Good morning. Happy Tuesday. It’s a grey day here, kind of sunny, kind of cloudy but only 77 degrees so far. I went to take my trash out to the cans, ended up stopping to pull a few weeds, but it was comfortable out there because the humidity haas dropped considerably. According to my Accuweather app it is supposed to rain on and off today, —- I reckon we will see. 

My friend and parishioner passed from this life last evening around 8:00 pm. I have spent several hours with the family during the past few days as we listened for him to stop breathing. I was with him yesterday afternoon until around 5:30. He was a tough old bird for sure, and didn’t give it up easily especially considering he has been looking forward to this for five and a half years. The family is going to make the funeral arrangements at 1:00 pm today. I suspect the funeral will be Friday, or maybe Saturday at the latest. Both days are supposed to be good weather days which would be wonderful. Bob would have enjoyed a nice sunny day. 

I’ve been trying to work ahead on all of the stuff I have to do. I finished the sermon for the 21st of August last night around midnight. I also have to get ready to teach confirmation class this year. I’ll have two students. I ordered their books yesterday but still need to go to The Vineyard Bible Book store and pick out their Bibles. One would think that aa Bible is a Bible is a Bible; but tis not the case. I like the New International Version because it is easier to read\. I do not like the King James Version. I get wrapped around all of the the “Thee’s and Thou’s” and struggle to concentrate on what I’m reading. Many people like that version though. My seminary professors claimed that the best version was the old Revised Standard Version. I just know that when we have a Bible study we hear a lot of “Well, my Bible says this or that”. So I pick up the NIV Bible for them and I also give them a set of “cheater-tabs” to put \in their Bible. Those are tabs to mark each book of the Bible for easy reference. It has always been a big deal that students learned the Book of the Bible in order. I never did and still couldn’t recite them. But, I make sure that my students have a basic knowledge of which testament to look in; Old or New, and then they can find their tab and get busy. So today, I think I will work on my class syllabus and work on some material for my “new comers” class. 

But first, —- there is a piece of peach pie sitting over there on the counter calling my name. And my friends —- peach pie is not to be ignored!

Peace.