It isn’t often that the “real feel” temperature out side is higher than the actual temperature. But this morning is is a bright and sunny,  thirtytwo degrees with a “real feel” of forty degrees. That’s because we have zero wind this morning. It is a lovely morning. My only buffet guest at the moment is a squirrel who can’t quite figure out how to hang on to the feeder and eat from it at the same time. Meanwhile, on the ground there are a couple of robins, a wren, and some junkos. It won’t be long before the starlings, cardinals, and the rest of the gang will be here.

I just had a “news blurb” pop on to my screen that said the world’s largest collection of ocean garbage is twice the size of the state of Texas. If I may be blunt for a moment, that pisses me off! I know there are a lot of people that care about the environement and work to help improve it not only in this country but in other countries too. But —- there are millions and millions of people who care nothing about more than the square foot of soil they are standing on. And that too goes for every country and culture. I get upset when I drive along and see where somebody has just thrown out a couch or garbage bags or other stuff alongside of the road. What kind of thought process tells a person that doing that is the right thing to do? What kind of thought process says it is okay to just dump our waste into the ocean? One time I was sitting in my car at an amusement park and there was a family from Mexico, (according to thier license plate) and they were “picnicking in the parking lot. They were just throwing any and all of their trash down on the pavement and then the guy emptied out all of the car’s ash trays out onto the pavement. Amazing. I can understand all manner of garbage and debris being washed out into the ocean from something like a tsunami; but to deliberately do it is a crime against God and nature. Going a bit farther out on my rant — I’d bet that if we were somehow able to breathe the pure air that God first created on this planet, our lungs couldn’t handle it because we have evolved and adapted to be able to breathe the polluted crap we’ve created ourselves. Shame on us as human beings. —- Rant is over!

We had our final Lenten meal and Bible study last evening. As I said yesterday, my Sunday school class made soup and sandwiches and it went over well. And —- I still have soup here to eat. Pastor Art finished up his series on The Humor of Christ and it was well received. I do like to hear him preach. Because of his hearing problems he is a little hard to understand once in a while but he does great sermons. I’m really glad to be able to work with him and learn from him. God really did me a solid by blessing me with this opportunity. He and I are both “interim” while the church looks for a permanent pastor but we do make a good team and we both love what we are doing.

Today and tomorrow I must finish up my Easter sermon. And, I need to finish up the bulletin and get it sent to Karen, our secretary. Once the Easter season is done, it will really seem like life has slowed down. But until then, things are a bit rushed.

So, I’ll sign off for today and finish my coffee, watch a few birds and squirrels and give thanks for a beautiful day. Then, head to my office downsairs and get busy. Peace.

The coffee sure tastes good this morning as I look out at the back yard buffet that is covered with patches of snow. Much of what fell melted but roofs are covered and the feeder tops all have snow frozen on them. It is thirty-two degrees but wuth the breeze that is ringing my Corinthian chimes the feels like temperature is about twenty -three. I’m glad I don’t have an outside job or don’t have to go out and fill the feeders this morning. I did that yesterday before it all started. But, the sky is blue with only a couple of clouds and the sun is shining. Unfortunately, it is a false promise because the temperature isn’t supposed to rise more than about ten degrees today.

All I have seen at the feeders so far this morning  are some gold finches. But, there are about a half-dozen starlings sitting high up in the neighbor’s tree. I think they are having a staff meeting before coming down for breakfast. Or, —- maybe it is an early morning prayer meeting. Let’s go with that one. One robin and a couple of junkos are hopping around in the yard for their snacks.

I have to go to the office for a while this morning for a staff meeting. Tonight is the Lenten meal and Bible study. My Sunday school class is the “host” for the meal tonight and we are doing a soup and sandwich supper. Ms. Kate has spent the last couple of days getting stuff ready for it. She made a humongous pot of vegetable soup and I am taking that with me as I go to the church this morning. I also need to set up tables etc for tonight. We had some of the soup for supper last night and it is her very typical delicious. She makes her own beef broth instead of using boxed stuff and I think that makes all the difference. So the house has been smelling wonderful for two days with the oder of that beef cooking. The extra benefit is that when Julie brings the dogs over next time, we have some good bone treats for them. She does the same thing for her chicken noodle soup. One of the ladies will be bringing chili and another  will be making potato soup. I think the other ladies are making up peanut butter sandwiches and pimento cheese sandwiches. I’ve never liked pimento cheese but I guess some people do. But then, I’ve always pulled the pimentos out of the olives too. Hmmmmmm; how would you like to have the job of stuffing the olives with those pimentos? I wonder how they do that?

The cardinals have now moved in for breakfast so I think I will sit and enjoy their company and take a few moments to give proper words of gratitude to God for yet another day of life and blessings. Once again I am lifting you up in prayer so if you are having a crappy day, just remember that someone loves you and has said a prayer for you today. Peace.

Good morning on this first day of spring as we sit here and wait for the snow to start to fly. LOL. It is a cold and cloudy morning. It has been raining one and off and and is thirty five degrees with a “real feel” of twenty four. That doesn’t sound a lot like spring to me. The daffodils are all hanging their heads as if to say; “Oh no, not again.” But, as I look around the yard there are all manner of flowers blooming. The daffodils, the crocus, the hyacinths, and the pussy willow are all blooming. The peonies are up about six inches now. So despite the gloomy and cloudy, God’s promise of spring is quite obvious.

I ask you to join me in offering up prayers this morning for oldest daughter Julie. She is in the midst of another Rhuematoid Arthritis “flare” as she calls it. She’s been flat on her back for two days with this one. No doubt she will get out today because she has class and won’t want to miss that. Bless her heart. She’s turning fifty this July, has gone back to college to earn a degree, works full time and then some managing the Barnes and Noble College Bookstore at Indiana University South East, and has to deal with this stupid RA. Ms. Kate and I are proud of her. She is certainly an example of determination and inner strength even if the body is failing her.

I need to fill feeders again today. I think our fat raccoons are back. Yesterday morning we had two feeders down on the ground and a branch broken off where one feeder had hung in the pussy willow tree. This morning I have another feeder down on the ground. Generally if a feeder is on the ground it is the raccoons and not the squirrels. But the sunflower feeders are all empty so I guess I need to get out and fill them before the weather gets worse. It looks like the bark butter feeders are pretty well empty too as well as the bark butter bits feeders. That leaves the birds to mainly fill up on suet and noting for the squirrels. The robins don’t care, They just hop around the yard gathering up worms and gobbling them down.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday and I think I have everything in order for it. I still need four people to sign up to be disciples for the Tenebrae service next week. I have eight men and a couple of holdouts because they don’t know if they will have to work or not. But, Sunday I will ask for women to read the parts that are unfilled. I just need to change the wording of their part a bit.

That is about it for today. May your day be filled with love and peace. Take time to say a prayer or two. Gratitude is the absolute cornerstone of faith. Shalomn.

Welcome to Saturday and St. Patrick’ Day. I was beginning to think that yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day after I wrote my blog. I turned to Facebook and saw all kinds of celebration things concerning St. Patrick’s Day and I even made comment that maybe I was wrong. But — an Irish friend of mine said that I was correct —- they just celebrate it for several days. I reckon even we might be having a wee bit of corned beef and cabbage today for a meal. My last name might be German but in fact I am adopted and my Ancestry DNA result said that I am “European” which could mean just about anything.

Wow!! A hawk just came through and squirrels and birds went everywhere. It is amazing how they scatter. They were all sitting here minding their own business and suddenly there was a
“Whoosh” as birds took off and squirrels left feeders swinging and ran to the trees. This time the hawk didn’t even stop, — it just flew through. I think it was a Hawk’s version of “Psyche!” I didn’t know they had a sense of humor. LOL.

It is really a gray and brown sort of day. The sky is totally overcast and it looks almost foggy. I guess one would call the air “thick”. It rained last night and will probably rain on and off again today. It is currently a damp forty-four outside and will be getting colder as the front moves through this afternoon. Winter has four days left and seems to be milking every one of them. Like everyone else, I’ll be glad for some milder and warmer days. I was out in the yard yesterday spreading the Epsom Salts on the flowerbeds and I noticed that the peonies are coming up now. My new tulip bed is up about three inches but not showing signs of flower stems or buds yet. The daffodils and crocus, and hyacinths are blooming too. We only have a few of those and they really aren’t pretty. Frankly, the only place I ever see really pretty hyacinths are in the grocery flower section in a pot or at the florist. It seems to me that in my flowerbeds, they are one and done. The second year they are never as nice. But then again, maybe I’m not doing something right with my planting and care.

I find it incredible that a week from tomorrow will be Palm Sunday and Easter is just a week after that. This year Easter and April Fool’s day are on the same day. Don’t you know there will be a lot of sermons preached on that. I’m sitting here thinking of ideas for it right now and it won’t even be my week to preach.

Speaking of Sunday, I hope you will take the opportunity to visit your preferred house of worship at some point this weekend. I’m a big believer in being grateful for blessings received and going to church and sharing that gratitude with others seems to me to make it even better. So, have a wonderful weekend. Share your love and your blessings. Peace.

Clakity clack, Bangity bang, vroom, vroom! It Friday morning and the garbage trucks are going through the neighborhood. Add to that a ringing phone that was a wrong number call. So far, this has been a rude awakening morning. Even the birds are not singing this morning, they are just eating and leaving without so much as a “howdy do?”. The sky is overcast with rain predicted for later this evening. But —- even though this isn’t the prettiest day; as the scripture says; “This is a day that The Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Happy St. Patrick’s Day for tomorrow! Tomorrow is the day that  everybody pretends to be a little bit Irish. I’ve never read the legend of St. Patrick. I’ve been told that for some reason or some how, he drove all of the snakes out of Ireland. I really need to Google that and find out what the legend is and what the story is behind the legend. The other myth I have always heard about St. Patrick’s Day is that if you plant potatoes, you need to put them in th ground on St. Patrick’s Day. I assume that saying comes from th days of the potato famine in Ireland many centuries ago. Isn’t it amazing how these things continue stay alive?

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day. Ms. Kate and I got out and did some running around and the weather was perfect for it. We went up to our favorite butcher and meat shop first of all. Ms. Kate wanted to get some beef bones to make beef broth for her vegetable soup. Next Wednesday our Sunday school class is responsible for the Lenten meal and we are doing a soup supper. Ms. Kate is making vegetable soup and she does a wonderful job of that. (Any soup she makes is fabulous.) She also needed to pick up some other stuff at the butcher shop so it was a good place to start the day. Next we went to the cemeteries and decorated the headstones for both of our families. It was time to get the Christmas stuff off and put on some spring decorations in preparation for Easter. Ms. Kate’s family plot is right by the main road in the cemetery and it was always critical to her mom tha the graves looked nice when people drove by. So, Kate is  diligent  about keeping the graves all looking good.

After the cemetery visits, we went to lunch. While we were out, I got a call that a parishioner had been taken to the hospital. So, we went home so I could clean up, and I went to see him. He is fine. By now and was treated, and released. Thank you Lord for your grace and care.

That’s it for this Friday morning. I hope your day is full of blessings and love. Shalomn

I can’t believe that this is my first morning this week to be able to sit out here in my sun porch, have my coffee, and just watch my back yard buffet guests. But here it is Thursday already and that is the truth of the matter. Between doing office hours, Bible studies, Church Association meetings and other meetings, I’ve hardly been home it seems. But today is going to be a beautiful weather day and I think it might be a good day for Ms. Kate and I to get to the cemeteries and put some Easter/Spring flowers on the graves. It is supposed to be sunny and sixty degrees and since it will be our only “nice day” this week, I think we need to take advantage of it.

We had our weekly Lenten meal and bible study last night. Pastor Art is still on vacation so I was to do it. I had prepared a pretty good one I think but at the last moment I changed my mind and we had a discussion about a national social issue. We kept the politics out of it and addressed it strictly as concerned Christians and it went very well with good participation. We only had thirty minutes to talk and they went by very quickly. I was very pleased with our session. We had had a like discussion at our monthly clergy discussion on Tuesday which prompted last night’s session.

If you follow me on Facebook you know that my favorite store to purchase my bird feeding supplies has closed. There are other places to buy specialty product certainly, but checking around on Amazon and other places, the prices are higher and I don’t know about the quality. I’ve learned that the man who owned Wild Birds Unlimited passed away and his wife was just overwhelmed with the business and abruptly closed the store. I pray her life will settle out; she is a nice lady. Perhaps at some point she will be able to reopen. In the meantime, I’m searching for places to keep my buffet going. We have a Petsmart, a Pet Food Center, and a Rural King here in town and they all sell some of the kinds of products that I’m needing. I guess it is time to do some shopping around. One of the products I buy routinely is called Bark Butter Bits and I have about one feeder’s worth left as I sit here and watch the starlings gobble it down like there was no tomorrow.

I need to get my Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday sermons written. I’ve written some notes on each one that I think I’ll use but I need to put them all together and see how they turn out. With luck, they will fall together nicely and I can relax. Or —- I could get them together and they’ll say nothing and I’ll ave to start over. The Lord will provide the message. I just need to make sure I’m using His words and not forcing out mine because I’m in a hurry. As long and busy as this week has been, I love every minute of it and I am so happy and feel so very blessed to be able to continue to serve as a pastor.

Have a good today, and a better tomorrow. Peace.

Winter will not give up! It is thirty degrees at the moment and the ground is snow covered and the streets are a bit dicey  as to whether that is a wet street or it is black ice. Schools are closed for a snow day once again. The good news is that probably 95% of this will be gone by this afternoon. It was just a quick swipe through that left everything looking magnificent and like a perfect winter picture. I got out last evening just before it quit and cleaned my driveway and the street including the hill so folks could get up and down the street. If we waited on a county truck to come through the subdivision area we would be sitting there until July and it would probably be lost any way.

We had a busy weekend and I have a busy week ahead of me. Pastor Art is on vacation so I'm doing duty. It isn't a big deal; I had it all and more for twelve and a half years at my last parish. After I finished at the church yesterday morning, we went to lunch and then out to a local retirement center and I did a worship service for them. We got home from that just in time before our snow storm hit.

Saturday I decided that I would get off my rump and go till the garden and get it ready for planting. I have one of those small Honda tillers that only weigh about twenty five pounds but it does a great job, especially where the ground has been previously used for a garden or at least has been worked up in the past. So, I got it tilled and I put down some Preen weed killer to use as a pre-emergent. I have to admit though, I don't understand how I can use that weed preventor and then turn around in a couple of weeks and plant some lettuce and radish seeds and they will grow. But, the instructions said it works. At the worst, I'll waste a couple of bucks on a package of seed or two. At the best, I won't get a garden full of weeds. So, when the snow quits coming and the ground gets a little warmer, I do  little gardening. I'm looking forward to it.

While I was sitting in the sun porch  yesterday watching the snow and the birds, a huge hawk came flying in. It almost snagged it a bird when it came in and may have in fact done so. It was the largest one I have seen back there. I wasn't totally sure it wasn't a small eagle. It wasn't a bald eagle if it was an eagle; but it was huge. It swooped in and up to a low branch in the maple tree in Ms. Margaret's yard where it sat for at least forty five minutes. The longer it sat there the more relaxed the rest of the birds became and eventually I had a yard full again. However, there wasn't a squirrel to be seen. When it just suddenly took off, it swooped through and snagged a small bird on the way out. It was an amazing scene to watch unfold. I was glad it didn't get one of my cardinals or a bluebird. At one point yesterday I had as many as eighteen cardinals out there at my feeders. Of course today they are mostly empty. I guess I will fill them up this afternoon if the yard dries out sufficiently.

My biggest task this week is to prepare for my Bible study for Wednesday evening after the Lenten meal. I've been working on it and I think I have it quasi-together but I'm not as comfortable with it a I want to be. So, I need to get busy and work on that today. I'm doing it on the Crucifixion and the cross. I hope I can get a lot of stimulating conversation going. It makes the discussion sp much more interesting when folks speak up with their ideas.

That's it for today. I pray you will have a blessed week full of the love of God. Until next time, Peace!