Monday morning; a brand new week of all kinds of opportunities. Seven new days, each which will present a specific challenge or a specific set of blessings. I think it is truly up to us to determine which we will acknowledge. My one specific challenge this week is to finish a sermon that I am working on concerninng the death of John the Baptist. I think I told you about that last Saturday or Friday. Its coming along but painfully. Some times when a sermon is this difficult to focus on, I have to ask myself if I'm supposed to write on it. But my stubborn side seldom lets me back off of it; and the result generally turns out fairly well; --- and I generally learn a bunch of stuff from my reading and research. For instance; you may recall that it was Herod Antipas who not onlyy had John the Baptist beheaded,but  he was also involved directly with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Well, --- life didn't fare so well for old Herod Antipas. You might recall that his wife's daughter, Soleme, was the one that caused Herod to behead John the Baptist. Well, story goes that Solome was crossing a river covered with ice during the winter and she fell through and got caught so that only her head was above the ice and it was sharp enough that the ice literally beheaded her; and the soldiers brought her head to Herod on a plate just as they had John the Baptist. This caused Solome's maternal Grandfather to go to war with Herod and Herod lost the battle. As a result of that battle loss --- Emporer Caligula banished Herod and his wife to Gaul, stripping him of everything he owned.  Ms. Kate told me the other day that as much time as I spend reading and researching stuff, one would think have about learned it all. I wish that were the case. 

It is a beautiful Monday morning. The sun is shining for a change. This last bunch of rain filled my rain guage to the seven inch line over a priod of about four days. The farmers at church yesterrday were all talking about how much rain they each got and how some of the fields had flooded, and some of the corn and wheat had gone down due to wind. It sounded to me as if most of them faired pretty well. Although, the wheat is about ready to combine and there is no way they can get in the fields at this point. This week's weather forecast doesn't look promising for them either. Such is the life of the people of America who put the food on our tables.

I had a great Father's Day. Not only did the family shower me with nice gifts, but I talked to all three girls via phone and computer. Ms. Kate and I had church first thing and Julie went with us. After that we went out for a great lunch at Rz's Resturant. They were slammed with customers as I suspected they would be but the food was their usual excellent. Julie, and Jim and the pups went home to New Albany after we got home from lunch and Ms. Kate and I just relaxed at home reading our respective books. Julie bought me a new Stephen King novel and I got started on that one. I think it is going to be a good one. I love how he tends to tie his novels close to one another and this one, although a completely different story, --- begins around an incident from his novel, Mr. Mercedes. 

I've finished my devotional reading for the morning and have asked for God's guidance through my day, so now it is time to get off my duff and get some work done. The sun is shining and there is a micro-breeze blowing. Maybe I can get out in this flowerbed just out side the porch and do a bit of work before the day gets sweltering. I pray your day is full of God's blessings and that you take the time to recogniize them. If you are having a rough day; stop, breathe deeply, listen for the peace of God. As the song says, "You never walk alone."