“For Thou, in Thine infinite and occasionally baffling mercy, hast seen fit to lop off a portion of the aforementioned Morty, and pass it down unto us, Thy terribly peckish flock. Yea, verily, we beseech Thee to bless these choice cuts, that we, Thy miserable and famished servants, might completely stuff our faces and thus gloriously feast upon his wondrous, savory flesh. Amen."

Truly, I don’t even know what my impetus was to walk toward the sanctuary and just start praying. My feet just started moving that way, and the next thing I know, I was “there” opening my lips.

Some of the ladies in the room apologized for her outburst. There was no need. She had no idea what she was saying. They confirmed my presumption that she’s a resident in the home’s memory care unit....

Tonight, I’m thankful for those who’ve preserved these historical places: like Saint Kilian’s and Old Westbrook Lutheran. Those churches are living time capsules, reminding us that while times change, we’re blessed when some things stand still.

Me, I could never quite master the art. I try but just can’t seem to sit quietly enough in any chair and doze off. If I want to rest my eyes and mind, I literally gotta go horizontal. And then, hours not minutes tend to pass, and I feel like I’ve wasted the day.Today though, that nap felt good, and for that I thank the Lord.

America was built by the ma-and-pa business, and all those little boutiques and comfort food joints on Main Street. I’m thankful there are still plenty around to support and do life with. Today, we spent a few dollars at one of them on the way home, just to get a few licks of summer in with an old-fashioned ice cream cone.

Seriously, amidst all today’s mundaneness, I do gotta say: God helped me bang out my Sunday sermon. Now, while that might not sound unusual—and it’s not—this week’s topic was kind of a headbanger’s ball.

365 Days of Thanksliving — Day 256 Two-hundred days. That’s 200 sunrises with 12+hour workdays for all hands-on deck. It’s equivalent to over 1200 rotations of 4-hour watches. It’s over 3 million meals served; thousands of aircraft evolutions; and an incalculable number of gallons of potable water produced. For over 200 days, the men and women of the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of America’s 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, has been on watch. Her crew hasn’t stepped on land

I paused the 80s mixtape playing in the background, closed all the programs, opened the file again, meticulously went through the print settings, and clicked the print button again. But then? The beachball of death—you know the one: that notorious spinning ball of light that tells us something’s amiss.

Anywho, it hit me today how wild it is to live right in the space between those two realities: the grace of good rest vs. world-ending stuff —the macro and the micro.

Last night? Last evening was abby-normal. I began beseeching the Lord, actually finished making my petitions, and yet I was, like, still totally energized. (What, am I a Valley Girl now? Hahaha). That’s different, I thought. I then prayed some more: “God, please grant me a good night's sleep. You know I gotta work in the morning.”

From all walks of life, spanning from their 20s to their 80s, 550 Regiment alumni gathered throughout the year. They rehearsed, got fitted for new uniforms and horns, and then traveled from every corner of the globe to Indianapolis to take the field together one last time.