Today I'm at the helm of Vinton Today, alone. Dean is off with the Veterans on his 2nd Honor Flight, so here's hoping the pilots are awake and sober, and the folks in the control towers are as well.

  This is part four of the series, "Whose We Are" based on Wesley's Covenant Prayer.  Please see an earlier post for the complete prayer.

See right at the top of this column those two words that few other people in the world can use...Valerie Close. That's my name. Now, we are getting in the territory of commenting on our latest breaking news about the community leaders.

  "How We Serve"   James 1:22-25 Matthew 20:20-28 "Put me to doing, put me to suffering [waiting/enduring].

Tonight we had our usual weekly music practice.  It consists of 2 mothers with 2 daughters each, a single guy, and another gal. We usually have a great time practicing our music, and go home on cloud nine.

Usually we drive to town, and back and never give the scenery another thought.  Other times we see a herd of anywhere from 10-20 deer romping through a field and get a kick out of the gracefulness of these creatures, and then hope they stay off the road.

Last weekend I thought I'd watch "Eat, Pray, Love", not because I've been dying to see it, or even because I thought I'd be impressed with it.

Matthew 9:9-13 (NRSV) As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

  Editor: When the Democrats had the numbers why didn’t they pass a budget presented by the President?(Oops, I don’t recall he presented one!?) The next question is:  if the present tax rates (“Bush Tax Cuts) are so bad why continue them??  Do the present tax rates contribute to the deficit or do present spending levels contribute to the deficit?  While mulling the above over consider the following:  We have some leaders who say we can’t afford to cut spending, while we have others who say we can’t afford current spending levels.

       "WHAT are we looking for?"      A clearly-irritated female voice echoed across the aisle of a building supply store.