It’s beginning to look a lot like summer. Goodbye winter coats! Hello Hawaiian shirts, tank tops, bikinis, sunglasses and suntan lotions! I don’t know about you but I kinda like the bright sunny skies. It’s like creation announcing its presence in all its glory. I feel like stepping outside in the heat and welcoming this bright day. So far, no forest fires. So far no earthquake. It’s a true gift from God.

I’ve been studying Artificial Intelligence. Although I’m far from being an expert, I think I know my way around, so I volunteered to give a talk on the “Pandora’s Box of Artificial Intelligent Art” at the La Habra Art Gallery this July 16. Come on down if you’re interested and available. It will be a bit technical but I hope to give a demo on how you can avail of the technology today. Even if AI is above your pay grade, you’ll see what the process is like and you will see how far advanced we’ve come.

I stared at the wrinkles in his face. Age spots have replaced the teenage pimples on his cheeks. His full jet black hair has turned sparse like naked tree branches in a wintry landscape; and there’s a growing acre of a bald spot at the top of his head which is inching its way closer to meet the receding hairline on his forehead.

There’s a disturbing documentary available in Amazon Prime called “Shiny Happy People.” It’s about the Duggar family with 19 biological kids who go to a mega IBLP church headed by Bill Gothard. The outside saintly personas of both the family and Gothard hide the double lives of lust and greed. I highly recommend you watch it; but before you do, just keep a few things in mind.

The boy was lunch for the vulture behind him. That photograph garnered the $10k, 1994 Pulitzer Prize for the photographer, Kevin Carter. Four months after receiving the award, Kevin Carter committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. I knew there had to be more to the story and this led me on a Rabbit Trail of tragic incidents.

Have you noticed there's a strange breed of people among us who carry these strange books? It's easy to spot them especially on Sundays … especially in protestant churches. Yup! You guessed it. They're carrying Bibles!

I practiced with my band last Monday. Yup! Believe it or not, I have a band. We play popsy-folksy-Christian-classic rock. To be honest, we aren’t good. We’re tolerable. Our common love for music brought us together. Despite our lack of talent, we’re very ambitious. We take on difficult songs from popular performers like Chicago, The Eagles, Rondstat, James Taylor, Carole King --- and after all our practicing, we get to perform at the local Art Gallery whenever they have a big event. No sane person would pay good money to hear us so this is our sneaky way of getting an audience. Suckers!

As the class ended, I gazed at my classmates’ faces and I was so proud of them. Here was a cross section of the Christian world --- men, women, young, old, with different ethnicities --- who have dedicated several hours each month to learn why and how to fix the human condition.

I was excited. My wife was returning from a week-long trip to the Philippines. I was supposed to pick her up on Tuesday. However, Monday started a long list of misfortunes.

On a road to Damascus, a blinding light forces Saul down on the ground. He is unable to see yet he hears Christ’s voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4) The voice explains that Saul was actually fighting for the wrong side. Instead of doing good, he was actually an enemy of God. What a shocker! Saul was actually the ignorant one.