"The average person thinks he isn't." Father Larry Lorenzoni

Charles Barkley was on the Jim Rome show and discussed the Adrian Peterson case involving child abuse charges as a result of using a switch on his son. Barkley said, "Every Black parent in the south is going to be in jail under those circumstances." Rome went off on him, as Jim Rome is inclined to do, and said using a switch isn't parenting, it's child abuse. Barkley countered that northern white guys don't understand southern Black culture, including traditional methods of parenting. He allowed it may be necessary to rethink and reeducate, but we need to understand cultural differences. He said he and his two brothers all got the switch as kids growing up in the south. All the kids he knew did.
Interesting perspective that I hadn't thought about.

USA Today had a surprisingly complimentary review of Tim Tebow's first appearance on the ABC show Good Morning America. Tebow will have a regular story most Mondays focusing on a child who has overcome adversity to achieve significant goals, and this morning's debut featured a boy who lost both legs to meningitis but still plays football with the use of blades. I didn't see it and didn't watch the video, but was pleasantly surprised to read USA Today's very positive assessment of Tebow's on-camera work and the obvious sensitivity with which he related to the kid.

I had read that the new U2 album is only available through iTunes and that they were giving it away free. I missed that everyone with an iTunes account got it whether they wanted it or not.
I don't.
Nothing personal, just don't like U2's music. So do I get rid of it or just leave it there?

Forecast high for today - 99.
Temp at 3:15 - 107
Humidity - stupid.
They've issued a flash flood advisory for the entire area from Wednesday morning through Thursday afternoon thanks to Hurricane Odile, the remnants of which will go right over us during that stretch. The ground is still saturated from last week's downpour and resulting floods, so this should be interesting.

I went to Starbucks this afternoon not because I particularly wanted coffee but because I needed someplace that keeps the AC turned down lower than I will at the house. We set it at 81 during the day and 79 at night when we've found we need a lower temp to sleep. But lately I occasionally get hot and sweaty, and can't cool down even in front of a fan. The solution...this afternoon: Starbucks.

I had a really close call this morning.
I rolled the engine on its stand over so the stand's back side was against the frame of the garage and then used a 2lb. sledge to drive the harmonic balancer on the front of the crank. As I was rolling it back into the area where I work on it I got a "clunk" and the front (free end) of the engine dropped to about a 20-degree angle. My immediate thought: something is breaking! I immediately looked at the stand expecting to see a weld somewhere giving way but didn't. Five seconds later I realized the cause of this drop was a lesser priority than getting the engine secured so whatever gave way didn't begin a chain reaction leading to a freshly built $$$ engine falling to the garage floor. I worked as fast as I could to get the engine hoist in position over the engine and ....
and could NOT find the chains I used for lifting it.

I did find one short piece I used with a bolt into the block to get at least some of the weight off the engine stand. In the process of doing that I discovered that two of the washers on the bolts on the stand that connect it to the engine had folded in half like a taco shell under the stress of the weight, gone right inside the bracket, and for reasons that only Someone knows, hadn't come all the way through and out the front side - the outcomes of which would have been disastrous. Including for my foot which was under the engine when it went "clunk."

A fast and furious drive up to Home Depot to get more chain, more bolts (Grade 8!) and washers (also Grade 8!). Back home to work very carefully but also very quickly to get all the weight off the stand, replace the bolts & washers, and then back on the stand. I can't describe the stress I felt for the 2+ hours that all took. At almost any point in that process the whole thing could have gone crashing to the floor.

When I finally had everything secured I called Pam at work. She was just getting into her car when the failure happened and knew something was going very wrong.
Have you ever experienced that adrenalin rush that comes from dealing with a sudden crisis that, when it's finally over, leaves so you exhausted that you feel like crying? I told Pam when I called that's what I felt like. I went inside, collapsed in my chair with a cold glass of lemonade, and did nothing for 45 minutes.

Another person might have that experience and say, "Wow, that was close. I got lucky on that one. Coulda' been a lot worse."

Not me.

I aver that a gracious God watches over me, protects me from harm, and blesses me at least as often with the bad he does not allow as by the good he sends my way.
James says, "Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights."
Amen.
You may say, "Time and chance happen to all, and this time it worked in your favor. You're just choosing to see it as God's provision."
As you will. But I see too much undeserved good in my life to ascribe it all to time and chance.

C.S. Lewis said, "You ask how, if there's a God, can there be this much evil in the world. I say the better question is, if there is no God how do you explain laughter."
And rebuilt engines that aren't laying in pieces on the garage floor.