Beware the Ides of April

A younger me with Tim and Alex, sailing on Biscayne Bay.

Turbotax has been made more difficult with the data loss of a crashed hard drive that had the last two years of electronic forms stored on it. I will persevere. There is no more painful procrastination that tax procrastination. Thus says the preacher.

The clergy tax break

Two of our three tax deductions when they were young.

Did you know that for all of the modern era of the tax code only two groups have been allowed to not participate in the social security system. Clergy and U.S. Senators and Congressman. They have been closing the clergy loophole for decades but our congress has their own retirement system as a perk, while they vote to mess with the system set up for all Americans.

The other huge clergy tax break is a deduction of the fair rental value of your home from your salary. It's the only way we have avoided heavy taxation through the years of our career.

And Turbo Tax has a spot to include this deduction, but for the second year in a row it is not working right and for the second year in a row I am having to have an extension to figure it out. I will not complain because I am grateful for being given this help in the tax code and I am sure in the future and in our present climate this will be under consideration for change.

In the meantime, God bless America!

Master's Memory

A younger version of us.

Golf has been a joy for me since I was given a rusty mismatched set of clubs by my Pastor at age 13. I would bang those balls all over my neighborhood, which thankfully had lots of open lots to keep me from breaking windows. My first golf heroes are all over 65 now. Watson, and Crenshaw and Kite.

I enjoyed when I move west 25 years ago the ascendence of a new wave of heroes like Michelson, Woods, and Ells.

Now we have a good young man, Spieth, to join other young golfers and carry the professional sport into the future. I am so glad he is not the product of a driven father creating a golf god, but of a normal sporting family. One with values and grandfathers.

It was a great day for the sport to see this young man win the Masters.

A service of praise

A flowering tree on the big island.

Two beautiful flute pieces, three songs praising God for the beauty of nature and creation, including Morning Has Broken which I truly love.
An old time rendition of He touched me, a rousing praise song from the choir, and many fond farewells to people leaving for the season. An enjoyable experience.

An early back nine wowsers to Jordon Spieth. He just holed another long birdie and I am so ready for a nice well spoken young man from a good Texas family become a Master's Champion. What a future he has in the world of golf.

Gotta go watch the finish.

Post Easter Messages

If the risen Lord desires us to live life abundantly I want to start a new year thanking God for two of His gifts that keep on giving every moment of every day. I am thankful for the beauty of the earth. Spending a few hours each day looking at the layout of Augusta National Golf Club reminds me of what grass, trees and flowers can look like when manicure carefully by caretakers.

The sport and tradition are wonderful, but its the beauty of the place that is so inviting. My own day of my local golfcourse allowed me to enjoy the same kind of manicured beauty in our lush desert area.

Thank you Lord for natures beauty.

The Masters

Volcanic underlay golf on the Big Island.

I just join in all the praise for that park in Augusta Ga where golf makes history each year for almost 80 years. Some of my early golf heros are now legends like Watson and Crenshaw playing at the end of their careers. Why must I wrestle with taxes on such a weekend as this?

A walk through Carl Hayden Veterans Hospital

My father, a WWII veteran, used the VA in Mississippi and Florida at the end of his life, here he is with two friends, one was a German POW who came to America and was a baker who loved this country, and raised a grateful family in upstate NY.

The huge and much criticized VA hospital in downtown Pheonix was bustling with activity. I found a lone parking spot and proceeded to try to find my son, there for observation following a car accident yesterday morning. I could not find anything resembling a help desk that was not related to patients waiting for service and finally asked a guard what to do. He pointed to a phone and told me it was for information. I listened to dial tones off and one for six minutes with no one answering. The guard told me to go to emergency, and I missed my son by six minutes as he was being transferred to another facility.

Observation...I saw an ocean of struggling, sick, poor, and wounded humanity seeking help in a facility clearly overwhelmed by the aging, unhealthy, veteran population of this huge city. I also realized that if these people were made to pay for their care they would overwhelm the system.

I also realized that most of my life has been lived in the suburbs, surrounded by wealth, priviledge and opportunity. This sight was overwhelmingly sad to me, realizing that it takes place every day of every year.