Another week has passed and again my spouse has a busy weekend filled with church, funerals, weddings, classwork. He's taking an online course for pastors but thankfully that will be done in December.

We had some nice weather this past week but now it feels like the temps are on the downlow again. Winter is right around the corner; let's just hope Mother Nature is kind to US this winter. She hasn't been very kind to the rest of the country.

R. Vs. R. Journalists slanting the truth, politicians wielding and abusing their power, the cutthroat world of the news; I'm so glad those things don't happen in 2005 (major sarcasm in that sentence). The film Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story of Edward R. Murrow who was instrumental in toppling Joseph R. McCarthy's reign as "witch hunter." It shows the 1954 broadcast of See It Now in which clips of McCarthy were shown and as a result McCarthy's stock dropped. McCarthy eventually went on the show to defend himself but that backfired too. The movie features real clips of McCarthy and some of the hearings. David Strathairn, as Murrow, and the rest of the cast are all good. I really like Patricia Clarkson who plays Shirley Wershba, the real life newswoman who worked with Murrow, but I wish she had had more to do in the film. Incidentally the film is directed by George Clooney. And everyone (or just about everyone) smoked. Even Murrow smoked on the air. Can you imagine if today Brian Williams just decided to light up on NBC Nightly News? As far as Murrow goes, it's too bad we don't have more people around who are like him; ready to take a stand for justice, truth and liberty. As a society we've become too comfortable and complacent and too afraid to venture out of our comfort zones.

Holy homily: I've been training to become a deacon in my church and one of our recent assignments was to write a one page sermon on one of the parables in either the book Mark, Matthew or Luke. I chose the story of the persistent widow which is found in Luke. Instead of slanting the sermon toward the corrupt judge, I focused instead on the woman who wanted justice. I got some nice feedback from the class (yes, the sermon was given during the class of nine, not during Sunday service) and while I wasn't nervous (all those years in theatre have paid off) I didn't memorize the sermon and had to rely on a script. I lost my place a few times and then started making some stuff up, that wasn't on the sheet, while I found my place. Then I was thinking I was going too long so I ended up skipping over some stuff. It was a great experience; one that I would not have even entertained a year ago. Would I like to preach during Sunday service? Absolutely. Am I ready? Not even close. I've published the sermon on my blog

Stranger than fiction: I can't make this stuff up....You may have heard this story. In 2003 Bob Dougherty became the butt of a practical joke. At a home depot store in Louisville, Colorado, Dougherty went to the bathroom and sat on the seat which had been covered with glue. He had recently had heart bypass surgery and thought he was having a heart attack. An employee who heard Dougherty calling for help thought it was a hoax. Finally after about 15 minutes an ambulance was called. The paramedics had to unbolt the toilet and wheel Dougherty out. The lawsuit was filed last Friday.