President Eisenhower opened his inaugural address with a short prayer in which he asked God for wisdom and divine blessing, saying, Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby and by the laws of this land.

Good morning and welcome. It is Tuesday, November 17, 2020, and, I do hope today's edition thrown up onto your electronic doorstep finds you and yours doing well. Mr. Bentley and I ventured out earlier this morning and the weather was quite pleasant. We were doing 43 degrees here and the dewpoint is at 37, therefore, it was almost like some fall air had sneaked into our neighborhood. I tried but couldn't see my breath. Here's what one local news outlet had to say about this 'seeing your breath': "There's not an exact temperature at which condensation will occur but usually when the temperature is below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, you can usually see your breath. This isn't always the case as other factors, like the amount of moisture in the air, pressure, and temperature." I huffed and I puffed and it was almost like it was nearly there, but, just a smidgen off, therefore, I assume we have the other factors at work here. What's that you say? Is that how I want to spend my time trying to see my breath on a cool morning? Well, it does give me something to work on while I await Mr. Bentley's prolonged sniffing operation where he is trying to determine who came into our area since last night. Maybe you can come up with something better. 

We had a small family leadership meeting via Zoom last Sunday afternoon. The meeting was called to make a final determination about our Thanksgiving gathering. While we hear every single day about more folks we know who are confirmed to have the Coronavirus, we decided as a family, to proceed with our annual gathering. This means the wife and I will be hosting our clan on Thanksgiving Day. We do know there are risks associated, but, in the end, we all agreed we needed to proceed and to do so with us all having an understanding of the situation that we are in. The Zoom deal worked really well. We all could see and hear each other without any problems. I did read over in Louisiana, a young boy, aged 9, was suspended from school because his teacher noticed a BB gun in the room of his home where he was taking his online lesson. The principal concurred, saying it was the same as bringing a gun to school. I did a doubletake when I read this news blurb. My first thought was to pinch myself and to wonder if we are living in a bad episode of The Twilight Zone. Fortunately, but also sad to say, the Louisiana state legislature has come to this young man's rescue and passed a law making such nonsense illegal. This also reminded me of how some school districts attempted to ban parents from monitoring the online classes on their children. These sound really way out there, but, I predict when the new administration takes over, we haven't seen anything yet!

What can you and I or anyone else do at a time like this? We can pray. Duh. We all knew that already. That's good, but, we still have the doing of it if we are to see God work. Here are some interesting things said about prayer. ~ "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." – Martin Luther ~ "True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that – it is a spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth." – Charles Spurgeon ~ "Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty." – E.M. Bounds ~ "It is possible to move men, through God, by prayer alone." – Hudson Taylor  ~ "To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees." – Billy Graham ~ "Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue; God’s voice is its most essential part. Listening to God’s voice is the secret of the assurance that He will listen to mine." – Andrew Murray ~ And, finally, I'll end with this revelatory truth: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Amen. ......More later.