09.26.05
Posted in Faith, Today at 11:09 am by artistry
Being a Christian in the workplace can be a challenge. Here in Minnesota, our diversity laws can and have been interpreted in such a way that Christians have been fired for expression of their beliefs. There is a tacit rule at my workplace that you keep it to yourself. I expressed something of this sentiment responding to a post on Esox and David posted a good article from Ray Comfort.
The other side of the issue is how to deal with difficult co-workers without responding in a way that is counter to my faith. Even though frustrated at every turn, I should be able to turn the other cheek, right? I have such a person in my workplace and have to interact with that person every day. For me, that person is a constant challenge; arguing when I explain how to do something; refusing to follow the guidelines we have asked everyone to follow; resisting every overture. And that person knows nothing of forgiveness, instead documenting everything that is counter to what they want to do. Several complaints have gone to HR from this person. I don’t know if I have been the subject of one, but I know my supervisors are aware of the difficulties. So I resolved yet again on Saturday that I would be the one to show a Christian attitude. And when I got to work I was hit with the usual bunch of complaints. It was a hard day.
I talked with both of my sons about it. One said I needed to stop beating myself up about it. The other called me early this morning to direct me to the following:
“We typically spend eight hours a day on our jobs–with co-workers and peers whom we might never voluntarily choose to spend one-third of our waking hours each week. But there we are–together! And even though we’re Christians, we’re not immune to the irritations, aggravations and outright conflicts that can exist between co-workers.
Let’s face it: co-workers can get to you!” More …
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09.19.05
Posted in Faith, Today at 12:08 pm by artistry
One of the greatest joys of the Christian faith is the assurance that we are not alone. One of the greatest responsibilities of the Christian faith is letting others know they are not alone. One of the greatest challenges of the Christian faith is when we are called to accountability for trying to do things alone.
Of these three, I struggle most with the last. I am not surprised by that, just disappointed that I haven’t yet learned that I am not the be all and end all of my existence. I was raised to be self sufficient. As an adult woman, society told me that I should be able to do everything for myself and by myself. It wasn’t until I failed on all fronts that I was able to see that I cannot do anything without the sustaining power of God.
I know this. I believe it with all my heart. But I still struggle with letting others in on the problems I face. I have been called to accountability on this issue. I have to take a hard look at why I am so unwilling to expose my weaknesses and why I consider it weakness. I’m not comfortable with what I see in myself.
The body of Christ would not have let Greta Garbo be alone and the Lone Ranger could have had many Tontos riding along if they had just asked. I need to learn to ask.
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09.17.05
Posted in Faith, Today at 10:10 am by artistry
A good mentor will gently lead you to enlightenment, even if you don’t like where it takes you. I was voicing some political opinions this morning when I was called to task over it. My mentor pointed out that I was guilty of the same thing I voiced against the politician in question with my comments. It pinches and bites to admit that my mentor was right. I was judging, and I know that judgement is not mine. If I don’t like the actions of a politician, I should confine my endorsement to my vote because I don’t know the whole story and can never know it. Making statements when I don’t have the facts makes me guilty of bearing false witness. I hate admitting I am wrong! But I stand convicted in this instance.
That got me to thinking about why people are so afraid of evidences of faith. I realized this morning that we should welcome that, rather than ridiculing or defending against it. Having a holy fear is perhaps a Good Thing. It can be evidence that the Spirit in working in those people and their actions are defenseive against the conviction they are feeling. I remember how much I distrusted people who confessed to being born again when I was walking in darkness. I was always concerned with the direction the conversation might take. I was always on the defensive against being saved. The life raft was right there, but I stubbornly insisted that I was swimming along just fine, even though I kept missing strokes. I would do well to keep remembering and govern my responses accordingly.
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Posted in Today at 1:00 am by artistry
I noticed a few days ago that gas prices at the local station near the freeway were down a bit. I didn’t think much of it, cause it wasn’t that much. But today when I got gas, prices were way down. Last week the Exxon near my house was charging $3.199 for the 90 octane gas. Friday they were charging $2.699. That’s a big drop. Of course, there was no reason for the increase in the first place. The gas they were charging so much for was already in the tanks at the station when they started raising the prices. Still, having them come down is a hopeful sign.
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09.14.05
Posted in Faith, Politics, Today at 10:13 am by artistry
EVERETT, Wash. — A federal judge in Seattle has ruled that a Ten Commandments monument can remain on display outside the police station in Everett.
The judge ruled the monument is not a threat to religious freedom.
The thing that never ceases to amaze me is that so many people see the presence of faith as threatening to them. I have even heard people say they wouldn’t want to be tried in a court where a Ten Commandments monument was present. Why? What do they fear? I would see that a a hopeful, rather than ominous sign.
My take on this … even those people who deny the existence of God are afraid enough of Him that they don’t want any evidence of his existence to be seen. They are like the three monkeys … they want to see no God, hear no God, speak no God. Sorry, people … God will not be silenced.
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09.13.05
Posted in Technobabel, Today at 11:09 am by artistry
I heard the word on a commercial yesterday and it seemed so appropriate for what is happening in my world this morning.
We had storms lasd night … with lightning and thunder and wind and power outages. Yep, everything in my house needed a reset including my cable box and my VCR. I even had to reset my television. I suppose I should be glad that I still have electronics to reset, but after resetting the TV times three, clocks, recycling my modem and my router … well, I am just glad I don’t have more electronica! Poor me!
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09.12.05
Posted in Faith, Politics, Today at 1:47 pm by artistry
Amidst all the stories of how different groups are providing assistance to victims of Katrina, one story made me pause and consider: As support blossoms for Katrina evacuees, homegrown problems wait
The President and his spin doctors are busy at work denying that anything was lacking on their part in the relief effort. And, of course, George is talking about compassion yet again Bush: Gulf Will Be More Vibrant Than Ever while the opposition talks about lack of it.
Meanwhile, the news is full of photo ops from Bush’s third visit to the disaster region. I wonder how much each of those trips cost and how much food, water and medicine that would buy?
As I read the story from KARE 11, I was first irritated and then convicted. The story pointed out a fatal flaw of our human nature. We can and are generous in the extreme when big needs develop such as Hurricane Katrina or the tsunami that struck in the Indian Ocean. We aren’t so generous to the needs that exist every day right in our own backyard. Shame on us! Shame on me!
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Posted in Today at 1:28 pm by artistry
Steve & Jane Forster left early this morning for Mobile, AL to work for FEMA as housing inspectors. They will be inspecting homes and determining the extent of damage and helping determine if the homes can be repaired. I expect that it will be hard for both of them, but especially Jane as she has such a heart for people in need.
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Posted in Technobabel, Today at 12:07 am by artistry
I’m making progress slowly. Nothing that shows on the site yet because I am still learning how to make the CSS do what I want and how to use pHp code and server side includes. I was able to make some modifications in the design of the template. Now I need to find the code for the footer and work on that. I still want quotes!
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09.11.05
Posted in Today at 11:44 pm by artistry
I have no room in my bookshelves. I need at least one full shelf right now to put away the books I have read. (I keep the ones to be read on a small rolling cart.) What to do?
- I could pack away more books, but I have already done that with my secular fiction books.
- I could pack away the curios I have on the top two shelves, but what is the use of having them if they are packed away?
- I could buy a curio cabinet, but a nice one would cost as much as another bookshelf, which would be more practical.
- I could just get rid of most of the curios, but they are special things that were given to me by special people or made for me.
- I could stop buying books, but who am I kidding?
The question came up because I finished another book and wanted to put it away. Maybe I will just pack some of the sheet music and other stuff from the bottom shelf for now. I haven’t touched that stuff in a long time. That will help and I will have room for MORE books. 
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09.10.05
Posted in Today at 12:50 am by artistry
Perhaps you are unaware of the rules regarding merging on highways? Perhaps you don’t know that it is up to the driver on the on-ramp to merge safely with oncoming traffic? Perhaps you don’t know that I, at least, do know this? Can you do us both a favor? When you see my car coming down the ramp, trust me to get up to highway speed and merge safely. When you try to manage my merge, you put me and all the other cars around you at risk.
- Don’t think you have to move over. I have you spotted and am gauging my speed and point of entry based on where you are on the highway.
- Don’t speed up to try to get by. See explanation above.
- Don’t slow down. By doing that, you probably put your car into the space *I* intended to fill. Besides, it really irritates the drivers behind you.
There is one more thing I wish you would try to improve, dear driver. You know that gap I leave in front of my car by not following too closely? I didn’t leave it for you to squeeze into. I find that not funny. I also don’t love it when you squeeze into that gap and slam on your brakes. I must say that it takes a huge amount of faith in my reaction time and the condition of my brakes for you to trust me to stop. I know how long it takes for me to stop my car at highway speeds. You see, that kind of information used to be in the driver’s manual back in the dark ages when I got my license. I didn’t find that information in the current manual, so perhaps you can plead ignorance.
Try to work on these skills, dear driver. The life you save may be mine.
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09.07.05
Posted in Today at 10:31 pm by artistry
38 Convoy of Hope trucks are on their way with water, non-perishable foods, disposable diapers and personal products like shampoo, soap, lotions, etc. for the victims of Katrina.
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Posted in Technobabel, Today at 1:09 pm by artistry
I’m trying to write my own CSS page for my blog and not having a lot of success. I like some of the things about the way it looks and will keep them, but I want to incorporate some other stuff.
- Like I’d like to call quotes from the database I built for Common Ground, similar to what David does on his site.
- And I want to change the color for the background. I really like the way it looks on my LCD, but it looks green on a CRT and I want the light teal color.
- Like I want to add a calendar.
- I want a section to list pages, so I can show some of the articles I have written. Of course, I may have to also add my revisions, as I have enlarged my vision since some of those were written. :-p
Those are just the first things I want to do … there’s more to come. And then I wonder if I am just procrastinating the site work on Xisti to play with code on this blog? Ah, but that is a question for another day and another topic.
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09.06.05
Posted in Faith, Literature, Today at 12:18 am by artistry
My son, David borrowed the final installment of the Left Behind series a from me, and it got me thinking about the books. So I have read the entire series again over the last few weeks. They are based on the book of Revelation from the Bible. I won’t get descriptive. If you want to know more, head on over to ChristianBook and check them out. The good thing about these books is that they made me study Scripture. And that made me study a lot of other books. The end result is that I am not sure I agree with everything presented in these books, but hey, they are novels!
I recently finished The Cross and Salvation by Bruce Demarest and Salvation to the Ends of the Earth by Andreas Kostenberger & Peter O’Brien. Having completed those, I need to work more on the paper I was assigned by my study mentor, a.k.a. Steven, my elder son.
I’m working my way through several other books too.
- Evangelical Feminism & Biblical Truth by Wayne Grudem – I am finding it enlightening. Steven finds me amusing on the subject. He used to call me The Great Feminist. Now I am not sure he knows what to make of me.
- Israel and the Nations by F.F. Bruce – It’s an account of the nation of Israel from the time of King David to the fall of the Second Temple. I like F.F. Bruce. He’s a reknowned scholar who can also write well. I’ve read several of his books and gone through his commentaries on John and Hebrews. Good stuff!
- Witness to the Gospel editted by I. Howard Marshall is a collaboration from several theologians. It deals with the theology of the book of Acts.
Besides the above list, I have several reference books like A Theology of the New Testament and Introduction to the New Testament which I keep close at hand while reading the above.
I’m learning and loving it and it keeps me out of the shopping malls. Gotta love that!
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09.05.05
Posted in Faith, Politics, Today at 9:43 am by artistry
Most people would agree from the vantage point of hundreds of years later that the Crusades were ill-advised at best. I read somewhere that in the camp of Richard the Lionhearted the cry would go up at night, “Help, help for the Holy Seplechur”. We need a similar cry today for the gulf region. While American resources have been plunged into the gulf war in Iraq, we have neglected needs here at home.
We should not be surprised at the scope of the disaster in the US gulf. It has been in the making for a long time. As recently as May, federal officials were warned of just such a scenario. Despite Warnings, Washington Failed to Fund Levee Projects. A study dated 2002 predicted just such an outcome. So what happened seven days ago should not have come as a surprise to anyone. What is surprising is the failure to immediately get aid in to these people. I’ve heard all the arguments about how difficult it is to get into the area. I have also seen the news coverage. I wonder how to equate the difficulty in getting to the area with the seeming ease with which news media gets into the area?
It is heartening to know that some groups aren’t waiting for the government to do it. The government is going to do only what they have to do to avoid public condemnation. There are others who are going into the area to help and are motivated only by love for the people who are in need. Samaritan’s Purse is one such organization. CAMA is another. You won’t hear much about these organizations in the mainstream news. They don’t wait to raise money. They don’t hold news conferences. They don’t produce telethons. They just go into the area and begin helping people.
It is a shame that many people won’t even consider giving to such organizations because they operate under the banner of Christian faith. I know many people who sincerely want to help the hurricane victims but would never give a cent to such organizations and would do their best to convince others not to do so. Their reasoning is that funding these organizations supports prosletyzing. I guarantee you that no one from Samaritan’s Purse is out there saying “repent and get help”, but that is what these people believe is the case. They can’t seem to understand that people will help because they love those in need. The philosophy at Samaritan’s Purse is to go into the area and begin to help, trusting that God will provide the funds to complete the job.
Today CAMA is encouraging churches throughout the US to put together teams who can go in and help rebuild the area. This resonates with me because I have long felt that we needed to develop a home mission strategy.
To my friends who fear prosletyzing, Get Over It! Put your money where it will immediately benefit the hurting people in the US gulf region. You are so fond of asking, “Where is God when ….?” God is moving in the hearts of people who are working today to bring relief to the gulf. Where are you?
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