“Have patience—remember how you will want someone to treat you when you reach the time when you need a caregiver!” — Linda D., Posted on a senior living blog

Let's see if we can get this day started with something other than the stuff from the 24-hour news cycle. Here's one for you: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6 from the New American Standard Bible) I thought of that one because my mom has often reminded me of it over the years. It's Tuesday, January 24, 2017, and I'm still doing a debrief from our visit to Louisiana this past weekend. I'm thankful our youngest, Rodney, made the trip over to check on his Granny. She was very excited to see him. She held onto him for a very long time. The folks that work at that rehabilitation hospital have challenging jobs. You can tell that to some of them it's just that, a job. However, a few that we have come to know there respond to their work as if it is a calling. There's a young African American lady, maybe in her early twenties, who works as an aid. Her name is Ebony. She treats our mom like she is her very own dear relative. Most of you know the work these folks do can be very unpleasant. However, mom lights up every time this young lady comes into the room. Mom told us how that when Ebony comes in to put her to bed she always gives her a goodnight kiss. Mom feels like God Himself has provided people like this young woman and she sees it has a huge blessing. There's also another young man named Brett who is in nursing school. He works part time there at the rehab facility. He is one busy fellow. Tall and lanky, it's hard to imagine someone his age would have such a genuinely sweet bedside manner. We all noticed that. My take? These young folks stand out because they see what they are doing as making a difference in people's lives. And, they are 100% correct. I thank God for them and so many others that give of themselves in this way. Amen.

Our nephew Michael.

The wife spent the night with her sister. Rodney got himself a room at Best Western close to the rehab facility for Saturday night, so I stayed with him. We went out to eat at a local steak restaurant. We had just come in and we were waiting for our table when a young lady came up and grabbed Rodney and gave him a big hug. It was our nephew Michael and his wife Deanne. Rodney said, "What are the odds?" I thought to myself, well, they live in this area and we are over in the area where they live, so it seems reasonable that we might bump into someone we know. They were actually there to meet some folks who are talking to Michael about his potential to become their pastor. Michael has been doing fill-in preaching for some time now. He is a senior officer with the federal fire department at Fort Polk, therefore, this consideration is one they have been praying about. We visited for a few minutes. They met their guests. Rod and I enjoyed a good meal. He, being Rodney, wondered if we should stop by and ask them if they would like a round of margaritas. We laughed and he decided that might not be a great idea. I agreed. We did tell them goodnight on our way out. We continue to pray as those folks and Michael seek God's will. Amen.

You've heard me talk about the love-hate relationship I have with my grammar correction application. One of my favorite things for it to alert me of is when it puts confused before whatever problem it is languishing over. Like a confused preposition and stuff like that. In fact, it told me that I might have 'of' and 'off' confused in the second sentence of this paragraph. You would think it would have learned by now that while I am often inaccurate in my grammatical usage, I am rarely confused. I talk some to it as these flags come up, but, it doesn't talk back, and, just so you know, I do take many of the recommendations put forth. Not all. But, I would never want anyone to think I am beyond taking corrective action. I tend to think the application itself is perhaps confused about me being confused. The one I use is the free version of Grammarly. I'm just glad that it doesn't have a flag with wringing hands on it. I would likely get that one a lot. Oh well, no politics today. I hear that great sucking sound. It's not as Ross Perot famously said, "The sound of all our jobs going to Mexico because of NAFTA," It, rather, is a collective sigh of relief because I didn't cover any political shenanigans. I think I may have grunted in agreement as well. I do hope you have a great rest of the day Tuesday, and may God add His blessings to this day. Amen. ...More later.