The 4th has come and gone. It was fun, and the steaks were excellent from Chef Aaron. Cards were played, and Jonathon won. Jennifer is a quick study and a pleasure to be around.

We attended a wonderful birthday celebration for Uncle Ron on Sunday. Tara is a gracious host. The tranquility of the lake engulfed me. It was a perfect conclusion for the 4th of July Weekend.

Onward we go in the experience of summer. The rain comes in torrents. Flash flooding is now a reality across our country. The fragility of our existence is sobering. Many children’s lives are lost in Texas. It is beyond words of grief.

Christmas is coming, and where is the goose to fatten up? A day seems like an hour and a week like a day. ‘The best laid plans of mice and men suddenly go awry.’ The pages of the book of our lives blow in a stiff breeze. You have to hurry to read the pages. Politicians conspire and scheme on how to become richer and more powerful. It is all a poor man’s dream. Everything returns to dust, then to molecules, and then to the universe. We are made from cosmic dust.

The Bible asks us, ‘What has a man gained if he has the whole world and loses his soul?’ Thought-provoking as I am in the 50th year of my high school days. I remember wondering what life had in store as I stood in the Commencement line. I knew I was moving the next morning. I was 17. I hoped to understand faith better. I wanted to obtain a job that would sustain my needs. In those halcyon days, I wanted to be a minister. Faith had brought meaning to my life. Having seen people abused and criticized, I wanted to bring a balm of Gilead. To have words that would be a healing salve for wounds. I hoped to be a person who heard those who have no voice and saw those who are unseen.

‘There is the mayor,’ Thomas said. ‘She is kind,’ Thomas added. ‘Her staff passes me by, but she always stops and gives me some money and asks how I am,’ Thomas noted. ‘Mayor Carolin knows what it is like to be marginalized and forgotten,’ Thomas observed. ‘Mayor C understands words without works are hollow,’ Thomas said. ‘Mayor C offered me a bed in her home when I had nowhere to shelter from the freezing cold,’ Thomas noted. ‘She told me that community leaders passed her by many times without a glance or acknowledgment,’ Thomas whispered.

‘While I am Mayor of Carbondale, we will see the unseen and hear the unheard,’ Mayor Carolin said. ‘I remember Jim Crow and sitting in the balcony of the Varsity Theatre because I am black,’ Mayor Carolin said. ‘ All people and all races have my number and they can call me night or day,’ Mayor Carolin promised.

So it goes, we have a nation that has turned its back on the poor and homeless and those who are unseen and unheard. It has been said that money talks and bullshit walks. But not everywhere. Many cities, towns, and villages still believe in the Golden Rule. We still believe in the message of Christ. The lame were welcome at the table of Melchizedek. The hungry and needy are welcomed by Christians walking with the message of Jesus.

The cool breeze was welcome in July. Many middle-class Americans and the wealthy thought little of the coming fall and winter. I enjoy the bounty of the greatest country on the face of the Earth, those with ample resources thought. I will build bigger barns and stock them with the bounty of my abundance. I am a king among my community, and they recognize me for my accomplishments. Before you know it, we will set fire to the fireplaces and make spiced apple cider for the community. Our friends will praise our Good Samaritan Works. No one will suffer in our vision. We will give apples and pears and grapes, and cherries to the poor. They like those fruits. A Hoecake will be for the poor among us. Lively music and some ale for the Christmas Blessing.