Tuesday.....International.....Six Of Diamonds?

I used to attempt a silly trick with new employees after I got to know them a little bit. I told them that I could read minds, and their response would be what you would expect. I'd say No, really! Pick any card in the deck, in your mind. Don't write it down or tell anyone...got it? O.K. The card you picked was the...and I would name any card in the deck. Now my chances of picking their card was 1 in 52. I never succeeded although I once missed the 8 of clubs by a suit then shook my head and said Now how did I miss clubs? You have to admit that if I ever did hit one, my new friend would have a tough time explaining it away. Parts of Asia are experiencing a total solar eclipse today. It will last longer than recent eclipses, 6 minutes and 39 seconds in one place, and they will not see another this long for about 100 years. Many people in India are very superstitious about this, believing that it portends very ominous occurrences around the world. Women do not want their babies born on this day! Like my little card trick, one of these days a total solar eclipse may bring a day of disaster. Immediately after 9/11 super market tabloids would run articles about self-proclaimed prophets that predicted an attack on us. If you read this type of article, they invariably inform that the prophet missed their last 10 prophesies, but that doesn't really matter. False prophets have continuously given a date for Christ's Second Coming for well over a millennium. A number of economists predicted this financial crisis including Joeseph Stiglitz, written up in today's Newsweek Magazine. People have made a lot of money, and lost a lot of money by predicting trends in the stock market. Some friends have said to me You're such a pessimist! Maybe, but I'm an optomistic pessimist in that, yes we are in trouble as a nation and a people. We have mowed down the hedges that protected us only to get a view of barbarians at the gate. We have failed to heed history, preferring instead to revise it to support our corruptions, but God has all of this under control! Someone once asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew for certain that Christ was returning the next day. His answer was that he would plant a tree today. I ascribe to his philosophy. America's future has all the signs of turmoil ahead but God has determined what that future will be and although we pray for His mercy upon us, either outcome will ultimately further His plan and bring Him all the glory that is His, which is all the glory that there is!