A take off on the Three Stooges classic routine: "How long have you had a weak back?" "Oh, since about a week back!"

Good morning to all my readers, wherever you happen to be, and I bid you a hearty hello from my place to yours, where you will find me singing Achy Breaky Back instead of Achy Breaky Heart, on this Thursday, July 30, 2026. Yeah, I was heavily involved in moving stuff around to provide for the carpet cleaner yesterday, emphasis on heavy. Ha! I told the wife not to worry because I could get it all done without her help. She had the nerve to say she didn't doubt I could, but she didn't want to see me all laid up for three or four days. She actually said that. She did. She really did. I know a lot of folks who suffer from back issues as a result of accidents, disk problems, and other maladies. While I typically sympathize with their ongoing battles with pain, it's hard to appreciate the other person's situation until you have a similar challenge. Mine, fortunately, Lord willing, will go away in a few days as predicted by the wife of my youth. Meanwhile, bring on the back pain remedies. I think I could use a good massage. I've never had one. Maybe that would help. How many think the wife would do that for me? Okay. Maybe another time. I'm just doing my typical exaggeration here, and I would never want to belittle or downplay those who literally are incapacitated by back-related problems. Here's how the comedy world likes to play up the issue of pain for a man versus childbirth pain for a woman: "A simple common cold for a man is the biological equivalent of childbirth labor, leaving him bedridden and asking for final-will arrangements." I suppose that pretty much means I shouldn't complain about my Achy Breaky Back. Ha!

 

Brother Allan Taylor, a visiting minister who specializes in Church growth through Lifegroup or Sunday School effectiveness, gave a briefing to our teachers, leaders, and officers involved in this activity after our morning services this past Sunday. He has been with our group several times over the past several years. As always, he gave great insight into the hows of reaching new people for Christ through the work and ministry of Sunday morning Lifegroups. He also worked with our senior staff on Monday morning before departing for his home in Knoxville, Tennessee. After having arrived home, he suffered a catastrophic stroke, and sadly, as a result, he has passed on to his reward. This has pretty much left us all in shock. I mention this for this reason: We must cherish every part of every day because we never know how it may play out. This situation reminds me of the Holy Spirit-inspired words from the half-brother of Jesus, James, writing what is regarded as the earliest of the New Testament texts; he said this: "Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air]." (Writing of James, Chapter 4, Verse 14, from the Amplified Bible) Also in a Psalm attributed to Moses, we see these words: "So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12) That gives me a lot to think about, or as they used to say back where I come from, it gives me a lot to say grace over. What say you? Amen.