Thanks International Readers

The number of people taking a look at the blog has gone down in recent weeks, a trend that corresponds with the Coronavirus. With more people at home under "shelter in place" orders, I guess that people are watching more movies or binge-watching TV shows.

That's happened here at our home too.

I'm trying to watch as many episodes of Father Brown before it leaves Netflix, presumably to migrate to BritBox, on March 31. I watch about one of those forty-six-minute episodes at night before I sanitize our kitchen, bathrooms, door handles, drawers, faucets, and other frequently handled items, then get ready for bed.

On a slower pace, I watch episodes of Cadfael starring Derek Jacobi and Walking Through History with Sir Anthony Robinson (Tony Robinson).

When not running to get groceries or other errands or tending to her ninety-year-old mother, my wife is currently bingeing on Call the Midwife.

Clearly, we're Anglophiles.

Our daughter isn't when it comes to movies or TV shows, but is in the realm of music. Her bingeing show of choice is Golden Girls.

But for all the likely sheltering-in-place happening around the world, the blog still sees readers log on from different parts (and some unknown parts) of the world. I love that!

This is where Google tells me the most recent 1000 visitors are from, as of 12:56 AM, Thursday morning, March 26.

So, hello, everyone!

Welcome to the blog and please come back often.

I'm from the United States and have been to Germany and Canada. I would love to visit the other countries listed here someday and perhaps, when Coronavirus is conquered, as it will be, probably sometime in 2021, meet some who come here often. (By the way, I've also been to England but not the rest of the United Kingdom, Denmark, and France. But people from those countries aren't known to be among the most recent one-thousand visitors.)

Wherever you live, God bless you and protect you and your families from this pandemic.

May you experience His love and support in these times.

And may all who have already suffered the loss of loved ones the world over take refuge in the compassionate, forgiving, life-giving God revealed in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

Thanks for coming here, readers!

Hello, Italy!

This report from Blogger shows me where in the world readers of the blog are reading it.

Over the years, there's been a relatively solid readership from Russia. But as you can see from this report, captured a few moments, readers from there haven't even dented the top ten today.

Italy has been well-represented here lately. Why? I have no idea.

Czechia (the Czech Republic) has also been well-represented in the past day or so.

Besides the United States, where I live, I've only been to three of the other countries in the top ten: Germany, Canada, and France. (My visits to the latter two were brief. I stopped for a short time on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and I've had a couple of layovers at Orly in Paris, neither visit affording a very good sample of the countries in question.) They're places I hope to revisit one day. There are lots of places I hope to visit.

Anyway, thanks to all visit and read the blog.

A Prayer for Victims of Fort McMurray Wildfires

Creator God, we know that Your creation groans under the weight of human sin and that trouble is part of life on this earth. We also know You to be the God of healing and help. Bring Your healing and help to the people of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, reeling from wildfires that have destroyed many lives, homes, memories, essential services, and ways of life. Grant that those who have been impacted by this disaster will know Your help and healing. Bless and keep safe those involved in rescue and recovery efforts there. Use this tragedy to draw the lost to Jesus Christ, the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. In Jesus' name. Amen

[Blogger Mark Daniels is the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio.]

Canada, South Korea, Spam

My son put me onto an article titled 28 Things You Never Knew About Canada That May Surprise You. Being a nerd, I took the implicit challenge, thinking that I knew most of them. Wrong. I only knew three of them.

A sampling:

1. Canada consumes more macaroni and cheese than any other nation in the world. 

3. Police departments in Canada give out "positive tickets" when they see people doing something positive. 

6. Residents of Churchill, Manitoba leave their cars unlocked to offer escape for pedestrians who might encounter polar bears. 

20. Large parts of Canada have less gravity than the rest of Earth. The phenomenon was discovered in the 1960s.

After I reposted the article link on Facebook, a junior high classmate wrote:

But South Korea eats the most Spam.

He's right.



Which, of course, reminds me of another Monty Python bit.



But, our fellow Americans in Hawaii love Spam too.



My mom and dad used to fix Spam for quick family dinners when I was a kid. But I haven't eaten it since then.