Seems like only yesterday she was riding a Big Wheel, now our Kyleigh will soon be driving a set of wheels! Wow!

Before we get into my reading of the tea leaves for Wednesday's front page, I want to pause and recognize the 16th birthday of our beautiful granddaughter, Kyleigh. We have been blessed to watch this young lady grow and develop into the outstanding student and athlete that she is. This birthday comes with her full attention on the next phase of her life: DRIVING. That's right. She is ready to go and while it seems impossible, she will soon join the rest of those running here, there, and everywhere. Our son Rodney and wife Mitzi and the other children, Lexie, and Brady, are also excited on this, Kyleigh's special birthday. She is a natural leader and literally drips with talent and potential. We are so proud of her and wish her the best birthday ever. May God bless you, Kyleigh. Love, MiMi and Poppy.

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It is Wednesday, March 16, 2011 and I bid you welcome to my world, where the wheel spins and spins, and where it will stop, no one knows. You may not have noticed but some scientists are reporting that the earthquake in Japan actually altered the axis of the earth causing our day to be shortened by 1.8 millionths of a second. Okay, we are in good company because I never noticed it either. I could say something here about how that time flies but someone would likely think it to be inappropriate. Just thinking about those who measure and calculate these types of metrics is enough to give me a headache. It reminds me of some comments made by our Savior as He tried to communicate with the Jewish religious leaders: ^"Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed." (Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 16, Verses: 1-4) We are very capable of discerning many things, including millionths of a second, but often we stumble over that which is most important, that which has a lasting impact, that which will make a difference for time and eternity.

200,000 Chinese folks show up at a beach resort.

I'm not for a second, second guessing the importance of that 1.8 millionths of a second alteration. We no doubt have nuclear facilities, satellite, space, and other scientific instruments that depend on that level of accuracy. It still is razzle dazzle stuff to most of us. I suppose these difficult economic times do call for difficult decisions to be made. I've read that Churches are leasing space for all kinds of events. We are aware of sharing space with other religious activities but some are allowing caterers to rent, schools to occupy for a fee, and other similar types of revenue generating projects. I know of a local community of faith that rents their space from a religious group that meets on Saturday. It's a full function facility with no use on Sunday, therefore, I suppose it is a good match. I've even read about a funeral home in Indiana that is actually renting out its space for weddings and receptions. One reason for this is the fact that many special purpose spaces have had to shut down because of the recession and some of these other choices are being selected based on availability and price. The article stated that the wedding party seemed to have no problems with the fact that just down the hall there was a fully furnished display room full of caskets and urns. Of course there are places where crowding happens almost by default. Nearly 30% of all Chinese still live with their parents. With 1.4 billion people, well, you do the math.

I suppose we could close out with some favorite oxymorons. Simply stated, an oxymoron is two cojoined but contradictory terms. An example would be: deafening silence. Many are funny but only in the eye of the beholder. For instance, a music purist might think the words country and music put together to be a huge contradiction while those who like a little twang for their listening pleasure might see it quite differently. There are so many to choose from but taking into consideration my caveat about how one might see it differently, I'll give you some that caught my attention. Fresh frozen; act naturally; agree to disagree; awfully nice; well-known secret; vegetarian hamburger; dry ice; doing nothing; appear invisible; current history; eyes wide shut; fat free ice cream; going nowhere; gold silverware; and terribly good. I could have listed a few of the more famous ones, like: resident alien; true replica, government intelligence, clearly misunderstood; sanitary landfill; almost exactly, and for those who have to try and make computers operate effectively, the leading one is Microsoft Works, and on that one I could spend hours because it often is in practice, Microsoft Rarely Works. But, these are just samples. You can come up with some of your own. Some say that marital bliss would be at least a candidate but not in my home, but I might be able to come up with at least one good one if I think about it long enough. Meanwhile, I will withhold any further potentially dangerous comments and bid you farewell until we meet again. May God bless. Amen.             ......More later.