Wartburg College Choir tour

 Where is Granddaughter Jennaya Everist? With the Wartburg College Choir, singing at the Wartburg Castle in Germany, riding a camel in Morocco and giving a Saturday night concert in a church in Cassablanca. 

Golden Tempo

 Cheers for Golden Tempo and the first woman trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, Cherie DeVaux.

 The Supreme Court this week issues a long-feared decision cutting back the Voting Rights decision of 1965 making voter discrimination again possible.  We need to work to make sure everyone--everyone--can vote!

King Charles Speech

 The speech given this afternoon by King Charles lll before the joint session of Congress at the Capitol was magnificent. The monarch of the United Kingdom and head of the Commonwealth spoke with depth and words of wisdom.  Do find it and watch it.

flowering trees

 The thunderstorms have passed and the flowering trees are now beautiful, including my favorite, redbud.

Gaza children

 More than 65,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza, according UNICEF. Thousands remain missing and are believed to be buried under rubble, and at least 1,009 of those killed were under the age of one.

An estimated 17,000 children have been left unaccompanied or separated from their parents, while the United Nations reported that at least 21,000 children are living with permanent injuries.

Earth Day

 As the sun sets on Earth Day, there are droughts, fires burning, and erratic weather patterns. The National Forest Service is being weakened. Will lands and waterways be no longer protected? We have a climate crisis. Have we become numb? This Earth Day will soon pass, but what will we do tomorrow?

Call Washington

 Things are not going well in the war.  Things are not going well in the world. We are tempted to turn off the TV, ignore what is going on and focus only on our own lives.  But all of our lives are being affected. An alternative is to become engaged.  Just now I called four senators and urged them to act. It takes only a minute or so to leave a message. Call the Congressional switchboard and ask for your senator or the representative of another state. Call 202-224-3121.  We can act!

Pope, Vance, Trump, Budde, Lutherans

 Vice President J.D. Vance has made outrageous comments, trying to correct the Pope's theology. Trump criticizes the Pope constantly. Trump also vehemently criticizes Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Maniann Budde. Many Evangelical Lutheran Church in America bishops, including our presiding bishop have come out with statements against what Trump is doing. I as a Divinity and Seminary Lutheran Professor professor, have written often on the problems of Christian Nationalism and on justice. I have not been criticized nor do I know of any Lutheran leaders who have been criticized by Trump. Perhaps he doesn't know what a Lutheran is. Remember the importance of the first Amendment of the Constitution. 

Cory Booker

"Our democracy is not a spectator sport. It demands participation. Now is our time to remember that we are each other's hope. . . We need to be stewards of the truth. When we remain silent out of fear or out of indifference our believing that what we say won't make a difference, we fail to meet what this moment demands."  Sen. Cory Booker from his new book, Stand."  I highly recommend it. The book is both an easy read and profound.

Artimis returns from the Moon

We just watched splash down of the space capsule Integrity on the Artemis ll mission, April 10, 2016. On July 24, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins safely returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean to conclude the historic Apollo 11 mission, the first human moon landing.They brought back lunar samples. Early the next morning, July 25, I gave birth to our son, Kirk Andrew Everist.

Narcissist

 A narcissist is a person with an extreme, unhealthy preoccupation with themselves, characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, a deep need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. Trump is not just old, not just sleepy, not just unintelligent. He is a dangerous narcissist, saying "A whole civilization will die tonight" about Iran. We must stop him.