I need to tie up a few loose ends before they are left hanging another week. Let’s start with a news story that should have been included in the Deja Vu. I added it later as a comment but not everybody reads those, and email subscribers may not know about comments that are added later.

Lawrence County in Tennessee will no longer excuse absences even with a doctor’s note. Each student will be marked either present or absent and there will be no more “excused” absences. School intervention will begin after three absences and juvenile authorities will be contacted after eight absences. The school system says they are stressing attendance and responsibility because in the real world young adults will be expected to come to work even if they are sick.

The second item is about the difference between Bible study and preaching. Yesterday I posted the podcast episodes for Numbers 11. Today’s sermon was about a father bringing his son to Jesus, and saying “If you can, have compassion on us.” Jesus’ reply was “If I can!” adding “All things are possible for one who believes.” I try to preach when I’m in the pulpit and try not to preach when the focus is on reading the Bible and nothing else. Preaching is more than teaching the Bible although a good preacher should also be able to teach. If you have been listening to the Read the Bible series here’s a link to my Sunday morning sermon at Unity for those interested. It’s not my best sermon, it got a little squirrely on me near the end, but the post includes a note that should clarify.

And finally, we are 12 chapters into Numbers and I have not yet posted the outtakes from the Leviticus recordings. As we have refined the process, there are fewer real bloopers than when we started. There were some fireworks on the 4th of July that interrupted me a time or two. After I finished the recording and editing I discovered that if I had just waited until 10:35 or so they stopped. Perfect.