Federal taxes, Indiana taxes, Illinois taxes, my deceased mother's taxes ----- no wonder no one liked the disciple Matthew! Taxes and a meeting took up my day yesterday which was an absolute shame because it was the warmest and brightest day of the year so far and I spent it at the computer. But ours are filed and  accepted and I have everything ready to drop off to my mother's accountant this morning.

God has blessed us with a beautiful spring morning today. It is a cool 57 degrees with a 17mph wind but the sun is shining brightly and there isn't a cloud in the sky. A week or even two like this would be most welcome. The breeze keeps the chimes playing a lovely sound,  the bird feeders are all filled, and the gang is arriving for the back yard buffet. The neighbor's forsythia is blooming nicely, everyone's daffodils are looking beautiful, and the trees are leafing out and many are blooming. This is a perfect time of the year; a time of rebirth and renewal and it all ties in nicely with the fact that Sunday is Palm Sunday followed by Easter the following Sunday. God is good and the world is alive. I look at it as our yearly reminder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Today is Wednesday again already and that means a busy day as usual. Today I'm adding a counseling session to my schedule. I have a young couple coming in for their first pre-marital counseling. I'll do their wedding on July second of this year. I've met her a few times but he is from my St. Lucas church. I've watched him grow up and mature into a very nice young man with an excellent set of moral values and an excellent work ethic. I think it speaks well of him that the congregation trusts him enough that at 21 years old, he has been elected to the church council.

I don't like to talk politics but I will sure be glad when this years's presidential election is over. There has been debate after debate and I still couldn't tell you what any candidate actually stands for. All we hear is rhetoric and slander and yelling and screaming at one another. I'm firmly convinced there is not a God fearing candidate among the group The nation is so divided and on edge that it is a frightful thing to see. It is going to take a lot of prayer to turn this thing around or we will be in a civil war. I can't remember a time when this nation was so inwardly violent, even during the 1960s when we were having race riots. The politicians and the media have turned this countries values upside down. The police are being portrayed as the bad guys and the criminals are portrayed as helpless victims. One candidate actually said yesterday that putting a black person in jail is nothing more than going back to the days of slavery. So, my prayer today is that God will lay a calming hand upon this nation and fill our minds with prayerful reasoning instead irrational hate.

In the mean time, I'm going to pour another cup of coffee, send up my prayers, enjoy my view from the sunporch, and hope that your day is full of peace and the glory of God's goodness. Shalom.