Message in a Bottle: Have you ever sent one?

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

—Psalm 56:8 NLT

Messages have been tossed into the sea since before the time of Christ, many to chart ocean currents but others as pleas for rescue or love. Recently, I read a fictitious seafaring message, a quote from the 1999 romance film, Message in a Bottle, based on Nicholas Sparks’ 1998 novel of the same name. It piqued my curiosity, so I did some research on the movie. I read the review by critic Robert Ebert, who describes the movie as “a film about a man and a woman who believe in great true love. The man believes it's behind him; the woman hopes it's ahead of her. One of their ideals in life is ‘to be somebody's true north.’” Ebert sums it up as a “tearjerker that strolls from crisis to crisis” (Ebert).

The Weaning Process: It's good for cows, but is it good for you?

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

—Psalm 30:5b

“What’s that?” I wondered out loud. I turned down the volume on the TV so I could hear what was going on outside. “Cows mooing at 8 PM?” I was puzzled, for cows rarely moo at night. I shrugged and turned my attention back to the TV.

“What’s that?” I rolled over to see the clock. “Cows mooing at 2 AM? That’s really strange,” I thought. Too tired to investigate, I pulled up the covers and went back to sleep.

At 6 AM I blinked my eyes open and stumbled to the coffee pot. I placed the steaming cup on the table and picked up a book. But I couldn’t concentrate on reading because of the cow moo-athon. “What is going on?” Hesitating no longer, I picked up my phone and texted my farmer brother.

His response explained it, “We just weaned some calves.”

“They sure don’t like it!” I texted back.