The Woods were full of people. My usual spot had many cars parked in the street. Kids playing and Grandmas talking over potato salad and fried chicken. Autumn is here, and it is time to get about the business of the Picnic and family reunion. Leaves are changing and falling dramatically. The drought has caused the early leaf change. The yellow flowers are still there, but looking a bit worse for wear. We are happy in the fall. Negative feelings are always knocking at the door. We choose to open the door and be positive seekers.

Unconsciously, we are processing. All that we encounter lodges in our brains. We compare past experiences with current encounters. Hurts stay with us. It has been said that we must forgive and forget. We can forgive easier than we forget. Optimism takes effort.

Good things are just around the corner. We have experienced those Corner Moments before. There are many times on this Holiday Train ride that we can not see what awaits us around the next corner. So we worry and get a sour stomach. There could be a Big Green Monster around the corner. Someday we will die, and perhaps the Grim Reaper is waiting with his scythe. Some of our preachers tell us that God has a select people or has chosen them. We did not get the sign-up form for the Chosen List. Are there hordes of the Chosen waiting around the next corner for our removal and their glory? We expect the End Of The World. If it happens, many of us will already be gone on to our reward. I heard a preacher proclaim that the Beast of Revelation was going to speak in 1975. 1975 was the year I graduated from high school. Did a short life await me? 50 years later, it appears I have dodged the Beast Bullet.

A Corner Moment for me was marrying my love, MJ. I did not see that coming until I rounded the Corner. Two Corner Moments were the births of Aaron and Jonathon. Another Corner Moment was being hired as a Building Service Worker I at Southern Illinois University and retiring as the department head.

The Holiday Train rounded a Corner a few years ago, whereupon the new normal equates Christianity with politics. What a rocky Train Track! Now it seems that dedicated Christians who espouse loving all of God’s creation have not read the signs. Today, it is too old-time religion to be poor and still believing that ‘Jesus loves the little children, all the little children of the world. Cash is king, and prejudice is governmental policy.

Holiday Train is chugging along toward the next Corner. What awaits us? Will it be acceptance and unity or division and strife? Will we look to the life of Jesus or the pronouncements of the 5%? Corners are change events. The Civil War was a corner, as was the Civil Rights Movement.

Cooler weather and cooler temperatures await us around the Corner. The Holiday Train is looking down the track to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Two Holidays to love those who have not been loved. We remember when we were lonely and shunned. We recall how good it felt when someone sat beside us at the lunch table and shared stories with us, and cold milk. The joy of pizza on Fridays. We see the kind smile and bright eyes. The stranger is looking for the compassion Christ spoke of. The mentally ill are seeking understanding, not judgment. A significant Corner in my life is when I began working at SIUC and discovered there are wonderful people of every color, religion, and lack thereof. Gay people are beautiful friends. The handicapped of our world have much to teach us about life… They taught me that I was the one who was handicapped, and they would love me and help me succeed.