Tuesday is coming. It's almost here.
On Tuesday, either all of our country's problems will be solved, and we will stand, hand-in-hand, our chins lifted high as we look toward a bright, wonderful future...
... or we will tumble down that long slide of economic and moral decay that has been threatening our country for years, pulling us down from our rightful place of prosperity and righteousness that was so presciently foreseen by our Founding Fathers.
We will either as a nation grasp our destiny and ride it to the heights of intrinsic spirituality and financial stability, with cake for everyone; or we will be overwhelmed by the forces within and without that seek to destroy anything that ever was good and noble about America.
Either all will be great, or all will be awful. There is no in between. But whatever happens, rest assured that nothing - especially nothing about they way we are governed - will ever be the same.
All to be determined on a single day. Mark your calendar.
October 26, 2008
October 21, 2008
Anniversary vacation, and the return
I just returned from exciting Lancaster, PA., from my anniversary vacation with my darling wife. We have been married 18 years. I think that we have had an anniversary vacation for 17 of those 18 years; we missed one year due to an impending birth.
We had a great time. On the surface, much of what we did for five days would seem pretty mundane to most people: walking, shopping, bowling, playing games, driving, watching movies. But we did them together. We fed each other (mostly emotionally, not physically). We discussed the Bible together. We worshiped together (she has a pretty voice). We talked about parenting, and reaffirmed that we are on the same side.
I highly recommend an anniversary vacation to renew and recharge the relationships of married couples. Time alone together is wonderful.
Today was the first day of returning to homeschooling for my wife and my kids since our vacation. I was home, since I like taking a day off between being out of town and returning back to work.
The wife had it rough today, as she got a bit of attitude from both kids. Several times I had to comfort her and brainstorm ideas with her about how to respond and cope. At one point our daughter was being pretty short and cheeky with my wife in the dining room, so my wife came into the kitchen where I was to ask for suggestions. We talked about strategies and possible consequences, all within earshot of our daughter.
After the missus and I finished our conversation, I went and sat next to my daughter in the dining room. She glanced at me and continued her schoolwork.
"Did you hear what Mom and I were talking about?" I said.
"Yeah," she replied.
Calmly, I said, "I just spent four days helping Mom feel loved and peaceful, and I don't appreciate you undoing my work in one day. OK?"
"OK," she said.
I left it at that.
We had a great time. On the surface, much of what we did for five days would seem pretty mundane to most people: walking, shopping, bowling, playing games, driving, watching movies. But we did them together. We fed each other (mostly emotionally, not physically). We discussed the Bible together. We worshiped together (she has a pretty voice). We talked about parenting, and reaffirmed that we are on the same side.
I highly recommend an anniversary vacation to renew and recharge the relationships of married couples. Time alone together is wonderful.
Today was the first day of returning to homeschooling for my wife and my kids since our vacation. I was home, since I like taking a day off between being out of town and returning back to work.
The wife had it rough today, as she got a bit of attitude from both kids. Several times I had to comfort her and brainstorm ideas with her about how to respond and cope. At one point our daughter was being pretty short and cheeky with my wife in the dining room, so my wife came into the kitchen where I was to ask for suggestions. We talked about strategies and possible consequences, all within earshot of our daughter.
After the missus and I finished our conversation, I went and sat next to my daughter in the dining room. She glanced at me and continued her schoolwork.
"Did you hear what Mom and I were talking about?" I said.
"Yeah," she replied.
Calmly, I said, "I just spent four days helping Mom feel loved and peaceful, and I don't appreciate you undoing my work in one day. OK?"
"OK," she said.
I left it at that.
October 4, 2008
Adding MP3s to Blogspot
BlueBearr has a tutorial on how to host MP3 files on Google Sites and embed them into a Blogspot page. It's kind of technical, since you have to edit the HTML of your page, but I think that with a little care it is doable.
September 28, 2008
Pure
Worship used to be pure for me. I remember when I first attended the Barn, I would get lost in worship. It could never be long enough. I felt that worship was a sacred place where I (and also we) could do no wrong. I loved it because I felt that I transcended my normally unfocused, mixed life, to a place where I was pure. Like white marble, without any marking. Like gold, clear as transparent glass.
Over the years, that has changed. Depressions that I endured altered that somewhat. Joining worship team certainly did that. One disappointment that I faced when I first joined worship team was that these beautiful, meaningful songs could be treated lightly and irreverently by the people who sang and played them. I know now that this was part of their learning process, and that they meant no dishonor to the Lord in their playfulness, but it was a big shock for me.
Later, I spent years on worship team when I wanted to escape church at the earliest possibility. When I knew that if anyone suggested that I shouldn't be there that I would leave the team in a heartbeat. When I would force myself to not look at the clock until we had done two songs because I didn't want to look up and see that we were only five minutes into worship. When evening worship would take so much out of me that I would feel horrible afterward. When people would say "wasn't worship great?" and I would have no clue that it had been any different than usual. During those times, I forced myself to lead worship, and act as if I felt what I sang. I sang in faith.
Those were hard times, but they taught me some things. I think that they have made my worship more sure, because I have learned to lead worship whether I feel like it or not. Leading worship is work, and like other work it can be fulfilling or it can be difficult. The important thing is to get the work done. And worship is a good and honorable work.
Despite the good things that I now see coming from this time, the hard times have still left a mark on my worship. It is no longer the pure place it once was for me. Because worship is no longer just a place of joy for me but has all of this other history to it, it is not as pure as it once was.
So what is pure? Oddly enough, Scripture has been feeling pure to me. I say "oddly enough" because Scripture used to be the place I avoided because there I was condemned by how bad a Christian I was. I don't know when the change occurred, but lately, and particularly when I have been worshiping and my spirit is open, Scripture has been a balm and a marvel. I can feel the richness, the beauty of it. It feels like it is pure.
Because Scripture deals with both God and man, some Scripture feels more pure than others. I don't mean that some Scripture is better or worse on some absolute scale because it talks about man's sins. I mean that some portions of Scripture stand out more as being filled with that sweet goodness of God, and when I read it with my spirit, I feel like I am in that place of focus and purity that pushes out everything that is lesser.
Last Thursday we sang Revelation Song at our kinship group. Afterward, with my spirit all opened up, I read Revelation 4, where many of the words of the song come from.
I read it in the NIV, but here it is in The Message. Go ahead and read it; it's short. I'll wait.
Oh my Lord, my Lord! High and lifted up!
This Scripture is pure and full of rightness. This chapter is all about the exaltation and unassailable sovereignty of God. You don't get anywhere near the throne of God - or this Scripture - with thoughts of rebellion or dishonor or deception. He is King, He rules, and the most amazing creatures ever made worship Him all the time. And He is so spectacularly beautiful, so shockingly splendid that if we were to be suddenly in His presence, any pretension of independence that we might imagine we could have before His throne would be swept away. We would quickly be on our faces in adulation and worship, and glad of every second that we could spend like that.
Can I find superlatives enough for Him? Can I say enough to lift up His name?
Over the years, that has changed. Depressions that I endured altered that somewhat. Joining worship team certainly did that. One disappointment that I faced when I first joined worship team was that these beautiful, meaningful songs could be treated lightly and irreverently by the people who sang and played them. I know now that this was part of their learning process, and that they meant no dishonor to the Lord in their playfulness, but it was a big shock for me.
Later, I spent years on worship team when I wanted to escape church at the earliest possibility. When I knew that if anyone suggested that I shouldn't be there that I would leave the team in a heartbeat. When I would force myself to not look at the clock until we had done two songs because I didn't want to look up and see that we were only five minutes into worship. When evening worship would take so much out of me that I would feel horrible afterward. When people would say "wasn't worship great?" and I would have no clue that it had been any different than usual. During those times, I forced myself to lead worship, and act as if I felt what I sang. I sang in faith.
Those were hard times, but they taught me some things. I think that they have made my worship more sure, because I have learned to lead worship whether I feel like it or not. Leading worship is work, and like other work it can be fulfilling or it can be difficult. The important thing is to get the work done. And worship is a good and honorable work.
Despite the good things that I now see coming from this time, the hard times have still left a mark on my worship. It is no longer the pure place it once was for me. Because worship is no longer just a place of joy for me but has all of this other history to it, it is not as pure as it once was.
So what is pure? Oddly enough, Scripture has been feeling pure to me. I say "oddly enough" because Scripture used to be the place I avoided because there I was condemned by how bad a Christian I was. I don't know when the change occurred, but lately, and particularly when I have been worshiping and my spirit is open, Scripture has been a balm and a marvel. I can feel the richness, the beauty of it. It feels like it is pure.
Because Scripture deals with both God and man, some Scripture feels more pure than others. I don't mean that some Scripture is better or worse on some absolute scale because it talks about man's sins. I mean that some portions of Scripture stand out more as being filled with that sweet goodness of God, and when I read it with my spirit, I feel like I am in that place of focus and purity that pushes out everything that is lesser.
Last Thursday we sang Revelation Song at our kinship group. Afterward, with my spirit all opened up, I read Revelation 4, where many of the words of the song come from.
I read it in the NIV, but here it is in The Message. Go ahead and read it; it's short. I'll wait.
Oh my Lord, my Lord! High and lifted up!
This Scripture is pure and full of rightness. This chapter is all about the exaltation and unassailable sovereignty of God. You don't get anywhere near the throne of God - or this Scripture - with thoughts of rebellion or dishonor or deception. He is King, He rules, and the most amazing creatures ever made worship Him all the time. And He is so spectacularly beautiful, so shockingly splendid that if we were to be suddenly in His presence, any pretension of independence that we might imagine we could have before His throne would be swept away. We would quickly be on our faces in adulation and worship, and glad of every second that we could spend like that.
Can I find superlatives enough for Him? Can I say enough to lift up His name?
September 27, 2008
Saturday
Yay, rain! We need it.
I tried to see if I could duplicate Thursday's feat. Alas, with the temperature near 75 and 95% humidity, I could not (or, I chose not, because I felt that I was pushing myself too much).
Temporary setback. I'll get there again.
2.6 mi - 30 min - 5.2 mph.
I tried to see if I could duplicate Thursday's feat. Alas, with the temperature near 75 and 95% humidity, I could not (or, I chose not, because I felt that I was pushing myself too much).
Temporary setback. I'll get there again.
2.6 mi - 30 min - 5.2 mph.
September 25, 2008
Thursday morning
I have an 8am appointment this morning, so I was out jogging while it was still dark today. Bright, fingernail moon. It was clearly morning by the time I finished today, but it felt kind of cool to go out while it was still dark.
Today was a red-letter day. For the first time since I started jogging at the beginning of July, I went the whole distance jogging; I didn't drop down into a walk the whole time. This has been one of my goals all along, but I'm kind of amazed that this was even possible for me. God made our bodies good, didn't he? Even in middle age.
3.0 miles - 35 min - 5.1 mph.
This seems to be turning into my workout blog, which I didn't want to happen. I have some ideas for other posts that I am working on, I promise. But I appreciate your encouragement, which is why I wanted to share this success with you.
Today was a red-letter day. For the first time since I started jogging at the beginning of July, I went the whole distance jogging; I didn't drop down into a walk the whole time. This has been one of my goals all along, but I'm kind of amazed that this was even possible for me. God made our bodies good, didn't he? Even in middle age.
3.0 miles - 35 min - 5.1 mph.
This seems to be turning into my workout blog, which I didn't want to happen. I have some ideas for other posts that I am working on, I promise. But I appreciate your encouragement, which is why I wanted to share this success with you.
September 22, 2008
Monday morning
Back to work today. Yay! No one has yet shown up at my cubicle holding a box, so I guess that I am still employed. God is good!
3.0 miles - 37 minutes - 4.9 mph.
I am really sore today from Saturday's and this morning's jogs, so I may need to take an extra day to recover.
3.0 miles - 37 minutes - 4.9 mph.
I am really sore today from Saturday's and this morning's jogs, so I may need to take an extra day to recover.
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