"As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Good morning and welcome. It is Tuesday, February 16, 2016. I have my visit this morning with the dermatologist who will be working on my face. I know. She does, in fact, have her work cut out for her. And, please don't send her any warnings about me as a patient. She will find out soon enough. We don't always do much for Valentines except for exchanging cards. I started to say that I should be receiving a thank you card from Hallmark but then I remembered that I personally make all my cards. Don't worry. If you own stock in that company I'm sure my few cards will not make much of an impact. I'm just joking anyway. On Saturday we had our homemade big breakfast, went to the big mall and walked the big two miles. We messed around there for a while and then went and saw the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Yep. We are a little behind on that one. We tried but could not remember the last movie we saw in the theater. It has to have been several years. But, since we waited, there was no wait and the cost was only $15 for the two of us. The popcorn and two drinks was $17.85 and that supposedly was a packaged discount deal. Really? There were maybe between 50 and 75 in that large screening room. The movie was good, I think. My wife thought it was. I had read so much about it and heard so much about it, I'm not sure if it lived up to my expectations or not, but, it was okay. On Sunday we lunched at Olive Garden and everything turned out great. I also have a little surprise headed her way and it will be delivered this week. She knows it is coming. She doesn't know what it is. That's why it is a surprise. But, you caught that already. It is good that we can enjoy another Valentines where we used the occasion to spend time together. Just the two of us. That doesn't happen often enough. Time well spent.

I'm sure many of you remember those images of a would be prophet holding up his sign that says: "Repent, the end is near!" Looking around at everything that is going on in our nation, our culture, and in our world, I'm beginning to wonder if something big is about to happen and I'm talking about this in terms of biblical proportions. I'll soon mark the 70th year of my sojourn here, Lord willing, and I can tell you there are things happening that are hard to make sense of. This political stuff with this set of candidates running for President is about as weird and absurd as anything I've ever imagined, much less seeing it play out in real life. Now, with the death of one of if not the most conservative supreme court justices, well, it's almost like a snowball effect. We could well be looking at a time when any legal restraint at all will no longer exist. Feels very scary to me. I know that everyone who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ will be okay. I also know that everyone who has not believed is not okay. This is what God has revealed to us in His Word. I think about how it was in Noah's day. Everything went along as normal until it wasn't normal anymore. There came a day when the door of the ark was closed. By God Himself. The Apostle Peter revealed how the final end had not come yet because God was still allowing time for men, women, boys and girls to get right with Him. (2nd Peter Chapter 3) My reading of our current times tells me that today would be a good time to do business with God. Amen.

I'm not into emotional gimmicks or attempting to manipulate a response. I'm just sharing a restlessness in my bones, so to speak. In general, I believe we have been living in the last days since our Savior ascended into heaven. People of faith have always attempted to live in anticipation of the Lord's return. And, yes, I do remember my grandparents saying they had trouble taking in how things were going downhill during their time here on earth. The good news is that God knows all about it including when, where, and how. We can be sure of that. We can trust Him. One of the things coming out of the Apostle Peter's thoughts on end times was his challenging question to us all, "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,..." (2nd Peter 3:11) That pretty much tells us what we should be doing as we occupy until He comes back. (from the parable spoken by our Lord, Luke 19:11-13) Okay. That should do it for today. It was on my heart so I shared it. May God bless each one is my prayer. And, pray for me as well. Amen. ....More later.