Quote from a review of the 2014 movie, 'Left Behind', written by Michelle Fletcher, "It’s a day like any other, and then—bam!—everything changes. Millions of people disappear in an instant and all that’s left are piles of clothes, iPods and wallets. Panic and terror break out. This is the scene that viewers are faced with in the new Left Behind movie, directed by Vic Armstrong, and it’s Nicolas Cage’s job to find out what’s happened. But the viewers already know the answer: it’s the Rapture, of course! The Biblical prophecies have come true."

Good morning and welcome back. Yesterday was SuperBowl Sunday. I saw who won but didn't care anything about the game so I didn't watch it along with the fact that we quit watching NFL games three years ago now. Yesterday was also Groundhog Day and based on the report I saw we are in for an early spring. Two years in a row. Impartial analysts put the Groundhog prediction accuracy at somewhere around 35%. That's not too far behind the local weather people in our area. Joking only.  It is Monday, February 3, 2020, and, we said goodbye to January last Friday and here we are, already three days into this brand new month. I do have a question for us today. What would it take to cause a worldwide panic? I ask that because many of the descriptions of end-time events as given in The Bible involve this type of response. Enter the Coronavirus. We may not really know the exact facts because much of the information regarding this infectious disease originates from China, but, as I write this morning it appears nearly 17,488 infections have been confirmed with 362 reported deaths. Rumors about infections are beginning to take their toll on air flights, cruise ships, and in far-flung countries. The experts are tied in knots regarding the impact of this development. People deaths? While they are of concern, it is the financial future that is seeing a huge amount of turmoil. I'm not here to put gasoline on any fires. My point is for those who think it would be very difficult to see the world in disarray, pay attention because it really doesn't take that much.

For those who receive my blog each day via email, you might recall my email title for last Friday: "My view of the impeachment mess: 'If the charges don't fit, you must acquit!'" I do not know how much of the proceedings I watched but I will confess I burned up a fair amount of hours doing so. A particular well-known quote from the American poet and novelist, Gertrude Stein, (1874-1946), very much applies to my reading of what I saw and heard, "There's no there there." If President Trump were to be impeached based on the presentations of the impeachers from the House of Representatives, we will have to impeach most if not all of the previous presidents who have served. Whatever it was, it was not an impeachable offense. Period. Since there were no high crimes and/or misdemeanors as required by the U.S. Constitution, there was no reason to continue this farce. Thus, the U.S. Senate will vote to acquit next Wednesday. The Democrats brought these charges hoping to influence the next election. Ironically, that is exactly the basis of their claim against the President, without proof. However, we have literally hundreds of hours of proof of what they did do. Sadly, as the Speaker of the House put it earlier, President Trump will always and forever be an impeached president. We will have to wait and see what the voters do in response to these political high jinks.

Last Saturday, I attended a prayer time at our local fellowship called 'see you at the altar'. It was a come and go event where folks were invited to come and seek God on behalf of the effectiveness of our local fellowship in reaching and ministering to people, on behalf of our families, our personal needs, our nation, and any other burdens one might have. After that, I went and walked a couple of laps at the mall. It was maybe 10:45 a.m. There were a fair amount of folks milling about, but, I saw very few in the stores. I remember something my grandfather used to say, "I don't know how those folks keep the lights on." There was one huge exception. It was standing room only in the mall pet store. People love seeing the variety of pets they have. That place is expensive. (They do have to try to keep the lights on.) Anytime I buy a product there it has an enormous markup. I recently purchased some spray that stinks. It's to remind Mr. Bentley not to chew on the coffee table. The price was $19.46. I told the young lady that it was a good year. She had that look from another planet on her face. I said, the year I was born, 1946. She laughed. I said let me guess when you were born. Maybe around 2000. She said 2003. She still had that look on her face and left me wondering whether her advice about that spray was worth anything. I could have really messed with her mind if I had told her I appreciate her part in helping to keep the lights on. Amen. ....More later.