MIDWEEK PRAYER

June was the traditional wedding month.  I was married in June.  Not for me, but for many, I think June was picked because it was the month immediately after school let out for the year.  That wouldn't apply today.  Most young people don't get married for many years after their school days.  Of course, June is usually a great month for weather.

Today, let's pray for married couples and those about to get married.  It's a huge step in life - maybe not for everyone but, for most.  God has endowed people and all creatures with the ability to bring offspring into the world collaboratively.  And so it is in marrage.  A couple  must work together in all things.  You can pray this thought for one or more couples you know. 

Heavenly Father,

We thank You for the love that has joined two hearts as one.

Bless their marriage with patience, kindness, and a spirit of unity.

May their home be filled with peace, joy, and the warmth of shared dreams.

If it is Your will, bless them with children—

healthy, joyful, and surrounded by love—

and give them wisdom to guide and nurture each life entrusted to their care.

Let their family be a light to others,

and may their love grow stronger through every season of life.

Amen.

LITTLE BOY AND FAT MAN

Last Saturday was the 82nd anniversary of D-day; the military assault in World War II on the western European coast by Allied forces.   From that day, we marched inland toward a time, May 8, 1945, when Germany unconditionally surrendered.  We lost many men in that eleven months. 

The war in the Pacific was ongoing.  Most of the land held by the Japanese had been liberated.  Japan refused to an unconditional surrender.  The U.S. President, Harry S. Truman, agreed to allow the use of a new atomic weapon (bomb) on a city in Japan.  The experimental bomb was dubbed "Little Boy" by the scientists who created it.  

On August 6, 1945, a bomber dropped "Little boy" on a city named Hiroshima.  With the equivalent power of 15,000 tons of TNT, it completely obliterated 5 square miles of that city.  In total, it is estimated it caused  the death of about 140,000 souls.  

"Little Boy" was a bomb that used Uranium and was ignited by the compression of this nuclear fuel causing a chain reaction releasing enourmous energy.  

Japan refused to unconditionally surrender. 

Three days later, a plane dropped another bomb on Japan.  This one was called "Fat Boy".  It was made differently.  The nuclear fuel was plutonium.  The firing mechanism was more sophisticated but the distruction very similar.  "Fat Boy" was dropped on the city of  Nagasaki.  It had the power of 21,000 tons of TNT.  It obliterated 3 sqaure miles of the city with similar loss of life.  The Japanese agreed to surrender on August 14, 1945.    

QUIZ

Where was I?   

Where was I last Thursday, that I was near:

One Do, One He, One Im, Three Ko's, One Li, One Vu, and two Wu's?

Respond by Comment.  First correct answer wins BIG prize.  

SUNDAY

Happy Father's Day.   You think I'm two weeks early?  No!  Every Sunday is The Father's Day.  That's the father you pray to when you say Our Father.

I'm lucky enough to know three people who were born in 1933.  That's a long time ago.  I love each of them.  Rosemary Steiner, Clyde Koehne and Jan Honerlaw.  It's Jan's birthday, today.  93 and lookin' great.

Those of you who were lucky enough to watch the Belmont Stakes yesterday saw a colt named Golden Tempo come from way back and win the third leg of the Triple Crown of Racing.  He also won the Kentucky Derby but chose not to run in the Preakness Stakes.  

In 1977, a colt named Seattle Slew won the complete Triple Crown and was the first to do it without ever having been defeated in it's career.  Slew is the maternal great-great-grandsire of Golden Tempo.  Blood lines do matter.  

FIFA WORLD CUP 2026

This is your difinitive explanation of the largest sporting event in the world.  Largest by far by any measurement.  Mens soccer/football/futbol at its finest - crammed into 38 days.

FIFA:  (translated) International Association Football Federation

What:  World Championship held every four years since 1930 (except during WWII)

Who:  teams from 48 countries are involved. The best 48 in the world.

Where:  North America in the following cities:  Mexico City, Guadalajara, Atlanta, Monterrey (Mexico), Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Seattle, New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, Kansas City, and Dallas

When:  the games begin on June 11 and the first round ends on June 27

Schedule:  the 48 teams are divided into 12 groups of 4 - each designated by a letter of our alphabet.  (the U.S. is in group D with Paraguay, Australia and Turkey)  Those groups play a round-robin within their group with the top two teams of each group advancing plus 8 of the third place teams based on records, scores, goal differential, yellow and red card accumulation, and, if necessary, FIFA ranking.  

Round of 32:  Those teams advancing then play knock-out (One and out) games from June 28 to July 3 to get to 16 teams remaining.

Round of 16:  Those teams will play from July 4 - July 7 to get to 8 teams remaining

Quaterfinals:  Those teams will play from July 8 - July 11 to get to 4 teams remaining

Semifinals:  Those teams will play July 14 and July 15 to get to 2 teams remaining. Those two games will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.  There will be a third place match on July 18

Final:  July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey

Time:  all the big games start at 3 pm to accommodate both European and Middle Eastern television audiences.  

Enjoy

TID BITS

     Doesn't anyone know what a tid is?

HOT AIR

 JUNE FIRST  -  THE BEGINNING OF HURRICANE SEASON

The people who spend their lives studying hurricanes tell me that there has been no increase in the number of hurricanes over the years but the intensity of the storms has increased.  As you probably know, I'm a sucker for lists.  Lists of almost any kind.  I found one put out by our government that lists the most intense hurricanes on record.  

These are storms ranked by the measurement of their pressure.  The lower the pressure, the worse the storm.  Usually, but not always, wind speed and storm surge follow that low pressure measurement.  There are other ways to rank storms:  by the wind speed, by the storm surge, by the speed of movement, by that cost of damages to property and by the loss of life. This ranking is based on the lowest pressure recorded in the storm. It includes the area most effected.  Worst is first!

1.  Un-named hit the Florida Keys 1935

2.  Camille hit MS, LA, VA 1965

3.  Michael hit Florida  2018

4.  Katrina hit LA  2005

5.  Andrew hit FL, LA  1992

6.  Un-named hit Indianola, TX  1884

7.  Un-named hit the Florida Keys  1919

8.  Un-named hit Florida Lake Okeechobee  1928

9.  Donna hit Florida  1960

10. Un-named hit New Orleans, Louisiana  1915

10. Carla hit TX 1961

10. Ian hit southwest FL 2022

We didn't start naming hurricanes formally until 1950.  About half of the most severe occurred before that date.  

p.s.  Indianola, TX is now a ghost town.

MIDWEEK PRAYER

 I liked this one so much I'm using it two weeks in a row.

Lord, thank you

for the many gifts you have given me.

All that I have that is good

came from you.

Amen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK NORRIS.

ADVICE

Here I go again.  Pontificating!  Sorry.

This one is about gifts.  We all receive them.  Deserved or not.  

Some things to remember.

I try to remind myself that gifts are to be accepted graciously.  (I've had problems with that.) The other part is remembering that gifts should not be squandered away, minimized or discarded.  It is important that we acknowledge them and thank the one who gave it to you.  If you absolutely cannot use what was given to you, of course, find someone who can appreciate and use it.

It is also imperative that we are as generous giving as receiving.  Every time you receive a gift, think about giving away not what you received but something of equal value.  Don't give it to the person who gave it to you but to another - preferably, someone who is in need.

Some wise person said "It's better to give than receive."  It does make you fell better.  Let's start a cycle of giving.  The whole world will be better for it. 

QUIZ

Here's a question you can discuss with your friends.  I'm not telling the answer.

Q:  Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?

Here's a secret I've held for many years.  I think the statute of limitations has expired.  My mother-in-law did not have a belly button.  This is not a "mother-in-law" joke; it is a truism.  She was a wonderful, intelligent lady who had a wonderful, intelligent daughter.  A surgery had eliminated the navel - we used to joke about it.    

TID BITS

Here's some quotes that I've seen this week that impressed me; some by what they say and others by those who said them.  

#1  "Success is attaining your dream while helping others to benefit from that dream materializing."

- - - Sugar Ray Leonard  (great prize fighter of the 70's and 80's)

#2  "When you have nobody you can make a cup of tea for, when nobody needs you, that's when I think life is over."

- - -  Audrey Hepburn (actress)

#3  "More whites were brought as slaves to North Africa than blacks brought as slaves to the United States or to the 13 colonies from which it was formed.  White slaves were still being bought and sold in the Ottoman Empire, decades after blacks were freed in the United States."

- - - Thomas Sowell (black economist and social theorist)

#Bonus  "Think old and you'll be old.  Think young and you'll be a delusional old fart."

- - - Me

GLASS

Did you ever consider how glass was discovered?  I'm sure you have thought about it.  It's such an important product in our generation; without it the world would be cold or hot and, surely, dark.  

Did you know that glass is found in nature?  Every time hot lava from a volcano touches sand or a sand-based rock, glass is formed.  Whenever a lightning strike hits sand or a sand-based rock, glass is formed.  Of course, someone, many centuries ago, put two and two together and figured there must be a connection here.  Since people were long ago into pottery glazing and metalworking done in kilns, they must have theorized that they could make glass in the same fire.  

The very first glass products date to 2,500 years before Jesus was born.  Vessels of various types to hold liquids.  The first glass objects made thin with a glassblower date to 1 BC.  Some people made use of naturally formed glass for windows about 100 AD.  They weren't much to look through but they were better than the oil skins they had used to cover the openings in buildings.  Clear thin glass continued to develope into the middle ages when it was used in churches and the homes of the very wealthy.  

Windows of glass finally started to be used in homes of the middle class in the 1600s.  In addition, stained glass windows were developed during this period.

Perfectly clear, distortion-free windows didn't exist until after World War II.  That means that when my father first got a look at me through the window in the hospital nursery, I may have looked slightly odd to him.  Then again, to this day, I may look slightly odd to you.  

  

MIDWEEK PRAYER

Lord, thank you 

for the many gifts you have given me.  

All that I have that is good, 

came from you. 

ADVICE

It's not easy staying up with the times when your time is as short as mine, but you have to stay current as best you can.  What is the most important current phenomena we see?  AI (artificial intelligence) to be sure.

If you are a midlifer or beyond, I encourage you to take AI seriously.  It's not going away.  It's not just for school kids.  It's not just for industry.  It's important for everyone.  There are places on the internet where you can go to learn.  Do it.  Try it.  Practice it.  You'll never regret it.

Even more, don't discourage anyone from using AI.  Don't look at it as a tool for college kids to slide by without working.  It is a tool they will have to be able to use (and use well) no matter their profession.  

AI will be an intrinsic part of learning in ALL fields of work.  Those unable to use it well, will be left behind.  You're never too old and never too young.  

We may call it Artificial Intelligence but it's use is not and will not be artificial.  It will be as important as knowing that 1 + 1 = 3 and your ABDs.

Maybe, I am too old.   JK