51 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-2-15”

  1. Thanks for not making the creepy bug picture the header, Aj. Sorry Janice, I simply am not a bug fan.
    So… Aj, how is it going with Cheryl?? How can we be praying for you all. Has the swelling finally gone down? Are you having to take her to lots of appointments? Praying that this enforced time together is sweet for you all.

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  2. You know how it is never the big things that hurt the most? It is always something minor said in passing that ends up hurting me. I am in the office every day in an “administrative” capacity. The company gives Guy a thousand dollars a month towards my salary, yet I am still considered a 1099 employee. Today the president and the CEO are taking the receptionist and the executive assistant to lunch at a really nice local restaurant. The managing broker and the marketing department have been taken to special lunches. I know I no longer work for the company, I work for Guy. They didn’t do anything like this when I was in a position to have been included. Now they are doing lunches once a month for the top agents and even thought the “team” is top—well I am not one of the agents either really. I am more like an non existent character around the office. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I go to lunch with various people, just not any kind of “reward” lunch. All I want is to do something good and get recognized for doing it.

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  4. Kim, it took me a while to get used to not having any “perks” as a freelancer. I never had the special lunches out–for reasons I never understood, when an author came to town, the lunch with him almost never included the editor, who was the person who spent the most time with the author’s book. (It included the editor who acquired the book and who might suggest some initial revisions, but not the editor who spent a month going through it two or three times, more if it was a big book or it needed me to do major rewriting.) But I did have a lot of paid holidays and other benefits, and as a freelancer I had nothing. I even made less on an hourly basis when I did freelance work for the publisher I’d worked for full-time for ten years, which made no sense at all since they were no longer paying my insurance, my sick days and holidays and vacation days, and the expense of keeping an office for me, and so on. It took some getting used to. In fact, I still don’t like to think about it in November through January, when I’m usually making hardly any income, and in the office I would have gotten seven paid holidays and a Christmas party or two or three. (Although editors also never got the gift boxes from authors–they always sent those to the marketing department, which might or might not share. In ten years I got one Christmas box from an author, and he specifically told me to share with the others, so I think I took one piece of fruit and then put it out on the table.)

    I can imagine it would be difficult. Remember that you are primarily working for Christ, for the good of your family, and for whatever customers you serve, and only incidentally–and temporarily–working for Guy.

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  7. Countdown to cast removal! Celebration is in the air.♡

    So thankful that spikey caterpillars turn into beautiful butterfies. That means there is hope for all the prickly people in our lives, including ourselves.

    I posted late last night that I went to a Citizen Impact Religious Freedom seminar yesterday. Kelvin Cochran, the Chief of the Atlanta fire department who lost his job was the keynote. I was so inspired by him and all the speakers. Ted Cruz sent a video talk he made especially for the group. All other Pres candidates were invited, but he was the only one who reached out. A panel of four elected state senate and representatives told of their calling to be in office. This is a program to encourage Christians to seek local and state offices. Another man spoke about the original Proclamation for a Day of Prayer in our nation. He said it basically relates the gospel and includes the name of Jesus. It is legal to post it in schools because it is a historical document. You can find it on the web. If they take down the Ten Commandments, he suggested using this instead.

    Citizen Impact wants to expand to other states. They are a great ministry of encouragement for those Christians in elected office and constituents who want to make a good difference.

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  8. I was sitting here reading the paper and it occurred to me that I hadn’t told everyone

    Good Morning everyone!.
    I had already read what jo, Kim and Aj had to say, but I picked up the paper and my coffee cup
    and forgot about you.
    😦

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  9. Kim, it is thoughtless of them not to find a way to include you. It is a refection on them, not you. If the tables were turned, you would find a way to include the one left out. They are going the worldly way and not the Christian way. These are hurts we won’t know in eternity.

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  10. Chas, how could you forget us? I know that you were just being spikey when you said that! 🙂

    Today I am giving rides to two different people. One is to the WMU meeting and the other to a doctor appointment. My friend is getting better so maybe soon we can see War Room.

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  11. Kim, I know you want a clean break from Guy, but if there are aspects of the work that you enjoy, would you consider contracting to do that for him on your terms and at your rate? You might be able to freelance with him and several other agencies just doing what you most like. I know you are good at what you do.

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  16. Kim – Cheryl’s reminder that you are working for the Lord first & foremost is a good one. As a stay-at-home-mom / housewife / stay-at-home-grandmother, I take care of my family in various ways, & cater to their needs & wants in various ways, but I don’t often get much appreciation. I decided long ago that I am doing what God has called me to do, & that I do it all for Him most of all. That makes a difference in my attitude when I feel unappreciated.

    (However, having said that, I should give Lee his due. He has made it a habit of late to express his appreciation to me occasionally, & that has been an unexpected blessing.)

    Does Williams-Sonoma pay a flat rate plus commission? I bet you would do great there.

    Emily had an interview at GNC, in the mall she currently works in, & they pay minimum wage plus commission, which surprised me. But she’s not sure she wants to take a job in which she has to actively sell. (She has a second interview coming up soon.)

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  21. Another?

    A child asked his father, “How were people born?” So his father said, “Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.” The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, “We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.” The child ran back to his father and said, “You lied to me!” His father replied, “No, your mom was talking about her side of the family.”

    http://www.laughfactory.com/jokes/clean-jokes

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  22. My brother may still lose his job, but there is nothing like the mention of possible lawyer involvement to change the tone of voices and treatment. 🙂

    This was a secondary benefit to my book reviewing. I knew the name of a lawyer with Christian values. 🙂

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  23. chas, glad to see the newspaper comes first. 🙂

    I’m having a very scattered day amid a scattered week … I had a morning meeting to cover today (barely got there in time) along with planning for covering tomorrow night’s meeting with another big story to do before that today. The council office let me come to their “trial run” yesterday in the theater so I would be able to back write some of of the meeting coverage (important as deadlines Thursday night will be horrendous and very tight).

    So late afternoon yesterday I was the only person sitting in the 1,500-seat theater as the councilman read through his lines and they showed some of the videos they would be using as his air called out directions from the balcony. But it was really very helpful.

    Meanwhile, I’m getting pulled by both sides of this homeless debate now to talk or meet with them beforehand which I just don’t have time to do. There’s nothing more to say on top of that! Argh.

    And, of course, all the other personal things that need tending do, like getting my Jeep in for a recall check, getting Carol up to the central LA library & errands on Saturday, picking up meds for my dogs Saturday morning first … My head is spinning. Good thing it’s a 3-day weekend, I’ll need it.

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  24. And the doggie website that I want to freelance for contacted me again, wondering if I’m still interested … Of course I am, but am wondering how to squeeze all that in (once I get a handle on what they want it should be pretty quick and easy for me, I think, but I’m still trying to sort out what they want).

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  26. A lot (22) of booklet length books by R C Sproul are free for Kindle at Amazon.
    On Sunday I found abook in the church library that he wrote when he was young. He looked nothing like he does now on that back inside cover photo. I never would have guessed him to be the same person.

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  27. Today at WMU I was asked to do the prayer calendar and then the prayer for the missionaries for the group of ladies. Considering I use to be afraid to pray aloud, I felt okay doing it with the nice group of women. I thank God for bringing me along to feeling more comfortable in that role.

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  28. Yesterday when I dressed for the seminar, it was not until I was along my way with sunlight filling the car that I realized that what I had thought were my brown slack were plum colored slacks. It was too late to go back. It wasn’t a terrible mismatch, but I did feel rather stupid and hoped no one would pay attention. Then when I got there, they did not find my registration so that always creates a bit of chaos.
    All’s well that ends well. At least it was better than a fairly recent seminar I went to where I failed to pull the plastic strip off the pants leg that indicated the size of the new slacks. Whoops! 😦 🙂 i wonder if I can count those as “senior moments” or if they are just “me” moments.

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  30. Re: RC Sproul and all the other men caught by the Ashley Madison hack- I am reminded of a quote I recently saw (I think it was A.W. Pink) “The best of men are but men at the best.”

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  31. In his defense, Sproul Jr. did not do anything other than look at the site, & let his imagination get the best of him for a bit. He was a widower at the time, so no adultery was involved.

    From his brief blog post on the matter…

    “In August 2014, in a moment of weakness, pain, and from an unhealthy curiosity, I visited Ashley Madison. My goal was not to gather research for critical commentary, but to fan the flames of my imagination. There I found two gracious judgments. First, I felt the grace of fear. Second, I felt the grace of shame. I was there long enough to leave an old email address. And within minutes I left, never to return. I did not sign up for their service or interact with any clients. I have always remained faithful to my wife even after her passing.”

    http://rcsprouljr.com/blog/general/judgment-and-grace/

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  32. Kim, I don’t really know much about R C Sproul, Jr., but I have probably retweeted some of his tweets on Twitter. His dad is really good as a teaching pastor on radio. I appreciate his ministry and books.

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  33. I guess I am extra sensitive because a girl I grew up with was married to a minister of music who had a porn addiction. It tore their lives apart. He was asked to leave the church, they divorced, she is now in another state. She lost a lot because of his actions.

    I am not of the jealous type. I have pointed out other women who have their brestesis on display to ex husband and to Mr. P…Mr. P didn’t know what to say except to stammer and ask what I was talking about. Yeah, right. Those were hard to miss if I noticed them I know for sure he did. He’s man. I also figure he was single for 18 years before he met me and he didn’t HAVE to marry me. If he wanted to pick up strange women in bars he had plenty of time to do it before I came along.
    Before the internet and all the cheating and porn sites, I laughed about it “being OK to look at the menu as long as you didn’t order”.

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  34. Very sad, and yet Sproul Jr. I think mentioned the unveiling of his email as a sign of God’s grace, which is the right attitude.

    I suspect that the lure of porn via TV & the Internet is huge (well, I know it is as it’s supposedly the single most popularly searched topic online, according to something I read). Among men, and that would include Christian men, it’s got to be a very real temptation.

    Meanwhile, I’m having the kind of day I thought I’d have. 😦 😦 🙂 Not good. Stressful. Too-too busy. Frustrating.

    Along with everything else, I’ve been accused in a private FB message by a stranger of being a “liar” and “anti-catholic.” In CAPS. So there you go.

    Waiting to see if the last version of my homeless story passes inspection so I can get the heck out of here.

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  35. If men had to pay for inspecting the menu, all of us would be broke.
    All of us 😦

    Pastor Steve taught on Genesis 18 tonight.
    The Lord came and visited Abraham and Abraham entertained him.
    Sarah fixed some food and he had a calf slaughtered and prepared.
    I’m an oddball.
    A couple of things I wondered about.
    What did they talk about while they were waiting?
    It took a long time to do all of that. It occurred to me that nobody was in a hurry in those days.
    Hurry, I suspect is a recent phenomenon.
    Concerning Sodom, Steve mentioned the condition in America today. He specifically mentioned the persecution of the Ky. woman who wouldn’t issue a same sex marriage license..
    Then, concerning our nation, he said something I said in a different way here many times.
    It may be that God found ten good men in Sodom.

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  36. AND.

    All the posts from years of the pets’ blog I did here are gone, vanished, wiped off the internet.

    Now blogs were deemed not very important in our newspaper online world in the past year or two, so we didn’t put a lot of focus on them (especially considering all the other tasks they’ve heaped on us in the meantime, including today’s training which was learning how to write for mobile platforms).

    But I figured the archives lived on in the blogosphere somewhere on the Internet. Doesn’t look like it.

    Would have at least been nice if they’d sent us a heads up about erasing everything.

    It feels like all those years of posts were just a waste of our time.

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  38. Thanks Karen.

    OK, I emailed the blogs editor who says it all *should* be there, somewhere, he’s going to try to get it back.

    Meanwhile, tomorrow may be worse for me.

    So I’m thinking of running away from home, hitting the highway tonight with the dogs. The cat’s on her own.

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  39. Speaking of that woman in Kentucky – the county clerk, Kim Davis, who has refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, there is an interesting discussion about her on a friend’s Facebook post. Apparently, not only is she not issuing them (nor to straight couples, either), she is refusing to let any of her deputies issue them, either. That seems to be abuse of her position.

    One of the commenters said that this must be a dilemma for conservatives. On one hand, we want freedom of religion, but on the other, we tend to be “law & order”, “obey the rules” type of people.

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  45. Donna- Hope your evening is going better than your day. Hey, if you run away, go to Mobile and you and Kim can lean on each other’s shoulders for moral support. And you can see her battleship. It turns out the pictures Mrs L took from the moving car didn’t turn out the best. You can tell what it is, but not much else. Someday we’ll go back and see it up close.

    I seem to be having Internet issues so if this post shows up twice, blame Centurylink. If you ever get an offer form them, don’t accept it!!! Unfortunately, in this small town they’re the only ISP.

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  50. Hey, Jo!
    I am awake. I have a tummy upset. And husband said he isn’r sleeping because he is worried about looming corporate deadline. So I prayed with him, and Miss Bosley nipped at me because she wanted attention since everyone was awake. Well, even in the middle of typing this I had to run to the bathroom. It is one of THOSE nights.

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