Today is BE AN ANGEL DAY.

Today, August  22nd is BE AN ANGEL DAY.  Can you do it?

We Need More Jobs

Steve Jobs (1955-2011), cofounder of APPLE, died yesterday. I don't think it took anybody by surpise, he has been battling pancreatic cancer for years. It may not have surprised anyone, but people were still shocked - such a lively man is gone.

Steve Jobs was a big force in changing us into these electronic times. He changed the world is an understatement. People spent the night in front of electronic stores so that may be the ones of the first to purchase his latest electronic wonder. My wife Anna reads novels and quickly look up trivia facts with her i-pad and I walk daily keeping the beat of my i-pod.

I admire Steve Jobs because from what I heard he was a nice guy who treated his employees decently and his wealth did not go to his head.

Sunday Morning Inspiration

Proof there is a God:

Easter Sunrise Service

Practice the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” .

That’s about it.

Sunday Morning Preaching

Why is it that every time I get a forwarding from someone trying to do a public service by warning me and all the other people listed in their address book how dangerous and careless it is to show the people’s names and email addresses on forwarding did exactly that?

Not only do they have everybody listed that is receiving it but also the forwarding history with names and email addresses of people that received it. – doing exactly what the text in the body of the message is asking people not to do because of all the dangers related to unwanted people or data collecting mechanisms getting a hold of the emailable addresses.

Good Lord!!

Sunday Morning Pulpit

This past week Elwin Wilson, an ex-Klansman, apologized for stomping the shit out of John Lewis at the bus station in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in 1961. Georgian Congressman John forgave him.

Elwin went on to say that he felt bad for what he did and also he was afraid when he died he wouldn’t go to Heaven unless he asked for forgiveness.

So! Elwin believes that there is an award for apologizing and saying he is sorry. The bottom line is the ole “What’s in it for me?”

You have heard of judges dealing out as harsh of a punishment as they could legally give because the found-guilty-defendant did not show any remorse. Elwin Wilson believes the same goes with him and God.

The bottom line of Heaven and No-Hell keep a lot of us walking a straight line. So, what does that make us – if our high morals come with price tag?

Sunday Morning Inspirational Talk

Did you know that for every 100 birds born only 25 reach adulthood?*

That reminds me of when I went to work for the Post Office in 1968. We (new hires) had a few days of indoctrination. On the first day about 100 of us met in a big room. An administrator gave us forms to fill out. A couple others spoke. One was a sophisticated courtly old gray headed guy named Andrew Jackson. I don’t think he could speak without being inspirational. Another guy, the head of operations, I think, told us flatly that they hired us 100 because they need 50. He said about half of us would not make it – they knew that by previous statistics.

That was a comforting thought – one out of two of us would not make it. Opps! What did I get myself into?

Getting back to the birds: Did God or Mother Nature arrange the environment so for every bird needed to carry on the nature business of scattering seeds and whatever else three are born?

I think all four of the birds are needed. One to reach adulthood to mate to keep the cycle going – for every 4 birds they reproduce one will reach adulthood… on and on.

And the three birds that didn’t make it – that died young died for a purpose: usually to be food for other animals.

That is what some animals do. They have to eat other animals to survive. They have to eat sweet little cuddly things so they can live and carry out their purpose to keep life going on and on.

I suppose you could even say animals who die of a disease gave their lives for the continuing survival of tiny little germs so they could go forth and multiply too.

Never mind all those bloody cruel thoughts. Go ahead and eat your breakfast. What are you having this morning – eggs and bacon?

*Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Almanac

Sunday Morning Inspirational Talk

Have you ever noticed in management when a new manager is assigned a team he feels he must do something pretty quickly to impress upper management. He has to make a big visual change.

I have noticed while working in the Postal Service we would change something drastically in the operation or the physical structure about every 6 to 24 months, that seems to be the life span of a line supervisor.

The bad thing, whatever is changed usually just change back to the way it was with a newer supervisor making his mark. And the cycle goes on and on.

One new supervisor thought he would give us cause to work harder if we knew more about mail operations. He would give herd us all together and educate us on the flow of mail – the only thing, he was fairly new and did not know much about the flow of mail. He said it was simple, our job was to get the mail from Point A (us) to Point B, the person receiving the mail. Somebody said, technically Point A would be the person mailing it and we would be Point B, and the carriers would be Point C and the postal patron would be Point D – then you have other points as well, such as primary – sorting the incoming mail, but first sometimes you have to unload airplanes or railroad boxcars, or 18 wheelers… us explaining all that to our new supervisor cost less mail to be sorted, so we had to work at the end, to make up for the unproductive time talking about points a, b, and so on, which was at the overtime rate.

One bright supervisor got the idea of not having scheme knowledge – when the mail came into the deliver facility, the first group would sort the mail aphetically and the next group would be divided into groups by the letters, that would look the name of the streets in the scheme books and sort to the carrier that way. It was very costly, paying much overtime and delaying the mail weeks – there were so much mail backed up, people could not move around to work. Then they decided to go back the way it was… that was a smart decision.

And all these noble experiments are costly, which are passed on to the consumer. Tch tch.

Sunday Morning Inspirational

Speaking of movies, last night we watched Goya’s Ghosts. It was about the period of history that the Spanish Inquisition was in full force and about the artist Francisco Goya. I thought it was good. And if you ever have thought the church should have more power in Government you should see this movie. It is a fine example when a religion has too much power – how wrong things can go. And, I guess the same argument be could be today – look at some of the Middle Eastern countries. I think any religion in control of laws and policy will quickly get out of control.

Natalie Portman did an excellent job acting as lunatic…. totally off her rocker, in the last segment of the movie.




This movie was shown at the High Museum in Atlanta this past year. It was shown as special tribute to the Spanish people of Atlanta for the Spanish artists.

At the end of the movie while the credits were being shown was a fine portfolio of art by Francisco Goya. It was very strange art… the people in the pictures looked criminally insane, evil, demented, and well, just didn’t look right. Nuts!

Sunday Morning Pulpit

For months now I have been retrieving Carl’s morning paper, out of the gully, when needed and putting it in the middle of his driveway where he can see it.

Carl is old and tall. I think to maneuver himself down into the gully in front of his house and bend over, he is putting his fragile bones at risk.

Carl lives over a block away. Each morning I make sure I walk by and check on his paper, and if need be, I’ll put it up in the driveway where he can see it. Carl is also almost blind.

Over a week ago, I could not find Carl’s paper in the driveway or his gully. Finally I saw it, in his carport in between his truck and car. I thought, he would never see it there.

But then I asked myself what business do I have going onto his carport to rescue his paper. If he came out it might be disturbing and he would want to know what I was up to.

I decided the heck with it, he would surely stumble onto it during the day.

Which, I think he came upon it. Everyday since then, the paper has been resting between the two vehicles. Carl doesn’t have to walk as far, and he knows where to find it. The paper deliverer must have changed his ways, or the deliverer changed.

I feel my job is done; now I can walk in any direction in the morning I choose.

Sometimes you have to let things worth themselves out.

Now You See It, Now You Don't!

I spent 6 years of my life on this corner.


I just have a couple things to fuss about this morning for my Sunday Sermon:

At nearby Town Center Mall in Kennesaw they are beginning work on a new addition to attract new customers. According to the architect’s drawing the new addition will have a small home-town look: A Main Street with a row of unique stores and restaurants on each side. It will probably have a central fountain and park benches. According to the drawing it will take up a whole big segment of the parking lot. So, they are building something to attract more customers, but taking away their parking accommodations?

I spent from age one to age seven of my life in a low rental housing project called The Clay Homes. The Clay Homes had 135 apartments. Last year they relocated the dozen or so families living there and bulldozed The Clay Homes off the face of the earth.

Probably “relocated” is more polite than methods actually used.

This coming Tuesday morning the mayor of Marietta, Bill Dunaway will hold a ceremonial-meeting, at the corner of a certain two streets, which is the same corner our apartment unit was on, and will make an official act of creating a new park. After the apartment buildings were erased or deleted it looks like maybe between ten and fifteen acres of bare land, which will soon be a park.

I think the city fathers asked themselves, now which is less of an eyesore – rows of brick apartments with laundry hanging on lines or a beautifully landscaped park with possibly someday a statue of them?

The heck with the poor that lived there because they couldn’t afford any place else, we all have problems!

The name of the park will be “Meeting Park”.

What kind of meeting? Drug dealer meetings?