"Déjà Brew: The feeling that you've had this coffee before." ~ Author Unknown

Good morning and welcome to wonderful Wednesday and this one has the distinction of landing on September 7, 2016. While I was away from the workplace over the holiday weekend, I did check my emails. I don't always check them, but this time, I did. I'm glad I did. They were running a 25% off discount on Community Coffee and it would have expired had I not caught it. That level of discount plus free shipping will always get my attention. Always. While today's world has more beverage choices than one can shake a stick at, that's not always been the case. Coffee has been a staple here in our country going back some 200-plus years. Here's a little bit of info adapted from the Coffee.org website talking about Cowboy Coffee: "Coffee in the Wild West has a certain lore to it: Images of wagon cooks brewing up a hot pot fireside, sheriffs having a second pot of coffee as they guard a wily prisoner long into the night, a farmer lingering over his cup of coffee in the Wild West before beginning his daily chores. Coffee was a very important staple for pioneers, townspeople, ranchers and farmers alike. Travel could be very difficult and coffee was one of the few true luxuries pioneers could enjoy before traveling miles each day over the rugged terrain and unforgiving mountain passes. Often the beans were kept green and roasted over the fire in a skillet before being ground. The ground coffee was then put in a pot and boiled on the camp fire." I suppose popping a little K-cup Pod of Columbian blend Community into the Keurig isn't quite as taxing, but, I do have to keep water in the reservoir, and it does take maybe 5 seconds of wait time before I can enjoy a fresh hot cup. I think that's where we can connect to the past. Enjoying a great cup of coffee is repeated history. And, I say thanks for the memories. Amen.

Congress has returned from their 7-week summer vacation. My guess is that it might be a good thing for us to keep one hand on our wallet and the other on our possessions because our nation just hit $19 trillion in debt. Let me try and put this into some perspective. To the normal person, $1 million sounds like a lot. Consider that $1 trillion is one million one millions. If they made one million dollar bills, a whole bathtub's worth of them wouldn't equal a trillion dollars. Oh yeah. This is an election year, therefore, don't expect anything to be done about this escalating madness. There are plenty of free spenders out there saying it's not a problem. They contend as long as the US can pay the debt, don't worry about it. Right now we can just print the money necessary to pay the interest. We have a decent credit rating so everything is hunky dory. Sorry. I don't buy that line of thought. The emphasis might be on the 'right now'. But think about it, just eight years ago everything was sailing along until our economy hit an iceberg and nearly sunk. What could be done about it? Hold your laughter to the end. First, cut government spending. Second, get rid of waste. Third, (the most likely), raise tax revenues. Like I say, it's an election year, therefore, the most likely outcome is nothing. That may be the only way to keep the third option from becoming a reality. That's my uneducated throwdown analysis. It's likely not that good but it may not be much worse than the other stuff the so-called experts are telling us.

I didn't even mention how that our country is receiving record tax revenues but the debt continues to climb. No end in sight. Hello? Let me see if I have this right. You get more income coming in than you ever have in the history of our nation but every month you continue to increase the red ink. Something is wrong with this picture and everyone who has ever balanced a checkbook can see it. Meanwhile, most of us can't help but wonder what this means for our children, grandchildren, and generations to come. Thankfully, we have God on our side and He is able to help us to deal with whatever comes our way. Many love to quote the Apostle Paul's famous inspired words, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength." (Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 4) However, sometimes folks fail to see the entirety of the context. Here's the rest of the story: "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Verses 10-13) We can make it. Good, bad, very bad, very good, and everything in-between, we can handle it with the strength given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen. .....More later.