It is a beautiful, chrystal blue, 30 degree morning. The weather guy promises a few days of warmer temperatures without rain or that other four letter word. So, I think I'll just sit here for bit and enjoy the brilliance of God's smile.

The cardinals and woodpeckers  are here bright and early this morning as well as old Mr. Fuss-a-lot. The titmouse is about the only small bird that I see at the moment. I have a quartet of squirrels playing chase all around the trees and the yard, and across my roof. From what I can see from here, I'll neeed to go fill the feeders again today. As a minimum I need to refill the bark butter paste feeders and bring up a couple of suet cakes too. Ithink it is time to buy some actual suet cakes as opposed to the seed cakes. They need the energy that is provided by the suet.

Yesterday was dental cleaning day and get a haircut day and Ms. Kate went and got a perm. That pretty much took up our day with the other running around we did. Today we need to go to the cemetery and put flowers on my parents graves. Ms. Kate had bought flowers to decorate all of the family graves but Karen got a jump on it and did it for Ms. Kate's side of the family. And, I think we need to go to Target because Ms. Kate "has a list".  Of course, havig a list is only a starting place when we go to Target or Walmart or Sam's. If we would stick to the list it would be a lot cheaper but we never do.

I also need to finish up the sermon that I am working on for the 13th. I'm maybe half done with first writing and got stuck last night with a question and ended up diverting off to read and do a little research, then coming up and discussing my question with Ms. Kate; and then I went to bed. I'm no closer to an answer today than I was before because there is no answer to be had to my wonderings. Some questions just don't have "earthly" answers. But I believe that the reading and the research, and the discussion adds strength to the conerstone of one's faith. I love reading what other people have to say and read their interpretations of scripture. I certainly don't always accept their thoughts but it is good to compare and learn, accept some and reject others. My faith is Christ based meaning that I accept the teachings and words of Jesus Christ as truth. Thomas Jefferson would have called this the "Red Letter" edition of faith. In fact the Jefferson Bible is just that. He actually cut out everything in the bible except the words of Jesus. He was convinced that all of the rest of it was just somebody else's interpretation and explanation of what Jesus meant or it was just stories handed down. While I'm not that extreme, I do base my faith on the teachings of Christ and his promise of resurection to eternal life.  ----- And that is more than you wanted to know this morning.

I again lift up the families of those killed and injured this week due to violence and ask for God's touch to land upon the families and give them a sense of peace. I ask God to lay a calming hand upon this world that God created and help us as children of God to learn to deal with one another in a peaceful and civil way. As we sing every Sunday at the close of our service at St. Lucas, "Let there be peace on earth; and let it begin with me."   Shalomn.