One there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven.

Eighteen years ago …

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 July 22

for blessings upon them; wedded bliss 9507.22

Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days God has given him – for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work – this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.

Derek Smith – Jamie Hutchings

Paul Falk – Diane Heritage – married!

What a black man in a straw hat told me (in essence, I gotta learn to relax!) and Shipra in her words and life tells me (in essence, to live for God and His guidance) is what I need to hear. I've said that I felt empty over the last few days and I've been working myself to exhaustion – not physically, but toward an exhaustion of spirit.

Shipra used an analogy which fits the way I feel right now – she said I was a man who kept running back and forth, filling a glass with water and giving it to others to drink it dry, while I grow more and more exhausted not drinking and always running. I have sinned, and I can't be too proud to accept grace.

I didn't get to attend Paul and Diane's wedding, but I am a better person because of it. I never would have listened to You – I never would have been quiet enough to. But You are my God too.

Lord, be with me as I strive to do Your will; in the eyes of the world, it may not be popular or wise, but I do not seek the peace that the world gives, but the peace that You give, that You promised Your disciples at Passover.

We have disavowed the best deeds of the American Revolution and embraced the best intentions of the French Revolution. We have chosen to be children of Napoleon rather than children of God.

The torch of liberty is God shining and burning in our hearts; who do so few people want the heat?

This weekend …

Friday I woke up with a stiff neck. Even turning my head a little bit hurt which made it especially fun driving (where you need to turn your head to see if cars are coming against the stop sign or the light – yes, even in Minot they do that and one darn near gave me a driver's side crumple that day) or hanging out with the kids – I wondered in fact if their hanging on my neck sometimes exacerbated that as well as my sleeping wrong. I used Shaklee's Joint and Muscle Pain Cream twice that day, spaced out over several hours, and it helped a lot, so much so that over the weekend I could turn my head more and more and now it doesn't bother me at all!

http://member.myshaklee.com/us/en/products.php?sku=31051

Now to today's title. Audrey Niffenegger who is best known now for the novel The Time Traveler's Wife wrote and illustrated Raven Girl (ISBN 9781419707261); there's nothing figurative about it. A Postman delivers a letter to “Dripping Rock, Raven's Nest, 2 Flat Drab Manor, East Underwhelm, Otherworld, EE1 LH9” and encounters a girl Raven that fell out of the nest she shared with her family. The Postman brings the Raven home, they fall in love, they have a child who looks human but behaves in every possible way like a raven. (You don't have to suspend as much disbelief as you would expect.) When the Raven Girl hears a biology lecture about the possibility of grafting the parts of birds onto herself, she is interested and begins the process …

Friday was also the opening day of the North Dakota State Fair, although Saturday was the day Martha, Sarah, Jeffrey, and I went because it's Parade Day and Martha had gotten that day off from McDonald's weeks before! Josh Duhamel (the actor, who's originally from Minot) was the Grand Marshal of the parade and most of the two hundred seven floats incorporated some transforming theme along the lines of a dental office “transforming smiles” or farm products “transforming North Dakota” since the actor's prominent in the current Transformers movies. After the parade of about three hours we and the extended family took in the booths and displays at the Fair; they're mostly free stages, and at one of them we saw Lady Houdini escape the water torture cage for the 1,073^rd time. Martha and our niece Breanna both sang karaoke that night too but lost the competition. But they'll be back.

Sunday was church day (or as I call it when waking the kids up, “Sunday-go-to-meetin'-time”) and the Gospel lesson was on Jesus meeting Martha and Mary – from Luke 10:38-42 – with Martha hustling and bustling around the house getting everything just right for Jesus while her sister Mary is just sitting at Jesus' feet listening to Him. Now my wife's name is Martha, and her sister's name is Mary; dare I ask whether the two live up to their New Testament namesakes, or feel that they do? Sometimes I do wonder … and later that afternoon we had hoped for linner – Jeffrey's portmanteau for “lunch” and “dinner” – that the line at our newly-opened Sonic would not be long. It was just a thirty minute wait and cars had been lined up nonstop since a quarter to six that morning, we were told!

And now we'll fly away, David