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Weather: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. A slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 70s. Chance of rain 50 percent. Saturday Night: Cloudy. A chance of showers in the evening, then showers likely after midnight. Lows in the lower 60s. Chance of rain 70 percent.
- Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
- Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
- Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
- Tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at its new location on South 2nd Street, right in front of City Hall, featuring prepared food, fruit, vegetables , handmade products and local arts from more than 30 local merchants. The market is hosted by Flagler Strong, a non-profit.
The Flagler Beach All Stars hold their monthly beach clean-up starting at 9 a.m. in front of the Flagler Beach pier. All volunteers welcome.
Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley: Flagler Beach Commission Chairman Scott Spradley hosts his weekly informal town hall with coffee and doughnuts at 9 a.m. at his law office at 301 South Central Avenue, Flagler Beach. All subjects, all interested residents or non-residents welcome. The gatherings usually feature a special guest.
Holiday Sale to Benefit Area Homeless: Holiday Sale featuring ornaments décor, jewelry, gifts, home décor, craft and more, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 56 N Halifax Dr, Ormond Beach, Friday Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. All proceeds benefit outreach programs serving the local homeless. Members of the congregation and friends have donated holiday themed items and things perfect for gift giving for the event. Free parking is available, and bargains abound!
John’s Towing Celebrates 35 Years: The Bunnell-based towing company owned by John Rogers (a Bunnell city commissioner since 2011) marks its 35th anniversary in a celebration at Joan B. King Park, 300 Citrus Street, Bunnell, from noon to 4 p.m. There will be music, games, food, and touch-a-truck opportunities.
Flagler Beach’s Holiday at the Beach Parade: It’s scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. The Rotary Club is sponsoring the parade, which will occur on SRA1A and detours will be in place on SRA1A at North 10th Street and South 7th Street. Officers and Volunteers will be in place along the detour route to expedite traffic flow. If you have any questions about the traffic plan for this year’s “Holiday at the Beach” Parade, please contact Flagler Beach police at (386) 517-2024.
Palm Coast’s Starlight Parade in Town Center is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Central Park, including food trucks. Photos with Santa starting at 4 p.m. This festive parade will be a celebration of community traditions, featuring numerous community partners. Enjoy a delightful evening with food, entertainment, and fun for all ages. Don’t miss this opportunity to come together and honor the vibrant spirit of Palm Coast. Be part of this magical event and celebrate our community in style! Santa will arrive on a Palm Coast Fire Engine! There will be food trucks, Letters to Santa station, face painting, and kids crafts.
‘Annie,’ at Limelight Theatre, Limelight Theatre, 11 Old Mission Avenue, St. Augustine. 7:30 p.m. The beloved musical about the optimistic orphan who captures hearts (and maybe even saves a billionaire). Perfect for families and the holiday spirit. Book here. (Note: all Sunday matinees are sold out, but there is a wait list you may join.)
Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn, at Athens Theatre, 124 North Florida Avenue, DeLand. 7:30 p.m. 386/736-1500. Tickets, Adult $37 – Senior $33 Student/Child $17. Book here. Celebrate the magic of Christmas with Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn—a heartwarming holiday treat packed with show-stopping dance numbers, dazzling costumes, and a treasure trove of timeless tunes. When Broadway performer Jim leaves the bright lights behind for a quiet Connecticut farmhouse, he ends up transforming his home into a seasonal inn, open only on the holidays. But with love in the air, rivalries heating up, and performances for every festivity, the holidays get a lot more exciting than he ever imagined. Featuring 20 beloved Irving Berlin classics—including “White Christmas,” “Happy Holiday,” “Blue Skies,” and “Cheek to Cheek”—this delightful musical delivers all the laughter, romance, and seasonal sparkle of a Christmas card come to life. Presented through special arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
‘Greetings,’ A Christmas Comedy, Daytona Playhouse, 100 Jessamine Blvd., Daytona Beach. 7:30 p.m. Box office: (386) 255-2431. tickets, $15 to $25. A comedy about a young man who brings home his Jewish atheist fiancée to meet his very Catholic parents on Christmas Eve. With the inevitable family explosion comes an out-of-left-field miracle that propels the family into a wild exploration of love, religion, personal truth, and the nature of earthly reality.
Grace Community Food Pantry, 245 Education Way, Bunnell, drive-thru open today from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The food pantry is organized by Pastor Charles Silano and Grace Community Food Pantry, a Disaster Relief Agency in Flagler County. Feeding Northeast Florida helps local children and families, seniors and active and retired military members who struggle to put food on the table. Working with local grocery stores, manufacturers, and farms we rescue high-quality food that would normally be wasted and transform it into meals for those in need. The Flagler County School District provides space for much of the food pantry storage and operations. Call 386-586-2653 to help, volunteer or donate.
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy, 8 p.m. at Cinematique Theater, 242 South Beach Street, Daytona Beach. General admission is $8.50. Every Tuesday and on the first Saturday of every month the Random Acts of Insanity Comedy Improv Troupe specializes in performing fast-paced improvised comedy.
Artificially: I asked Gemini, my now go-to equivalent to those Mediterranean worry beads I so much miss seeing in the hands of my uncles and once-upon-a-time neighbors, the following question: “Without qualifiers, without mannerly preambles, without characterizing this question with pointless flatteries as “fascinating” or “age-old,” yes or no, do you have a mathematical proof of god’s existence?” Gemini for once was straight: “No,” came the answer. I told it I was surprised there was no follow-up question. “You gave very specific instructions for a “yes or no” answer without any qualifiers or preambles. I adhered to those constraints,” it said. Then it came: “Would you like to discuss the topic further now?” I was not interested, but not wanting to leave this nonexistent entity disappointed, I asked: “What do you make of the proof of god’s existence in Updike’s “Roger’s Version”?” The answer was better than most reviews of the book:
In Updike’s novel, the “proof” is a fascinating literary device and a catalyst for the plot, rather than a serious, fully-formed proposition. It’s an exploration of the idea of a proof and its consequences.
Here is what I make of it, based on its function in the story:
1. What the “Proof” Is
The proof is not a simple logical syllogism but a modern, computational version of the teleological argument (the argument from design).
- Who: It is proposed by Dale Kohler, a young, zealous, and evangelical computer science graduate student.
- How: Dale believes that the universe is so precisely “fine-tuned” for life that its fundamental physical constants cannot be the result of random chance. He thinks that if he runs enough data from cosmology and particle physics through a powerful computer, a pattern—the “fingerprint” or “face” of the Creator—will emerge from the “noise” of reality.
He is, in essence, trying to find God in the data—to replace faith with information.
2. The Central Irony
The novel’s core intellectual conflict is a complete role reversal:
- The Scientist (Dale Kohler) is the passionate, almost mystical believer seeking absolute certainty.
- The Theologian (Roger Lambert), the narrator and a divinity professor, is the world-weary skeptic who is deeply threatened by the entire project.
3. The Novel’s Verdict on the Proof
Updike uses the proof to make a profound point about the nature of faith itself. The novel’s conclusion is that the proof is both a failure and, more importantly, a spiritual mistake.
Roger’s Rejection: The narrator, Roger, is a follower of the theologian Karl Barth. He believes in a Deus Absconditus—a “hidden God” who is wholly separate from the world and can only be known through a subjective leap of faith, not through objective discovery.
Roger is horrified by Dale’s project. In one of the book’s key passages, he says:
“A God you could prove makes the whole thing immensely, oh, uninteresting. It ceases to be a faith, it becomes a fact… It eliminates faith from religion, it takes away our freedom to believe or doubt.”
For Roger, a God who can be “found on a printout” is no God at all. He needs a God who remains a mystery.
The Quest’s Outcome: The proof is ultimately a failed quest. Dale’s obsessive search for a divine, orderly pattern in the cosmos is contrasted with the messy, carnal, and chaotic human reality that explodes in his own life (namely, his affair with Roger’s wife, Esther).
The novel suggests that the search for an abstract, computational God is a sterile distraction from the real, ambiguous, and often painful arena of human life, which is where any true sense of the “divine” (or its absence) is actually experienced.
—P.T.
The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
December 2025
Holiday Plant Class Series
Holiday Sale to Benefit Area Homeless
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Flagler Beach All Stars Beach Clean-Up
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
John’s Towing 35-Year Celebration at Joan B. King Park
Flagler Beach Holiday at the Beach Parade
Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Palm Coast’s Starlight Parade in Town Center
‘Annie,’ at Limelight Theatre
‘Greetings,’ A Christmas Comedy
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
For the full calendar, go here.
What was this desolation in Dale’s heart, I thought, but the longing for God—that longing which is, when all is said and done, our only evidence of His existence?
–From John Updike’s Roger’s Version (1986).
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