Ha! I wrote a Christmas post. I deleted it. Certainly couldn’t have been classed as cheery. I guess I really am putting off “the old man” and adopting a new heart. So, too all my acquaintances, friends and family…
Merry Christmas 😉
Christmas… so close
December 24th, 2008The Last Manual Upgrade
December 12th, 2008Finally, wordpress has put together a blogging system that will take the stress and confusion out of the upgrade process. They usually come up with patches and improvements so often that I started to download and upgrade once in a blue moon. Today… tah dah… this upgrade allows me in the future to upgrade by clicking only one link… poof… everything is done. I like the new user interface they have so I can admin my way to nirvana… well maybe not quite that good. Now to wait and see. It will be interesting to try it out. Next upgrade… click and be awed… I hope.
Feast or Famine?
December 10th, 2008So November came around and was almost over when I thought… “hmmm, I haven’t read the bible yet this year.” Oh I read small passages from time to time but READ the bible as a whole? I usually like to read the bible trough once a year from start to finish. When I use to work I would read during my lunch hours. Not working and suddenly I don’t have the time, or should I say don’t make the time. So over the last decade my reading was more or less a feast or famine approach. Oh, I’m into the feasting part and will finish in the next week. Yet for ten and half months it was famine then one month of feasting… and that made for a leanness of the soul. Perhaps next year I’ll get back to regular meals and steady growth. But as for now… pass the bible and cram another gospel into my spirit.
😯
General’s Pencil Company
November 20th, 2008As I wrote sometime before, I started to learn how to draw in Oct 07. I got myself a complete yet cheap set of pencils. (didn’t know they were cheap at the time) A year later, Oct 08, I decided to treat myself to a better set of pencils. General’s Pencils puts out a box set #10. Has a lot of little goodies in it. Everything was working out fine until I had to sharpen the Kimberly 6B graphite pencil. Oooh… it was bad. So I wrote GPC about it. Here is what I wrote:
Hi,
After fifty-five years of living I finally decided to learn how to draw. I went out and bought a set of pencils in a carrying case. Over the past year I have learned to draw. Ha! Still learning. So this year I decided that I would treat myself and get a better set of pencils. At the Michael’s store in Hamilton I found a number of your products. I bought “General’s Drawing Pencil Kit #10.”
When I got home and opened the pack I felt a little bit like a kid in a candy store. I immediately tried everything in the kit to see what they were like. Your product certainly has opened some doors for experimentation. I was rather enjoying the experience.
Yesterday I took out the 6B graphite pencil, sharpened it, and started a sketch. It went quite well and I thought I would do a dozen sketches using this pencil only. Everything was going fine. I needed to sharpen the pencil and put a fairly good point on it. As I tried to finish the first sketch the lead broke. I sharpened it again and as soon as I applied the point to paper it broke again. I went from having a full pencil to a stub in ten minutes. I was a bit angry. I started to wonder about the rest of the kit. Yet I haven’t had any problems with them so far.
I don’t know why this particular pencil kept breaking. The other 6B I was using previously never gave me this problem (Royal – not your product). Quality control? Production problem? Just the luck of the draw (ha, ha)? I don’t know why this particular pencil was such a loser.
Why am I writing you? I just needed to vent some of the frustration I am feeling. Fortunately I still have the old 6B (from Royal) and I added it the group of Kimberly’s I am currently using.
They responded the very next day:
Hello Joseph,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us. We rely on this kind of feedback to be sure we are making our products to meet our consistently high quality standards. Every so often, a core (lead) will have cracked before being bonded into pencil slats, so we are sorry if this happened to you. We will send out replacements on Monday from our sales office in Redwood City. Thank you for choosing GENERAL PENCIL COMPANY, making pencils with pride in the USA (still!!) since 1889.
I was surprised that they responded so quickly to my email. Oh, the promise to replace the pencil? It took ten days before a package showed up in the mailbox. Not only did they send me a replacement pencil… they sent me a complete set on pencils. More… they sent along a complimentary charcoal set.
I expected nothing from the company. They have wow’ed me with their quickness and their kindness.
So a big “Thank You!” General’s Pencil Company. You have my business.
Crossfire Open House
November 18th, 2008This past weekend Crossfire had an open house and a grand opening service in our new building. A lot of work and sacrifice went into getting the building ready. I have been injured the last 2 months and haven’t been able to make any contributions of time or elbow grease. Yet Sunday morning the pastoral staff allowed me to participate.
I wasn’t there. I was at home. As I lay in my bed early Sunday morning my thoughts turned to the church and what was happening that day. Words came to mind. After a bit of mulling over what was coming to me I got up and went to the computer. I wrote down those words, printed them out and sent them to the pastoral staff by my wife’s hand. They graciously read my comments to the church after the worship service. Here is what I wrote:
In the last century of the last millennium
God reached down and stepped onto
the earth where we stand today.
His people erected a building.
Their hearts were touched by God.
From here they stepped out
Into the community
And beyond to the world.
This day,
in a new century
of a new millennium,
a new generation stands
in this footstep of God.
If you incline your hearts to Him,
He will be faithful to fulfill
all the promises He has made.
You too will step out
into the community
and beyond to the world.
Through you He will show
His Power
His Wisdom
His Love.
You will become
a lamp on a hill
whose light will shine forth
for all to see.
God bless you all
on this day of
New Beginnings.
I wasn’t there but by allowing my words to be spoken… I was there in spirit. Thank you Roy and Patti.
Update
November 12th, 2008Guess it is time to catch up. About my back injury… still hurts when I stand and can’t walk very far. Yet I think there is some improvement because I have cut back on the amount of drugs that I am taking. I also am finding it easier to sleep. I will be trying to get out to an evening meeting a couple of weeks from now. Got to start reaching beyond the doors of my house.
A month ago I took some restrictions off of the blog program. Sigh… and now I am getting a bit too much spam appearing on my site. So I put the restrictions back in. Shouldn’t make that much of a difference to those who are regular contributers. Others will have to wait for approuval before their comments appear.
Agents of Intolerance?
November 11th, 2008taken from my comment post at runningpastor
I usually get tired of the old complaint that Christians (evangelical) are dumb hicks with an axe to grind and not above violence in the name of God. This usually comes from people who are bigoted themselves. The brush they use to tar us is the same brush that created them in their own image.
What is sad is that it isn’t always the people on the left. You can see it rising in the aftermath of the US election. The “right” are looking for reasons why they lost. They point their finger once again to “those agents of intolerance” the evangelical Christian.
Is it surprising that we are the whipping boy of the non-christian right and most of the left? There is that scripture that says they will think us weird because we don’t run with the same excess as they do. Another, we are in the light and the darkness hates us because they don’t and can’t understand us.
Fortunately for us, most people are somewhere in the middle. They take John (Lennon’s) scripture to heart… Live and let live. It does get tiring that the mud that some sling is aimed at Christians. On occassion we deserve it. But most of the time we don’t. I must tell you… the teflon coating I’ve been given by the Spirit sometimes wears a bit thin. Hate, their hate, can do that. And sometimes, just sometimes, I respond in kind… sigh!
Late night dream?
October 12th, 2008So I was lying in bed somewhere between conciousness and sleep. I had a late night dream just before waking. Israel was pointing its military (air) towards Iran. I heard the call of a crow and it was flying east. I got these words:
Caw! Caw! O house of Saud! The crows are calling and they are flying east
Just a dream or a bit of prohecy? I have no idea. Will Israel strike out against Iran? Will there be a religious call in Saudi Arabia to enter a sectarian war with Iran?
It is a “twilight’s last gleaming”, an “Edge of Reason” thought.
I’m going back to bed, roll over, and hopefully get a few more hours of sleep.
A Good Sunday, A Bad Sunday and Pain
September 15th, 2008On the 7th of the month I had the opportunity of presenting a one man play to the church. I thought it went well. During the entire event my back, which wasn’t doing to well, did not bother me. On the 14th my back was so bad I couldn’t make it out to church at all.
It is an on again – off again problem. Over the past few months things have gotten worse. I thank God that he was with me on the 7th. Yet the pain now wants to be my constant companion. It is at the point that other ministries I am involved with will be missed. Now I am not complaining (too much) because it is a far cry from the back disasters of the past. I just want it to stop. I am asking for prayer that God will release his Spirit to heal the problem.
Honestly… a few days ago I was talking to God and came to realize that I am quite angry with him. It is the brooding storm within my mind that I did not want to confront. How can I be angry with God? He has done so much for me… more than you can possibly know… yet there, in the corner of my heart… anger at not being healed.
I had those who were anointed speak about a healing. I know of divine health. Yet it always seems to be out of reach. Is my anger getting in the way? I don’t know. I am just a king’s kid in pain wanting and waiting for the touch.
Oh I know that there are other people far worse off than me. Yet my pain is also real. It gets in the way. It holds me back. Can’t sleep, can hardly walk and the simplest of tasks will send me to my chair in pain. Oh, it will get better and not worse, I hope. And with your prayers perhaps God will touch me enough to let me continue.
You know a thousand things can go through your mind when things don’t go well. We try to justify what is happening to us. We grasp at staws to make sense. Yet in the end God works out all things… even if the end is not currently known to us. Do I ramble on?
I know that God will heal me (partly today?) totally some day. I also know that someday I will be complete in Jesus when he appears. Until then I will keep having a good Sunday, a bad Sunday and pain.
A Future Obama Moment?
August 29th, 2008
The Experience gained in the Illinois Legislature would not be wasted in Washington
