July Respite

Phoenix Arizona blisters from mid-June through September. During monsoon season, we get an occasional break from the 105 -- 115 degree (Fahrenheit) temperatures. Now is such a time.

Our dew point and humidity rise and the cloud cover shades us. Over the past three days we have enjoyed mild temperatures under 100 degrees. I resumed walking and busing for pleasure, not just for getting to work. Summer in Phoenix is estivation time for me. I just hide out in air conditioning until a respite like this.

Joy to the world! It's cool this morning. Only 86 degrees. Our respite will end today or tomorrow. But I will remember this blessing as we resume hot, hot weather.

Happy Independence Day

God Bless America!

Here's my favorite celebration for today courtesy of cartoonists Cantu y Castellanos:

I am an immigrant to Arizona, having lived in the Phoenix area over 35 years. I don't expect to leave, though one never knows what the future will bring. Many people in Arizona have worked themselves into a miserable frenzy over Mexican border immigration laws and policies. Rather than evaluate each new neighbor as an individual, many in Arizona have formed a blanket belief that anyone coming to AZ from Mexico is inherently evil, a bringer of smuggled people or drugs, an automatic addition to urban gangs, or a sneak thief intent on sucking up American benefits without paying taxes.

I know Mexican nationals living here without valid documentation who have started businesses, paid taxes, bought their home, contribute to their churches and charities. In short, they live just as I--a transplanted Nebraskan--live. Responsible people should be recognized and welcomed. People who come here from anywhere to create trouble, divert resources, or especially commit crimes need to be deported and KEPT THE HELL OUTA OUR NATION, not just Arizona.

Right now my chosen home state is not behaving as I would prefer. We will have a new law, SB1070, by the end of this month that is an embarrassment to me and quite a few other Arizonans. It is sufficiently egregious that even our state courts may stay its implementation. This law attempts to usurp federal border and immigration policies for local enforcement. Although I disagree with this law personally, if it drives immigration reform at the federal level, it will have served a noble purpose.

In the meantime, Baldo is my neighbor. I don't care where he was born!

God bless America!

...as I understand God.

As a child my understanding of God came from Christian teachings, specifically the Episcopal Church's teachings. As an adult I can't just shake off my understanding of God as Creator, Redeemer, and Guide-Teacher-Friend. Yet my understanding has repeatedly changed, grown and expanded as my life progresses.

God, as I understand God, is beyond the confines of the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Quran, or any other sacred writings. God is beyond human understanding other than how we choose to anthropomorphize a deity. God is productive in far more ways than male or female. God is the sum and substance of all that is seen and unseen in and beyond the known universe.

As each element of creation comes into being, it is imbued with the nature of the Creator. Stars, planets, black holes, little planets like Earth have life in ways beyond human understanding. So, too, do paramecia, amoeba, viruses, seeds, nuts, and all plant and animal life.

For me God is present in all Creation. How could it be otherwise?