Happy 50th Birthday to our Jimmy!

Another milestone day in our neighborhood today. It's Monday, April 30, 2018, and we are recognizing our middle son's 50th birthday today. Many know that our Jimmy has not had an easy life. Saddled with a serious bipolar condition with many side issues, he has been disabled for a number of years. Yet, he has hung in there, and today he joins his older brother Chris who crossed that 50 threshold three years ago along with his baby boy, Rodney, who will be there in three more years. Our Jimmy can count his blessings, and it especially includes his four children, Jimmy Jr., the twins, Alesha and Amanda, and Alexander Benjamin. We hosted a family reception last Saturday afternoon to honor him for this occasion. It was a wonderful celebration. We do pray God's daily provision into Jimmy's life and we wish him a most wonderful 50th Birthday. Our love, mom, and dad.

I'm not sure it is a milestone but today also has on its plate, this being the 2,800th published episode of my daily blogs. I think my Paw Paw Mac said it best when he used to tell me that he worried about me. "When will that boy ever come up for air?" He did think that I talked a lot. I suppose the 2,800 proves him to be a prophet of sorts. I do appreciate those who read them each day. I know some who read each day's offering with their morning coffee. I do get comments from time to time. While I will be the first to admit they often end up being a tangled mess, I do thank those who in my formative years taught me a little about reading and writing. I started to include arithmetic but I was afraid someone might ask me to prove it. As of today, I've accumulated 209,000 page views where someone accessed one of my blogs. Some 110,000 of those came from within the United States, another 22,000 were from Russia, and 7,800 came from the United Kingdom. Others were scattered in various places in the world. I've never promoted my blogs and never sought any type of advertising whatsoever. I do send them out via email to some 40 folks each day. The rest, as they say, is in the eye of the person landing on it, either intentionally or by accident. I wish I could have retained all the stuff I had in mind to write about, but, often they got away from me before I remembered to remember them. Here's a thought. Wouldn't it be wonderful to someday meet up with someone who landed on my blog, read something I wrote about our Savior, and later put their faith in Him? That would be a blessing! Amen.

Like most things in life, no time to dwell on number 2,800, we turn the page and move on. I think maybe I predicted something that I see happening. Everything is so turned upside down in the current political world we live in, it is having the impact on most ordinary folks to just look away. While I do try to keep up some, I'm not nearly as plugged into all that is happening like I may have been in the past. I'm not sure who gains an advantage as things have become increasingly more crass, crude, and classless. But, you can bet that gain is a part of the equation. I know what some say. It's always been this way. But in today's climate, it has become clearly seen out in the open. Slimy. That does have the impact of turning some folks off. The bad news would be for the wrong people to take advantage and while we were not paying attention, they end up taking over. That is a possibility. I read something the other day saying that if the people who voted last time sit this next election out, well, the other guys will have accomplished their objective, because, with both houses of Congress under their control, they can put an end to most everything the administration is attempting to do. That includes the good stuff, like reform and changing the status quo. Meanwhile, their strategy is to make sure the ugly gets uglier each day. Some predict this gutter emphasis approach may backfire. You might end up with a situation where the gutter people have become worse than the stuff that turned everyone off in the first place, therefore, it might not end up going the way they think it will. Have I confused everyone as much as I have myself? I'm pretty good at that. My last word here, be offended because the stuff going on is about as offensive as I have ever seen, but, at the same time, let's not take our collective eye off the ball, that is trying to drain the swamp. I don't have time to explain that, but, most will know what it implies. Enough for a Monday. Happy Birthday to our son Jimmy, and may we all find ourselves seeking God on behalf of our nation. Amen. ....More later.

“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.” ― George Bernard Shaw

I don't have a cheer or anything like that but I am happy-happy that we have made it to Friday, April 27, 2018. What say you? One thing about being a serial blogger, I do have an idea what I was up to ten years ago. How? I wrote about it: "Today it's back to the real world where I will be very busy getting ready to get ready for my surgery later this week. I have the cardiologist this morning and will need his blessing before they can put me under for the knee scope. Tomorrow I have my primary care guy who has to also sign off a sheet with about 100 boxes that need to be checked. The surgeon told me that 80% of the people who have this surgery have little or no side effects and can return to their normal activities immediately. The other 20% end up with some minor complications, swelling, slow healing, and other stuff. In this case, I have built my schedule around the 80% rule, therefore, I intend, with God's help, to have the surgery on Thursday and be back at 100% bright and early Friday morning." That was my torn meniscus experience. I well remember the surgeon. He was a young fellow who was very proud of his work. When I called to let him know that I was still experiencing a lot of pain, he made it clear that whatever was happening, it had nothing to do with his wonderful surgical procedure. I believe he reminded me that it just takes longer for some people. Looking back, I can't say I appreciated his arrogance, but, he did fix my knee and after a few weeks, it has never bothered me again. I think I heard that doctor referred to as the 'Italian Stallion'. Maybe that's because of his long black flowing hair. He drove a Ferrari. And, I remember he had a troop of adoring female assistants that trailed around behind him taking notes. See there? You may not have known that I was worked on by a celebrity doctor. I guess when someone asks if I have had 'work done' I can tell them I did. It was my knee.

I try not to write too often about my off-season Santa experiences but it has become an ongoing part of my sojourn. One of my favorite things is to see people light up when I give them a business card sized souvenir. It's just a photo. The other day I was working with this very large African American fellow. He was trying to help me locate the person I was supposed to see at a Company that is in the process of moving from one location to another. We walked here. We walked there. Then, we walked some more. We finally found the fellow I was looking for. He was tied up with all kinds of stuff going on around him and he told the big black guy just to take care of whatever it was. So, we walked back out to my truck. We both were out of breath. After giving him the paperwork to sign, I handed him one of our cards. Suddenly, this fellow who might have been 30 years old, became a little boy again. He was so excited. He told me he had a special place at his home where he was going to put our photo. The same story at the Whataburger drive through the other day. The lady was probably in her fifties. As she leaned out of her cashier window, she looked like the weight of the world was bearing down on her. After paying, I handed her one of our cards. She nearly dropped the money. She was so excited. It was almost embarrassing. She told me she would treasure that card. My point? Folks, first of all, I can't make this stuff up, and lastly, I've said it before and I'll say it again, it doesn't take much to help make life a wee bit better for someone we meet along the way.

Okay. In doing the full disclosure thing I will go ahead and say this. Yes. I am often asked about the lady, the other half of the Santa photo. She is very popular. When I tell them she is my wife for nearly 54 years. Look out! "You are one lucky man!" Thank you. "She doesn't look like she's even 54, much less married for 54 years." Thank you. I guess I should be glad she allowed me to tag along the day that photo was made. The other day at the luncheon we had to honor her birthday, one of the grandkids was talking about some of the photos he had recently seen of the wife and me when we were dating. He said he could still see her, but, he was having trouble connecting the current me to those photos. Now I know exactly how the late Rodney Dangerfield felt. No respect. But, I will say she deserves the accolades she gets. And, she, by the way, is an excellent cook as well. I came in Wednesday evening to find that she had made cornbread dressing. It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Literally. Granny Mac would have been proud. Talk about good! The chicken was cut up in the dressing. It was served with jellied cranberry sauce and English peas. That was the best I have eaten since this past Thanksgiving. That was the last time she made it. I've tried to find a hotline where a Santa Claus who ends up playing second fiddle can call to get some counseling. If you know of one, let me know. Have a really great Saturday and I hope you are already looking forward to Lord's Day Sunday, anticipating a time of worship of God, and fellowship with other believers. Until next time, I wish everyone a God blessed day and to all a good night. Or something like that. Amen. ....More later.

“Right time, right place, right people equals success. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history.” ― Idries Shah, Author and Teacher

Good morning and welcome. It's a good day to be thinking about God's provisions to us as we continue our journey here on the planet on this Thursday, April 26, 2018. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. One time I was driving at night to Louisiana. It was in the early 1970's. I think I was going to fetch my wife and kids. At any rate, it was late at night. No satellite radio back in those days but I would always fiddle around with the knob to try and find something interesting to listen to. I picked up a radio station with a strange lady who went by the name of Madam something. She was taking calls from folks who had issues and problems that she promised to somehow fix. She was a medium of some type who mixed religion and spiritism to deal with people's problems. This lady caller came on the line. She was from Houston. She was wanting help with her boss. He was unreasonable and she was in fear of losing her job. Something about her caught my interest. She used her first and middle name. She was asking this lady to do something to make things better between her and her boss. I suddenly recognized the caller. She worked for me. I was the boss. She had many performance related issues and I had counseled her several times about her situation. She told the medium she really needed to keep her job. Her being close to losing her job was a very correct reading of the situation. I don't think the medium helped but I didn't end up firing that lady. However, she either retired or was let go in the first round of some layoffs the company did. There I was, driving at night, having never listened to that station and that person before and suddenly I'm the subject of the story. I was a very young supervisor at the time and I may have been overly zealous in my efforts to fix everything and everyone. Pretty strange, don't you think? I must have been perceived as being pretty tough if someone felt compelled to resort to that type of help. That's my weird recollection of the day.

I'm trying to remember if I have had any other of those types of experiences. Not to my credit, I do remember one Sunday morning standing out in front of the Church property in the little town where I grew up. I was a young teen and the men always stood out there talking and getting the last drag off their cigarette or pipe before the services started. On that day they were discussing those delinquent kids who needed to be caught and taught a lesson. These kids were stealing gas out of their vehicles and watermelons out of their fields. Okay. I may have tagged along as a part of such a venture a time or two. That didn't keep me from nodding in agreement as they lambasted these evil boys and their parents who obviously weren't doing their jobs. I didn't say I was proud of it. At that time, we never really saw it as a crime. If one of the older guys had a car, it had to have gas. A gallon or two was all that we needed to ride around into the wee hours of the morning. As far as the watermelons go, they had an entire field of them. That's how us boys justified doing stuff like that. And, let's face it, it was exciting. Wrong. Sinful. But, it was exciting, especially the times we were nearly caught. It was obvious from the way our men were talking they excluded me from those criminals they wished they could catch. Fortunately, God is in the forgiving business, and on a Saturday evening at services out at my girlfriend's Church, (my wife for nearly 54 years), on January 19, 1964, I gave my heart to Jesus. Since that time, I've failed often, however, I've never again been a part of those who took someone else's gas or watermelons. I thought you might want to know that.

I know I've mentioned both of those stories before but after more than ten years I may be reaching the prophetic realization of those words spoken by Solomon, "....there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Within the next few days, I will complete my 2,800th episode, therefore, surely a lot of them have ended up being repetitive. When I was a kid a popular saying went like this, "All good things must come to the end and this is the end, my friend." I'm not sure when I will sign off from this writing venture, but, we all know there's an end date out there, somewhere. I actually still enjoy doing them. I suppose that continues to be a big part of the 'why' I do them. Someone told me that doing them might help to keep my mental faculties sharp. I'm still waiting for that one to kick in. I could have used some improvement earlier this week. My wife is still having fun at my expense because the other morning I looked at the clock wrong, got up, got dressed, and even made my coffee. It was 1:30 a.m. When I discovered what I had done, I wasn't really upset about it. I simply took my boots off and went back to bed with my work clothes on, ready to get up and go closer to 3:30 a.m. The wife somehow noticed that I was wearing my work clothes in bed. I told her what had happened. I've heard about it a few times since then. That's okay. I do my best to bring smiles to as many as I can. And, I know we all would agree that these days we all can use as many smiles as we can get. Thanks for tuning in. Enjoy the rest of your day and don't forget to thank God for all that He has done, is doing, and will do, for us all. Amen. ...More later.

"I realize God has treated me with undeserved grace, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you. " ~ Romans 12:3, (Contemporary English Version, CEV)

You can be sure of one thing. I'll let us all think that one over as we do our best with the day before us. This one happens to be Wednesday, April 25, 2018. These cool mornings have been so much of a blessing to me. I see folks posting their laments over the lack of warmer days. That's almost criminal for those who live in the Houston metro area. When I read those I immediately can see that egg frying on the sidewalk. My take? I can wait. As long as possible. I can wait. I know some people are cold natured and they enjoy the warmer temperatures. While that's understandable, my only thought is they should be very careful what they wish for. Especially, in and around these parts. We've got the combo of heat and humidity here that will take one's breath away, both literally and figuratively. I think they are predicting an average year for hurricanes with the potential of 13 named storms for the upcoming season. We've not been hit by structural damage at our place since Hurricane Ike back in 2008. (Has it actually been that long ago?) We've lost power for extended periods of time and we've been unable to leave our area due to flooding several times, but, we are so thankful for God's provision. Mr. Harvey, last August, was devastating to our entire geographic area. There are thousands upon thousands yet to recover from this monster that caused 107 confirmed deaths and did an estimated $125 billion in damages. We just never know. I don't know why but I often think about a verse that's probably not too well known, "Disaster will be inescapable, as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear, then escaped into a house, leaned his hand against the wall, and was bitten by a poisonous snake." (from Amos, Chapter 5, Verse 19 as rendered in the NET Bible) Always stay close to God. Always. Always. Always. Amen.

I sense the fellow leaning his hand against the wall thought everything was okay. He believed the danger was over and he was safe. I suppose that part of the verse is more meaningful to me because of an experience I had many years ago. I've told it before but it came up again, therefore, please bear with me. We had an epic hard freeze back in late 1980's here in our area. I'm talking about us laying in bed and listening to the pine trees drop their huge limbs that cracked under the weight of the ice. Those limbs sounded like explosives when they hit the ground. It was Christmas time. All around us, people were dealing with pipes bursting, lawn watering systems messed up, and the resulting flooding, even inside their homes. This went on for a couple of days. We were preparing for our big Christmas get together. We had, thus far, escaped those incidents and I was feeling some amount of uniqueness in how I had been blessed and spared. I'll never forget. I was standing by the fireplace with my hand leaning on the mantle thinking how blessed I was. Me. Blessed. Others. Not so much. Suddenly, I heard this noise. It was loud. It sounded like it was something that happened outside. It was the sound of a pipe exploding. It was our pipe. One behind the fireplace wall. Suddenly, I went from being spared to wading water. My point? Never presume upon the blessings of God and never, ever, exalt yourself. We made it through. It wasn't easy. We went forward with our Christmas gathering. Maybe that's why that verse has special meaning to me. Now you know.

Some might say it's not appropriate for me to see God's teaching in that circumstance. Maybe it isn't, however, I saw it that way and I believe it helped me to grow. God didn't save us to make life easy for us. Having been saved, He wants us to bring honor and glory to Him, and to serve others. We serve others best when we ourselves have a humble spirit. You know. That was the mind of our Savior. The Apostle Paul made it clear what our pursuit as believers should be, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:5-8, New King James Version, NKJV) One might easily respond, that's humanly impossible. Bingo! We have a winner! The good news is that if we are a believer then we have Holy Spirit God abiding in us. He can help us to go about our daily living in a way that demonstrates the mind of our Savior. Now that is something! Wouldn't you agree? Amen! See you next time and may God help us all to allow Him to work through our lives. Amen. .....More later.

"One of the greatest uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time." ~ John Piper

Good morning. It is Tuesday, April 24, 2018, and it is good to be able to greet you once again. A couple of weeks ago, I was very happy that our eldest, Chris, and middle, Jimmy, were able to go with me to a men's breakfast early on a Saturday morning at the meeting place where the wife and I are members at our local fellowship of believers. There were about 75 men who showed up for this gathering. The speaker was an older guy who had many years of ministry and experiences to share. Our youngest, Rodney, had planned on being there but it didn't work out for him. Since this group was made up entirely of men, our speaker was very direct in addressing head-on the issues that keep men from being the spiritual leaders God would have them to be. Much of what he said stung but it was coming from a man with a genuine heart of love and concern for the role of men in God's plan and purpose. The boys being with me made me proud. I left that meeting with one quote stuck in my mind. It's something he quoted from American author and preacher, Francis Chan, "Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." I'm still chewing on that cud. It may take me a while to digest it. That's probably something we all could spend time thinking about. Amen.

We visited a dear friend in the hospital last Saturday afternoon. The nurse came in to check on her. Really? That young woman looked like she had shown up for a dress-up day as a nurse. She looked maybe in her early teens. One suggestion said perhaps she was a part of the bring your daughter to work program. Unfortunately, it has more to do with my age, than the age of the young woman. They get younger every time I see them. The longer I go places, it is the younger the folks appear to be. I've been told that it comes with the territory and that it only gets more so as the days go by. To add insult to injury, I have always gotten a senior's discount at a particular fast food restaurant. They were the only chain who offered it. This past Sunday, I stopped by to pick up some grub for a quick lunch after services at our local fellowship. The lady rung up my ticket. I asked if she was going to give me the old people's discount. (It took me forever to even be able to say those words.) She apologized and said they had discontinued the discount program on the meals but she could sell me a discounted drink if I wanted it. She said she had no idea why. I said no thank you to the drink. By the way, what's the age of that young man back there preparing meals? He looks maybe 12. Isn't there a child labor law about stuff like that? It doesn't get any easier folks. Not even a little bit.

Just last week I was visiting a company to discuss some particular issues regarding some work our firm was doing. The fellow there wanted us to go and visit with the project manager. He was maybe in his early 40's. We went into the office and he made an immediate left onto some stairs. They were steep. Two flights, but he bounded to the top. I felt compelled to bound with him. I'm really not good at bounding anymore. He was impressed and said I was really doing well for my age. We got to the lady's office. It was my time to talk. I was still trying to unbind the bounding I had done. I couldn't even catch my breath, much less talk without wheezing. She was the project manager. I knew she had a degree from university but I wasn't aware they could graduate and go to work at her age. She is young. And, she was very nice to the old white-bearded man who was huffing and puffing like he was going to blow the house down. I thought she might ask me to a tea party or something with her dolls. I've begun to mix the fairy tales and that's never a good sign. I finally got the discussion done, took care of business, and took my time walking down those stairs. The fellow who was into bounding walked slowly this time. He most likely had no desire to be administering CPR since it was close to his quitting time. Well, now you know. This is the life we older folks live. I saw one little ditty that named us keen-agers. P-l-e-a-s-e! Oh well, every day is a new opportunity to experience the stuff we all have to deal with. I will keep you posted. See you next time, and may God bless us all. Amen. ...More later.

Happy Birthday to my dear wife! "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)

This is one of the most important days of the year. For me. For our family. For many others too. It's Monday, April 23, 2018, and it just happens to be the anniversary of the birth of my dear wife, Marilyn. Her parents handed her over to my care back in December of 1964 and we look back on all these years and I conclude by saying, Thank You, Lord! We've had plenty of challenges and yes, heartaches as well. However, God has been good to give me the wife I have for these nearly 54 years. She is a person of distinction because of her identity as a Godly woman. That shows up in how she ministers to our entire family, her circle of friends, and those who have needs. She is a Proverbs 31 woman and today I do exactly what that text says, "I join our children in rising up to praise her." (Proverbs 31:28) Happy Birthday Sweetheart, may God continue to bless as we continue our journey together. Amen.

It's also the 19th anniversary of the wedding day of our Rodney and wife Mitzi. We thank God for them and how they have been a blessing to us, to their children, our grands, Kyleigh, Lexie, and Brady. May God continue to bless is our daily prayer. Happy Anniversary. Love, mom, and dad.

Okay. I will admit it. I have been dragging a little over the past few weeks. At the same time, I've been working longer than usual hours. That combination has brought on a malady they used to feature on the old Geritol commercials, tired blood. I think I'm getting better but I do have a checkup with my primary care physician coming up soon. Last Wednesday evening I was running late getting home. I told the wife I thought maybe I should just stay home and not try to make the Wednesday evening gathering at our local fellowship. She left early to take some food to a shut-in, so she was gone when I got home. She had supper on the stove top. As I sat at the kitchen table I began to wonder about whether I should stay home or not. It was already past when I typically leave. The thought occurred to me that I would not let how I currently felt keep me from making it to work. Therefore, I got up and got moving, and made it to the services. It was the right decision. On Thursday evening I was running late again. We have a Thursday evening gathering in our home of some dear brothers and sisters in Christ. We sing, pray, I teach a short lesson, followed by some fellowship and feasting. I was dragging but that little gathering gave me a big boost. Here's a funny one on me, myself, and I. Early Friday morning I woke up thinking it was Saturday. I looked at the clock. It was way too early to get up on a Saturday. I then remembered that we had our little meeting last evening. That would have been Thursday! It's not Saturday. I jumped up and got myself ready and was here in my chair at 4:15 a.m. I do wonder about myself sometimes. You too? Good. As you can tell, you have good reason to be concerned.

They say that confession is good for the soul but not always good for your career or your reputation. Dennis the Menace has been put in the corner by his mom to which he says, "Confession may be good for the soul but it sure is taking away from my playing time..." Then there is the deathbed confession. I saw one where everyone was gathered in the room. The dying man whispered something to his nurse. The nurse announced, "Whichever one of you is his life coach, you are fired!" Also, there was the little old lady who was nearing the end and she told her husband, "Sorry, honey, but we are bankrupt." He was flabbergasted. "How? Why?" She replied, "I never could learn how to fold fitted sheets so I bought new ones every time." We have this classic. The old man was soon to leave this world. He could barely talk. His wife stood by to help as best she could. He tried to talk. She told him it wasn't necessary. He said he had to get something off his chest. He finally got up enough strength to blurt out how unfaithful he had been to her. She simply replied, "Don't worry about it honey, I know all about it, why do you think I poisoned you?" I haven't seen the hook come out yet to pull me off the stage but I think I'll leave while I'm still behind. Take care. Enjoy your Monday, and as the late, great, singer Ernie Ford would say these words which became the title of one of his vinyl record releases, "Bless Your Pea Pickin Heart!" I add, may God bless us all. Amen. ...More later.

"There’s another side to taxes that goes completely unappreciated. According to a 2013 study by the Virginia-based Mercatus Center, Americans spend up to $378 billion annually in tax-related accounting costs, and in 2011, Americans spent more than 6 billion hours complying with the tax code. Those hours are equivalent to the annual hours of a workforce of 3.4 million, or the number of people employed by four of the largest U.S. companies—Wal-Mart, IBM, McDonald’s, and Target—combined." Walter E. Williams, Professor of Economics, George Mason University.

Good morning and welcome one and all to Friday, April 20, 2018. One day I need to search my blogs and see how many times I have opined on the subject of taxes. I know it would be a high number. Here's a little ditty I wrote ten years ago in one of my daily episodes: "I have not mentioned anything about the political landscape for some time. It’s a mess and watching and listening to the current round of point, counterpoint, soap opera stuff is enough to challenge anyone’s gag reflex. Meanwhile, seems housing is in a deep ditch at this time except for the fact that we just received notice from our taxing authority that while no one can sell their homes in our area, ours has just greatly appreciated in value for tax purposes. Up 42% over the past five years, therefore, I think it’s time to check out the protest process. No wonder back during the time Jesus was here people turned the other way when they saw Matthew or Zacheus coming. They were both tax collectors!" My point? It is something we all talk about. There are ancient quotes about taxation. The Bible has much to say about fairness and honesty in any transactions where money is exchanged or collected. An example from Proverbs 11:1, "The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but an accurate weight is his delight." One of my favorites comes from the Minister of Finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert, who served King Louis XIV of France in the 1600's, "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing." I think I have fulfilled my hissing quota for today, therefore, I will move on, but, you can be sure you have not heard the last on this subject.

Just this past week, one of the employees affected leaked the letter sent to them by Sears announcing the closing of their store and the termination of all employees. This latest round of store closings is the continuing attempt by Sears to slow down the flow of red ink. There is no easy way to deal with terminating a large group of workers, however, this is the wording that caught my attention. "Employee terminations including your own is scheduled to commence on July 8, 2018 and with the remainder to occur during a 14-day period to be concluded on or about July 29, 2018. Please understand the entire facility is closing, and there are no applicable bumping or transfer rights. We hope to accomplish this closing with the least possible disruption to the lives of our employees and the community." Like I say, there is no easy way. Most of us grew up with Sears as a part of how we functioned. I know the Sears Catalog was a huge part of our growing up days, especially the Christmas Catalog or Wish Book as it was called. After this most recent announcement of store closings, Sears will end up with fewer than 940 locations, down from 3,150 stores six years ago. Think about it, during our lifetime, we have witnessed a sea change in how merchandising is done. We no doubt will all have drones bringing stuff to our doorstep in the near future. And, based on what I know about these kinds of terminations, there is no such thing as doing it with the least possible disruption to people's lives. May they all look to God during this time of transition and change. Amen.

I've terminated the employment of people during my time working. I've had my employment terminated due to circumstances beyond my reach or responsibility. These types of changes can be extremely difficult and can have long-lasting implications. I remember one woman in particular at the big Company that we terminated as part of a large layoff. She had been hired straight out of a business school and this had been her only job, for 20 years. She ended up having to go for treatment in a mental health facility. There was no least possible disruption for her. I oversaw the release of some 25 of our good people in one morning. It was gut-wrenching and heart-wrenching. My word to my managers was for them to think about the other person. The one sitting on the other side of the desk. Helping those people was my main goal. Fortunately, we did have a series of helps and benefits to aid their transition. That doesn't mean it was easy. I remember it even now like it was yesterday. The look in people's eyes is something you don't soon forget. Yes. It is a part of how life works, and, even more so today where it has become commonplace. This is why we all need the Lord. He is our refuge in time of trouble. He has promised never to leave us and to never forsake us. Without Him, I don't know how folks make it. I really don't. That reminds me to remind you. Have a great Saturday and may Sunday find us all at the meeting place to join hearts with other believers as we seek to praise and worship our God. Amen. .....More later.