"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." ~ William Arthur Ward

Good Friday morning and welcome to November 1, 2013. You must be kidding. Right? I started to blurt out where did the time go but that likely wouldn't change one cotton picking thing. It's hard to believe it's time to have those visions of roast turkey and giblet gravy dancing in our heads. But it is on with the day. When it comes down to it, most of us end up wearing a lot of different hats. The one we happen to be wearing at any given time impacts the way we see things. Sometimes we are hardcore realists and at others times we might just show up as a day dreamer. We are able to enjoy a movie knowing that it is pure fantasy. Next thing you know we switch to our skeptical hat and are able to see through the latest promises made by the smooth talking politician. Take for instance that pickup truck commercial about the fellow out in the cold and rain searching for the little lost calf. It kind of pulls at your heartstrings a little. Some might even respond with a sentimental ooh or an ah. Yet, in practical terms, one has to remember that this fellow is a cattle rancher. News flash: He's not planning on taking that little calf to the animal shelter. Does a big old lip smacking medium rare T-Bone paint a better picture? Sorry. I must have picked up that realist hat by mistake this morning.

The World Series was won by Boston. I grew up rooting for the Cardinals, therefore, I suppose I had some sentimental support for the redbirds. Maybe next year. We all know that sports today at all levels is a huge business. They estimate the public spent nearly 26 billion last year on professional sports alone. The NFL has come under a lot of scrutiny of late because of the crippling and life altering injuries that players have experienced. They recently agreed to a nearly 800 million dollar settlement to one group of former players. Concussions can cause brain injuries that are not immediately detected. The NFL is aggressively doing all they can to protect their product, the game, which is their business. They can deal with former players. They can deal with medical experts. But there's one threat they fear more than anything else. Mom! That's right. Medical evidence recently reported that youngsters show some brain damage as a result of being hit while playing football as early as age 7. This week I read where the NFL has a new training program hosted by Dr. Oz to show moms the proper way to tackle. Why? If they lose the moms who say yes or no to their kids playing football, well, that could be the beginning of the end. Look for much more to come as they grapple with this ongoing situation.

I find this pursuit of mom to be very interesting and I know it's their way of doing all they can to protect their turf, so to speak. There's a radio sports show that always ends the program by asking the fellows in the studio this question: "What did we learn today?" I suppose that's not a bad way to end my week of visits. This week I learned that an elderly lady, barely able to see over the steering wheel, driving a Lexus SUV does make very wide turns including coming into my lane without even a whisper of an idea of how close she came to a disaster. This week I learned that while we often pray loudly for rain, many have quietened down after two days of heavy downpours. This week I learned that keeping your head down and staying focused on the job at hand will cause you to wake up and find out that it's already November 1st. I'm sure there are other things I learned but I'll leave you to ponder these as we anticipate our Saturday and Lord's Day Sunday. Until next time, may God bless us all. Amen.  ....More later.