My sincere thanks for every form of recognition of my 80th birthday. May God bless each and everyone who participated. Amen.

Do we live in a great country or what? Today is Monday, August 17, 2026, and I have been busy getting ready to get ready to make progress in my 81st year. Humbled is not even a good word to express how I feel about the responses, wishes, and greetings I have received in recognition of my 80th birthday. The family bought me the gift I asked for. It's a recumbent exercise bike. It's one of those made for senior adults. That would be me. My beautiful wife, the wife of my youth since December, 1964, did a remarkable job putting together a recognition celebration this past Saturday. She has been on a whirlwind of activity, not only getting everything ready for the birthday, but also all of the above and more. Now she moves on to a surgical procedure scheduled for early tomorrow morning. She will be undergoing surgery to deal with a hiatal hernia and the repair of some other esophageal issues. Perhaps she will get some really good rest when they administer the anesthesia. Ha! I will do my best to make sure she follows the doctor's orders. I will try. As they say, I will have to get up early and stay up late if I am to succeed in that endeavor. Ha! Yesterday, on Sunday morning, we both were dressed and in the process of leaving for Church when our Jimmy suffered a major, extended seizure. The fire department came, the EMT squad showed up, and even the police came and checked on what was going on. The wife accompanied him to the ER, and I went on to Church, met my dear sister JoAnn and her bosom friend Barbara there, where we enjoyed a great time of Bible study, worship, and hearing the word of God preached. Afterwards, we enjoyed a great meal where we laughed and talked for an hour. Judge Wayne Mack stopped by to say hello. He and his family have been attending our services, and we exchanged sweet fellowship. When I asked for the check, the young man told us our meal had been paid for by Judge Mack in recognition of my 80th birthday. What a surprise, and I felt ever so grateful. Our Jimmy was admitted to the hospital and is currently undergoing a lot of tests at this time. Please include him in your prayers. 

 

Thinking about pursuing 81, I heard an obscure country singer doing a song entitled "Time Keeps Whittling on Me". I couldn't locate the lyrics, but they pretty well spell out how time does exactly that, whittling away. Not familiar with whittling? Whittling is the process of shaping wood by shaving small thin slices or slivers from it with a knife. The metaphor would make me the wood and time the knife. I'm sure you are glad I cleared that up. Right? The other day we had a problem with our air conditioning unit, specifically the water draining system. It was leaking water into our downstairs bathroom. I am not a technician, but I do know that when this happens, it's not good. Our son Jimmy and I tried a few things, but we were not able to fix the problem. Finally, I decided to get closer to the issue. I got up into the attic and began to negotiate my way over the AC unit, the ducting, and several other obstacles. These required some contortionist moves that I tried but failed to produce. The bottom line: Time Keeps Whittling on Me. I've had a wee bit of trouble walking since that little episode. We called in the experts, and they fixed the problem. They did. They really did. Another lesson learned. I am not an acrobat. Not even close. The old Hee Haw cliché applies: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this. Well, don't do it." Please say a prayer for the wife's surgery that all will go well, and for our son Jimmy, in Jesus' Name. Amen.