The Blue Church

The beginning of this week was really difficult for me. On the unit where I
work at the prison we have some of the most disruptive inmates in the whole
institution. Earlier this week they had brought their disruptive efforts to
a new level and it was almost impossible to do rounds.

I suspect that many of you are familiar with the scene in the movie, “The
Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy and her cowardly companions enter into the
ominous throne-room of “The great and powerful Oz”.

There are several phrases that we usually don’t want to be on the receiving
end of. They are:

*       Have I not made myself clear?
*       How could you have missed this?
*       Do I need to point out the painfully obvious to you?
*       You have no excuse

This past week I received an email from one of my co-workers and in it they
questioned if I was doing as much work as others in the department. How is
that for a pleasant email? Then I noticed at the end of their inquiry an
Emoji.

If you are like me, you are still trying to make sense of the horrifying
shootings that are happening across the world like the one that happened in
Las Vegas, Nevada this past week. When something like this happens my mind
always wanders towards questions like,

There is an interesting directive given in the bible that is not commonly
heard today. In several instances believers are called to “fix their eyes”
on something or someone. Here are three examples:

This weekend I have been black-topping my driveway. Yesterday I edged the
grass around it and swept the entire surface before wetting it down to get
all the dust off. Then I got some crack sealer and went around filling in
all the little “alligator” cracks that permeated the surface of my driveway.

I am at the age where I am seeing movie stars who I have watched for years
pass away. The other day Lisa and I were watching the movie “Doubt” and
enjoyed the excellent acting of Phillip Seymour Hoffman.