Hurricane Ida is of immediate concern to anyone along the Gulf coast. What had been forecast to be a category 1 storm just a few days ago now has the potential to make landfall as category 4. The projected path of this storm will place the center just west of New Orleans meaning the storm surge coming in from the ocean will be much stronger than with Hurricane Katrina because of the direction of wind rotation. So while we have known about this storm for several days the forecast has recently gotten much worse. Pray for residents of Louisiana as well as Mississippi and Alabama who will also be directly affected. The relief efforts will begin shortly, give emergency crews time to get in and do what they do first.

• 

• 

Don Everly of the Everly Brothers and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones have both passed this week. The Everly Brothers were among the very first rock and rollers and had an influence on many later artists including the Beatles. Charlies Watts had already stepped away from performing even as the Stones continue to tour with Keith Richards solo drummer filling in.

This is neither Yanni nor Laurel. What do you hear this crowd chanting? I can go down the list and hear each one of these or a combination (such as This is piracy). I wish I had an authenticated source that could tell us when they really are saying but you will just have to use your imagination.

Have you heard of Buc-ee’s? The Texas sized gas station/convenience stores are up to 40 locations but the chain has only expanded outside the state of Texas since 2016. The New Braunfels, TX location on I-35 is the largest convenience store in the world with 120 fueling positions, 1,000 parking spots,  64 ice freezers, 83 toilets, 31 cash registers, four Icee machines, and 80 fountain dispensers. The other locations in Alabama, Georgia and Florida are not quite so large. They broke ground in Kentucky in April, in Tennessee in June and the first South Carolina store will open early next year. Pictured above is the second Georgia location to open in Calhoun just earlier this week. They smoke brisket and pork and make their own sandwiches in house fresh daily. Oddly enough Buc-ee’s travel centers are located next to interstates and major thoroughfares but are not truck stops. Big rigs are not allowed which is not what I expected. You can see signage for Love’s across the street in the pic above. That store is nearly new as well and hundreds of trucks make that stop each day, it’s all good.

Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee. I discovered this program on a local Christian radio station over 20 years ago. I believe the daily broadcast was only 15 minutes. If you spend 15 minutes a day with Dr. McGee you will slowly make your way through the entire Bible in a 5 year course of study. I used to listen to Dr. McGee each day and read the Our Daily Bread devotional when it was printed in paperback by Radio Bible Class. Only after listening for several days did I try to learn more about J. Vernon McGee only to discover had passed away back in 1988. His teaching ministry lives on to this day.

There are now podcasts and mobile apps so just like streaming t.v. shows on demand the listener is not tied to a radio broadcast schedule. Click here to visit ttb.org and learn more or search for Thru the Bible in the Google Play or iTunes stores.

Would Jesus wear a mask? It is unfortunate that our response to Covid-19 is deeply rooted in politics. This is not a political post and I try with all the long-suffering patience I can muster to divorce discussions about health care from the political entanglements. I find the logic and reasoning of Pastor John Lestock to be sound. If the image above is too small to read, clicking on it should open a new tab. You should be able to zoom in if the full screen size image is still too fine of a print. Read the article with an open heart and open mind.

This one’s just meant to be funny. God loves you and we love you, don’t lie down and die.

The rock on top is a darker shade of grey than the one on the bottom, obviously. Cover the dividing line in the center and see if it’s still that obvious. (I think it’s still slightly darker but not nearly as much as it appears to be at first.)

To understand what is going on in Afghanistan you have to go back further than 9/11. You really have to go all the way back to the 1950’s and understand our approach to foreign policy when it came to dealing with the spread of communism. I took a deep dive into that history earlier this week in this post.