No idea if he’s related to the other Van Dyke.

Do know he was a longshoreman for over 30 years and retired with the highest ranking honors of seniority.

I’m told he loved telling stories of how he would take the girl that would become his wife of 54 years on dates (on horseback)  - back when cokes were five cents and movies were 50 cents.

Those certainly were the days . . .

That’s right . . . not even one single drop of nectar from the gods.

Believe it or not going without the Dr. Pepper has been a bigger deal than going without Coffee.

I’m under no illusion that I will never again drink a Dr. Pepper or have a coffee drink.

I just felt like it was a good way to work individual self-discipline.

Many people go without more important things on a daily basis.

When “give us this day our daily bread” is so far off your radar screen that you give it no thought whatsoever you have to find some way to tell yourself no.

I hope it’s not another case of manufactured reality.

It does give me an idea.

I’m not going to shave for a couple of weeks and show up to work undercover.

Keep an eye out for the video.

The boys decided to take advantage of the time off and go fishing.

Want to guess who planned that?

Our installment of paint with the preacher went very well (i thought).

Our timing was right on – which is a credit to the painter not the preacher.

I so enjoy working with our resident artist.  I enjoy the freedom of artistic expression and the way the scene unfolds before your eyes.

I also can’t help but wonder the difference it would make if next Sunday we all showed up with the same enthusiasm, energy, expectation and license to be creative.

I’ll be so close to the Guitar Center and yet so very far away.

Now If I was in charge of the field trip . . .

Friends of M who have been coming quite regularly now – one of whom brought the rest of her family.

It was her birthday yesterday and she told her family that for her birthday she wanted them to come to church.

Pretty cool.

Our # 1 son said our Praise Band last night was one of our best.

Something good is happening to prompt such a comment.

I had to agree with him – seems we are working well together and the addition of our new keyboard player has been a good fit.

Quite a few of our church members do.

Imagine our surprise when 4 of our members showed up to church this past Sunday with the local sports section which contained the print form of this photo and this article.

The first award was for student of the quarter.

The second award was for Administrator’s Honor Roll.

He finished the quarter with a perfect 4.0

His teacher also informed us that our boy would graduate from the 8th grade (schools here are K-8) as the Valedictorian.

This news made his parents proud but has brought fear into the young man’s heart.

The Valedictorian, you see, must stand up in front of people and give a speech.

Whereas he may have received his smarts from his mother, he did not inherit his father’s “up front” gifts.

I’m going to offer him $10 bucks if he works in either a quote from that famous Catholic theologian Ignacio “Nacho” Libre or the infamous (that means more than famous) Napoleon Dynamite.

Your thoughts and prayers for the family are greatly appreciated.