Susan Beckett

Update - the Beckett's have a new baby in the house. She weighs in at 6 lbs, 4 oz, mostly sleeps through the night and has yet to regularly use her pee pad. Yes, we have a new puppy and 13 weeks old Missy is both a sweet delight and a little terror. We arrived home recently only to find that she had broken into our pantry, found a potato and chewed it into a million little bits, which of course, were strewn all over our front room. Her pee pads are regularly torn up into a thousand pieces and scattered all over our kitchen floor — our house looks like a tornado has gone through it, and Bob is constantly having to remind me that "It will be worth it." I'm sure he's right, but it's a grueling trek for now.

I just read the Letter to the Editor titled, “Hooray for Vaccine Mandates at Hotels,” with the writer thrilled that the owner of Public Hotel is now requiring vaccine proof for their hotel guests. My disappointment from reading a letter such as this is that the writer completely leaves out millions of her fellow Americans who have already had this Corona virus - those of us who now have natural immunity.

Most of us want to live life to the max - feel great, be strong, have purpose. Remember that old Lady Clairol slogan, “If I’ve only one life, let me live it as a blonde?” My upgrade of that would be, “If I’ve only one life, let me max it out and live it for God.” Of course, this is challenging in light of the culture we are currently experiencing, with many opposing our right to even voice our opinions if they don’t line up with their contrary or incompatible ways of thinking.

An amazing thing happened this past week in the religious community, and just in case you've been boycotting the news - I sure wouldn't blame you - let me fill you in. Harvard University, which was founded in 1636 for the purpose of educating ministry students and meeting the unique educational needs of Christians, has just appointed an atheist as the school's chaplain. The school, whose motto is "Truth for Christ and the Church," evidently feels this is an excellent choice. As one student said, "Greg's leadership isn't about theology…."Apparently not!

When you hear the names, Penn and Teller, if you immediately think magicians, comedians and fabulous entertainers, you would be 100% spot on. These guys have been entertaining crowds for decades and are still going strong. I recently read an insightful quote from Penn that I actually had to read through twice to get its full impact. Coming from a well-known atheist, Penn’s words about religion are profound: