"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away."" - Abraham Lincoln

Good Friday morning. Welcome. Greetings. Hello. The Eagle has landed, so to speak, and we find ourselves in the brand new territory of a new month, February, the 1st day, in the year of our Lord 2013. Since I used that space module landing analogy, it reminded me of those beautiful words spoken by President Reagan after the Challenger disaster. "The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God." Now that's what I call some wonderful speech writing and I well remember it being delivered by one of the greatest orators ever to occupy the Oval Office. That phrase about how they had slipped the surly bonds of earth was lifted from a poem about flying written by a pilot named John Magee. The speech itself was written by Peggy Noonan, one of Reagan's noted speech writers. The power of words. They can hurt and they can heal. Our nation was in shock and this speech was one that brought comfort and consolation. This thought came from somewhere into my little pea sized brain, therefore, perhaps sharing it will be a good reminder to us all. Amen.

I actually had a really good subject in mind when I started today's one way dialogue. An interruption came and when I returned, the original idea had found a hiding place. Meanwhile, the other thing made itself known and I went with it until I can find the one that got away. In this case, he obviously can both run and hide. It was such a good one. If you happen to bump into it somewhere please let me know. Interestingly enough, when I do find it, I will most likely not remember that I misplaced it, therefore, it will be brand new, and I will continue to look for it because I can't remember what it was before it was lost. I sure hope you can follow all of this because it won't be long until you will be having to fill out all those IRS Tax forms and they can generate a similar experience. Don't worry. I'm not losing it. It's been this way for a long time. Now you know why I haven't decided to leave my brain to science. Why? The cop show quote comes to mind, "Move along. There's nothing to see here."

Another work week has come and gone. Think about it. We have only some 327 days before it will be Christmas again. I thought I would throw that in since I have at times been known as being the Procrastinator In Residence. I like to think about it as being thoughtful or deliberative, especially as it pertains to me. Maybe I like to promote the Watching Paint Dry Society. Or maybe it's like that quote from Alexander Graham Bell, "When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." One thing I will agree with Mr. Bell, it has been my experience that no amount of staring at those closed doors typically cause them to open. I'll keep you posted if that changes. It's Superbowl weekend. Last year more than 111 million people here in the US watched the game. I'm not making any plans to watch it, but, I'm also not making any plans not to watch it. Now you see what we are up against here. I'll try to work on it and maybe by next Monday, Lord willing, I'll do better. We will see. Take care and may God bless each one. Amen.   ....More later.