Praying for all the families impacted by the horriffic plane and helicopter collision.

Good morning folks. It is Thursday, January 30, 2025, a sad day as we all watch the news about the commercial aircraft collision with a military helicopter that occurred last night at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Arlington, VA. In one of my past work experiences I frequently traveled by air. While crashes are rare, they do occur. I've been in some scary situations while in the air during a huge thunderstorm and once we were nearly on the tarmac in Dallas when they had to immediately take the plane back up. That was a little unsettling as we were preparing to get off the plane and suddenly we were going back up again. The German lady sitting next to me did not speak much English but she made it clear that I should tell her what was going on. I say all that to say this. Life is fragile and one never knows what a day might bring. What I know for sure is what God's Word tells us. Luke 13, verses 1 - 5, as rendered in the New King James Version: "There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." I pray that many of those that perished had put their trust in Jesus. I also pray for God's comfort for every hurting heart. Amen. 

 

My chief helpmete and textual critic has read the restart of my blogging venture with this conclusion: "Too wordy and too long. People do not have time to read that many words slung onto the electronic page." That's a rough summation of what she said. One thing I will say for her. She is consistent. When I was department head for a computer and telecommunications group of some 175 employees I made the decision to high a former English teacher as my personal secretary. She actually transferred in from the Public Affairs group where she had been a proof reader for corporate documents. I told my group she would be helping us to improve our communication skills as we corresponded with entities inside and outside the Company. Well, that was great, UNTIL, I gave her one of my fairly lengthy memos. Hello? She brought it back into my office and it looked like someone had bled all over the page. I looked through her changes. They followed the textbook approach where you remove all unnecessary words. I told her thanks for her effort but her corrected page was not me, period, end of story. I related this story to the wife as she read yesterday's edition on our way to choir practice. She was unmoved. I was also unmoved. So, here I am again with the WYSIWYG, (What you see is what you get), with only the slightest of apologies. As that famous comic strip character philosopher Popeye used to say, "I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam." The more things change, it is the more they stay the same.

To show my willingness to hear and respond, I am not going to do a long paragraph to close. Thanks for tuning in today, literally from all over the globe. I will share with you one day how many responses I have gotten along with where they have originated. Amazing! Remember, while we don't know what each day will bring, we do know the One who does. God bless each one. Amen.