"A rule I have had for years is: to treat the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal friend. His is not a creed, a mere doctrine, but it is He Himself we have." ~ Dwight L. Moody

Today. It's Thursday, April 13, 2017. If everything goes according to plan, I will be off for the Good Friday holiday tomorrow.  I plan to be off also on Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday. That's a three-day run of me not needing to hit the floor by 3:15 a.m. I will likely go to Louisiana to see mom, dad, my sister JoAnn, and our soon to be birthday girl, my one and only wife. That's coming up in a few days and it is one of those milestones, the big 70. I'm trying to figure out the best way to honor her on this special occasion. She said not to make a big fuss. I thought I owned that line. She said to give her money because she has some big ideas about changing her yard. I suppose she subscribes to that theory that says if it's not broken, break it! I do appreciate the work she puts into making our place look nice. When she came home the other day she told me to please not pay anyone to do anything in the yard because she could hardly wait to get on that riding mower. She says it is therapeutic. And, I can tell she is always so pleased when she finishes. Me? Well, I don't really notice all the details that much. From time to time, she mentions she will be changing out some piece of decor and I look up and see the stuff she's removing and I can't remember ever seeing it before. Sometimes, I forget to exercise caution and I say without thinking, "When did we get the stuff you are taking down?" Experience tells me that's never the right question or the right answer.

You can hear just about any assessment of what's going on in the political world and often what is said is the complete opposite of the other expert's opinion. President Trump gave the order to lob some missiles onto a Libyan airfield and many were so happy he did. The liberals thought it was a great thing to do in response to the Libyan regime using chemical weapons on their own people. That was for one day. The next day the liberals had been given their talking points and were running around like Chicken Little talking about how the President was trying to start WW3. (Does the mainstream media hype work? I saw where WW3 was at the top of the list in searches on Google. Don't ever say I didn't tell you.) I saw the headline of one editorial in a national newspaper and it had this sentiment, "Right Action in Libya taken by the Wrong Person." Really? I didn't read it because I could guess their rationale. The Russians are supposedly very unhappy about what we did to their ally in Libya. Very unhappy. Angry. We've heard the mainstream saying for months that Trump and Putin were big buddies as they cooperated to defeat Hillary Clinton. Putin initially refused to even meet with our Secretary of State in Moscow. What gives? Here's one scenario that even surprised me. Maybe Trump and Putin cooperated in this bombing escapade to make it look like they are not buddies and make it appear they didn't cooperate in bringing down Hillary. Here's what I think. If you have your own idea about what is going on, it's probably as plausible as all the others floating around.

Since this is called Passion Week and I'm talking about the mind-boggling difficulties in ferreting out accurate information, it reminds me of that conversation between the local governing authority Pontius Pilate and Jesus of Nazareth. I close with this passage for us all to read, consider, and think about.  ~ Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.” Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.” “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber. ~ (Gospel of John, Chapter 18, Verses 28-40) Amen. ....More later.