Talk about “turn around weather”; we have it this morning. It is thirty three out there this morning and the wind is stiff and out of the north. They used to say; “it’s colder than aa well digger’s butt in Alaska”. I’ll need to dress warm today when I go out. Our weather folks are saying we are in for at least aa week of “winter” weather to include cold, wind, rain, & yes, even some snow. After all it is January and we should not be having fifty degree days. Say what you will, I believe in Global Warming. Our ice -caps are melting and the temperature of the ground is in fact heating up. I don’t know the cause of it but I do know that we humans really suck at taking care of the world that God created for us and. We are routinely destroying our ground and our air.

I filled all of the feeders yesterday and so far this morning, I haven’t had a single guest at the Backyard Buffet. They will come, but the wind and cold has them finding shelter I’m sure. —- And as I said that; here comes the cardinals aand the Bluebirds and I’m a happy guy. I went to Wild Birds Unlimited yesterday afternoon and picked up some of my specialty foods. It was a great trip. They have a “rewards program” where they give you “bird-bucks” for “X” amount that you spend. I have been saving them up and yesterday I bought everything I needed and it only cost me eighty one cents.  I used $60.00 worth of Bird -bucks. But now I have to start over again. I am so glad they opened up that store again. I could find comparable products to what I use but my critters didn’t like them as well. And while it seemed that they were cheaper, the bags were smaller and therefore I was I reality paying more. I still go to Pet-Food Center though for my Black-Oil sunflower seeds.  I get 40# bags there for $18.00 which is a good price. About five years ago there was a shortage on sunflower seeds for some reason aand it went up to $30.00 for a 50# bag. I go through at least seven hundred pounds of Black-Oil seed a year so I watch my prices. I really should keep a record of what I spend on feeding and housing my birds and critters a year. I know it is a lot.

I need to get cleaned up and ready to head to the office. It is staff meeting morning. I’ll go brave the cold and you sit there in your chair and stay comfy. Have a blessed day.

Bright blue skies and the temperature is going up to the mid fifties. The wind is “a-blowin’” though. Hopefully it will dry out my back yard sufficiently to walk around in without tracking in a bunch of mud. I simply must get out there and fill the bird feeders today and clean out the bird bath. It’s gross. The forecast for the week indicate that it will get much colder as the week goes on and we may even have some wintry-mix or snow on Saturday. I already had a squirrel with its paws up on the glass of one of my sunporch doors. It was looking at me quite expectedly. I just avoided eye contact.

The great news this morning is that Ms. Kate is feeling well enough to sit out here in the sun porch with me. That’s mainly because it is much warmer out here this morning. Her cough is still hanging on but hopefully it is going to subside. It would seem at some point that it should. She actually got to the point last night that she says she is almost to the point of going to see a doctor. Of course I was thinking —- “Gee, I wish I had suggested that two weeks ago.” No, it wasn’t nice of me. I just worry about her.

Last night was our Music and Worship committee meeting. I’m not sure of the purpose of this committee. It isn’t like we actually accomplished anything. The committee is I think supposed to work with the pastor in creating meaningful worship services. But Pastor Art and I plan our own services, then we send the proposed bulletin to the organist who picks out the hymns and decides what music she is going to use, and then Karen, the secretary types it all up and prints them. So, I’m not sure why we had nine people sitting around that table last night. We laid out the Lenten schedule of services last night, not actually knowing if Pastor Art and I will be there to do them or if they will have the new pastors in place by then. I hate things being upin the air like this. My patience grows thin at times. Pastor Art and I both want to get on with planning things like summer vacations etc. For instance, they would like to go south with their grandson for a week or so and the grandson wants to go over Spring Break. However, that is Holy Week for the church and Art can’t be gone if he is still an employed pastor. So, the not knowing becomes a problem. But — all in God’s time.

Speaking of God; I hope you have taken time out this morning to stop and have a chat with your Creator and sustainer. I think that is the very least we can do is to take a few minutes out of our day to give thanks for our blessings. I don’tknow about you but, I knowI am blessed beyond measure and I owe it all to God and my faith in Jesus Christ. Have a wonderful day.

Hello Monday morning. I guess it is time to start another week. As I do, Ms. Kate is still coughing and still nor getting out of the house. She says she is better but I can't tell it. I guess she plans to stubborn her way through this thing. I just hope she gets fully back on her feet soon.

It is a cloudy morning and we are supposed to have a swath of rain pass through our area later today. But the temperature is going to be almost sixty degrees. That will be comfortable. Of course with our rolller-coaster weather, by Thursday we'll be back in the freezer. But that is all good. I noticed yesterday that my early daffodils are already up about an inch and a half.  They are going to get their buds frozen off. We are only three weeks into winter with a whole lot of snow and ice and cold weather to come yet. But, I look at those daffodils and think to myself that the are a promise from God that nature will continue and the seasons will continue to come because God's presence is eternal. So, I look at them and I smile.

Our church attendance was down yesterday. We only had sixty -one in church. I know that some of our "snow-birds" have taken off for Florida and there are people out, like Ms. Kate, with this cold/cough thing that is going around. And there might have been some folks that stayed home because we had announced that we were changing the worship format ofr yesterday and some folks just don't like change, no matter how minor it might be. I guess we'll see how it goes next Sunday when we return to our "normal" service.

I went to Bob's house yesterday and visited with him. I had asked Brenda to meet me there. I'm borrowing some music from St. Lucas church for our choir. Pastor Art wants to use some "Negro Spirituals" for the Sunday before Martin Luther KIng Day and I immediately thought of the the song "Down To The River to Pray". But, we didn't have it here at Zoar so, -- I called Ms. Brenda and asked her if she would run me a copy from their files. I'll give it to our choir dirctor tonight and see if she wants to use it. I really like the song, it's simple, and our choir would do a great job with it.

Well, I'm at wwork and I need to look some stuff up for an upcoming sermon so I better actually "do some work." I hope you have a pleasant week . Stay in tough with God on a daily basis. You week will go so much beter if you do. Shalomn.

God has provided an absolutely beautiful day so I must start my day by saying “Thanks be to God”. The sun is shining brilliantly this morning and the temperature has a bit to climb yet but is on its way up to around fifty five degrees. For a January 5th morning, I couldn’t ask for anything better. Yesterday was such a miserable cold and rainy day and I’m glad it is done.

I also offer up my thanks because Ms. Kate appears to be doing so much better today. While I’m hearing her do some coughing, it isn’t that deep-lung, can’t breathe coughing like she has been having fits of for the past eleven days. I hope this is a good sign that she is on the mend. I know she has been miserable.

I’m glad to report that I finished my sermon and bulletin for next Sunday, the 13th. I told you yesterday that I had started on it but was deeply dissatisfied with it. So, I hit “delete” on the computer and started over. I still think my original idea was a good idea but I just couldn’t pull it together without it being a history lesson. May God was telling me that it waasn’t as good of an idea as I thought it was. The benefit of it was that I did some research to write the sermon and that means I learned something new. So nothing was lost in the process, it just wasn’t right for this particular occasion. I can live with that. Who knows —- some day someone may ask me about that particular subject and I’ll be able to expound and sound like a smart guy. It could happen!! LOL

Last night I read a book by a fellow named Ken Ham, called “Gospel Reset”. It was a short read but interesting. I disagree with some of his theology and he would certainly disagree with mine but his basic premise of his book was correct I think. His point was that our country and our society is rapidly losing its claim that we are a Christian nation. Our society has banned God from the schools, from public display, from open teaching because it might offend somebody. He says we have become much like the Greeks when the Apostle Paul went there to preach, They had many gods and when he began to preach about Christ, they had no idea what he was taking about because their faith and religious foundations were totally different than his. And the basic Bible foundation starting with Genesis, is what he says we are losing rapidly in this country. Like I said, I agree with some of his writing and disagree with other parts but I think I found value in the book and can use some of it in my own preaching.

I think now I’m going to just sit here and watch my guests in the Backyard Buffet. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Peace.

The click, click, click of raindrops falling on the roof could be a little mesmerizing this morning. It is supposed to rain on and off all day again today but right now we are just getting little shots of light sprinkling as the front moves in. We certainly don’t need any rain in my opinion but then I can’t see it from God’s view. The good news is that today’s showers will usher in a nice sunny weekend.

I’m concened about Ms. Kate. She still has that terrible cough. Yes,  it is a tad bit better but this is the tenth day of it. She’s getting no rest because of it and refuses to go to the doctor. In my opinion she really needs a breathing treatment regimen to clear out her lungs. I’ve been sick like she is and breathing treatments were the only thing that really helped me, well, and the steroid shot that Nurse Fran sticks in my hip. But, Ms. Kate just won’t go.

I’ve been trying to put together my sermon for next week and I’m having a hard time of it. It is the story of the baptism of Jesus which is a scripture that everybody knows. So, trying to make it relevant is tough. I wrote a bunch of stuff last night but it sounds like a history lesson instead of a sermon. It would be great material for a Sunday school lesson because I did some good research for it, but as a sermon, there would be nothing gained I’m afraid. So, my task today is to get that sermon written.

We have some good left-overs in the refrigerator today. A couple of days ago we made vegetable soup and we have a couple of quarts of that left. Yesterday she made navy beans with ham soup and we have maybe three pints of that left. So, we’re set for a day or two. At least Ms. Kate is feeling good enough to do a little cooking and more importantly eating. She had not been eating hardly anything at all for several days.

Despite the rain, I have a bunch of cardinals this morning. They are joined by a couple of larger woodpeckers, wrens and finches. And of course —- the fuzzy tailed rats are out there. Tomorrow is supposed to be a sunny day and I’ll take the opportunity to refill feeders. I need to make another run to Wildbirds and pick up some Bark Butter bits because they have gone through the three bags I bought last time. Everything loves those things, especially that darn starlings. They fight and peck and fuss at one another and everything else. But the bits are also a favorite of the Cardinals and the Bluebirds so I keep buying them. I get thrilled when I see the Bluebirds come in.

My coffee cup is empty and my Lauren Talley CD is about done playing, so I guess it is time to vacate my sunporch and get downstairs to my office. I pray you will have a blessed day and a grand weekend. Take time out for worship of the marvelous God that is providing you an abundance of blessings and the very breath you take. Shalomn.

Wow! It is hard to believe, I’m seeing sunshine this morning and it is accompanied by a backyard full of cardinals. It is thirty three degrees and the squirrels are looking fat this morning because they have their fur fluffed up to keep warm. The cardinals sit out there with their feathers fluffed up too. BUt, it is such a joy to welcome sunshine after several days of clouds. And —- we have Bluebirds at the Backyard Buffet. God gets an extra prayer of gratitude today.

I’m sorry I missed you yesterday but it was a busy day as is every Wednesday. I started off with the usual staff meeting with Pastor Art and Karen. We had to do a bunch of work tailoring the bulletin for this Sunday’s service. We are doing our service this week differently than we usually do. It will be more what we call “traditional”. There is more liturgy and prayer and no “praise and “fun stuff” that the younger generation feels they need today. It requires you to concentrate rather than be entertained.  We haven’t even held the service yet and I have already heard complaints from the thirty somethings. But, they can sit through one “old time service”. LOL. Art and I have maybe two months left before they hire the new pastor. That new pastoral team may have an entirely different method of conducting worship. The search committee is meeting with the prospective couple again tonight and they are driving here from Ohio. This is their second trip here so Art and I figure they are close. We still hear they want to be in place by Lent and that is March 6th.

I’m not sure what I am going to do once this interim job is done. We’ll need to find us another place to worship but that is only part of it. I don’t know what I’m going to do with my time. Certainly there is plenty of stuff to do around here. I have a park bench that is all rotted and broken down and sitting in my garage taking up space. I bought the materials to rebuild it two years ago and still haven’t done so. That will become a priority. But odds are that Ms. kate and I will fall into a routine of just doing stuff. I can look around the backyard and the front flowerbeds and there is so much that really needs to be done, but I think it is time we cut back on some of that too. Kate isn’t physically able to be of much help out there and I don’t like to do it by myself. We’ll just have to see what happens. There is always an unfinished Stephen King novel sitting beside my chair. Who knows, I just might get caught up before he turns out another.

That’s about it for today. We were supposed to have dental appointment today for cleaning but with our colds and coughing we cancelled that. I need to go to the drugstore today and pick up some more Mucenex for Ms. Kate. I also need to refill bird feeders again today. The flying pigs have almost cleaned me out once again. Have a blessed day.

Happy New Year. May your 2019 be filled with blessings.  Ms. kate rang in the new year in style, her with Robitussin  for her cough and me with a cup of coffee. Some revel-rouser down the street set off a few loud booms, and that was it; —- 2018 was done and 2019 was off and running.

I pray 2019 will be a happier year for this country but I fear it will not. I would label 2018 “the year of offense”. It seems that people were offended by everything. And it also seems that people went out of their way to offend others. Civility, respect, and kindness made no news headlines, only hate and innuendos flamed by the media and social media made national news or got attention. Potions of the government are shut down and federal workers are going without pay —- except for the elected leaders who are keeping the government shut down. They still get paid.

As per usual on New Years Day, we have the Rose Bowl Parade showing on television. Ms. Kate and I went to the Rose Bowl Float show after the parade one year. We took my parents because my Dad was such a flower enthusiast. We fought the traffic, finally found aa parking spot relatively close; he looked at one float and was ready to leave. Needless to say, Ms. kate and I were quietly honked off. But, what we did see was fantastic.

That’s my blog to today. I don’t want to miss the parade. May God bless you and bring you peace throughout this new year.