Good morning, brand new week! Good morning, beautiful spring day! I feel blessed this morning to be alive and part of this wonderful world. The sky is blue and no rain clouds threaten. In fact it is supposed to reach about 75° today. A line of low-flying geese are sounding their joy too as they fly overhead. Yep, as the Psalmist said, "This is a day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

There are several things I would like to use this day for, but the day won't be long enough to fit them all in. The one thing for sure I want to accomplish though is a job up at one of my churches that needs to be done. I need to refinish the ends of four or five of the pews. The sun has shown in on them forever and the polyurethane on them has bleached and peeled and flaked. With a little work I can get that cleaned up, and prepped, and a new coat of Minwax Polyurethane put on them. Getting it done today will allow the smell to go away before next Sunday's service. I've been waiting for a good warm day and now that same sun that has made them look bad can help the new sealant dry.

I also need to fill a few feeders today, and if we have time before it closes, I'd like to take Ms. Kate to the orchid exhibit at the zoo. They have extended the exhibit by another week, and I think we would enjoy seeing it. However, if we don't get to the zoo today, we can do it tomorrow. But tomorrow is supposed to be about ten degrees cooler, and I hope to do a bit of raking around here tomorrow.

I'm offering prayers this morning for the families of three of our local high school kids who were involved in a head-on collision yesterday. One young man was killed and two other young kids were critically injured. They were hit head on by a man who was driving on the wrong side of a four lane highway and was drunk to the point of four times the legal limit. He too is in critical condition. What a shame for all concerned in this situation. When I hear of stories like this, I can't help but be thankful to God for watching over me and my family. Back in 1988, I too drove home from a party in that kind of condition and had Ms. Kate with me, and two young daughters at home. Somehow, I managed to make it home without killing us or having an accident, or getting picked up for DUI. But --- the realization of what could have happened has kept me from ever drinking to excess again. I'm pretty much a two beer limit guy ever since and I thank God for God's protection. They say we learn from our mistakes, if we are lucky, and I certainly learned from that one.

Speaking of drinking, my coffee cup is empty and I have work to do so I should get to it. I don't want to waste what God has blessed us with today. I pray your day will be as bright and as enjoyable as mine is going to be.