Good morning and a blessed June 1st. Can you believe it is the 6th month of 2021 already. In 30 days this year will be half over. And, I must say, it has been a much better year than it predecessor, 2020. 

How was your Memorial Day? Did you have friends or family over? Did you grill out in the back yard and sit around and relax? Did you go to a cemetery and watch a local VFW or American Legion Honor Guard conduct a 21-gun salute to our comrades in arms who have passed? That’s how Ms. Kate and I honored the day. We went up to our St. Lucas church cemetery where the local VFW was doing a ceremony. I was very impressed with it. It was very well done, and the members of the honor guard were sharp looking. What impressed me the most though was the number of people that turned out to watch the ceremony, and the fact that they brought their children. From St. Lucas, they went up the road to St. Paul’s  and did the ceremony at that cemetery. They have done this for years and the fact that people brought their children to watch gives me hope that the next generation will continue the tradition. 

Our Sunday All Parish Worship service went very well and was well attended. Due to the cool temperatures we had to give up the idea of an outside service. At church start time it was 58 degrees with a breeze. It would have been fine for a lot of people but a lot of others would have felt like they were chilled to the bone. It is best to err on the side of caution I reckon. There will be plenty of hot days to have a service outside. The summer is only getting started. 

I finished my June 27th sermon last night with the exception of the Pastoral prayer. I told Ms. Kate that I’m holding off on writing that because we may have a whole new set of things to pray for or about by then. But, this week, I need to get bulletins run for the next three Sundays. That way I will have everything set and ready for when I return on the 20th. 

It’s a cloudy morning and 61 degrees. I thought that today was supposed to be a sunny day but now the Accuweather forecast is showing ran this afternoon and evening. We have some running around to do today to get ready for our trip. I guess we better plan on going earlier in the day. Right now Ms. Kate has the laundry going so we’ll wait until that is done. 

I need to start “dry-fitting” the load that we need to take for our vacation. Our Prius is a small car and we will be taking a lot of stuff with us, so the logistics will be interesting. Thankfully we also plan to stop at the Walmart there in Branson to pick up stuff too. But, I just need to figure out how I’m going to pack it all. If I had a cover on my pickup bed, I’d put it all in there but I don’t and besides, I like the 55 mpg I get with the Prius. 

Well the first load of laundry is ready to come out of the washing machine and go into the dryer, som I guess I better get busy. Have a great rest of your week. 

Peace.