Good morning! Welcome to a brand new day, produced by, directed by, and brought to you by God! How neat is that. You and I were allowed yet another day to be alive on this earth and now we have to decide what to do with it. I don’t know about you. But I’m dstarting my brand new day off with another one of God’s most wonderful creations, —- coffee. After I finish writing my blog I will play a couple of my computer games that I play every day, — Criminal Case, (two versions) and Bingo. Then perhaps I will be ready to get up and get busy. In the meanwhile, I’m also enjoying my birds and other critters out there at the buffet. For the most part I have had an empty yard this morning with the exception of the long-haired black and white cat that wanders through. But all it did was look around for a bit, poop in my flowerbed, and leave. (Thanks for the fertilizer dude!) Now, I have one squirrel out there and a couple of cardinals have flown through but that is about it. It is a windy day but forty-seven degrees. I filled all of the feeders last evening so I don’t know why my guests have not arrived as of yet. But —- they will; they always do. Perhaps the cat is sitting where I can’t see it but they can. This cat chases squirrels right up the tree.

Yesterday I had a good meeting with pastor Art and Karen, our secretary. I think we got most of the month’s events lined up and on the calendar. February and March are busy months. The Lenten season begins on February 14th and that brings extra events like Lenten meals and a Bible study every Wednesday evening. I’ll be preaching the Ash Wednesday service and we will do the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion. Art has also started a Wednesday morning Bible study, and the local church association will be having Saturday morning Lenten breakfasts. Our church will host one of those. So, the next seven to ten weeks are going to be busy, especially for a couple old guys like Art and me who have come out of retirement and are supposed to be working only part time. The silly thing is —- we create most of our own extra work. He has started this new Bible study and I have begun writing a Tenebrae Service for Maundy Thursday service. Loving what you do can be exhausting.

This coming Sunday we are bringing two new members to the congregation. That will make five new members in the last six weeks or so. What a joy. The attendance is up. Every Sunday in January we had a higher attendance than we did a year ago. God is blessing our congregation.

My buffet guests are finally arriving in full force. I have lots of cardinals and goldfinches at the moment as well as junkos, sparrows, and a couple of mockingbirds. I think it is time to sit and sip my coffee and just enjoy the blessings God has sent my way. May your day be filled with God’s grace. Shalomn.