If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the precipitate.

I’m in Seattle. It’s cold and wet, but it’s family, and that’s good.
Some people fly often. One of our elders flies somewhere almost every week as part of his job responsibilities. I fly a few times a year, so things he doesn’t notice strike me in one way or another. Like the notion of flying from Salt Lake City (my stop-over) to Seattle - from an uptight and legalistic Mormon city to the most secular city in the country. Seattle, home to grunge and more homosexuals than any city save San Francisco.

What is the correct thing to do when the gal sitting next to you falls asleep and tilts to the left until she’s sleeping on your shoulder? If you hear your cell phone turn itself on halfway through the flight is it better to take it out of your pocket to turn it off, thus looking to your seat mates like a felon, or just leave it on betting they did not hear it? Does a Kindle qualify as an electronic device?

FWIW, my answers were: nothing, leave it, and yes.

The Nissan Versa is about the size of a hall closet but it works well as a rental car to get around the city. Surprising acceleration and plenty of room with the seat pushed back. Cruise, remote mirrors, tilt wheel, and a pretty cheesy sound system.

Dandy Don Meredith died today. He was only 72. (Using “only” in that sentence is an indicator of how much things have changed. Not that long ago 72 was a good long life.) He’s the third in a trio of sportscasters to die in the recent weeks, with Ron Santo (Cubs) and Dave Niehaus (Mariners) preceded Meredith. People get attached to announcers, especially in the case of men who called baseball games on the radio for the same team for decades. By all accounts that was easy to do with Niehaus and Santo. Which is why I understand the sentiment of people who responded to the news of their death by posting “RIP Dave Niehaus” (or ... “Ron Santo”) on Facebook or elsewhere.

Pardon my for excessive spirituality, but I find RIP a bit surprising coming from a believer about a sportscaster, or anyone else for that matter.
If the deceased is a child of God through faith in Christ’s substitutionary atonement they are definitely resting, and at peace in the presence of the Lord. If they were not a believer they are most certainly NOT at peace, and methinks not resting, either.

From what I’ve read recently, Niehaus was a believer. Don’t know anything about Santos except that he was a Cub, for which we can only extend sympathies. However, the blessing, “RIP” (it seems to fit in the category of a blessing, vis a’ vis a curse) is impotent once a person has died physically and passed into their eternal destiny.

OK, like I said, I may be nitpicking here. But speaking for myself, I don’t want to give anyone the impression that anything said on this side makes even the tiniest bit of difference in someone’s eternal destiny, or that once they’ve died that destiny is mutable. It isn’t; it’s sealed by the presence or absence of saving faith. To say “RIP” implies things which are not possible and have no bearing on reality. Because that reality is so important, precision in matters of speech in this area seems essential.
FWIW