I would like to thank all of you who have sent beautiful cards, flowers and messages on my Facebook account or who have emailed or texted of phoned. Your love and prayers have been most appreciated. It has been two weeks since my surgery and all is well. Home health and physical therapy visits have concluded that I am progressing  as expected. I can now walk easily and have exchanged the walker for my cane. I see the physician this Thursday for a follow up appointment. Antoinette has been wonderful. She gets a gold medal for all her indefatigable support. Pray that she does not get exhausted.

While I find it hard to focus for any length of time I am reading a great deal. David Mamet’s: Recessional, The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch is an erudite take on current cancel culture. Kaputt, by Curzio Malaparte, is the memoir/diary of an Italian war correspondent in the Second World War who traveled to Finland, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova and Germany to report on life from the Axis side. Don’t read it unless you have a strong stomach. It is beautifully written about horrific scenes. I have learned a great deal about Finland that I did not know. He is terribly honest about the evil of men. The Theology of Jurgen Moltmann by Richard Bauckman is introducing me to the thought of a great German theologian whom I have long desired to study. His Theology of Hope and The Crucified God are masterpieces that I want to appreciate. For many years I loved to read the comic Prince Valiant by Hall Foster and collected 21 volumes reproduced by Fantagraphics. I gave all but the last two to my niece who has three little boys, and am enjoying the two I have left. Derring do, family life, and Arthurian history of medieval times make for easy reading. Next on my list to read is Pitun’s Last Stand, An Entertainment about the Fall of Russia by Alexander Motyl, a satire by a Russian academic. I follow the tragedy of the War in Ukraine through the blog of the Institute for War with its maps.

Last but not least, I read the Encounter With God portion of the Scriptures which is taking me through 1 Samuel. I am also rereading my old messages in SOUL FOOD, Vol.4. I read through my old childhood hymnal and listen to renderings of the hymns I grew up with on You-Tube. Streams in the Desert by Mrs Charles Cowman accompany me to sleep.

Thank you again for your prayers. I hope to see you soon, Lord willing.