"I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter." Blaise Pascal, Inventor, Mathmatician, (1623-1662)

I know we all are shocked by the senseless killing and maiming of innocent people in yesterday's Boston Marathon. I do hope you will join me in praying for all those impacted by this attack. I pray for the families of those who were killed and for the ones whose lives will be forever altered by this heinous act. I also pray for our nation, our leaders, and those in law enforcement who will be seeking to bring to justice these who have perpetrated this despicable and savage bombing. May God help us is my prayer and may God help our nation. Amen.
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Good morning and welcome to the day after tax day. It is Tuesday, April 16, 2013, and I welcome you once again to my daily dialogue where I can hear my wife putting forth this assessment: "Why do they have to be so cotton pickin long?" She has credibility because she did pick cotton as a child. However, answering that question might take a while so I will put it on the back burner for now. If it makes you feel any better, the President's tax return indicates that he paid an effective tax rate of 18% on income of nearly $700,000.00. I guess that fits his idea of shared pain because if I'm not mistaken that's close to the rate I pay and I can assure you I do not have the $700k to work with. I was glad to see the first family increasing some in their deductible contributions since taking office, but it is still only a smidgen of what they make. Even more telling is the Vice President who obviously either gives anonymously or he is a tightwad because they hardly gave anything claimed as a contribution. Let me be clear, I fully agree with everyone having the right to make up their own mind about where they will contribute their resources, or not to contribute at all. However, when you are at the proverbial top of the food chain and you are preaching shared sacrifice and a need to help those who are less fortunate, it might be more effective if your mode of life matched your message. That's a little front porch analysis here in my cotton pickin long essay for today.

I wanted to thank all my readers for their prayers on behalf of my sister, JoAnn, who is undergoing treatment for chronic leukemia. She has finished her first round of chemo and other drug therapies and is preparing to start the second round. The tests thus far indicate good progress in dealing with this disease. We first and foremost thank God for answered prayer, even in this preliminary stage, and secondly, we thank every person who has thought about and uttered a prayer on her behalf. Our family has quite a lot of experience in dealing with life threatening illnesses and as many of you can testify, it can be a very challenging and stressful time. This past Sunday evening our class looked at some of life's toughest questions and discussed Bible passages that helps us to deal with them. It's not surprising that the 23rd Division of the Psalms was highlighted. The sense of David's inspired song tells us essentially, "Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing." That's big folks, very big indeed! It's good for when we are dealing with adversity and it will help us even in the good times to keep us grounded. Amen.

I was up at our local fellowship for a little while on Saturday where several showed up to do some work projects. I had my work clothes on along with my cap. One fellow observed that with a little work I could pass for Uncle Si off of Duck Dynasty. While I like Uncle Si and I do watch that program when I can, although I typically miss parts of it because of this sleeping illness I have, I'm not sure that was a particular compliment. This sleeping related ailment is an illness that seems to grab hold of me anytime I put the recliner into the lay down position. I've not talked to my doctor about it because my wife and grand kids have way too much fun talking about how I look all sprawled out and how much noise I make. See there. You didn't know how much I try to help others to enjoy themselves, did you? But as far as me imitating Uncle Si. I don't think so. I will tell you that he and the others on that show do have a testimony of having placed their faith in Jesus Christ, and that's something we all need to do. Amen. See you next time.   ....More later.