October 2026 – Page 3

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 04TH 2026, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

Volume 9, Number 32, Edition 432
“Benediction”

For the better part of 15 years at my first two churches in Homestead (Florida) I closed out our Sunday morning services with a few words about the Pastor’s message / sermon, some closing comments of my own, and then the Benediction where I recited specific intentional verses of Scripture.

Most churches – no matter their respective denomination – or no denomination – close their services with a Benediction. At some churches (like my first one) the Pastor or Preacher or other church leader will have everyone stand up and recite it with him or her. At other churches (like my second one) we didn’t do that. I’m not really a big fan of having everyone stand up and recite or repeat something over and over again. I’d rather you hear the Benediction rather than say it. You tend to absorb or take-in speech (or words) more so when you are listening rather than talking. You know – 2 ears – 1 mouth – twice as much listening than speaking.

My old-school Webster’s Dictionary from many years ago defines “benediction” as follows: “a blessing”; “an invocation of divine blessing – usually at the end of a church service”.

The term “benediction” can also be used in a secular (or non-Christian) manner to represent “something that promotes goodness or well-being”; “an expression of good wishes”.

I like to think of the Benediction as a short prayer for God’s blessings upon His people. (That’s us – His believers and followers.) When I delivered the Benediction at the end of the service – I gave or passed on to my church family God’s blessings from Scripture – from His Good News.

I didn’t look at the Benediction as closing out a church service. Yes – it was at the end of the service, but service for Christ – serving God and others – continued out there – on the other side of the doors and the walls of the physical church building.

We are the church. And we bring the church into the church building. So since we bring the church, and we are the church – we take it outside of the church building to share. So the Benediction is a blessing from God to share with our neighbor. When I led the Benediction – I sent my brothers and sisters out into the world – to share God’s blessings.

Every edition of #SundayScripture (and #MusicMonday) ends with a Benediction. My Boilerplate below contains the Benediction in the second paragraph.

Village Between The Lakes

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the other Savannah – the one on the Tennessee River known as the “Catfish Capital Of The World”.

Continuing downstream on the river on my upcoming American Cruise Lines paddlewheeler ship cruise – it’s Grand Rivers Kentucky down in the southwestern corner of the state. It’s about 167 miles downstream from Savannah, and the journey is scheduled to take about 17½ hours, for an average speed of about 9½ MPH. There is no elevation drop between Savannah and Grand Rivers, as the entire journey is actually on Kentucky Lake – created by Kentucky Dam at Grand Rivers. At 160,309 acres it is the largest artificial lake by surface area in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River.

I’ll be part of a 3-hour-plus shore excursion that afternoon in Land Between The Lakes – the federally-protected national recreation area between Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River) and Lake Barkley (Cumberland River). Our first stop will be the Woodlands Nature Station. Our next stop will be the Elk & Bison Prairie.

Paducah Kentucky (“Quilt City U.S.A.”) is another option on this day while docked in Grand Rivers. It’s about a 30-minute luxury coach ride into downtown, and then you’re on your own to do your own thing there for up to 3 hours before the coach returns back to the ship.

That night back on the cruise ship we will officially transfer over from the Tennessee River downstream to the Cumberland River upstream. (Both rivers flow into the Ohio River.) The 1.75-mile Barkley Canal essentially acts as a short-cut between the two rivers near their closest approach to allow vessels to bypass the Ohio River some 22½ (Tennessee) to 30½ (Cumberland) miles downstream. The Barkley Canal was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) from the late-1950s through the mid-1960s. It was completed and filled in 1966. The water depth runs from 11 to 15 feet depending on rainfall.

Once on Lake Barkley our 22-hour journey upstream on the Cumberland River begins. The river narrows into a traditional river and winds its way southeastward towards downtown Nashville, and that’s where I’ll be – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.