He had all the virtues we like to see in our Christian children, and he was Jewish. Here are those virtues and many of the joys: generousness, peace, happiness, patience, kindness, goodness, modesty, self-control. 

He died a hero.  Not wanting to infect his family with Covid 19, he moved away and was discovered dead in a rented room.  He did what he was able, and his many friends and two children and former wife must miss him sorely.

He was a part of my son’s group in high school, and shared their athletic aspirations and social get-togethers.  He took the events, the good and the bad every life endures, with courage, and we remember him with thoughts and prayers.

Evil exists and prevails so that our efforts against it, like prayer, make it a real challenge.  I just read an article about a teenager who was beaten by her mother with severe injury to her head, leaving the teenager with no place to retreat to safely.  She got help from an ivy-league school, who later did not trust her.  All seemed lost, but then things turned around—someone’s prayers were answered.

The source of our confidence in something as immaterial as prayer is none other than the Son of Man, born a human just like we but with trust in a heavenly Father.  We have gifts like brains and trustworthy friends to help us, sometimes without knowing it.  Deo gratias.

The doctor and I are about the same age, but he, a neurologist, told me I passed the test on senescence (aging), and had I not already been advised not to drive by my cardiologist, I might have driven home.  We lose life slowly, at this age, and we are prepared for the inevitable happy outcome.

Yes, I don’t fear death, and sort of look forward to it.  If they knew I was writing this, some in the family would tell me to stop.  No offense, but I love happy endings.

Forgiving is sometimes hard to do.  Yet it is one of the key reasons Western Civilization advanced as far as it did.  The Franciscans forgave the indiscretions of the indigenous Indians of California, and went on to establish the various missions.  The Indians in turn forgave the Franciscans their strict, Old World teaching habits, and melded into the white population.  In Europe, after years of warfare following the Reformation, the religions finally realized what they were saying in their common “Our Father.”

It hasn’t happened everywhere.  Northern Ireland is still struggling with that, but it goes to show why it took 2,000 years to get to where we are today.  Other civilizations seem to be more occupied with face, and Communist China may not be as easy a mark as the formerly Christian, Communist Russia.

Despite COVID-19, I’m glad to be living in the 21^st Century.  We see some results.

They call the men’s basketball tournament March Madness, and indeed it was.  One of the outstanding teams was a small New Jersey college called St. Peter’s, which was seeded 15^th, but kept defeating all fifteen opponents until just before the final four elimination.  They were finally defeated by North Carolina, an emotional moment.

They set some kind of NCAA record for the most undefeated 15^th ranked team, and you might say the Lord was truly with them.  The team has one white player; everyone else, including the coach, is black.  What a tournament.

The referees usually get my sympathy, but when they failed to call a charging foul on a North Carolina player, I was angry.  The St. Peter’s player played with a bloody lip as a result.