"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." ~ Robert J. Hanlon, in his book: 'Murphy's Law book two: More reasons why things go wrong!'

Well, hello there, seems like we talked only yesterday, but, I am glad you tuned in to today's broadcast, on this Thursday, March 8, 2018. I occasionally have someone mention to me something I wrote about in one of my daily editions. I'm not always clued into exactly what they are talking about, especially if it has been a while since I penned those words. I hate to ask anyone to tell me what I wrote, however, I do try to string them along until I get the gist of what they remembered me talking about. There may have been a time when I could have quoted them chapter and verse, but, that part of the indexing system has been playing hard to get for some time now. It's most likely an aging problem. Don't get me wrong, once I find out what I was talking about, I most likely can dissect it again. But, think about it, with today's visit, it will make 2,765 of these daily visits. Even accounting for the number of repetitions and duplications, that's still a fair amount of keystrokes and subjects to keep up with. And, believe me, I do appreciate anyone who takes the time to peruse the hash I sling onto the page each day and also those who ask me about something I shared. After all this time I am still trying to figure out why so many of those who do read my blogs comment about how they hope my wife has a good sense of humor. They never ask about my sense of humor. Very puzzling.

You've heard me lament from time to time about the chain letter types of electronic messages that are flying all over the place these days. Now they have begun to use the private message forum. I actually get them from people I know. Here is one I received this week: "This is for you. I have been praying a lot lately and a prayer warrior sent this to me. So I choose you. A blessing is coming to you in the form of money. Don't ask questions just forward this message to 50 people. The devil said you won't take the time to do this. Prove him wrong.  You will receive $15,900.00 in 1 day if you send this to 50 people. Don't ask just trust." I would never want to hurt the feelings of the individual who sent this to me, however, I can't even begin to say how insulting it is to receive stuff like this. I'm sorry. The person behind this particular one is someone I've known for many years. They are a professing and practicing believer. When I say insulting, I'm mostly thinking about them, their testimony, and what this says about how they view the world we live in. Maybe I tend to overreact, but, I guess I should be thankful the message didn't include a dire warning of what might happen to me if I don't follow the instructions. I don't think these types of communication are illegal. It would be if it asked me to contribute money and promised a guaranteed windfall as a result. The type above falls into the category of being dumb and the last time I checked, that's not against the law.

Maybe there are folks who participate in these types of things because they think them to be funny. I certainly don't see anything funny about them. Maybe I'm pulling back the curtain some on my own sense of humor. I've been around long enough to know that some of you are wondering why I don't say what I really think about it. Oh well. It's easy enough to ignore, but, it's not as easy to not have an opinion about it. The wife and I did take the time to vote in the primary election this past Tuesday evening. We are blessed in that most of the elections we participate in have the voting booths in our neighborhood fire department, therefore, we are able to walk a couple of blocks to vote. I know we always have a better feeling when we do our civic duty. I used to subscribe to that thing we so often heard, "If you don't vote, you give up your right to complain." I no longer see it that way. This is America. If you never vote you might have failed to exercise one of the precious rights we have, however, you can still complain because we are free to do so. I can understand the frustrations of the younger crowd. I've made it clear that our system is eaten up with cronyism. However, the fellow I mentioned the other day that I had voted for last time but found out he was not what he said he was, well, the people spoke. He had the power of the incumbency but lost handily because folks were fed up with his backroom approaches. This tells the younger folks they can make a difference. We all can. Staying home is not the answer. Okay. Enough already. I do hope you have a most wonderful rest of the day. May God bless each one. Amen. ....More later.

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” ― L.P. Hartley, British Novelist

Hello and welcome. You may have landed on this page by accident, however, we try to be hospitable, therefore, perhaps you could hang around long enough to hear me out. It's Wednesday, March 7, 2016, and I am enjoying a slight cool down here at the ole blogger ranch. The forecast says we might be sporting some temps near 40 in the next few days. Now that should give us all something to look forward to. The other day someone on the Facebook page devoted to remembering the 'Good Old Days' in the little town where I grew up posted a photo of the old railroad station. Many of the comments were from people who lived there in the 1970's or later. I left that little town in 1968. Someone said as a child they liked to watch the fellow hang up the mailbag that was then snatched by the speeding train. In the early 1960's, I was one of those who would go and hang that bag. My stepfather at that time owned a service station and he had the contract to take care of this process. The train rarely stopped in that little town. The train not only grabbed the outgoing mailbag but an incoming mailbag was thrown out the door. It was a heavy-duty canvas bag and it would go end over end. My job was to run it down and take it to the post office. That depot also brought back many memories from the times in the mid to late 1950's that I got a ticket and boarded the passenger train to ride the rails. My dad, who passed away in 1954, worked for that rail line, Kansas City Southern, KCS. Upon his death, we were given a rail pass. I used it more than anyone else in the family. You might say, that depot, those trains, the people on the trains who remembered my dad, well, it was all a part of me trying to grasp some little recollection of the man who gave me his name, and, even though I've been told that after his death it was no longer appropriate for me to sign my name as a Junior, but, I always have and still do to this very day. I guess in some ways I'm still grasping.

KCS Dining Car. I enjoyed many meals in a car like that.

Maybe that's also why I like to listen to the train going down the track. Yep. I can sit here at my desk and listen to the clickety-clack of a train moving on down the line, in a rainstorm. There's something soothing about that. Perhaps it reminds me of that overnight ride in the sleeper car where our train crossed Lake Pontchartrain. That would have been in the summer of 1953, just a few months before dad had a bout of pneumonia that led to his heart attack that took him to glory in January of 1954. I have a block of a lot of those memories prior to his death, but, I do remember that train ride. The sights, the sounds, even the smells. My brother Donald and I slept in an upper birth. Everything was so different on that train. The sheets were starched and the porters did everything for us. Maybe I dreamed it, but, I have fixed in my mind that long train ride across that body of water and how it produced sleep like I had never experienced before. Maybe that's why I sit here during lunch and doze off as those train sounds rock me to sleep. You what? You've never listened to the sounds a train makes going down the track? Maybe you should try it. There are dozens of recordings on YouTube. My wife would tell you that if the best sleep I've ever had dates back to 1953, she would say I'm doing a pretty good imitation of it, nearly every single night. She would be right about that and often I fall asleep remembering those train sounds. I know. Surely there's some professional help for delusional people like myself. I get that. No thank you. I kind of like the way it's broken and I think I'll keep it.

That stuff might tend to be somewhat boring to many, however, as I often say, and I'm even told by others, it's your blog so go with whatever it is you feel like sharing. I typically do my best to do that very thing. I know there are reality checks that help keep us focused on the here and now. I have a friend that decided he and his wife would go by train out to Arizona to visit relatives. They bought a package deal from Amtrak. That trip was a disaster. They had several breakdowns, delays, and often found themselves sitting in one place for hours at a time. They even thought about leaving the train at one of the stops and renting a car or buying an airline ticket to get to their destination. I'm not sure, but, when he was in the talking stages about his train venture, I may have shared with him some of my fond memories of riding the rails. I hope I didn't influence his decision. I doubt seriously that he sleeps well at night as he thinks about his train ride out west. That, I fear, is how it works. One person's great time ends up being the other fellow's lamentable experience. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention this one. The porter would bring the Cokes stuck down in a bucket of ice. He would pour it into a frosted glass. It was those small bottles of Coke. Many times they gave me whatever I wanted at no cost. The conductors had known my dad. They thought he was an amazing man. They told me stories about him. Maybe they were just trying to make me feel better. Maybe not. Whatever their reasons, I'm thankful for them doing what they did. And, for the train sounds as well. May God bless us all is my prayer. Amen. ....More later.

“I hate paying taxes. But I love the civilization they give me” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

It's Tuesday, March 6, 2017, and I want to end the rumor mill right now. She came back. The wife. That's right. She left me again, but, thankfully, she decided to come back home. She was out of town for a few days to visit and do some yard related work with her sister, over in Louisiana. You probably remember her twin sister. They were born 18 months apart. They are not identical, but, they are close enough for government work. At any rate, things seem to be better aligned now that she is back. Three days of fetching for myself. Saturday, home alone, I climbed those stairs up to my office. My office is in the process of being renovated. I thought she asked if I wanted her to straighten my office. Everything has been taken off the walls. All the bookshelves are cleared. Stuff is stacked everywhere. In the midst of this chaos, I got my old computer up and going and began working on my 2017 federal tax return. I felt like I had intruded into someone's office who was getting ready to move. (Maybe she knows something that I don't know. She also recently bought me a black suit. Uhmm.) After inputting our data from last year's earnings and all the other gyrations required, well, I felt like maybe I should consider moving. I still have some scrubbing to do in getting everything exactly right, however, I was very much less than happy with the amount I will have to forward to the US Treasury. I even paid for the updated version of my tax preparation software. Is that the best it could do? It's only $200 more than what we paid in last year, but, that's not the point. It is at times like this when I wish I had learned how to play that Angry Birds game. Joking only. Therefore, it's not necessary for anyone to send me the verses that speak to the issue of paying one's taxes. I typically do come around. Especially, when I consider how blessed we are to live in and to be a contributing citizen of this great country, the United States of America.

I had a lady come up to me at our evening service this past Sunday evening. She said she knew me. I didn't know her. She worked in my organization in downtown Houston for the big company back in the mid 1980's. I couldn't remember ever having met her, but, she was a part of one of the support groups that worked on a different floor. (Our organization had 150 people at that time.) I didn't know what to expect. She said that everyone respected me as a good boss to work for. Really? She had to be reaching on that one. She went on to say that she was in the first wave of the big layoffs in 1986. It turned out to be a wonderful thing for her since she found a better job and spent the next 19 years there before she retired. She said she saw us when we joined the Church and she recognized the name but thought the Santa Claus she saw couldn't be her former department head. One day my profile came up on her Facebook because of the match on the Company we both had previously worked for. She couldn't believe that it was me. Here's how I look at it. I came away thankful that she didn't have some bad experience where I had made a decision that she had disagreed with. I've heard of a few that still carry a grudge because they didn't get the promotion they wanted or I had not saved them during a round of layoffs. I'm glad this lady had done well. I'm glad we have something even more significant in common. We are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and members of the same local congregation. Small world. I'll let you sing that little song to yourself. Don't resist or it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day, "It's a small world after all, It's a small world after all, It's a small, small world."

I do worry about some things. No doubt, at times, needlessly so. Like, whether or not I should vote for someone in the Republican primary that is running unopposed. I typically do, but, I guess the question would be, why? They are automatically passed through to the general election where they will face their Democratic opponent, that is, if they have one, and if they don't, uh oh, it will be déjà vu all over again. I hate to be turning into a curmudgeon at large, but, to be honest, I'm not that pleased with any of the politicians on the ballot, in office, running for office, of either party. Does it always come down to a lesser of evils decision? I voted for a fellow in an important county position because he was an accomplished business leader and he was running as an outsider. He is now running for reelection and this go around it seems like there's an endless convoy of dump trucks loaded with dirt on him and his past. These feelings of angst and disgust are not new. Here is Andrew Jackson, who served two terms as President, (1829-1837), in his pointed assessment, "I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office." And so it goes. Yet, I still find myself being pulled by the obligation of my citizenship and love of country to find myself participating and doing the best I can. That will not always be rewarded, but, it is still the thing we all must do. Along with seeking God and His help. Amen. ....More later.

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” ― Maya Angelou

What in the world is going on in our culture? I'm waiting. Thanks for showing up today here at our regular meet-up place, the ole blogger ranch. Today's visit is being brought to you by back-to-work Monday, March 5, 2018. Yep. I'm a little peeved to get us started today. Here's what happened. "We don’t have to agree on everything to get along, be civil to each other and enjoy each others company," tweeted USA bobsledder, Lauren Gibbs, who posted a selfie of her with IvankaTrump and the President's Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. This tweet had to be deleted after an onslaught of hate. The very thought of this African American athlete having her photo made with the President's representative to the closing ceremonies of this year's winter Olympics, well, her very thought was pounced upon by the 'thought police'. Who knows? She may end up needing protection from the haters who might even try to do her harm. She attempted to make her point in the comment she attached to the photo. She was not endorsing President Trump, his daughter, or his administration. She was taking a photo with the person representing our country. Stuff like this, to me, may depict the reality of our hate driven world, but, it still seems to border on the ridiculous. To think that someone doing something so normal, so respectful, and so much in keeping with the purported ideals of the Olympic spirit, well, it just galls me. That's it. I'm flat out galled. What about you?

Now here's something I thought was really funny. A little backstory first. Many years ago I worked with a fellow who typically thought he was on the leading edge in just about every category. He was the first to get one of the stand up desks. He couldn't wait to show it to me so he could gloat about how much more productive and effective he could be. I recently saw an article quoting a recent study that indicated how stand up desks may not be the best answer for an efficient office environment. While too much sitting is well known to be problematic, well, now they tell us the stand up desks have produced their own set of health-related problems. Joint pain and fatigue are just two of the issues found, but, the most interesting finding was how the stand up desks actually were shown to slow down problem-solving and planning activities versus the traditional office desk arrangement. I can still remember him prancing forth and back while explaining how much more he would be able to get done than folks like me who were destined to sit behind a desk. It just goes to show you, give it time. That's right. Give it time, before we will know exactly how something will or will not work. Just so you know, I do try to get up and walk around some to offset so much sitting at my workstation. I would, however, be happy to try out one of those adult sized jumper deals like the one in the cartoon.

"Is this you?"

I am a sucker for those fundraisers at the checkout register. "Sir, would you like to add a dollar for breast cancer awareness?" ~ "Sir, would you like to make a donation for the muscular dystrophy campaign?" ~ "Sir, would you like to purchase this bag of groceries to help feed the hungry?" ~ And, so it goes. The other day I was at a convenience store where I had picked up a few snack items for my lunch. The lady at the register had a very heavy accent. I think she was from a Middle Eastern country but I couldn't be sure of that. At any rate, she mumbled out something and showed me a shamrock. I got it. It was some kind of fundraiser for a childhood disease campaign. Or, I think that is what it was. She asked me to write my name on the shamrock so she could tack it with the others on the wall. I wrote out in big letters, SANTA. She looked at it and I handed her one of our cards. Up to that point, I hadn't really understood her that well, but, I did get her question. Very clear. She looked at the card, looked at me, and then asked, "Is this you?" Really? I responded, "What do you think?" She laughed. I didn't. I don't give out ho-ho-ho's to those who have trouble recognizing my photo ID. Oh well, it takes all kinds. That's what she may have been saying in a foreign language to her coworker standing nearby. You think what? No telling what she was saying about me? That, my friend, might be correct. Since I don't have a clue, I'll go with my interpretation. Have yourself a great rest of the day and may God help us all to love others in the same way that He so loved the world.  Amen. ....More later.

From Joshua 14, Verses 11-13, we find the proclamation of an 85 year old Caleb, "As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance."

I want to again start off today's edition, on this Friday, March 2, 2018, with a look back at a snippet from my blog written 10 years ago. I was writing about how mom, dad, Uncle Asa, and Uncle Waymon were all up in their years, but still serving the Lord in their own ways. Today, only Uncle Waymon of these four is left and he is pretty much confined due to his advanced age and health. They all have created their own legacies of living out their faith, and we can learn from them. Here's what I was talking about, way back then:

MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2008

Pass It On!

My grandfather whom we called Paw Paw Mac and my grandmother, Granny Mac, produced eight offspring. The three remaining siblings are now all in their eighties. My mom is the only girl left out of three, and she has an older and a younger brother. They all have been retired from their regular jobs for many years but none of them have retired from the ministry God has given to them. Often when I call my mom she has just finished putting together a meal for a former pastor who is practically disabled with rheumatoid arthritis. She also consistently shares prayer requests with me about those she is concerned about. The week before last her younger brother sent me an email and asked us to pray for him because he was preparing to speak to a group of forty who were preparing themselves to serve others in a special way. My wife and I were privileged to honor his request as we prayed for him before his meeting. Mom’s older brother sends out many emails each day, many have scriptures or spiritual truths, words of encouragement, and things that might bring a smile. My point is this: they are all still active in serving in their own special way.

Uncle Asa and Uncle Waymon saw combat in WWII, along with my dad, who passed away in 1954. My stepfather was retired from the US Army and served in Korea and Vietnam. Their example is one that we, as a family, are genuinely proud of. There are many reasons these folks come from a population group that has been given the name, The Greatest Generation. In short, they led in helping to save the world from tyranny. I tell folks all the time how that my observations say these folks were put together differently than subsequent generations. I don't know how to sort all of that out, but, like I say, I've been a witness to the character and integrity of their lives. Maybe it was the Great Depression. Maybe it was the God-ordained values handed down to them by their parents. Or, as some have it, maybe it was the times they lived in and the cause that called them. My guess is that it reflects all of the above and then some. I do know this, we who followed them are blessed to have been influenced by their example, their toughness, and their fortitude. Because of that, I pause to thank God for them and for His provision in allowing me to know them all and to have such respect for them. God is to be praised for having them as a part of our lives and our legacy. Amen and Amen.

What a week! My take: It flys by whether you are having fun or not. The other day I was visiting with a fellow and in the conversation, he asked my age. I told him and he said that I was doing really well for my age. Do what? This guy should have seen dad doing 'can to can't', (or daylight to dark for some who may not get it), at age 85. Doing well. For my age? He obviously is not clued in on all the assessments heralding how that 70 is the new 40, or 50, or 60, and even one says the new 65. Hey, if it's even 5 years, that is pretty good. Doing well. For my age. I know he meant well. Things like that strike me as being funny in a not so funny way. After all, this white hair and beard are not provided as a disguise. I read the explanation of how white hair occurs in an overview prepared for children. Don't you know the children found that to be so-o-o-o interesting? The explanation went into all the scientific stuff, in pretty simple language, but, I'll give you a summary of how it happens. When you get old, things in your body don't work exactly like they did when you were younger. Of course, premature gray or white is typically in a different category. Therefore, I can testify that I got mine the old-fashioned way. I was somewhat disappointed to see them telling kids that they, as children, are not responsible for their parent's gray hairs, regardless of what they may have been told. There they go again, they just can't leave well enough alone, so they take away another threat tool. Now it's time to say so long for now. I do hope you have a wonderful Saturday and Lord's Day Sunday. See you next time, where, Lord willing, I will have the ability, at my age, to somehow manage to hunt and peck and hit the keys hard enough to get a message formed. Just joking. May God bless. Amen. ....More later.

"As I see it, only God can be all-powerful without danger, because his wisdom and justice are always equal to his power. Thus there is no authority on earth so inherently worthy of respect, or invested with a right so sacred, that I would want to let it act without oversight or rule without impediment (p. 290)." ~ Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835

Good morning. It's Thursday, March 1, 2018. I don't think March 1st has any potential implications other than perhaps the winds that might show up. I was driving down the road the other day and a guest on a radio program began talking about the overwhelming role that faith in God played in the founding of our nation. I guess I was unaware of just how many days of fasting and prayer that had been officially called for by our nation's leaders during the Revolutionary War with Great Britain. I've written before about the many times that our founding father, George Washington, used the word providence in his writings. The word during that time would have conveyed this definition, "The foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the Earth. God, esp. when conceived as omnisciently directing the universe and the affairs of humankind with wise benevolence. A manifestation of divine care or direction. Foresight; provision; provident care." There were so many times when the future of America was hanging by a thread, but, something, a storm, a fog, a confusion, or another unexpected event brought relief and an ability to continue the fight. Here are a few of the many recognitions of God's hand in the establishing of our nation: ~ Our "firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence." – Declaration of Independence, 1776; "The many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause." – official explanation of the Great Seal's symbolism, 1782; "I entertain a fond hope that the same kind providence which has conducted us so far in our journey will open a way for the future happiness and prosperity of the United States." – Charles Thomson (to his wife Hannah), 1783; "If it had not been for the justice of our cause, and the consequent interposition of Providence, in which we had faith, we must have been ruined." – Ben Franklin (to William Strahan), 1784; "The frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favour." – Benjamin Franklin at Constitutional Convention, 1787; "Our sincere and humble thanks for... the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war." – George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789. ~ The naysayers want us to believe that we were not founded based on a recognition of God. That my friend might be a secularist's dream, but, it is an absolute fabrication.

Okay, they might say, but which God? Well, the overwhelming thrust of the expressed faith comments often included the mention of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think that pretty much answers the question regarding Who they thought of when they talked about His providence. Again, let's look at the actual writings of our early leaders. ~ John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence; Judge; Diplomat; signer of the Bill of Rights; and second President of the United States, "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God." ~ Samuel Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence; Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution, and Governor of the state of Massachusetts, "we may with one heart and voice humbly implore His gracious and free pardon through Jesus Christ, supplicating His Divine aid . . . [and] above all to cause the religion of Jesus Christ, in its true spirit, to spread far and wide till the whole earth shall be filled with His glory." ~ I'll end with just one more, a declaration of the Congress itself, from 1854, "The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." There were more than 50 others listed, many with multiple quotes identifying our nation with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While I might be preaching to the choir, it's always good to be reminded of God's intervention in bringing about the nation and the attendant freedoms we enjoy. Amen.

Sadly, these historical facts are most likely considered to be too offensive to teach to our children. The men and women who sacrificed on behalf of handing down to us this great country were not perfect. Today, their failings are magnified while their faith is not only minimized, it is marginalized as well. Back in 1954, upon the urging of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Congress changed our national Pledge of Allegiance to include the words 'under God'. I have written today's edition to end with this: President Eisenhower was surely on solid footing when he got behind this profound change. How so? Our history, folks. Our history. I've given only scant proof in today's edition. When I say the evidence that people believed in the God of the Bible as a part of establishing the United States of America, the records backing that up are voluminous to overflowing. I'm thankful for this heritage. I'm thankful I was raised up in a home that attempted to hand this same faith down to us children. I'm not opposed to us knowing all the facts that define where we came from including the ugly and unsightly. At the same time, those facts should not be given priority over the preponderance of the evidence. That's what I set out to say. I noticed how many of the folks I quoted tended to be a little on the wordy side. I know exactly what you are thinking. I should read some of the stuff that I write. Got it. Take care. Thank God for His providential care in our history and in our today. Amen. ....More later.

"Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore." ~ James Baldwin, Author

It's another day here at the ole blogger ranch and to be perfectly honest, some days really challenge yours truly in terms of coming up with thoughts, ideas, stories, and anecdotes to share. That is, things that might be of interest. I can come up with the keystrokes. That's not the problem. But, whether it shows or not, I do attempt to provide at least a modicum of quality in the things I write about. Today is Wednesday, February 28, 2018, and I will keep at it until something shows up. I did download this year's edition of my tax filing software for 2017. That's one of the requisite steps as we inch our way towards the April 15 filing date. I have all of my tax stuff on my oldest computer. That computer has been having some issues over the past couple of years. I really need to start moving things off of it before the inevitable happens. That would be the day it joins the computer scrapheap in the sky. It has had several near misses. Most of the software cannot be updated anymore. The operating system is no longer supported. I suppose the question is why I've postponed important things like saving the stuff before it all is lost. You wouldn't do that? Good for you. Instead of a bucket list, I need to be motivated to take care of those important things that are currently being weighed in the balance. (I thought of that one from the Book of Daniel where he used similar language to tell the king he had been weighed in the balance by God and found wanting.) Maybe taking care of my computer needs should have been on my new year's resolution list. But, I didn't make one. At least I don't have to feel bad about not having kept that as a resolution. I know what I will do. I will get my boys working on a plan to try and move this project forward. Most of the time they read my blogs. I'll wait to hear from them. Maybe a plan will emerge.

One writer said that being unable to come up with stuff for them had to do with the times when their imaginary friends wouldn't talk to them. Some say that when faced with writer's block, you should write about it, describing what it looks like. You know. Write about not being able to write. I think I've done that. More than once. Here's another piece of advice from a seasoned veteran, "Sometimes writing badly can lead to something better. Not writing at all leads to nothing." Another sentiment said that dealing with writer's block is to remove obstacles. Let me see. I'm sitting here all by myself, all alone, just the computer screen and keyboard, the Keurig doing its thing, the humming of the fluorescent lighting, and that's about it. I think I know what to do. I'm going to take a break and go for a walk around the property. Okay. In case you missed it, in leaving for a few minutes, I was removing the only obstacle I could think of. While out and about, I visited with our shipping guy who told me about his son's family visiting the homeland of his daughter-in-law. India. They are away for two weeks. They have been Skyping with the grand kids nearly every day and they are missing them so much. We talked some about that country and its customs. They are there for a wedding. At any rate, it was an interesting conversation and now I am back at the keyboard. Again. Block or no block.

Them Skying with their grand kids from India reminds us all of the technological changes that have taken place in our society. Think about it. Cell phones went into production in the mid 1980's. The initial units were very limited. Fast forward to today where grandparents can be face to face with the grandchildren who are nearly 9,000 miles away. Our eldest is able to visit daily with his 8-month-old granddaughter via Skype from her home in Fort Riley, Kansas. She may be 8 months old but if the phone is left on the coffee table she knows which button to push to get her Paw Paw on the line. He said when it first comes on he can see the ceiling fan, but, she can hear him saying hello and she begins to position the phone where he can at least see the top of her head. When he does finally get her in view, he can see she is looking back to see if mommy is going to come and take the phone away. Those cans with the string show the level of person to person communication that I was familiar with growing up. Fast forward to a tiny child using a smart phone to communicate with her family, well, that's pretty difficult to comprehend. The late science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, had this quote, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I certainly can identify with that thought. But, we do live in the time God has allotted to us. Those technologies He has allowed to be developed are tools for us to use in His service and for His glory. See? I just used some pretty remarkable technology to remind us to do that very thing! Amen. ....More later.