A blessed new week to you my friends. I trust your weekend went well for you. Our weekend was typical around here. It has been a rainy one off and on and is supposed to continue in like fashion through Wednesday. Evansville has had some cloudbursts that dropped a bunch of rain for maybe thirty minutes and the clears up. It was still sprinkling when I got out of bed at 0645 but that didn't last long and now we even have periods of a little sun shining through. Southern Illinois is getting hit hard though. What is also amazing is that much of the country is getting none of this rain and they really need it. I was talking to one of my farmers at church yesterday who had spent part of the week up in Ohio at a tractor show. He said that the area he was in was in a drought and that their corn won't make 50 bushel an acre. And then there is the state of Lousiana that under a state of emergency because of historic flooding. In parts of that state they have 80% of the roads closed and are under two feet of water with more rain to come. I pray for all of those people who have lost so very much.

We've had more racial violence in the heartland of America. I just don't understand it. A young black man with a very long criminal record confronts police in a stolen car with a stolen automatic weapon loaded with 23 rounds of ammunition and ends up getting killed. The result: hundreds of other young black people riot, burn their local businesses, burn vehicles, assault white people randomly. The parents of the young man claim he was a "good kid"; in fact he was even planning to go to community college." Well --- a picture of him in his cap and gown would have been a sharp contrast to all of the pictures on Facebook of him half naked with his hanging down pants and pointing his weapons at the camera. These young blacks whine because they say we white peoples don't understand the black culture. I agree that I have no idea what a it is like to grow up black in America but if I may continue on my soap box for a moment: --- what they have is not black culture. Granted, inner cities get the short end of the stick in schooling and education and therefore their job opportunities are often less. But far too many black people are totally successful, upstanding contributing citizens of this country to claim that rioting and all that other crap is "the black culture." It is time that they quit calling themselves African Americans and started just being Americans. Odds are pretty good that all of those that were out there burning and looting coudn't even show you Africa on a map. As I see it, the black society of America fails to demand better of their own people. And when there is no expectation of better behavior --- there will not be better behavior. I have worked for, with, and supervised people of every race, color, and religion in my life. I know that when standards are set, followed, made clear, and enforced ---- anarchy can not prevail.

Enough of my soap box for today; thanks for reading and putting up with me. I love you all. Peace.