Happy Monday! How many people have said that to you today? Probably no one; but it is a happy Monday. We got an inch of rain last night. Ms. Kate said it really came down hard but I never heard it.

I have a lot of searching critters this morning. Almost all of the feeders are totally empty. So the birds and the squirrels are having to actually eat off of the ground this morning. How uncivilized is that?There are peanuts left in a couple of the feeders and still a good deal of finch feed, and there is plenty of food on the ground. But, how dare I make them forage rather than have a perfect buffet waiting.

We finished church and lunch yesterday and came home. I changed clothes and jumped on the John Deere to mow my front yard and Dan's yard. I was going to do that Friday but the battery was dead on my JD. So, I hooked it up to the trickle charger. By Saturday it still was ready and then yesterday when I tried it it  --- it still sounded dead. It turns out that one of my cables was lose. I tightened that up and it fired right up. So, I got the yards done. Some might say I was "working on Sunday", but using my John Deere never seems to be work. I call it productive fun.

We are predicted to have rain and storms and oppressive humidity today through Wednesday. It will be good times to get some writing done. I also got my trumpet out last evening and played a couple of songs on it. I want to play a solo for church in two weeks and I haven't played my horn in years. So, I found a couple of songs in which the notes aren't too high and maybe I can get my lip in good enough shape to play them if I practice everyday for a bit. I think I have only played it in church once since I have been the pastor there, and that was several years ago. We'll see how this goes. "There was a day" when I was pretty good; at least good enough to get a music scholarship; but like all of the instruments I play, I tend to play stuff my way and not follow the music. It never made my teachers very happy.

I was so very proud of our congregations yesterday. We took up a special offering for the family of a young boy who lost part of his leg due to a four wheeler accident. We collected $767.00 to give to the family. Our congregations may be small; they may not be flashy or loud, but they care about one another and they care about the people of their community. We have a "Blessings Jar" at each church that sits in the back of the churches. The purpose is to have people drop money in the jar if they have felt blessed by God in any way during the week or day. We have donated a lot of money to the local food pantry over the years from those two jars. We have also donated money to several local families during times of crisis from those jars and will do so again this coming Sunday. Our two congregations are just people quietly going about their daily lives and doing God's work; and that is exactly what Jesus has tasked us to do. No wonder I feel so blessed to be part of their faith familly.

I offer up my prayers this morning as prayers of gratitude for the people I am surrrounded by. My daughter Julie has been have a really rough time with her RA so I ask for comfort for her. I give God praise for the rain becaue we were needing it by now. I also ask for comfort of spirit for those that are anxious and overcome with worry for what ever reason. God is so very good, and it humbles me to think that God would care about an insignificant person like me. But, it is the knowing that God does care that brings total peace to my soul. Have a goos day.