August 2026: Grace
Be free.
Show me where to look and tell me what will I find?
Congratulations! You have made it through the “Dog Days of Summer”. I don’t think that’s actually true anymore. It used to be a stretch from early July to early September, but it has felt like the summer heat sticks around a lot longer. Sometimes it lingers into October.
The weather has swung from steamy to boiling. Triple digits plus some summer storm humidity make for a miserable outdoor experience. I’ve probably just described the recent weather across the majority of the Northern Hemisphere through August. Fires and flash floods have taken their toll, so be on alert Australia and everyone else down under on the southern side of the Equator. Sorry, I mean THEE Equator. Has there ever been a more famous line of demarcation?
Another academic year kicked off this month for my wife and our kids. The year, school started a week earlier for the kids. Their district gave up a week of summer to extend Spring Break. I think it’s a bad trade for everyone. School is supposed to end in June and start again in September. Memorial Day to Labor Day. That’s a tradition we should have not given up so easily.
Seventy-five percent of 2026 is in the history books, and so is one of humanities best, a treasure of human…
Dolly
A one of a kind talent, Dolly Parton passed away on August 25th. I’m only echoing what everyone else has heard and said about her, but she had a heart of gold. She was talented and driven enough to call her shot at an early age and see it through. She was rooted in her faith and lived it out. She took care of people. She provided opportunities for people to become literate, to have work, and to get an education. She was an entertainment icon who acted like a saint. She had the resources to help, and she did, with her million-dollar smile and voice. She was a kind soul. I wish more of us were like her, me included. May she rest in peace.
What about Tim Curry, Peter Cullen, or…?
May they also rest in peace, but they were not Dolly Parton.
Hayden Panettiere also passed away this month. A tragedy for her parents, who have now lost both of their children at such young ages. May Hayden rest in peace.
Hard Left
It’s the only way to pivot from such a downer of a section. Just steer the conversation away from death and to praise. May we all be joyful through our suffering. These are opportunities to live our lives like Jesus. Kill people with kindness. It’s truly the one strategy humans have never fully committed to because it feels impossible. When your attitude is governed by emotions, especially the negative ones, it is impossible to respond to negativity with positivity. We could use that change in attitude. We didn’t listen back then, so why would we listen now?
Because, if you’re reading this (no one is), you don’t want your last action on Earth to be one of malice. You don’t want to be remembered as a terrible person, and you certainly don’t want to be judged by the good Lord as one.
T2
Judgment Day returned to cinemas for a brief 35th anniversary run the last weekend of August. I’ve seen this movie many times since its 1991 release. I saw it in theaters back then thanks to my cool older brother, and I hadn’t seen it in theaters since, so what better opportunity to seize than this anniversary re-release?
It was worth the twenty bucks. The movie looked and sounded great. The auditorium was around two thirds full, not bad showing for a 19th century sci-fi relic that is now eerily closer to becoming a reality than just being a work of fiction.
Just vlog, baby!
