Merry Christmas!

Here is a little Christmas cheer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

As You Wish

"That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying "As you wish", what he meant was, "I love you." And even more amazing was the day she realized she truly loved him back."

A New Sign

Here is the new sign - I miss the old one (see 8/24/07 blog)

Silent Awe

What a beuatiful weekend it was here - weather-wise! I went with some friends to Cosley Park in Wheaton and it was so nice!

Here is a picture of a Falcon I took while I was there. this guy is probably my husband's favorite animal. It was quite breathtaking to see him. For some reason when you aproached his cage everyone would fall silent and just stare at him. Even the children who would normally be all questions and shouting and pointing.

Wow.

Relax. Take a deep breath and then . . . .

Indulge

I have been reading Ephesians this month –

I should say, I have been trying to read Ephesians this month.

I just wanted to read the first three chapters

but I can’t seem to get past the first chapter.

In fact, I can’t seem to get past verses 4-9.

They capture my attention every time!

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ

to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family

by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.

This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out

on us who belong to his dear Son.
He is so rich in kindness and grace that

he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son

and forgave our sins.

He has showered his kindness on us,

along with all wisdom and understanding.
God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ,
a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.”

(Eph 1:4-9 NLT)

Take a moment to consider what it means to belong to Father God.

Truly He has showered Great Kindness on us –

yet it was His own desire He was fulfilling.
Realize that making you His own is His own good pleasure.

In other words, when He made you His own,

He was indulging Himself!

Stars

In a city there are many lights and because there is so much light emanating from the ground, the starlight doesn’t quite make it to our eyes. Excess or obtrusive light created by humans, which obscures stars, is referred to as “light pollution”. But there are millions and millions of them out there. And each one is a testimony of God's love. (Ps. 136:5-9)

In the city, the stars we do see are wondrous. It is amazing to see a few stars and realize that their light reaches us through all of the light pollution around us. But go out to the country (or better yet, the ocean!) and look up. You will be suddenly overwhelmed at the number of lights up there! Look, stare, and you will begin to discern swirls of stars farther away – and beyond those, even more. Like layers and layers going deeper and deeper and each individual one speaks of God’s love for you.

Pause, and allow yourself to be overwhelmed!

Our day-to-day living is full of love notes from God – reminders of his pursuit of us. Even in the busyness of everyday stuff, His love reaches us every now and then. Little postcards, by His grace, come our way. But he longs to overtake us and overwhelm us and to do this, He draws us to a place where the “light pollution” is turned off. A place where the simple distractions of normal things can be put aside, even locked away, and He can have you all to yourself – so that He can “show you the stars”.

Where is your night sky - the one uninterrupted by earthly things? Maybe it is your living room in the early morning hours. Perhaps it is your bedroom with the door locked and phone turned off. Maybe it’s in your car in a remote parking lot in a forest preserve. Whatever that place is, fight to keep it! Go to it as often as He draws you. It will be for you a place of life, peace, joy and healing.

Make a place for this. Make time for this. Let it be the moment that you turn your eyes to the skies and even though the night is dark, His love will break the darkness and wash over you layer after layer as He draws you deeper and deeper into His love. Let Him overwhelm you. Let Him indulge Himself!

That's alright.

God thinks I am better than gold.

After the Rain

This picture was taken in Lombard after the storm last week. The sky was very dramatic.

And the Sunset that night was breathtaking.

It's a Sign

This is a pictuire of the sign at the entrance of where I work. I took this picture trying to capture the shadow effect that the acrylic piece mounted a couple inches from the wall creates. We are getting a new sign because we have a new logo. I will miss this sign - I think it is pretty cool. Hopefully the new sign will be the same but with the new logo. Whatever happens, at least I have this cool picture.

Today's Excitement

A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 PM CDT FOR CENTRALCOOK COUNTY...* AT 334 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACROSS COOK COUNTY FROM JUST WEST OF EVANSTON THROUGH THE NORTH SIDE OF CHICAGO. THIS LINE IS MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH...AND ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DESTRUCTIVE WINDS OF 70 TO 80 MPH.TAKE COVER NOW! IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...MOVE TO AN INTERIORROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES SHOULD BEABANDONED FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS

"The Cloud of Unknowing"

Yummy! I just finished reading a FANTASTIC book called "The Cloud of Unknowing " And "The Book of Privy Counseling". It is actually two books in one (obviously). It was so wonderful.

If your heart YEARNS when you hear the words "contemplative prayer" this book is for you.

Bon appetit!

ISBN 0-385-03097-5

Single Company

I have recently found myself contemplating the possibility that God is preparing to move us very far away. It sounds very fun and exciting to me but I know that deep down this is not necessarily the case. If God moves us, wonderful! If He doesn’t, great! I thought about it and if I am honest it is actually jealousy that is making me feel this way. I have been “torturing” myself by reading the blogs of many of my friends. Everyday it seems they meet with friends and have parties or hang out and they seem very connected. Meanwhile I feel forgotten and even sometimes hurt when I see pictures of them out there having fun and knowing all the while that I was never invited. That’s fine, I think to myself. But really, I feel sad, mad even, honestly jealous. I don’t have to be the center of attention but a little side note would be nice – even an afterthought, anything, come on, throw me a bone! It would be easy to say that it is probably because I got married. For some reason married couples seem to fall off the radar – especially newly married couples. While it is important to have personal time with each other and it is wonderful to be with my husband, sometimes we feel neglected by the people we once felt so close to. Before I got married I had a friend call me out for coffee and we had a heart to heart about this very thing. She was worried that after I got married I would disappear. The strange thing is that now that I am married I rarely if ever get a call from this friend. In the meantime, I hear about the get-togethers and fun stuff that is going on that this friend is a part of or even instigates – all unbeknownst to me until I happen to find out about it later. I cannot be mad at my friend. I love her! And I am just as much to blame because I have not called her in a long time. I think that at this point I imagine that I am a faint dot on the long-range sonar. If I did call her, would she want to be a part of my life again? If she did call me, would I be too busy for her? Would we still be able to find something in common to base our friendship on? I am sure I am not the first newlywed to encounter this syndrome. I am sure I will not be the last. I would hate to think that just because we are married now we are not allowed to have single friends – or that our single friends are not allowed to spend time with us now that we are married.

Trust me, my single friends, the following is very true:
Married life is awesome! While we value our time alone together, we can and do want to make time to spend with our friends. We have plenty of time together – we live together for heaven’s sake! You would not be imposing on us. We know how to say no if needed.
Please don’t get mad, don’t feel sorry and don’t feel bad and– just get connected, if you would like, free from any foxes that may spoil the vine of our friendship.

Happy Birthday to me

FRIDAY AUGUST 10 Gary and I drove down to Darien to get my military ID. From there we went through Joliet down to Manhattan to look at a new development there. On the way through Joliet we got rear-ended by an older lady in a 1987 Lincoln Town car. Ouch! I was not about to end the story of my day with that so when Gary asked me if I wanted to go home I said "No, I don't, otherwise we came all this way just to get into a car accident!" So on we went. It was actually a very fun day off except for being in pain. On the way home we ate at the Cracker Barrell which I haven't been to in a long time.

SATURDAY AUGUST 11 was my birthday. That was a fun day too. We went out to breakfast at the Egglectic in Danada (the new one) and then we went to see "Being Jane" at Cantera. The movie was pretty good. When we went to leave, the remote would not turn off the alarm. So, we tried to unlock the doors with the key - which worked but it made the alarm go off. Well, now we were sitting in the parking lot with the alarm going off not able to start the truck!
Oy vey!
First we though that it was the battery in the remote so we walked across the street tot he Target and bought new ones. That didn't work. I called my sister and she said she would come and pick us up. We called a few dealers and even circuit city and no one was able to help us. Gary calld the police and cantera and asked if we could leave the truck there until we figured out what to do.

Mary picked us up and we drove home. On the way we stopped at Subway to use the bathroom. For some strange reason Gary did not want to wait until we got home. Interestingly enough we ran into a young man I haven't seen in a very long time who recognized Gary. We chatted with him for a little while. I thought it was pretty amazing. What a crazy day! But it was not over yet.
When we finally got home and walked into our apartment it was very noisy (!) and full of people (!!) My brother jumped out and said "SUPRISE!!!" (and then so did everyone else). Then, I was even more suprsed because my aunt from California was there! SO VERY FUN!!! I did feel bad though because these people had been waiting for two hours for us due to the remote not working. I thought at first it was part of the scheme but unfortunately it was not.

The good thing though is that Sunday evening we went back to the parking lot at Cantera and the remote decided to work. We were able to drive the truck home.

SUNDAY AUGUST 12 was our family reunion picnic which was pretty fun even though it was so hot outside. They replaced horseshoes with beanbags but we still had the tournament - but in the shade - and plenty of people participated. Gary took the group picture and we handed out cards so people could go online and order a copy of it. Later that night we went to Mary's house and played cards with my aunt and then we watched half of Eragon. I forgot that movie. We were so tired and had to get up early for work the next morning so we stopped the movie halfway.

All in all it was a fun weekend even though I am still recovering from whiplash.

This is the Song stuck in my head

There is no other friend There is no other friend like You, oh Lord
No other brother No other brother like You

There is no other love There is no other love like You, oh Lord
No other sweeter No other fountain but You

And how long until I’m satisfied
I must have more of You
For I was born in Zion
Awakened love is crying out for You
It must be You

And if I’m healed by Just one touch
of your garment, Lord
Then how much more of Your love is for me
than I’m tasting, Lord?

Draw me, take me and I will run
Over the mountains and down into the valleys I will run with You

All, all my fountains are in You

No Other - David Ruis

Revealing the Heart

Gary got promoted yesterday. He is a sgt. in the National Guard and yesterday he went from being an E5 to an E6 which basically means that he gets paid more and he will have more responsibility. He will actually have people under him that he is responsible for.

As a result of this promotion he is also transferred. That's kind of how they were able to promote him. There are no E6 slots open in the unit he was in so they transferred him to a new one - farther away. We weren't sure what this implied and actually for about 24 hours we had to consider the option that it could mean he was being deployed with another unit.

Gary said that if it's God doing this then it will be a good thing. I need to trust that whatever God does He will always give us whatever we need to be what He is making us to be when we yield ourselves to Him. I did freak out a little at first but when Gary said that, I had to let it all go and choose to trust. It was hard but it also made me see where my heart was and my security.

Turns out everything is ok and in a few months they may even transfer him back so all in all this could have purely been a test - a revealing of the heart, if you will.

Sweet Jesus

There is a river runnin’ through this town
It carries the water
There isn’t any way to slow it down
Or make it stop
I was a baby when the big bridge fell
So I don’t remember
But I have listened to the stories well
And so I know they were falling
to the surface
They were calling
to their God
And their cry was
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you catch us - save us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you hear us crying

Fishing for luck beneath the bridge that day
A man in his eighties
He saw it happen and began to pray
As he dove in
He found a mother and her baby boy
They both wouldn’t make it
The mama handed him her only joy
He took the child – then he was swimming
Like he was twenty
He made shoreline
then he died
And his thoughts were
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you catch us - save us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you hear us crying
He was crying

I miss my mother and the brave old man
Though I never knew them
They are the soul inside the man I am
I bare their dreams
And I am walking in their footsteps
I am talking to their God
And my cry is
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you catch us - save us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you hear us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you catch us - save us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you hear us crying
We’re all crying

There is a river runnin’ through this town
It carries the water
There isn’t any way to slow it down
Or make it stop

Sweet Jesus (1994) Gary Chapman from the Album:Light Inside

Contemplate this....

"Try to understand this point. Rational creatures such as men and angels possess two principal faculties, a knowing power and a loving power. No one can fully comprehend the uncreated God with his knowledge; but each one, in a different way, can grasp Him fully through love. Truly this is the unending miracle of love: that one loving person, through his love, can embrace God, Whose being fills and transcends the entire creation. And this marvelous work of love goes on forever, for He Whom we love is eternal. Whoever has the grace to appreciate the truth of what I am saying, let him take my words to heart, for to experience this love is the joy of eternal life while to lose it is eternal torment."

Anonymous - 14th century

See also, I Corinthians 1:18-25 NLT

A little rambling

I have recently visited a blog site of someone very dear to me. I have known them since they were just a wee babe. On this blog there were many others writing entries who were also dear people I have known for a long time. It was a lot of fun to read the entries they made.

It has been a long time since I have seen many of them and it was so wonderful to see tham all living a life that if full and exciting and most importantly - God focused. There are so many young people in the world today who have no hope and no life in their lives. People who are either living for themselves, living in fear or just plain living in darkness. To hear that these hearts are still running after God did more than refresh me, it renewed a hope in my heart.

There is nothing more important than pursuing the heart of God and learning not just how to love him but how to be loved by Him. One way that He loves on us is by pouring blessing and joy and life into our lives and that makes all the difference in the world. True this is not our motivation - to worship God purley for Himself is the ultimate goal - but it is definitely an effect. I have been struggling through learning how to allow God to love me. (As if I could stop Him!) After all, Jesus died to reconcile us back to the Father. I think He deserves what He gave so much for. Don't you? Don't get me wrong, blessings are not the only way God loves on us. Healing inside and out, deliverance, and freedom are certainly ways but so is discipline and correction.

So, I am learning to be Fathered - to be the daughter. I thought I had already learned this but evidently there always more. That's what He keeps telling me.

Quote of the Day

"Our intense need to understand will always be a powerful stumbling block to our attempts to reach God and must always be overcome. For if you do not overcome this need to understand, it will undermine your quest. It will replace the darkness which you have pierced to reach God with clear images of something which, however good, however beautiful, however Godlike, is not God."

14th century by an anonymous English monk

(I read this post on my brother's blog site. it was posted there by someone anonymously!)

Tell Me Who I am

what or who defines me? am I successful because of my accomplishments? am I ok because people like me? am I right because things are going well? am I important because I have been acknowledged by the people in charge? am I wrong because others disagree with me? am I stupid because someone else is smarter?
who am I and why am I here? shouldn't there have been someone at the door to my life telling me this? who was supposed to hand out the syllabus? why does it seem like nothing matters and yet I can't help trying harder to make my life worth something? and what is it worth? what give it value and makes the hard times bearable? what makes it all make sense? what is it all about?

I just finished reading a study on the "Fatherless Generation". It did not refer to a specific range of years wherein a group of people were born. It refers to a time frame wherein we all live. Here are the major points:

A. The role of a father is to identify and name his child and bring forth his or her destiny. The only way a child will know who they are is if their father tells them. A persons’ primary identity is formed by what their father says about them and how he acts towards them.

B. When a father turns his heart from his child, the child suffers a devastating wound of rejection. Their identity and destiny is formed in rejection.

C. Fear of not knowing who we are, a fear of not knowing if we have worth or significance, a fear of being unvalued. We receive this spirit when we are formed in rejection. This fear drives us either to reject all external value systems or to fight and strive to create our own identity through performance. A value system is a system of measurement. When a person feels they’ve failed the measurement, they will either drive incessantly to measure up within their own system (performance, religion, work-aholism), or they will reject all value systems (relativism).

D. We must encounter our heavenly Father and experience Him identifying us and telling us our destiny. Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."

To see the notes on this whole study go to: http://www.ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?id=1000012475 and click on the link at the bottom of the page.

Have you ever REALLY thought about this?

Ephesians 5:21-33(nlt)

21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body.
31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

10 minutes to the counter, another five and you're out

Today I got a free lunch. It was pretty unexpected. This kind of stuff never happens to me!

There I was in downtown Chicago, walking with a friend to go get a salad for lunch. My friend was getting the salad. I was just going for the walk - or so I thought. We went to a new salad place that had just opened up on Clinton near Monroe (the name of the place escapes me, of course). As we entered we were greeted by an employee at the door who was very pleasant and friendly and welcomed us and asked if we had been there before and if we knew how their system works and all that. My friend said she had and I said I hadn't but wasn't going to order. He asked why not and in a candid moment I admitted - I didn't have money to buy lunch today.

I am sure if I had thought about it or leet my pride answer I would have simply said I did not want a salad. I did want a salad for once and although I had brought a simple lunch to work today I was anticipating the delicious meatloaf my husband made last friday. (Yum!) Anyhow, the doorkeeper proceeded to tell me that if I would help him run an experiment and time how long the whole process takes from the moment I walked in (The line went out the door practically) he would buy me a salad. Cool. I'm in. It was a fantastic salad too - and huge!

I guess I will eat the meatloaf tomorrow.

Word of the Day

"ameliorate"

def: to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve

Word of the Day

"alacrity"

def: cheerful readiness to do something

Sun Songs

"They found that explosive events at the Sun's surface appear to trigger acoustic waves that bounce back and forth between both ends of the loops, a phenomenon known as a standing wave.
"These magnetic loops are analogous to a simple guitar string," von Fay-Siebenburgen explained. "If you pluck a guitar string, you will hear the music.""

to read more, go to http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070419/sc_space/sunsatmospheresings

Slingshot v. Sword

David was trained up by the Lord as a shepherd and as a warrior who wielded a shepherd's weapons. When he went into battle, David did not take the armor and the sword that were the conventional equipment for battle at that time. He stood as a shepherd warrior with the weapons of a shepherd warrior.

I believe there is an awesome picture there of Jesus our Warrior Shepherd who stands to defend us from our enemy. David was "just a boy". Jesus is the Son of His Father. This picture fly's in the face of every conventional thought of battle. Imagine, a young man representing an entire nation in a one-on-one hand to hand battle to the death with a nine-foot-something soldier.

David did not fight this particular battle the way that the average soldier would. He did not use the usual accoutrements. When I was growing up, I always knew this to be a perfect example of how our battles are not fought in the same way that “the world” fights battles – that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, etc. etc. But think about this, the people telling David to wear armor and carry a sword were not “the world” but rather , they were the people of God in that day.

So when I go into battle and the Holy Spirit tells me to approach it differently than I have heard preached and yet exactly as I have seen Him manifest in my life countless times, I must surrender my own plan and the opinions of those around me and allow Him to reveal Himself in a fresh new way.

I do not believe that David was rebelling against authority or anything like that. He was following the instruction of the Lord – instruction that had been created in Him from the life He led as a shepherd spending time in the presence of God. The instruction that he received from the Lord was very different than what was “normal”. It was not the usual. It was not the tested and tried way. It was done in such a way that would make this young man seem foolish, unprotected and unarmed when in reality he was very protected, powerfully armed and wise beyond the people of that day.

We cannot be afraid to believe that the crazy non-normal unsafe looking way that Father is directing us to walk is the direction He is asking us to walk. We must trust him, rely on him to be able to direct us and surrender ourselves to it. If we cannot do this, if we cannot defy every learned, formulated even "Christian" standard and walk out into the valley with nothing but a slingshot and five stones, we will never see the giant fall.

I believe that God has been building into each of us a manifestation of Himself to the world and to the Body of Christ. I desperately desire to know how it is that HE plans to reveal Himself to us through each of us and through the Bride as a whole. I know that He is speaking, calling to her, wooing her, luring her and loving her – romancing her in the greatest Love story ever; a story written by Love Himself.

Because March wasn't over yet...

This was across the street from where I live..

More Drama

On Wednesday March 28, 2007 there was a fire in my building downtown.

You can read about it here:

http://www.wbbm780.com/pages/326025.php?

Our office evacuated the building and I climbed down 26 stories worth of stairs. We sat outside for about an hour before catching a train home for the day only to find out that they let people back in another hour later.

Oh well.

While we were outside standing around someone from Starbucks decided to go around handing out little cups of coffee.

I almost cried. Firetrucks and free Starbucks coffee - it was perfect.

I am glad March is ending - Way too much drama.

Happy 7th Birthday Joshua

Yesterday we got into an accident. We were leaving the parking lot at the train station and someone turning off the street through the alley broadsided us. They fortunately hit the front end of the car and not the passenger door where I was sitting. It was very sudden and without seeing it coming there was no way to prepare for it or escape it. Our car tipped up and then came down. It was pointing in a different direction. The directional was gone and the front fender was smashed. The bumper was bashed too. The paramedics came and checked me out. Gary was ok and talked with the police and the other driver. Thankfully he has insurance. Although I didn't go with the paramedics I did go to the hospital. My poor little car got towed away and my sister came and picked us up. We were at the hospital for about 4 hours. I stayed home from work today. I am so very sore on the whole right side of my body. Nothing is broken so that's good but I didn't get much sleep last night.

There are a lot of things I am thankul about though - good things. If we had not been moving as slow as we were, he could have hit us in the door where I was sitting. There was a police officer close by so we didn't have to wait a long time for a police. The medics were very nice and kept talking to me to help me calm down. I was shaking a lot and they were very gentle. The people at the hospital took good care of us and the doctor was nice too and he was certain that nothing was broken and said I didn't need x-rays. It could have been worse.

So I am at home right now and Gary had to work. My mom is coming over to bring my prescription muscle relaxers and my sister who stayed with us the whole evening yesterday driving us around and waiting at the emergency room brought me an ice pack this morning.

I love my family.

We got a call today from the apartment complex office. Evidently we won the drawing for free tickets to Great America. I think it will be a while before we can use them.

Every Good Thing

Every good thing and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father.
James 1:17

Today I caught every single green light between my home and the train station. I arrived in record time, paid for my great parking spot and calmly climbed (un-rushed) aboard the train I take to work every day. This may not seem like a big deal but to me it was a very good thing. It was a whole string of good things.

As I sat down I thought, "Wow, thanks, God." Suddenly this thought occurred to me that maybe God had nothing to do with these things. That perhaps God wasn't interested in my schedule and that in the grand scheme of things whether or not I am out of breath when I hop on the train is of little consequence. Then in the same moment this verse popped in my head. "Every good thing and every perfect thing".

I believe that God cares about me. I believe that that care is not limited to my spiritual well being. I believe He is after my affections and attentions. I believe that it is a good thing to catch all the green lights. I decided to go with my original thought and thank Him.

What would happen if I decided to thank Him for "every good thing"? If I think about all the good things that are in my life and that happen to me - little or large - and if I acknowledge that every one of them is from Father, then I have much to be thankful for every day.

But what if I am wrong? What if God didn't save me a great parking spot? What if the sale on milk had nothing to do with Him? What if everyday stuff like this doesn't qualify as a "good thing"? Then I will have given God more credit then He is due. (Is that even possible?) And if so, well, I am sure that there are many things He does do - to me and for me - that are good that I do not thank Him for.

In the very least, attempting to thank Him for every good thing would, by default, cause me to "acknowledge Him in all my ways" and THAT is a very good thing.

Change is good.

"...a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken."

Duke Leto Atreides - Dune (1984)

Super Mouse and the Adventures of Little Bob.

I am thinking of writing childrens books.

Perhaps I will start out by writing a children's story blog where kids can comment on the story and suggest ideas - perhaps I could even have a stream where they create the story themselves. This sounds like fun!

Little Bob is a fish, by the way.

I just need a good Blog title for a Children's Story Blog Site.

Popsicle

I am so cold. I cannot get warm and stay warm. Our home is cold. We tried to seal up a window that we know is a huge source of coldness but they don't seem to make that plastic stuff big enough. I feel like a popsicle.

Oh well

The Bears lost. Long live the Bears.

(When does baseball start?)

Da Bears

Last night the Chicago Bears won the championship and are on their way to the Super Bowl. The last time the Bears were in the Super Bowl (and won I might add) was just over 20 years ago. I remember that game. It was the first and only game I ever watched from the very beginning to the very end. I am not a huge football fan but I am a Chicago fan and so, I will probably watch it this time around too. Its a very different world we live in compared to back then. No more Walter Payton, William Perry and Willie Gault. No punky QB known as McMahon. Or is there? We have a mean defense and a few record breakers on board and our token player of questionable morals (or is it ethics?). There is a debate in the office about whether or not Tank would still be playing if the Bears hadn't been in the playoffs.

Remember when the big issue was Jim McMahon's headband?

I wonder what he would write on it today.

Paper or Plastic?

It used to be a courtesy to pre-sort - now it is a necesity. The person bagging groceries at the grocery store seems to have lost the pride and skill that once was. Bagging has become a forgotten art. I did see once on TV a competition in LasVegas for bagging groceries. The competitors were judged not just on speed but on strategy. Here in my hometown there is neither. It seems the stores don't really care. Do they even train their employees anymore? I find that either I get my bread smashed by my canned goods or my shampoo winds up in the same bag as my frozen corn.

I guess I will just go to the self-checkout from now on and bag it myself.

Worship and Service

Here is a thought.

One of the ways we can worship God is in our service.
One of the things we are commanded to do is to serve each other.
One of the things we are not to do is worship anyone or anything other than God.
So, can service be service without being worship?
If so, what makes service worship and
how is our service to God different than our service to others?