A little of this and a little of that.

Thanks for catching up with me today as we continue our journey, together. It turns out to be Tuesday, July 26, 2016, and it's another beautiful day in the neighborhood. What? You think that phrase might be copyrighted. I would say you've got to be kidding, but this day and time it just might be so. I certainly did not use it as an insult to Mr. Rogers and I do apologize for stringing together common ordinary English words in my greeting. People get uptight about a lot of things these days. There is a recent photo of the UK's young Prince George with his dog. It's a really sweet looking photo taken on the occasion of his 3rd birthday. However, dog lovers are fuming because it appears that the young prince is offering his dog a bite of some type of ice cream bar. They are incensed because many dogs have trouble digesting dairy products. I have a message to all of those who are bent over with concern. Get a life and get over it! Maybe the ice cream bar was made with some type of special dairy substitute for lactose intolerant animals. How about that one? Moving on. Yes, I did see most of the NASCAR race on Sunday. Most. I had to leave for Church with about 10 laps left, but, I was pleased with Jeff Gordon's finish, 13th, after being out of any race car for seven months. My wife said she had wished he could have finished in the top 10 and I reminded her there were 29 cars that finished behind him. You know. Half full, half empty, or something in-between.

I mentioned last week about our big baptismal night at our local fellowship. This past Sunday evening we enjoyed a very special service where we witnessed 15 people making a declaration of what Jesus had done in their lives. Some were young, some were not so young, and one was a lady with a serious physical ailment. All made public pronouncements of their changed life. We believe in full immersion as the method of baptism because it best reflects what the Scriptures teach and it also best presents the truth being pictured. The words go something like this, "I baptize you my brother/sister in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of His death, and raised to walk in newness of life." Over 150 folks showed up to celebrate this great time of testimony for the Lord. It was hot. Somewhere around 98 degrees. I wore my cut-offs and sandals. I was asked more than once what I thought was whiter, my beard or my legs. They laughed and I did too. I wanted them to fully enjoy their little joke. Since when is having white legs a huge fashion no no? One guy told me that at least I didn't do what his dad did when they took him to the beach. His dad is in his 80's and he wore shorts for the first time in forever but he also donned black socks that came half way up his legs. That's bad? I am glad to help others enjoy a good laugh. At my expense. Obviously. As you can tell it didn't bother me at all. When I told the wife about their little jokes she had this, "I told you so" look. One final unanswered question: Why is everybody picking on me?

Regarding all the wailing and gnashing going on because of the leaked emails involving high-level Democratic National Committee, DNC, members, the spin thus far has been hilarious. I heard one panel being interviewed and they thought the most important issue was to determine how they came to be leaked. In other words, the unbelievable bias, distortion, and downright underhanded operations exposed in the emails really isn't that important. Who stole them? Who was ultimately behind them being leaked just prior to the convention getting started? Those are the really important matters for people to think about, not the use of Hillary's opponent's ethnicity or religion to try and discredit him. There's nothing to see here is how they want people to see it. Too bad. There's 19,000 of them and they do tell a story. The story it tells is how the DNC is about as crooked as a snake. They even are trying to float a story that perhaps Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin somehow colluded to smear them with their own words. No investigative results, just speculation, but, it's the best spin they have for the moment. On my way into work this morning, I heard the NPR reporter doing her best to connect the dots on a conspiracy to disrupt the Democrat Convention. I would say one might be better off waiting on the facts, but, that wouldn't fit their narrative, would it? Just me. Paying some attention to what I am seeing. What about you? Take care and may God bless each one. Amen. .....More later.