QOTD: Why am I up at 0600 this morning?? Actually, why is anybody up at 0600 if they don’t have to be? I reckon it is because I had a good night’s sleep and my brain says it was time to get out of the bed. — Silly brain. 

I had a very busy day yesterday. I told you I had a lot of stuff to do yesterday and I got busy and accomplished a lot of it. My yard is mowed, front and back; the trimming is done and then some; the bird feeders are filled and the bird baths are cleaned and fresh water put in them. (They were gross. I don’t know why birds insist on pooping in the same water they drink from.) I wanted to get as much done as possible because there was a prediction of showers for last evening and rain today. But —- it didn’t rain last nor has it rained so far this morning. So, with a little luck, I’ll get the weeds pout of the raised beds (again) before it does actually start raining. According to my Accuweather App, it isn’t supposed to start raining until around 1800 hours today. That would be good. But — the weather guy last night predicted a week of rain starting tomorrow. That’s not good. We really, really do not need any rain now. The farmers are just now being able to get out in the fields and they don’t need any delays. 

Amongst other things I have on my list today, Ms. kate wants to go to Hastings Nursery down on the other side of Mt. Vernon, IN. I’m supposed to pick up a gardening tool that Karen has on hold down there and no telling what Ms. Kate has in mind for us to buy for planting. Hopefully it isn’t anything more than some garden plants like tomatoes etc, although it is still too early to plant that stuff I think. Heck we had frost warnings just three nights ago still. It has been a weird season. Winter just doesn’t want to go away. There are still blizzards occurring in the northern plains of the country. At least we aren’t looking at anything like that; — I don’t think so anyway. But, this is southern Indiana and who knows what season we will have today. 

I need to go downstairs to my computer and pull up my sermon for this week and read it again. And I need to get back and finish up my sermon for next week too. Next week will be Mother’s Day and I’m doing a sermon of mothers of the Bible, with the focus of course on Mary, the mother of Jesus. I found it interesting as I was going through Google looking for stuff about Mary because there is a lot of information about her and yet — the Bible really doesn’t tell us much of anything and tells us even less about Joseph. So basically anything I can say is repeating someone else’s conjecture and generalizations. There is allegedly a “Gospel of Mary” what was supposed to have been found among the Dead Sea scrolls, but from what I have read it amounts to nothing more than a couple of pieces of parchment that is barely legible. The document has been basically shunned by the “smart people” who do such things. So I don’t know if it is valid or not. There is also supposed to be a Gospel of Judas. 

I think i need a coffee refresher so I’m dropping off of here. Have yourself a blessed day. Peace. 

 Thursday Morning and we are home from vacation. We did a 12 hour straight-shot drive from Biloxi to home yesterday. It made for a long tiring day and we are still stiff and sore this morning even after a wonderful night’s sleep in our own bed. Resorts are nice and all but there is nothing like your own bed, is there. ? The drive was fine; there worst part was getting into Nashville at 5:30 traffic time. But —- for once it wasn’t pouring down rain. The last couple of time we made that drive, it poured on us all the way through Alabama and Tennessee. But yesterday was a lovely travel day. 

We got home at 8:30 pm, got most of the car unloaded, will finish that this morning and get the laundry going. Then we flopped down in our recliners and watched a couple of television shows and went to bed around 10:30. Ms. kate was up at 0600 and I got up at 7:15. Neither of us is moving very fast so far today. 

I’m looking around at my yard and it is a holy mess. The yard needs cutting, the raised beds are full of weeds that need to be pulled. The Backyard Buffet is mostly empty and I have some more sticks and stuff in the yard to pick up before I mow. It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow which means I need to get as much of it done today as I can. So much for relaxing. I have grown less and less fond of traveling because this is what you come home to. But —- all of that aside, it was a nice vacation and we got to see parts of the country that we would never have seen had we stuck to the Interstates and not taken all of those backroads along the Mississippi River and through the state of Mississippi on the way from Vicksburg to Biloxi. Backroads were not an option for the return home trip. We got on I-65 at Mobile Alabama and got off of it in Nashville. 

I guess I better get cleaned up and put on my work clothes and get this day really started. I also need to take Ms. Kate t\o get her glassed fixed again. The nose piece has come off once again so she getting a tender spot on the bridge of her nose and of course not seeing well out of crooked glasses. And, we’ need to pick up some groceries and maybe even make a run to Sam’s Club. Too much to do. 

Have yourself a very blessed day. Smile at a stranger today. You just might be the best thing to happen to them all day. Peace. 

 Good morning as we start as new week. I predict it is going to be a good week just because I want it to be a good week. I have that power, you know! Well, at least for me. I mean, no one wants to start out thinking that "this week is going to really suck!" I believe we control our own destiny much by our outlook on life. Everything else then is up to God. Maybe some bumps will come along and that's okay. I've never been on a completely smooth road. I've been on a lot of road that looked smooth but then you hear the constant "bump-bump" as you drive along over the pavement sections. And sometimes that's the way life is; full of little nuance "bump-bumps". Just keep your eyes on the horizon. That's where the journey is taking you and where God's reward lies. ----- (Well that got deep in a hurry, didn't it?)

In the mean time, --- it is a sunny warm morning here in Biloxi, MS. Our room is on the 19th floor overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. We have a very nice room and I'm on my third Keurig cup of coffee so far. So far my morning has been a lazy "sit and read Facebook posts and play Criminal Case on my IPad" type of morning. I'm also enjoying watching all of he small boats heading out on the water. I assume it is people going out for a little fishing. Most of them appear to be personal pleasure boats, not commercial fishing or charter. A couple of trips go down here I went on a charter fishing boat right out there where I'm looking. I was really surprised when the boat only went out maybe a half mile and stopped. The water was only about twenty feet deep. I was used to New England charter fishing where we went out about twenty miles and fished at 300 feet deep where we caught large cod etc. So, fishing out here in the Gulf was a disappointment. Yes, I caught lots of fish, but I have no idea what I was catching. They were all "small". We were only out for a couple of hours and when we came back in, I gave all of my fish to one of the other passengers because I was in a hotel with no ability to do anything with them. The fellow was very happy with me because he was a local. 

We had lunch yesterday at the buffet and it was really good food. We had tried to go to the Beignet Café but there was an hour wait. So we decided to come to the resort, check our luggage with the bellhop and have lunch while we waiting for hotel check-in time. As Ms. Kate said, we have now satisfied all of our "southern cooking" food requirements. We've had fried chicken, oysters, beignets, red-beans and rice, gumbo, corn-bread, catfish, and crème broulet (sp). 

Time to go downstairs and maybe go to the snack  bar. I'm thinking an egg sandwich for breakfast this morning. Have yourself a wonderful day. Peace. 

 Good morning on this sunny Saturday morning. Today we are in Biloxi, MS, and are staying on Keesler Air Force Base in the DV Quarters. We have a four room "apartment" types quarters; living room, large bedroom, kitchen and large bathroom. These quarters are used for Colonel's and Generals when they come to visit the base for specific duty. Then also then allow retired Colonels and Generals to use them if they have room. We have stayed in DV quarters across the nation and they are almost always great, --- if they are Air Force. The other services have a different set of standards and generally are not as nice. 

So, as planned, we drove from Vicksburg to Biloxi yesterday. It was a nice trip, about four hours. We took the state roads and stayed off of interstates again. Yes, you can't go 70 - 75 miles and hour but the state highways was really a good one with little traffic on it. And there is nothing wrong with traveling 60 mph and seeing America like we used to do when I was a kid before interstates were built. (Yes, I'm that old. The interstates weren't built until the early to mid-50's. My folks, my sister and I, and Grandma Rath used to travel to places like Florida and Michigan, and the Black Hills of South Dakota in our old Studebaker on state roads with luggage, coolers, and five people in the car. Car air conditioning meant all four windows "rolled down". LOL) So, traveling backroads and bi-ways was the purpose of this trip and it has been very enjoyable. However, on the way home we will jump on the interstate and boot-scoot on home. 

I really enjoyed coming on the base yesterday. I received a sharp salute from the Security Forces member at the gate, and was addressed by my rank at the gate and and billeting. That might not sound like a big deal to the civilian world but to military and I think especially to retired military, it is a big thing. It is a culture of respect and discipline and recognition for who and what you are and what you have worked hard to achieve, I find very little comparison to that in the civilian world. Everybody seems to want to be on "first name basis". Maybe that's okay, but I think we all like to sometimes feel a sense of acknowledgement. I'm very fortunate in that the people of my parish call me Pastor John, and I appreciate that. I remember when I first retired and went to my home church I heard the young kids all referring to "PT" when they talked to or about the pastor. I was shocked. But, ---- that was what he allowed. Shame on him. But then again, --- maybe I'm the one that being "uppity". 

Time to close this up and go find some beignets for breakfast. Have yourself a very wonderful weekend. Peace. 

 Happy sunny Friday. It’s 69 degrees here in Vicksburg this morning. The geese woke us up again this morning at 0630. LOL. They do like to chatter and fuss with one another. I don’t know if maybe they have nests out there at the water or not. We are not supposed to walk over there because there are alligators in the water so they say. We have a sign in the lobby that says to not go beyond the sidewalk because of gators. So, I think I will be a law abiding citizen and keep my butt away. LOL

We had a good day yesterday. We went to the downtown historic district of Vicksburg and to a restaurant called Walnut Hill. The place is the #1 recommendation by Trip Advisor for restaurants in Vicksburg and I can see why. It was southern home cooking at its best. I had fried chicken, red beans and rice, cabbage for the entree’ and it came with corn bread muffins and some little rolls, our tea, and then banana pudding for dessert. The chicken was fried perfectly. The seasoning on everything was perfect. Ms. Kate had the same thing as I did except she had glazed carrots instead of the cabbage. I tried them and they were delicious. The place is also a bakery so we took a huge piece of Italian Wedding cake fro Kate and a piece of coconut Creme pie for me back to the hotel for our supper. Her cake was delicious and so much better than my pie. I’m not sure what it was about the pie that I didn’t like except that maybe it was too full of coconut and it was dense. 

After lunch we drove to the Vicksburg National Cemetery and park. It is a large area with monuments representing the different units from both sides of the war at the location of where they were encamped and fought. It is daunting to think of 100,000 men fighting one another in the terrain. It had to be a bloody and horrible thing to go through. When I think of the equipment they had and primitive conditions of the war, lack of any kind of technology that we use today, I wonder how many men were killed through mis-identification of a unit etcetera. 

Today we are leaving Vicksburg and heading to Biloxi for a few days on the gulf. Everybody need a little salt air in their system once in awhile. The weather is supposed to be beautiful so that will be great. I don’t know if I will but I would really like to find a place to take an air-boat ride through the swamps. It’s a bucket-kits item. 

Have yourself a great weekend. Peace. 

 Good evening from Vicksburg Mississippi. Ms.Kate and I are on the road for our vacation and are following the Mississippi River on the Great River Road. It is listed as one of the five great scenic drives of America by some surveys etc. We have seen some nice scenery, most of it very rural. Frankly , we see the same thing when we travel Old Henderson Road along the Ohio; but this was what we wanted to do and see and it has been worth it. Monday, we drove as far as Arnold, Missouri and spent the night. We didn’t actually leave home until after noon on Monday. Yesterday we started off by.going to the Blue Owl Restaurant in Kimmswick, MO. We have been there several time over the years and it is a lovely place to go and have a wonderful breakfast. From there we headed south to. Metropolis, IL via state roads and backroads along the Mississippi River. Saw some beautiful scenery and farm land. The Redbud trees are outdoing themselves over in MO. 

This morning we got up and headed for Vicksburg MS. Google maps told us that it would be an eight hour drive and it sure was. Much of it was Interstate down I-55. But — when we were directed to get off of the Interstate, we really saw some back roads of Mississippi. The Google Maps App is really great for getting you to where you want to go. But we traveled a lot of County Roads and State roads that we would never have known existed and it was enjoyable. And for most of them, we had the roads to ourselves. 

Thursday we are going to see a National Cemetery and a battle field and maybe a plantation. Then Friday, we head out for Biloxi, MS and will be staying in the Distinguished Visitors Quarters on Keebler Air Force Base. It will be nice to be around ”our peoples” again. 

So, now to bed, it has been a long day and Ms. Kate and I didn’t get our nap. We should sleep pretty good tonight. 

Will catch up with you down the road. Peace.  

 Good morning on this sunny, cool, Good Friday morning. I think we are in for a pretty nice day. It is currently 57 degrees and is supposed to go up another 11 degrees. I’ll take that any day of the week. 

How’s your day going? Are you settling in for a weekend of having company or are you going to be someone’s company? Julie, Jim and the pups are coming over sometime tomorrow sometime. They will leave after lunch on Sunday. She is bringing over a pork loin already “pulled” and ready to eat. She’s bringing both BBQ sauce. And pork gravy to go on it. I’ll jump on the gravy along with my mashed taters. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Kate’s going to make a strawberry pretzel salad as well as the potatoes and we’ll get some of our corn out of the freezer and maybe some baby limas to go with it all.  Sounds good to me!

We had a really nice Maundy Thursday worship service last night. It was very well attended and all of the readers and the choir did a great job. We closed the service with Holy Communion and folks left in silence. We had the church open all night for anyone that desired to come and pray. I do this in remembrance of the words of Jesus; “Can you not watch even one hour?” That he asked of his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane. I don’t know if anyone came back or not. It went until 0900 this morning. 

Ms. kate and I are headed to the grocery store today. We went to Rulers (a version of Kroger) yesterday and got milk, creamer, and eggs because Ms. Kate likes to get that stuff there. I suspect we will be at Walmart Neighborhood store today. I need to fill my gas tank on the Prius and can do that there. Then we are going to the cemetery to finish decorating the family stones. By this afternoon it should be warm enough to do that comfortably. If the wind doesn’t kick up, it will be a really pleasant day. 

That should wrap up our day. I’ll probably work on doing a little writing this evening. While I watch television. I hope you have a blessed Easter. Please attend your house of worship. This weekend is all about what the creator of the universe and everything there-in has done for you, just because He loves you that much. Go and give God praise. Peace. 

 Wow!, A bright and brilliant Thursday morning. Welcome Sunshine, it’s great to see you again. 

We spent most of yesterday in a “waiting mode”. We had severe thunderstorms with the strong possibility od tornadoes predicted for our area. It rained on and off most of the day. Finally around 1600 the wind began to pick up but we never really had a “storm” per se. It did rain really hard with some wind and thunder for maybe ten minutes or so. I didn’t even hear it because I was downstairs but Ms. Kate said it was heavy. That was the “front” as it passed through but then it was just more rain and by 2200 it was all over for us. I haven’t heard of any injuries or even a lot of damage. The storm mainly passed to the south of us along the same track they have been passing and over the areas in Kentucky that have already been hit by terrible tornadoes. I pray those folks are all okay this morning. Julie tells me that the storm went a little south of her over in New Albany and hit Louisville with some damage and power outages. I think they have cancelled schools this morning. 

We have a busy day today. We are already doing laundry this morning. Then we have to go to the grocery store.  Easter is going to be here in a couple of days and we are out of too many things. Julie is bringing a pork loin to have for Easter lunch but we need to get a lot of stuff to go with it. And, — we have a bunch of other running around to do today too. Then this evening we have the Maundy Thursday worship service  for the parish. We never got to the churches yesterday to run the bulletins so we will go early for that and then stay for the service. After that service is over, I need to set the church up for the next two services; a Sunrise service at St. Lucas and then normal Sunday worship service at each church. 

We spent part of yesterday narrowing down our vacation plans and lining up reservations for hotels along the way. We are going to spend a couple of days in Vicksburg, MS driving around looking at some of the Civil War cemeteries and battlefield, and antebellum homes. We never been there so it will be something new to us. Eventually we will end up on the gulf coast for a few days and then back home. Everyone needs to stop and breathe in some ocean air once in a while and listen to the waves. I’m thinking thaat we will be far enough south that the azealias should be in full bloom in that area by now. It will be a good trip. We are trying to stay off of the interstates as we drive. 

Time to make out my grocery list and swap the laundry over. Have yourself a wonderful day. This is Holy Week. Embrace it. Peace. 

 Hello Tuesday! It’s nice to see you because for once we don’t have rain —- YET!!! And it is a warm day, supposed to go up to around 75 today. It is cloudy and my Accuweather says a storm is coming through around 1100 this morning. I reckon we’ll see what happens. I think we have a pick-up order from Sam’s today and I need to go to the churches and run some bulletins again. I need to pick up a case of 11 x 17 copier paper for one of the churches so I can make big bulletins, and Sam’s is the best place to get it, and the drive through shopping is the way to handle it. A case of that paper is heavy and this way I only have to handle it once. 

How was your weekend? We had a good weekend. I got my mowing and trimming done in the front yard and some weeds pulled. The yard looked great for Palm Sunday. We also got to one of the cemeteries and put flowers on my parent’s graves. We still have to go to another cemetery and put flowers on all of Kate’s family headstones. 

Sunday was a real joy. We had services of course and being Palm Sunday, the kids were really cute with the Palm frond waving. It does my heart good to see all of those youngsters coming up to the  front of the church for the “Children’s Moment” portion of the service. We suddenly have a about a dozen youngsters ranging in age from 12 down to new born. The church of the future looks good at my St. Paul’s church. St. Lucas, on the other hand, is now the church with only a couple of kids. But it vacillates back and forth; always has, always will as the generations grow. 

The best part of Sunday for me  was that we had an infant baptism at St. Paul’s. I have said many times that infant baptisms are one of the most blessed things that I get to do \in my job. There is just something so pure about parents bring their child for dedication to God. I think it is th level of trust that is expressed or maybe even unspoken between the parents and God that they are now entrusting a shared raising of the child. Many churches do not do infant baptism but rather wait until the individual is old enough to make the decision on their own as to whether they will be baptized or not. 

Yesterday I had lunch with the new pastor of my home church and got to meet with him and learn something about him. He seems like a nice guy and he young so he should connect with the “50 and under” members of the church. I pray for him and his family that this will be a good fit for all concerned. Zoar Church has been needing a “settled pastor” for the past seven years but has been having interim pastor’s, including me, while they searched. So, I really hope this was God’s answer. 

Ms.Kate and I have to sit down and map out our trip for our vacation starting next week. So far, we don’t know when we are leaving or for sure when we are getting back home. And —- we only have a vague idea of where we are going.  Our plan is to drive the Great River Road along the Mississippi River from St. Louis, MO to New Orleans, LA and then over to Biloxi, MS. But the maps are not all that clear when you start following “state roads” instead of Interstates. But, it is going to be just a “meandering road trip”, as we indulge ourselves in a little bit of Americana. My only worry is the weather and probability of spring storms. So far, most of the bad spring storms this year have gone right through that area. Pray for us please. 

That’s it for today. Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

 Friday morning and once again I am griping about the weather. It’s 40 degrees, rainy, and the weather dude last night said that we could even have snow showers this morning. So far that hasn’t happened; not that it would amount to anything if it did. But just the idea that it could happen gives me shivers. I just saw a forecast  for the plains area for next week and they are looking at possible blizzard conditions sometime next week. That would be zero fun. Can you imagine having the kiddos go out and look for Easter eggs in the snow. We have done that, many years ago when we were stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. I had gone out late the night before and “hid” the eggs. The next morning we got up to three inches of snow. So, snow at Easter is not unheard of. 

How are you going to celebrate Palm Sunday this Sunday? Does your church even celebrate the day? Many churches do not. Palm Sunday has always been important in our denomination and is always celebrated. I’ll be picking up palm fronds for the two churches tomorrow from the florist. They will be given to the kids during Sunday school at St. Lucas and Megan will give them to the kids during the Children’s moment at St. Paul’s. We have the cutest bunch of really young children at St. Paul’s. I’m anxious to see what Megan will do with them. We are also having an infant baptism during the service at St. Paul’s; what a blessing that is. Unfortunately the child has been sick this week so I hope it all comes together. If not, —- an Easter Sunday baptism is fine too; maybe even more special. 

How do you feel about having “Easter egg hunts” at church on Easter Sunday? Does it bother you? Do you find it as religious or offensive? It has never bothered me as long as it doesn’t “become the main event”. But some churches and pastors really rail against it calling it pagan. Other churches wil try to really separate the two events. My home church had their egg hut last Sunday which is two weeks before Easter. I assume it is insure there is a distinction between the secular fun of Easter and the joy of the resurrection. I can certainly support that option too. At our St. Lucas church the kids will hut the eggs after the Sunrise service and breakfast. At. St. Paul’s they will hunt the eggs as they  meet for cake and coffee after church. I’ve never been able to witness it but I’m told there is a kids eggs hunt and then an adults egg hunt. It makes for a joy filled day. 

I’m still working on my May 1st sermon. I got a good bit of it written yesterday yesterday but I’m just not pleased with it so, back to the computer today for me. As I have said many, many times, I can write fast and write badly or I can take my time and let the words come to me. If I try to force it, it just turns out wrong. 

So, my friends, that’s it for Friday. Stay warm, and stay in touch with God. Peace. 

 What a wonderful thing to wake up to sunshine this morning as opposed to another cloudy rainy day. And the temperature is 50 degrees so that is good. It is only going up another couple of degrees today ut that’s all good. We will enjoy it while we can before the rain sets back in this afternoon. 

We closed out our Bible study last evening. We went a little long but much of that had to do with the sharing of the unleavened bread  and discussions over that. The scripture we covered last evening was Mark 15 and 16, Good Friday and the resurrection. People asked a lot of questions and we had good discussion. I’m sure that there are better people to answer the questions than me but I think we worked through the answers quite well. There are several topics that I would love to do either a book study or a Bible study on. Finding the time is the hard part. People have such busy lives. I hate to sometimes interrupt them. But, we will see what we can come up with. 

Our unleavened bread was better this time since I didn’t use the whole wheat flour but used all-purpose flour instead. This isn’t something that I’ll make again but it was fun to try and I think everyone enjoyed the experience. We talked about the customs surrounding the whole thing and how it tied back to our faith history. 

We have a few places to go today, or this afternoon anyway. I have to go over to pastor Art’s house and drop off a Bible that I’m giving as a gift to one of the Zoar confirmands. The young man has asked Art to be his sponsor this Sunday at his conformation. That is quite an honor. It tells me that Pastor Art has made an impression on the young man. I can’t think of anyone  better than Art. Heck, I consider him to be my mentor which is basically the same thing. 

I need to fill some feeders again today. Between the “flying pigs and the fuzzy tailed rats, they have cleaned out a couple. I also have to cut my asparagus and spread some Epson Salt on my flowerbeds and garden. It sweetens the soil or growth. Ms. Kate says I can put it on everything except the Azaleas. They take a more acid soil. What do I know? \I just do what she asks. LOL

Have a great Thursday. I hope you get a chance to get out and enjoy the sunshine while you can. Peace. 

 It’s Wednesday and still raining, but not quite as cool as it was. We are more at a sprinkle or “drizzle “ no as the system is moving out. We are allegedly going to have a nice afternoon. 

\I’ve been busy this morning. I made unleavened bread again for my Bible study this evening. Since we had to cancel last week due to weather, I threw what I hade away. It wouldn’t have been any good by today. This time I used all-purpose flour instead of the whole wheat flour and I think it tastes a lot better, which in actuality may not be saying too much. After all to the Hebrews, this was a “get out of town” bread without a lot of thought about flavor. It is made in a hurry with only the basic ingredients, flour, water, salt, and organic olive oil. \It tastes alright, I like it better than what I made with the whole wheat. I added a little honey to my second batch but can’t really tell it. I think it would be much better if I added honey to it on top. 

I’m going to sign off because i still have to get ready to go to the churches for most of the day. We are meeting Pastor Art and Dixie for lunch and then taking them to my two churches and show him around so he can be acquainted with them when he fills in for me on the 24th. Then we will spend the afternoon running bulletin for the next few services and try to get ahead just a little. 

Have a wonderful day. It might be raining outside but there can always be sunshine in your heart if you keep you eye on Jesus. Peace. 

 Tuesday morning and it is still raining, or has been raining , or is going to rain again; I don’t know. My Accuweather app says that it is going to rain for at least another hour. I’m thinking that we don’t need any more rain here for a while but on the other hand, the state of California would love to have this rain this morning. I just read that they are going to really be hurting for water if they don’t get some rain soon. You know, one would think with all of the brilliant scientists and the environmentalists that are warming about global warning,, that they could figure out a relatively simple way to turn Salt water into drinking water and could use it to irrigate fields etc. But, I guess it more important to figure out how to change a person’s sex than it is to save a world.  It’s a weird world, populated by people with skewed values. What can I say?

Julie’s friend made it through her surgery in excellent manner. She called this morning and said her pain is magnitudes lower than her last one was. I’m glad for her. Jules will probably hang around here today and then be back to her home by supper time. I want her to wait until it looks like the majority of the rain is done for the day; however, it is going her direction so that might not be possible. 

I didn’t get much accomplished yesterday and I don’t know why, I was busy, but I guess running around in circles doesn’t get a person very far. I did get my May 1st service put together and I have a scripture and title for the sermon. And — I have a pretty good notion what direction I’m going to try to go with it. However, there is still a lot of execution to be done. I haven’t actually hit that first stroke on the keyboard in that direction yet. Wish me luck. I’m going to try to get it all done today and go get my running around done. I need to go get something from Fresh Market that we need make our unleavened bread tomorrow for the Bible study. We are going to go overtime tomorrow evening with our Bible study but I think folks seem to be looking forward to it. I’m going to miss doing them. I need to come up with one for summer. I read about a candidate last night. I read a blurb about doing a Bible study on Daniel from the Old Testament. I’m going too look into that a little more. There are so many Bible and good book discussions out there. 

My IPad is down to 7% so I better go plug it in. Have yourself a great day. Peace. 

 Monday morning and it’s raining and 45 degrees. The bad news is that the forecast for the weeks says that this will be a recurring forecast for several days, on and off, so we might as well get used to it. April showers bring may flowers so it is said. 

Can you believe that this Sunday will be Palm Sunday and the next week is Easter? That’s coming up quickly isn’t it? But, —- I’m excited about Palm Sunday because we are doing an infant baptism at one of my churches. I love doing infant baptisms. It is one of my favorite things I get to do as a pastor. Dedicating a child to God is an awesome responsibility. I’m glad to say that the parents are eager to have it done too. When the parents take this ceremony seriously, there is a greater chance that they will follow up on their promises they make during the ceremony. 

Church was “thin” yesterday at both churches. I don’t know what was going on that pulled folks away but we had a good service for those that did attend. And of course we put it on You Tube and Facebook so people can tune in and catch it later. And many do that. But actually being there for the service gives a person a sense off community that they cannot get while sitting on their couch at home. Beside, I miss them when they aren’t there. I am so very, very blessed to be able to pastor these two churches. I’ve often expressed that it was my initial desire a young person to be a “Minister”. God had other plans for how I would achieve that. Instead of being “The Minister” , God has allowed me to become a pastor who gets to minister. There is such a difference in the definitions and as a young person looking “for a position of importance”; I’m allowed to be a servant and walk with folks through their faith journey and bring God’s word and help provide some understanding. We learn from each other.. It’s a great way to spend my life. 

I guess since it is going to rain on and off , I’ll get busy writing again, seems like the thing to do. I was hoping to get back out in my flowerbeds today. I sent a couple of hours pulling weeds on one side of the front flowerbeds yesterday but I have so much to do. I was pulling some weed that I call a “pop-weed” because when you touch then they pop their seeds off and you get more. Yea!!!! I don’t want to simply hit them with the weed eater because that would not get rid of them. So, I was pulling them as best as I can yesterday. I should have put down some Preen where I had been and turned up the soils a bit but I didn’t. Maybe between rain showers today I can go out there and put some down.. 

That’s all for today. I pray you will have a great Monday and indeed a great week. Peace. 

 I never blog at night, especially at 10:00 at night. But, I've had a busy day and I'm sitting here at the computer and am watching the news. I have to see what Wayne Hart has in store for us tomorrow weather wise. Today it only got to 46 degrees again. I'm ready for some warmer weather as is everybody. Unfortunately, Wayne is not giving out any great forecast. More cool temperatures, more days of cloudy skies with April showers are on the horizon. Oh well, might as well not worry about what I have zero control over. 

I had to go to the churches today for a little bit and then went to my favorite meat market, Dewigs, and picked up some BBQ, some hamburger patties, and buns. From there I had to go to another grocery store to pick up the rest of the things on my list. The benefit of me doing the grocery shopping is that sometimes cherry turnovers , or homemade sweet rolls will accidently fall into my shopping cart. Tomorrow morning's coffee sidekick has been secured. Dewig's has a person that makes homemade sweet rolls and if you are really lucky and your timing is right, you can actually grab a package. YES!!!!!!!!

I came home and got busy on my computer working on upcoming upcoming services. I think I have everything set now through April and can start on May. I as waiting on Pastor Art to give me his desired scripture and sermon title for the 24th of April. He will be filling in for me while I'm on vacation. This coming Wednesday, I'm going to meet him at the churches and show him around the two places so he can familiarize myself with where things are and what to expect. 

Julie and Jim are coming over tomorrow with the pups. She is coming over to help her friend who is having another surgery and will stay through Tuesday. Jim will come over and put the mower deck on my John Deere for me and he will leave on Sunday morning while we are in church. I think he is going to leave the pups here with Julie and us and that is fine. I miss the silly things. Their oldest one, Auggie, like to sit up on my lap when I'm in the recliner or on the arm of the recliner. The other one, Fenn, is a "nervous nelly " of a dog. It can't seem to get close enough to you. But they both sweethearts. Grandma has already bought treats for them for their visit; not that any of us would spoil the darn things. 

I think tomorrow morning I am going to go out and do some weed eating on the flowerbeds and pull some weeds if they pull well. I also need to put down some Roundup on the dandelions that are around the edge of the flowerbeds. 

That's it for tonight and for this Friday. Happy April Fool's day. Have a blessed night and hopefully I will get back to you on Monday. Peace.