"A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen." ~ Edward de Bono, Maltese physician, psychologist, author, inventor, and consultant.

Today we have a challenge ahead of us. It's called Thursday and this particular one finds itself identified as April 28, 2016. Today would have been my dad's 93rd birthday, had he lived. He didn't. In fact, he died some 62 years ago. His birthday was April 28, 1923, not 1921 as stated on his headstone. That earlier date was falsified as it had to do with him enlisting himself into the U.S. Army to go off and fight for his country during WWII, at age 16. (We don't know all the details of why he enlisted at such a young age but we do know that times were very tough for him and his family.) As far as I know, we didn't learn about that date mix up from him directly but it became apparent when looking at his birth certificate for him and his twin brother. His brother, our Uncle Walter, also served in the military in WWII, but he went in after his 18th birthday. Uncle Walter had a good long run, living for 83 years. I am thankful for my dad. As a Junior, I carry his name. I only have fleeting images of my time with him but I have been told over the years by those who knew him well that I do have some of his characteristics. For better or worse, I suppose. God only knows about all of these things from the past and how they helped to shape who we are today. Again, I am thankful to God for my dad.

I sure do a lot of contemplation about the past. You noticed? Good. Maybe that's part of the way I have of dealing with things. You know. A type of therapy, if you will. I can't deny it. I recently bought a hardback book devoted to a review of all things pertaining to the year I was born, 1946. I think I paid $5 for it. It is comprehensive at 175 pages. There's a lot of important facts in that book. You may not have known that President Truman's favorite meal was steak and baked potato. While I was getting used to being a newborn, Proctor and Gamble introduced a brand new product to the housewives of America, Tide Detergent. The word automation was coined by a Ford Motor Company engineer. Based on a released study here's the number one qualities looked for in a mate, 'Men - Ambition', Women - 'Ages Gracefully'. As I was coming onto the scene others were going on to their final reward. One notable was Patty Smith Hill, at age 78. She was known for her writing, along with her sister, of the verse, Happy Birthday. The war was over and Americans in 1946 consumed a record 714 million gallons of ice cream. I have always loved ice cream. This next one was not in the book. My mom says that in the month I was born, August, they had a freak cold spell. They had to light heaters to keep me warm. That freak cold spell may have been significant. Could it explain why I have lived most of my life being extremely hot natured? Inquiring minds. I have much more. Did I mention it is 175 pages? You are welcome to borrow it if you like. Well, okay, I was just trying to be nice.

I suppose we all are in search of something. This reminds me of a very important, God-inspired text from the New Testament, Book of Acts: Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Chapter 17, Verses 22-31) Here's my take. God has designed all things and part of His design is that we, His created human family, would seek and find Him. Finding Him is the ultimate outcome of any and all searching in this life. Got it? Good! Take care and may God bless. Amen. ...More later.