As I write this, it is almost exactly 16 years from the moment I was walking through my family room to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and the television was on, and I saw a plane fly directly into one of the twin tower buildings in New York City. I stood there facinated with the horror of that "accident", only to realize moments later that our nation was under attack as a second plane did the same thing and another plane crashed into the Pentagon and then another plane is crashed into a field because the passengers determined they were not going to let the terrorists on their plane kill more people. I don't know that there is away to count the mount of human lives lost since that day in the war on terrorism and a war that began and continues to be fought because of one group of people's hate for the rest of the world in the name of religion. The atrocities that men have committed in the name of their perceived view of what God would want is staggering. And I suspect that God must certainly weep. I can only pray that mankind will quickly learn what the power of love can do instead of violence and war.

This morning we wake up to the news of Hurricane Irma weakening as it barrels its way through the entire state of Florida and now into the state of Georgia as a tropical storm. We'll have the remnants of that storm come through here Tuesday through Thursday. It is sad to see the pictures of the damage that has been caused and still continues to be caused by this storm and all the while, still watching the cleanup from Huricane Harvey over in Texas and Louisiana. But, I think the saddest thing I saw, and there were several different incidents of this; was the gangs of looters breaking into stores and stealing boxes and boxes of shoes and clothes in the middle of the storm! What level of humanity does that??? In each incident all of the looters were young black people and I couldn't  help but be angry for the black communities around the country. These incidents were nationally televised and I now wonder how many innocent, good black citizens are going to be racially profiled because of the actions of these small groups of low life individuals. My thoughts are that if activist groups like Black Lives Matter truly want to change the racial tension in this country, instead of blaming the police for enforcing the law, --- they should tackle incidents like this and work to change the image of the black person in America.

But ---- today isn't an all gloom and doom day. "This is a day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." My morning started off with hummingbirds and cardinals and woodpeckers and nut hatches all enjoying the backyard buffet. The sun is shining, it is 60 degrees and Ms. Kate and I are awake and alive and doing well. We had a nice weekend and are looking forward to a good week. I hope things are well wherever you are and I hope your week will be blessed. Until next time --- Peace.