I was reminded today of an old journal entry I made years ago, which I will re-make here. "Obtaining wisdom is like coming across a sunrise: you can't believe how dark it was only moments before and you can't fathom that it took you all night to find it" How many times in our journey in life do we struggle for answers to the simplest of mysteries only to have the answer suddenly present itself completely out of nowhere. Trust me when I tell you how often that has happened to me. So maybe with this journal I'll be able to note a few things and obtain a little "sunshine wisdom". I know for certain we certainly don't listen well enough. "Knowledge is power" -- that is 100% certain. What we have to learn is to set ego aside and allow our hearts and minds to speak to us. And we need to listen to our friends too. God sends us the answer in the most mysterious ways. Sometimes they are that "sudden sunrise" we've been looking "all night" for. There is that wonderful story about the Baptist farmer who gets stuck on his roof after a terrible storm. The water is rising fast and he's hanging on to dear life to his chimney. Along comes a Catholic priest in a rowboat. "Hey, Farmer Brown yells the priest-- its only a rowboat, but I can save you" The farmer's pride is working overtime. He thinks Well, no Catholic is going to rescue me. He yells out "No, thanks, God will save me in his own special way" Next comes a rabbi with a motorboat and offers to help the farmer. The farmer refuses to be rescued by a non-Christian and says "Don't worry, God will save me in a special way! Next comes a Mormon in a helicopter who offers to rescue the farmer! No dice. The farmer thinks "A Mormon-- rescue me? -- hell no. They're all going to hell in a handbasket anyway" And so the farmer yells out to the Mormon "Don't worry, God will rescue me in a special way! Well of course the flood gets worse and the good farmer drowns and goes to heaven. When he gets before God the farmer is very angry with God. He's fuming and pacing and really emotional! This man is pissed! "You could have saved my life, you know! I've been a God-fearing, law abiding, church going, church building Christian all of my life. Why, hell, I half-bult our church with my donations alone! Why didn't you send me a miracle? Something spectacular to make it look like you really cared!" And God looks at him with utter disbelief and says." I sent you a rowboat, a cabin cruiser and a cockamamie helicopter-- what the hell were you expecting?'" Sometimes the answer is so right in front of us, but we are too proud to see it. Or we can't accept the answer that God is sending us. As one of my songs says "God Draws Straight With Crooked Lines" and trust me friends, it will always be so. So trust more. Listen more. Guess what? You might just find that sunrise a lot sooner! Bye for now!