May 7, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, May 7.

This morning, Catholic cardinals from around the world will be locked inside the Sistine Chapel, to begin the religious rite called conclave. The first time this happened, a man named Christopher Columbus was sailing toward a new world. Since 1492, church leaders have met in this beautiful room, underneath paintings by Michelangelo, to choose a new pope. And the tradition continues.

May 5, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, May 5.

I am a thoughtless person. And this morning I did a thoughtless thing.

I began this blog in March of 2020, sending out daily devotions each week to friends and family through emails, and to anyone through the Shelby County Today website. That was over five years ago, over 250 weeks ago, over 1500 devotions ago.

May 1, 2025 – Good Morning!  It’s Thursday, May 1.

Happy May Day!  Feel free to dance around a maypole.  But the first day of May has another claim to fame.  On this day, in 1840, England issued the very first postage stamp.  It cost a penny and featured a portrait of Queen Victoria on a black background.  The “Penny Black” stamp is worth a pretty penny today!

April 29, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Tuesday, April 29.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound . . .

The word “grace” is found about 170 times in the Bible. One of those verses is John 1:17 - “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”. We typically think of grace as a New Testament concept, but 20 of those grace scriptures are in the Old Testament. Verses like Genesis 6:8 - “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”, and Psalm 84:11 - “The Lord gives grace and glory”.

April 25, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Friday, April 25.

As we come to the end of this week, we focus on endings. Have you heard about these people that read the last chapter of a book first? It’s a thing. They’re out there. And now that streaming services put on a whole season of TV shows at the same time, I’m guessing they watch the last one of those first, too.