7/28/2026
WHAT'S NEXT
Last week, on Tuesday, I delved into the "What's Next" question and today I'll take it further.
This time I'll refer you to Luke's Gospel verse 20, starting on line 27. Go ahead, get out your Bible. I'll paraphrase it. In brief, the Sadducees, asked Jesus about the woman whose husband died and she remarried. In the afterlife, they asked, whose wife would she be.
Here was Jesus answer. "The men and women of this age marry but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry. The will be like angels and cannot die. They are the sons of God, because they have risen from death."
From this I take that all human relationships will be null and void. So great will our focus be on God that we will not even consider past or future relationships. I'm sure this goes against what most people think and what many hope for. It gives humans a great feeling to think that they will be re-united in some kind of bond with friends and relatives after death. Many believe, hope and pray for it.
I'm not so sure. Of course, I don't know but my thinking, at this point, is that human relationships are not what the afterlife is about.
Further, the Sadducees were a group of Jewish priests and teachers who didn't believe in anything except what was written in Jewish law (including the afterlife and angels). Jesus rebuked them saying that even though God was the God of the living not of the dead, as far as He's concerned, ALL are living.
7/27/2026
IRISH AMERICANS
This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans. Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare). Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage. Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish. Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants. Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork. Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants. Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.
Now, a little more obscure but no less notable
Francis "Frank" McCourt an Irish-American author and teacher. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Angela's Ashes". It is a tragic memoir of his upbringing as one of five children of impoverished immigrants. His father was from County Antrim and his mother from County Limerick.
McCourt was given the Golden Plate Award by the American Academy of Achievement. He was named the Irish American of the Year by Irish America magazine. The New York City Department of Education founded the Frank McCourt School of Writing, Journalism and Literature. The Frank McCourt Museum was opened in 2011 in Limerick, Ireland.
7/26/2026
SUNDAY
It's SUNday. Tomorrow is MOONday. Then comes TWO'sday. Then comes WODEN'sday. Then THOR'sday. FRIGG'sday and finaly SATURN'sday.
Sure, Pat, you made this up. No, the Norse did a lot of it. Norse means not just Norway but all of northern Europe; Germanic countries, if you will.
You've got the Sun and the Moon. That's easy. Tuesday is the second day of the week. Woden is the Germanic form of the Norse god Odin. Thor is the Norse god of thunder. Frigg is the Norse god of love like Venus. And Saturn, the Roman god of abundance and peace who fathered many planets and stars.
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Maybe you were wondering if I still loved and followed the Tour de France. Yes. Ive watched almost every day for three weeks. Tadej Pogacar will ride into Paris today as the repeat champion. He is the greatest rider of this era by far. He's a Slovac and his name is pronounced Toddy Pogotcha - if you ask me. His friends call him Pogi. The entrance into Paris will be different today because of wildfires burning ourside the city.
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Let's not forget that today is the Lord's Day. Be thankful!
7/25/2026
WONDERFUL WORDS
The marvelous author, Jane Austen, wrote in her novel Emma:
"There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart."
I love it.
7/24/2026
FUN AND GAMES
Okay, test yourself. Try to guess which creatures cause more human deaths than any other. I've listed 21 killers in alphabetical order. Your mission, should you accept, is to put them in the proper order from those that kill the most to least. Good Luck!
7/23/2026
SENSES
Yes, I do act as if I have no sense, at times. I definitely talk nonsense way too often. Human senses are awesome, so interesting, so important, and sometimes so mysterious.
We don't know for sure, but we assume we see, hear, taste, smell and have the same touch feeling as everyone else. It makes some sense. On the other hand, we ARE all different.
How about music? Do we have the same appreciation for every song? No! When you listen, do you hear the melody or the words? Which do you pick up on first? Do you have to listen to a new sang many times before you understand the words? Or, do you seperate the words immediately from the melody? How about musicians? Do they hear what we don't hear?
How about art? Do we have the same appreciation for every work of art? No! When you see, do you see more form or color? Which do you pick up on first? Do you have to look at a picture for a long time or many times before you understand or appreciate it? How about artists? Do they see what we do not see?
How about food? Do you eat almost anything? Do you have a taste for most foods? Or, are you very limited or very discerning?
How about smell? I don't!!!
How about touch? I love soft!!!
Think about your senses. They are gifts. Not everyone has them all. Be thankful. I think you can embellish them or overwork and abuse them. Treat them with respect - they are precious.
7/22/2026
MIDWEEK PRAYER
I found a prayer like this on the funeral program of one I attended recently. It prompted me to investigate if, in fact, Christopher was still considered a saint. The answer is yes although the Catholic Church has removed him from their litergical calendar.
He may be mostly legend, you know. He lived in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries in the Middle East. Several noted artists, a thousand years later, produced paintings of him doing his thing. He is depicted as a large muscular man. After he converted to Christianity, he devoted his life to helping people. He spent much time helping people cross a dangerous river. Once he carried a child across the river and the child revealed himself as Jesus when he set him down. Thus, the most common picture of him holding a child and making him the patron of travelers.
Christopher was martyered for his faith. His day of rememberance is usually in the later part of July.
Dear Saint Christopher, protect me today in all my travels. Give me a warning sign if danger is near. Be at my side and direct me when my vision blurs. Carry me safely to my destination as you carried the Christ child across the river. See that I am safe. Amen
7/21/2026
WHAT'S NEXT?
I've been struggling with that question for a while now. What is next? Different things make me think of it. Of course, it's a wonder. I wonder. You wonder. Everyone wonders. How will it be when the life we have is finished?
No! I don't know and I'm not going to try to convince you of anything very much. A person's idea of the afterlife is effected by what they have been taught - directly or indirectly. Some people don't think about it. Some don't believe in it at all. Some think of heaven as a special place in their own mind's eye.
I believe in God. I believe in Jesus Christ and that he is God, the son of God. If you do as well, check out in your Bible the first letter Paul sent to the people of Corinth not long after Jesus died. In the 15th chapter of that letter, verses 35-49, he explains that we are fools if we think we will have human bodies in the afterlife. We will have a heavenly body; a spiritual body. It won't look like our human body. We won't have human needs. Our heavenly body will be different but distinct.
Paul also references Jesus' parable about the seeds. A farmer spreads seeds; some on the pathway, some in rocky ground, some in weedy ground and others in good earth. They have varying success. This time, going back and reading this parable, I think - not of the good things I can do as the farmer but that God is the farmer and we are the seeds. We are seeds all our lives. Seeds do not become all they can be without dying. It is in death that seeds sprout into a plant. It is in death that we can become all we can be. Like the farmer, only God knows what we will become; what we will look like and what abilities we will have.
We must live as Jesus taught us to live. We will become what God wanted us to be.
7/20/2026
IRISH AMERICANS
This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans. Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare). Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage. Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish. Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants. Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork. Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants. Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.
Have you heard of Nellie Bly?
Nellie Bly was the pen-name of Elizabeth Jane Seaman. She was the thirteenth daughter of Michael Corchran, the son of Irish immagrants from County Londonderry. Her mother was Mary Jane Kennedy.
Nelly was a fearless female journalist of the late 19th and early 20th century. She was the first of immersion (some called it stunt) journalists. She got herself put into a mental hospital to write about the abuses there. She traveled around the world in 72 days to prove Jules Verne's 80 days was no big deal. She wrote books and worked regularly as a newspaper reporter.
Nelly is in the National Women's Hall of Fame. Her face was placed on a U.S. postage stamp. The New York Press Club confers a Nelly Bly award each year to cub reporters and the Museum of Political Corruption gives a Nelly Bly award to an investigative journalist annually.
Nelly is an Irish American worthy of pride.
SECOND OF A SERIES
7/19/2026
SUNDAY
In the Genesis story, the 7th day (Sunday) is the day God rested. Here is the translation I have: "And so the whole universe was completed. By the seventh day, God finished what he had been doing and stopped working. He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day, because by that day he had completed his creation and stopped working. And that is how the universe was created."
Strange isn't it? Those who believe in God know that he didn't need to rest. So, why is it written that way? It has to be a lesson; an instruction for us.
You can take what you want from it. Find your own answer. I choose to set Sunday aside; to make it special at least in my own small way.
"Let it be, Let it be. Let it be. Let it be. There will be an answer, Let it be."
7/18/2026
GOLF
A major golf tournament is being played this weekend. It started on Thursday and will end Sunday. It's called "The Open" by the golf world but most Americans refer to it as the British Open.
In the United Kingdom, sports betting is legal. There are literally dozens of odds makers and places to bet. Here are the odds as listed by PaddyPower (I liked the name!) before the tournament started.
7/17/2026
FUN & GAMES
Today I'm working on my writing skills so you can work on your reading skills. Peruse my new sentence aloud. If you're not alone, be prepared for someone to think you've lost your marbles.
"Down in the smelly storm sewer, a slew of short shirt sewers, a sinister suer and a slow seed sower slogged through the soggy slough and sought shelter from the suede shoed pursuer."
euw 😖
7/16/2026
STATS
We all know that statistics lie - sometimes! But, here's one that struck me. This question was put to a large number of people with various answers: "How many more people will watch the World Cup Final match this Summer than will watch the Super Bowl?"
Of course, you would expect the answer would be a large number. Wouldn't you? Maybe, 100,000 more! Maybe 500,000! Maybe a million! How about 100 million!?
Not even close. The correct answer is
1.3 billion. That's over a thousand million. Golly! What must the cost of an ad be?
7/15/2026
MIDWEEK PRAYER
Today I am inclined to pray for couples. It is plain to see that God intended people to live as pairs - couples. He gave us the instinct, the drive to be paired with another. It's not necessarily an easy thing for some people to find that pair. Maybe, pairing is not for everyone; I don't know. But, I was driven as most people are.
No two people are exactly alike - many feel that it is opposites that attract. I'm not sure about that either. In any case, I am sure that couples need our prayers. Couples that are "permanently" paired and couples about to be paired and people looking for that special one. It's not always easy.
May they find mutual love and respect and build a relationship that will last a lifetime. Total agreement is not necessary but common goals and dreams are. People cannot be afraid to love and that includes honest communication. It is a life-changing decision - finding a partner. They all need our prayers.
Dear Lord,
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