Scotland was quite wet, by far more so than the usual climate around here. Still, I think I’d bring back the rain over the snow that graced my view this weekend. It just seems too early to be bathed in a world of white. I feel blessed to have travelled so much over the past few years, and to have been able to occasionally escape the Edmonton climate. There is still so much of the world that I would like to see, but I think I have been fortunate in my explorations thus far. The title was tweeted by John Piper recently, and it made me think about the faithfulness of God in our lives. It’s usually not what we expect, but it’s always there.
I listened to a great piece on Sunday’s Weekend Edition on NPR today about the rise of Silvio Belusconi and the subsequent changes in Italy. For one thing, they mentioned that 80% of Italians received their news via television only. Since Mr. Belusconi was a media mogul, he was able to reshape the course of the country, which judging by its skyrocketing debt and stagnant growth, was rather unfortunate. I don’t speak Italian, so I can’t speak to the mood of the country, but I think the Economist has done a bang-up job highlighting its problems and what they mean for Europe. None of it was especially good news. I truly hope for their sakes and ours that they are able to conquer their political difficulties — maybe that would bode well for the USA, the other country with huge debts and intractable political problems.