is not what either Vance Stokes or Carl Hudson, both 82, considers home.       It is a small room in the Extended Care Unit of the Pineville (La.) Veterans Administration Hospital, and while the items do provide a little distraction, they cannot hide the machines, tubes and monitors.

WASHINGTON (BP)--A solution to the crisis in Sudan depends on the United States and the international community pressuring that country's militant Islamic regime to implement a peace treaty it agreed to, said experts at a recent Washington panel discussion.