We’ve been married for 15 years.  Today… a first for both of us.

BEFORE
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DURING
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AFTER
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All emerged unharmed and happy.
Whew.

and just in case you’re interested in a slightly related post….

Thoughts about Psalm 4

October 26, 2009

Read Psalm 4:5-8 (really… it’s quite short)

Such an interesting sequence of ideas.  Here’s my paraphrase:

Bring your sacrifices to God in the right spirit, and trust Him
Lots of people don’t trust, so they ask over and over ‘who will show us better times?’
I say, show us your smiling face, God.
You have given me more joy that those who have the best of everything.
Because of this, I sleep in peace. I know you are looking after me.

So, what does it mean to bring sacrifices in the ‘right spirit’? My best understanding is that it means bringing our sacrifices in humility, with joy and thankfulness, and without selfishness.

So, what are the sacrifices we bring to God?  It  must include the ’sacrifice of praise’ when we gather with our church for worship.  We are to come to those gatherings in the right spirit. But is it more than that?

What about the sacrifices required to serve? I may be giving up some things in order to do what I’m called to do, or in order to serve the people right in front of me. When I think about what I’m giving up, do I take those thoughts captive and bring them to God in humility… joy… thankfulness? Or do I come whining?

If I come whining, I will never recognize that what God gives us is better than having abundance in everything. If I come whining, I will not have peace when I lie down and sleep.

I cannot whine and trust at the same time. So that’s the lesson for today. Someone should put that on a wall-hanging. :)

Office past

October 23, 2009

A glimpse into my current work world….

Office past… my work home for the past 10 years. It used to look like this.  And it used to store this stuff.

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Office present… where my stuff is for the next few days.  This space will be our dedicated media/edit room. (Nothing like seeing one’s entire office world distilled down to a collection of boxes.)

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Office future… a progression

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And that brings us up to what’s happening today.  Good times!

Traces of technology past

October 19, 2009

So I’m moving to a different office in our building this week.  The office I’m moving from has been mine for 10 years, and has belonged to the music department since the building was built… about 23 years ago.

The lesson for all of us today: maybe a person should clean out her office more than once a decade.  In any case, I found some treasures that may only be appreciated by a few.

First, a picture of the first ‘music resource tape’ I made for our worship team… probably in mid 1999. Again, there may only be a few people who enjoy reading this very fuzzy list.

These items were in the deep recesses of a cabinet for a very very long time.  I am compelled to immediately begin drawing music staffs with chalk on every available surface.

And finally… a few little things I’m getting rid of.
Holy mound of cassette tapes, batman.

I’ve had fun today remembering when I had to go to a store to find new music, when the best way to schedule musicians was to print and mail out a schedule, and when I wondered if ‘Shout to the Lord’ was too much for our congregation to handle.

I must say I do like where we are now.  Quite a lot.