We appreciate the prayers. Thanks.

I would appreciate the prayers of all regarding my brother Donald. He has held his own for many months, been through a lot in terms of hospitalization and treatment, but it does appear that the shadows of his life are increasingly fading at this time. We have been told by the hospice people that this is the natural progression resulting from the massive heart attack he suffered. We believe that God knows best and we have prayed that He would be merciful to our brother. The outcome is ultimately in His hands and we trust in Him. Amen.

It is Friday, June 10, 2011. In the Bible study class I teach this past Wednesday I was reminiscing about Donald and I growing up. He is almost exactly two years younger than I and we used to wrestle and play fight quite a bit as kids. I told my class how that I could always pretty much handle Donald until his temper really kicked in. That was when it went from play fighting to the real thing and that's when I usually called for mom to intervene. Memories. They are a part of our life. Good ones. Not so good ones. And, sadly, some that we all would rather not even think about. I'm just thankful that I have so many good ones and many of them revolve around family. I do not have as many good memories regarding the use of technology. I should have known better. When I fired up my system here at work yesterday it asked if I wanted to upgrade to Explorer 9. That's Microsoft's updated internet access platform. I have a new computer here at work with the latest operating system, therefore, I said, okay. What could go wrong? Does anyone know where I can get a CD with that song I'm hearing in my head, "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen."? Right off the bat I began to have trouble in how it handled the mail system and even how it interfaced with the blog utility I use. Here's something I want you to do. This afternoon, walk out on your porch and look at those wavy heat lines coming off the pavement. That's the same type of steam you would see rising off my head right now. My first attempt to return to the previous interface failed. And, I am currently in a very highly technical mode. It's called limp along until I can figure out what to do. "One of these days Bill Gates, it's bang zoom, to the moon!"

You would think that by now I would know better, wouldn't you? Been there, done that, too many times to count, however, I'm sure that eventually I will reap all the wonderful benefits promised with this upgrade. Don't count on it. Speaking of technology, I read where one woman had 152 of her Facebook friends' photos tattooed on her arm. That will no doubt present her with some pretty difficult options if and when she decides to un-friend any of them. Most of you have probably heard about the lady up in Oregon who had dental surgery but when she woke up she couldn't do anything except speak with a British accent. It's not a hoax. In fact, it is rare but there are about a dozen documented cases. It is called Foreign Accent Syndrome and it is usually associated with some type of brain issue. I suppose if they could figure out how to make this happen, many would flock to having an accent transplant performed. What voice would you choose? Maybe James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader, and the booming lead in, "This is CNN." Or maybe Tony the Tiger. That would be a good one, don't you think? They would probably have a glitch in my transplant, like the upgrade I'm still dealing with, and I would end up with the voice of Barney Fife, about two notches higher than the original. I can't get a break even thinking about what might happen!

Here we are once again at the end of the work week that was. Over these past five days I've tortured the language about as much as anyone could. One fellow said he saw a huge guy wearing a huge T-shirt that said, "Fat people are harder to kidnap." At least he has a sense of humor. I heard about a new soap product from Lysol with this lead in, "Lysol healthy touch, no-touch soap dispenser." Are you confused yet? Our grandkids like Mountain Dew. We've all seen how they have carpet bombed the airwaves with advertising directed towards teens. Now among those kids, when they want a drink, they reportedly now commonly say, "Dew me." I also saw one that said a fellow had tripped and fallen and in the process he knocked down a Mariachi Band. How could that not have been me? That's the fellow I need to help me with my technology problem. But it is Friday and tomorrow we have Saturday, then Lord's Day Sunday. It is my prayer that you will have a time of rest and reflection and Sunday will find us all turning our hearts toward home, our real home, where our Father waits to welcome us. Amen. May God bless and I will try to have this release 9 situation all sorted out by next time. At least I haven't had to talk to anyone in India. Not yet, anyway. That would be where one of those accent transplants would really come in handy.               ....More later.