Month: May 2025

A Penny For Your Thoughts?

The cost of thoughts is about to go up. The US Treasury Department has announced that after the latest order of blanks for the penny is used up, they will not be producing them anymore. The expected time to stop minting them is in early 2026.

The reason is that it costs 3.69 cents to produce one. A nickel costs 13.78 cents to produce. While not the 269% increase that a penny costs, it is still 176% of the worth, so it may be on the chopping block soon. A dime costs 5.2 cents and a quarter 14.68 cents. The seldom-used half-dollar coin costs n even 34 cents, and the rarely used dollar coin 12.43 cents (probably the best deal, but we don’t seem to want to carry them). The US Mint produces other coins, too, but they are more for collecting and investing, rather than circulation. If you were walking around with one each in your pocket, it would cost 83.78 cents to make the $1.91.

Although Mr. Trump sent out a directive to stop the production of the penny, he was not the first president to attempt to do so. President Obama expressed support for eliminating the penny, as did the late John McCain.

As pennies become more and more rare, businesses will begin rounding off to the nearest nickel. My suspicion is that they will always round up, rather than lose the fractions of dollars that rounding down would cause. In addition to the slight but significant loss that consumers will experience over time, our language will also change.

Some of you are old enough to remember pay phones. There used to be a saying, “Here’s a nickel. Call someone who cares.” (Over time, it became a dime, then a quarter.) When the phone companies decided to start charging 35 cents for a call, you couldn’t easily say, “Here’s a quarter and a dime. Call someone who cares.” It did not roll off the tongue as easily. Now, it seems, a penny for your thoughts, putting your two-cents worth in, a penny saved is a penny earned, penny wise and pound foolish, penny-pincher, a bad penny always turns up, and worth every penny will go away from the common idioms.

Most people in the US make everyday purchases using credit or debit cards, though cash apps are on the rise. Cash is being used less frequently. Even though most businesses now charge between 3 and 4 percent of the bill to cover the cost of using a card, people still use them. As one friend said, “I get cash back on my card.” When I asked how much, he said, “Two percent.” Do the math. I prefer to pay with cash because…well….I am a troglodyte.

I will miss the penny when it is gone. I am old enough to remember when there was penny candy, penny ante poker, and a few nails at the hardware store could be bought for one cent. Picking up the pennies on the ground for good luck (if it was face down, be sure to turn it over three times before putting it in your pocket), wrapping enough of them to get a half-dollar, and putting one under a table leg to keep it from wobbling. All gone. I’ll miss it all.

And that’s my $.02 (now rounded up to a nickel).

Memorial Day

Monday, May 26, 2025, is Memorial Day.  It is the 160th year celebration of this holiday. Memorial Day began on May 1, 1865, in Charleston, SC, as a way to honor those who had died in the war to preserve the Union.  A group of recently freed enslaved people and others found graves where 257 bodies of unnamed Union soldiers from the war were buried. The graves were in disrepair and disregard, near the Hampton Park Race Course (beside the current Citadel). In gratitude for their sacrifice in helping to preserve the Union and bring an end to slavery, they cleaned the graveyard, placed flowers on the graves, and held services of prayer and thanksgiving for those who now lie in the earth. Over 10,000 people attended.

Since that time, we have honored those who have died in our seemingly never-ending wars. A service at the National Cemetery in Florence will be on Monday at 10 a.m. There will be other services throughout the country. I  encourage you to go to one. Each year, I attend the service here. It is very moving, and I am grateful to God for all who have given themselves to preserve the Union.

Several years ago, I ran into Will Malambri, then pastor at Central UMC, at the service. He was there with his son. After the service, we talked about the previous day’s worship at our churches and bemoaned the small attendance. (It’s usually one of the lowest-attended days in the church year.) Will said he started to stand up at the beginning and say, “I’d like to welcome all of you who do not have a house at the beach, the lake, the mountains, or the river!” We both laughed because it’s true. We started this holiday to thank God for those who gave their life for us, making it public and large, something to show our gratitude as a community and nation, not just as individuals. But slowly, like most holidays in America, it has become just another day off, and a day to have special sales.

I encourage you to make it different this year. Offer God praise, lift up in prayer those who are grieving, pray for the leaders of our country and of the world that they will soon decide to follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace, rather than Mars, the god of war. 

And Monday, find a cemetery and look for a grave with a small American flag on it. Go and stand beside the grave and offer a prayer. You may not have known that person, but we all owe him or her more than we can repay.

And please, pray for the day to come when we will not have to pray these prayers anymore.

Praying for Donald Trump

It will come as no surprise to most of you that I am not fond of Donald Trump. I do not like the way he has been working to destroy not only basic democracy in our country, but basic humanity as well. Making fun of handicapped persons, ridiculing veterans, constantly putting out social media messages that sound like the rantings of a middle school bully has made the office he holds a laughing stock in the world. And his constant barrage of executive orders has done nothing to lift the poor, the needy, or even strengthen the middle class. I am not fond of him at all. That does not surprise any of you who know me.

Knowing that I pray for him every day may surprise you. Not like the Republicans and MAGA ranters who said they prayed for President Biden, quoting Psalm 109:8- “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” That Psalm, which was quoted laughingly by Marjorie Taylor Greene and others, goes on to say: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.” I heard their prayer and thought, I bet Jesus himself turned away.

I am afraid to say that now I have heard a few left-leaning folks use the same prayer about Mr. Trump. In both cases, it is disgusting.

That’s not the kind of prayer that I offer.

Here is how I pray for him. I do not pray all of this daily, but it becomes a habit over time.

I pray for his safety and the safety of his family. There are a lot of crazy people in the world, and some would like to see him physically hurt. This includes political opponents and those who think he is not conservative enough. So I pray for his safety.

I pray that he will come to his senses and begin acting presidential, caring for all the people, not just the wealthy. I pray that he will learn that the poor, not only in our country but in the world, are God’s children, and we have a responsibility to care for them.

I pray that, for the first time in his life, he will remain faithful to his vows. He has admitted to not keeping any of his marriage vows and has shown that he does not intend to keep his vows to support and defend the Constitution. I pray that he will turn and keep his word.

I pray that he would understand that life is not a business transaction, and that “the one who dies with the most toys wins.” Life is about so much more than business.  He has a zero-sum gain attitude: somebody always has to win, and the other person has to lose. While this may be suitable for a football game, it does not apply to life. Eventually, people learn that. I pray that he understands it soon.

And I pray that he will be removed from office safely and legally if he does not change. I pray this not just for the country’s sake but for his sake as well. I believe that we will all eventually recognize the ways we have hurt others, and that we will begin to live differently. If that does not happen in this life on earth, it will happen in the next life. And the sooner we learn that, the sooner we can begin to change. The more damage he causes to people and our country, the longer it will take him to make amends.

So I pray for him every day.

The Misplaced C

My friend Neil and I met to walk the Shot Pouch Trail in Sumter, SC. The trail is a 3.1 mile trail that runs from Dillon Park to Swan Lake Iris Gardens. It is a beautiful, well-maintained paved trail for walkers, runners, and bikers.

It was a typical May day in Sumter. Warm, but not overbearing, and, as always in Sumter, humid. About half-way across the trail Neil said, “I could use some water.” We had both been sweating a fair amount.

In front of us was the Sumter YMCA. I said, “I bet there’s a water fountain in there.” We crossed the street and entered the building. We walked into the lobby of the very nice buiding and I walked up to the counter. The young woman working there smiled at me and asked if she could help us. I said, “Yes, ma’am. We’re visiting town and walking the Shot Pouch Trail. I was wondering if you had a place where we could get a cold cup of water?” She asked, “Are you members here?” “No, ma’am.” “Then I’m afraid I can’t let you in,” she said, still smiling.

I looked over at Neil, standing by the fancy cross in the lobby. We just started laughing and walked out.

I said “So much for that ‘C’, huh?”

Additional note: if you’re ever walking the Shot Pouch Trail in Sumter, bring your own water. And have lunch at the Sumter Cut-Rate Drug Store in town. Not only will they give you water, their onion rings are terrific!

A New Season/A New Chapter

“Those who lean on Jesus’ breast feel the heartbeat of God.”- Monk of Patmos

It was on Epiphany, January 6, 2020, that my doctor cut open my chest to see what was wrong. (Epiphany, by the way, means “unveiling” or “revealing.”) For the previous two months I had been in and out of the hospital and had several different specialists trying to figure out what was making me sick. Each path we took came to a dead end, a bad term to use when it seems that may be the actual ending. Finally, a couple of doctors thought they had a pretty good idea of what was going on. I had septic arthritis, And sepsis seemed to have filled my chest cavity. My surgeon, Dr. Holley, an expert in the area and a man I will be forever grateful for, was going to have to remove part of my sternum, clavicle, and first rib. Then he would clean out my chest. Cathy had been sitting by my bedside constantly for the weeks and helping me as I got weaker and weaker. They rolled me off to prep me for surgery while she wondered if I would live. I did not know how serious it was and would not find out until later when I was well on the way to recovery.

In the OR the anesthesiologist explained everything to me and began to do the things that would knock me out for the next few hours. His assistant talked to me and offered words of encouragement. I do not know if he knew I was a minister and a follower of Jesus, but he may have. My writings had appeared in the local newspaper for the previous seven years. It may have been because he was a follower of Jesus, too. Just before I closed my eyes and the anesthetic took over, he leaned down beside my head and whispered in my ear, “Just be like John and lean your head on Jesus’ breast.”

And that was the image I went to sleep with, just leaning my head on the breast of someone who loved me and whom I loved.

When I woke up, Cathy was there. They told me that everything had gone well, and that I would eventually be fine. The scar on my chest looked familiar to me. I realized one day it was the Hebrew letter daleth Icon Description automatically generated with medium confidence, which is often used to mean “door.” I told the few people who saw it that it was the door to my heart. What I have come to understand over the last few years is that it was a way of my heart being open to God’s heart. There are many doors to God’s heart, I believe. But for some of us, we must listen for the heartbeat to find it.

I am getting ready to enter a new season in my life. My friend Johnathon calls it a new chapter, which I like, especially since I plan to spend more time writing. I do not know what the next season, the next chapter, will hold for me. Whatever it holds, I’ll try to remember my friend’s words, and just lay my head on the breast of Jesus.