66 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-1-17”

  3. Wow. How did it get to be August so soon? I am learning more as I go, but there are some “caution lights”. I have worked for a month and a half now and have received 1 check for $1,000. The man who needs to sign the “memorandum of understanding” keeps procrastinating. He will be in the office on Thursday and I guess that will be the telling moment. One thing I have not done, that I needed to was pass the Florida exam. You know what happened there and since then I have been squeezing study into the 5 to 6 am time slot. I figured out yesterday that the way the class I teach has been changed and that for a month and a half I have been teaching it wrong. I dug around in the system yesterday morning and found a whole slew of information that will make the class better, but am I too late?
    The other half of what I do, includes a Monday conference call with a “coach”. Last week she was 30 minutes late calling me and spent most of that time telling me that someone else had needed her and she knew I would understand. Yesterday at 11am she posted in our group message that she was finished with her tasks for the day and was headed out to the pool. Then she sent me a text of a bottle of sparkling wine and a bottle of orange juice. I used the 3pm time to drive home thinking we could speak while I was driving. At 3:15 I called her. No answer.
    On the plus side, except for the stress of no money this is all waaaayyyy less stress than working for Guy. I still love what I am doing. I just want the other pieces to slide into their slots.
    I have an appointment sometime today to meet with a woman, set her up to get her real estate license, and perhaps bring her into the company to work with buyers in the areas I can’t cover. She sounds like a real go getter. She posted in a local FB group the other day that she was ready to go back to work and named an amount she wanted to bring home each week. Everyone piled on her, telling her she would never get that. She told them she had made it in the past and she would do it again. The next day she asked about getting a real estate license. I sent her a message and we spoke yesterday. The funny thing is, somehow she and I were FB friends. I don’t know how it happened and I didn’t know her. I started to delete her from my friend list last week and didn’t. Do you think Someone might have been looking out for me?

    Off to study, then work. I will pop back in later. Have a good day.

    Liked by 5 people

  4. Yesterday, Kim mentioned not having someone to “stand up” against, and today she recognizes that she still has an important face book friend. I mentioned that maybe that’s how :”luck works”.
    Sometimes keeping silent is best.

    Last night I went over to the church for a “Monday Miracle” It was a church service. Mostly old(er) people were there.
    The music was led by a Praise Band. That is a guy whose uniform is jeans with his shirt tail out, drums and three women at microphones. Thay also had drums. No matter how loud you might sing, all you could hear is them.
    What I’m getting to is this:
    They led us in a perfectly good hymn. “One Day”: You may know it.
    “One day when heaven was filled with his praises, One day when sin was as black as could be.. Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin. Dwelt among men, my example is he”
    Chorus

    The thing is: They took a very good melody and mad a rap son of it.
    That ruined the entire meeting for me.
    I was looking for someone to complain to when the meeting was over.
    It’s good that I didn’t find anyone. I needed to get home before dark.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. In case you don’t know what a “Praise Band” is, It works like this:
    A guy wearing jeans with shirt tail out has a guitar. He is the leader. There are others, ladies in our case, with microphones and a guy with a drum. He doesn’t need a mic.
    The leader strums his guitar and the drummer drums.
    Then the guy says, “One day”. That means everyone sings the first verse.
    Then he strums and the drummer drums. And he says, “One day” again. The song lasts a long time that way. We are supposed to be clapping with the music.
    I understand the millenials like that.

    It doesn’t really matter if you sing. No one can hear you, maybe not even you.
    But you are supposed to clap.
    I don’t

    Liked by 2 people

  6. I like that hymn and we also sing it. So far we haven’t turned it into a rap song. 🙂

    I went to bed early and should feel perky this morning but I don’t, at least not yet. Maybe after a shower and coffee. I actually think the stress of what’s going on at work has taken a toll on all of us. But I ran into our former executive editor yesterday (he now works for the port but his wife still does copy editing for us in another office) and his take is that they’re taking aim at getting rid of some the super high paid editors at one of our recent acquisitions in OC (they’re all paid more than any of the rest of us). He also told me they’d be ‘crazy’ to get rid of me, which made me feel good. If I can hang on I will, I guess. I’d at least like another 1-2 years to get better situated I think.

    On the other hand, the photographer who was with me (we were out at a port assignment on the waterfront) said he’ll be ‘first in line’ for a buyout. But his wife had a good government job and is retired, they own a house that’s now worth considerably more than $1 million (in one of our beach cities that just took off years ago and now has some of the highest valued property around) and they have since bought a second house in Oregon — they’re really financially set, to say the least. Kids are grown, parents gone — they love camping and he said they’d like to have at least 10 or more years where they still are healthy and can have some fun and enjoy not working.

    Had a strange dream last night that there was a coyote in the backyard after Annie but when I got closer I realize he was a pup, just a baby. I tried to scare him off but he wouldn’t be scared. You know in those dreams where you try to yell and nothing comes out? That’s how this one was.

    Frustrating. Maybe that’s why I still feel tired even after 9 hours of sleep.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Chas, we millennials don’t really like it when the old hymns are changed, if we know the old hymns. Being raised in a traditional church, I do. Sometimes I think if they add one more new chorus to a beloved hymn, I’ll scream. The worst was having a chorus to ‘Be Thou My Vision’ – it is a translation from the Irish, so it has been altered slightly already, but the hymn is over a thousand years old, while nobody knows how old the tune is, and they are perfectly beautiful on their own. I could almost wish this satire were true: https://babylonbee.com/news/federal-judge-orders-chris-tomlin-stop-adding-choruses-perfectly-good-hymns/. My city church’s Worship & Arts pastor doesn’t sing ‘One Day’ like a rap song, but the song is set to a new tune that is difficult to sing, since one is constantly wanting to sing the familiar words to the old one – I have to remind myself that the older tune may not be at all known to some of the younger folk, since their generation grew up in the 90s and 2000s with choruses dominating the service. I’m just thankful that they are singing song with more doctrinal content (and more words) than those 90s choruses had.

    Liked by 4 people

  8. Despite my plaint over added choruses, as the Preacher said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” The former generation also added superfluous choruses to perfectly good hymns. I give you exhibit A, Isaac Watts’ ‘Come we that love the Lord’. The version I prefer, with just the words written by Watts, set to the tune ‘St. Thomas’:

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Another, even older, alteration to a beloved hymn is the commonly sung final verse of ‘Amazing Grace’: “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun” which was added from another hymn titled ‘Jerusalem, My Happy Home’, not written by John Newton – this alteration was first recorded in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I would prefer to sing John Newton’s own final verses, which, after the third, are almost never sung:

    Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
    That sav’d a wretch like me!
    I once was lost, but now am found,
    Was blind, but now I see.

    ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
    And grace my fears reliev’d;
    How precious did that grace appear
    The hour I first believ’d!

    Thro’ many dangers, toils, and snares,
    I have already come;
    ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
    And grace will lead me home.

    The Lord has promis’d good to me,
    His word my hope secures;
    He will my shield and portion be
    As long as life endures.

    Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
    And mortal life shall cease;
    I shall possess, within the veil,
    A life of joy and peace.

    The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
    The sun forbear to shine;
    But God, who call’d me here below,
    Will be forever mine.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. It’s a case of the Emperor’s new clothes…

    I’m hard put to it to think of a person who has expressed unadulterated pleasure in the musical ensemble commonly called a praise band. There is always a “but…” with whoever I’ve spoken to on the subject, no matter how positively or negatively they express themselves. I think the musicians like it, some of them at least. We traditionally and classically trained ones who participate with the church music do so in order to keep our hand in, as it were, try respectfully to learn and listen.

    Therein may lie the key. All my church service accompaniment career, which is twenty years, I have had to submit my church music preferences to those of the pastor, the elders, and the congregation. I serve as a traditional church pianist and organist, I don’t lead. That is the key difference. It isn’t the instrumentation of the praise band – its contents of plucked stringed instruments, percussion, and voice are the same basic elements as used in the temple worship, after all – it is the position of leading, rather than supporting the congregation which is a departure from tradition. A church that had a full orchestra and chorus singing Bach and Handel leading the service would be equally disruptive to congregational singing. It is just that the manpower needed for an orchestra and chorus is available to very few congregations, but most churches can afford the sound system for a band.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Okay, I’ll bite. I love the members of the praise band. I just wish that sometimes they’d “lead us” in singable songs . . . I cannot stand the “entertainment” part of the praise band.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Our praise band contains itself pretty well — the idea is the congregation is singing and must be heard. Last week I sat too close, though, right by the drums, and that was a tad annoying. But sitting farther away works well.

    Like

  21. My husband has been gone since Friday and Stargazer is house sitting. It was only yesterday the computer realized they were missing and promptly died.

    Since husband is off with son who last fixed my computer when he left home and the machine died, I was perplexed. I shifted to the laptop, which was suspicious–“why are you suddenly here? Maybe I don’t WANT to play either.”

    Sigh.

    In my past life when the TV was problematic (childhood), we would thump the top of it, unplug it and plug it in again.

    In modern day, I dusted it’s face (yikes, how could I see anything?!), unplugged it and then plugged it in.

    So shocked–was that a threat to replace?–the computer turned right on. Chrome had saved what I worked on when it died, and I was back in business four hours later.

    Laptop is now downstairs sulking, but I’ll get back to it later today–for nothing to do with this computer. Honestly, it’s like living with children–and even more frustrating, if that’s possible!

    Liked by 3 people

  22. Question: the last couple summers I have wandered up and down the street with my camera a few times a week. A lot of the places I go by are farmers’ fields, with wildflowers and shrubs and even trees at the edge. Almost every house is well back from the road, so even the places where I might be shooting something in someone’s yard, it isn’t like I’m standing on their front porch; I’m standing right off the street and photographing someone ten or twelve feet from the street when their house is 150 feet back or even a quarter mile back.

    But I do have a very long zoom on the camera, and this summer in particular (since I’ve had the longer lens) I’ve had several people driving or biking by (presumably neighbors) ask me what I photograph. For all they know, I might be going up and down the street taking photos of peoples houses, which might make people uncomfortable.

    Anyway, here’s my question: in several of the yards in particular, some feature really brings the wildlife. One yard has a drainage ditch at which I have photographed muskrat, frogs, and a lot more; one has a mulberry tree where I have gotten a lot of good bird photos; one yard even has many acres that they keep in wildflowers (with a long driveway and a house well off the road), and I’ve gotten some excellent shots of the flowers and also of butterflies. I’m thinking of sending (taking?) two or three favorite photos from those locations to those homes just as a kind of, I don’t know, “thank you for letting me stand out in front of your house and take photos”? I haven’t been trespassing, I’ve guarded everyone’s privacy (no photos of houses or people), and I’ve been friendly and complimentary when I do see homeowners. In most cases they probably can’t even see me from inside their house, because of multiple trees.

    Would that seem creepy? friendly? If someone were to do that, would it be better to take a few photos or just mail them? I don’t want anyone to think I’m trying to sell them photos; it would be more along the line of “This is something cool I photographed in your yard, and I thought you might like a copy.” In today’s legal climate would that be risking some crazy lawsuit or unexpected offense? I live in the country in a conservative area. I don’t know how it would be taken. Any thoughts?

    Like

  23. At this point in time, it seems good that my church has a praise band made up of young people in our congregation. They are not overbearing with their music and seem to enhance the worship service. We also have traditional hymns, soloists, and a men’s quartet for variety. There is good balance.

    Like

  24. Cheryl, that is a nice thought which many would appreciate. Other people, for reasons unknown to me, might find it objectionable. As I have gone through life I have found some people have very unusual reactions to things I never would have anticipated would set them off.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. I liked both clips Phos gave us.
    My argument is not against the instruments, as such, but their use.
    Travis Avenue BC in Ft. Worth has an organ that hoots at you from the front and back.
    It drowns out all the congregation.
    Just as bad.
    I just like to hear people sing.

    Liked by 3 people

  27. I like the current church as we sometimes have a music player to help (though it does go on and on at times) but often it is just the folk singing and that is music to my ears and hopefully, to God’s.

    One church we were in, the worship leader (at least of the music portion of worship) wanted people to get all caught up in the music and be worshipful, so they were supposed to raise their arms at a certain time. She demonstrated but when the people did not follow along, gave up in despair and walked out mid song.

    Other churches have had the music so loud nobody could hear anything else.

    On larger (to me) church, had the group of musicians and singers but they kept the volume down so it was supportive of the congregation singing and I really enjoyed that.

    Like

  29. Good to be back here on the blog (from home).

    Miss Bosley was Homecoming Queen at her boarding school. Her log sheet had a red sticker warning, “Use Caution.” Also someone hand wrote, “Be careful!!!”

    I had to retrieve her from her cage. She was not a happy camper. Ten nights was too long. They said she is smarter than their average cat because she learned how to open the round doors between cages no matter what they did so the gave her the run of three cages. I am glad she had extra room, but am concerned about when they are full house at Christmas.

    I have loads of unpacking and laundry. Of course it’s interesting to try to do things when I have a velcro lap cat.

    We went to a safari area in TX known as Fossil Rim. It is at the edge of Hill Country. We saw many exotic animals I have never been around except for perhaps having seen them on television programs.

    Like

  34. The Pepsi truck is now headed to Minnesota from Michigan. The right general direction. I don’t believe Pepsi and ice cream should ever be in the same truck. That would be Root Beer’s place.

    Liked by 2 people

  35. I am having a difficult time transitioning from travel mode into back at home mode. It is mostly because I have a meeting to prepare for that happens in the a.m. I feel pulled between preparing for that and unpacking and doing other end of trip chores. I am also waiting to hear how my friend is who had her kidney removed. I have heard nothing. I am feeling unsettled. Does anyone have good transitioning tips for older people? At least Miss Bosley is settling down today.

    Like

  36. We try to come home a day early so we can recover before returning to work. That’s not helping you, of course. So, Sorry. I, personally, start the laundry right away and immediately read the mail.

    Like

  37. I own a thick black hefty Lutheran Study Bible–easily capable of braining someone. I love it for all the notes. It, no surprise, prefers Martin Luther’s commentary. This morning I started reading 1 Corinthians and come upon this note in the introduction about what Corinth was like. Read it and weep (written, remember, nearly 500 years ago).

    “In short, things got so wild and disorderly that everyone wanted to be the expert and do the teaching and make what he pleased of the gospel, the sacrament and faith. Meanwhile, they let the main thing drop–namely, that Christ is our salvation, righteousness and redemption–as if they had long since outgrown it. This truth can never remain intact when people begin to imagine they are wise and know it all . . .

    “Therefore St. Paul most severely rebukes and condemns this shameful wisdom, and makes these connoisseur saints out to be fools.

    “He says outright that they know nothing of Christ, or of the Spirit and gifts of God given to us in Christ, and that they had better begin to learn. It takes spiritual folk to understand this.

    “The desire to be wise and the pretense of cleverness in the gospel are the very things that really give offense and hinder the knowledge of Christ and God, and create disturbances and contentions.

    “This clever wisdom and reason can well serve to make for nothing but mad saints and wild Christians.”

    It goes on, but you get Martin’s point . . .

    Liked by 1 person

  40. Well, not technically according to the stringent training rules of the Sears snack bar.

    It was like this:

    * malt: ice cream, milk, flavor (choc, vanilla, strawberry) and a dash of malt powder or syrup; blend well

    * shake: follow above directions but leave out the malt flavor

    * Coke, root beer or Pepsi float — add vanilla ice cream, do not blend

    * ice cream soda: plain soda water, flavoring (choc, vanilla, strawberry)

    * Orange freeze: orange soda and vanilla ice cream, blend thoroughly

    Like

  41. Oh, and lest I forget — there also was a Pepsi Freeze and Root Beer Freeze — those were blended concoctions with the flavored soda & vanilla ice cream.

    Took me forever to keep it all straight when I started working there. 🙂

    Like

  42. Allow me to repeat myself for those who may not have understood: Pepsi and ice cream should never be in the same truck. I will expand that to: Pepsi and ice cream should never be in the same bowl or glass or any other container.

    Liked by 2 people

  48. I don’t care to spread rumors so won’t mention any names of course, but some people really like taking over the comment section. They may even go so far as to use more than one device.

    Liked by 1 person

  49. Maybe one they type righthanded and the other lefthanded. Who knows what goes on in the mind of such a person.

    Like

  50. By so doing, of course, those of us who are trying to carry on a reasonable conversation, find ourselves far from the actual discussion with a lot of inane comments in between our thoughtful ones.

    Liked by 1 person

  51. It is strange indeed to think that we, who have been friends for years, would have such nonsensical folk in our midst, but there you have it.

    Liked by 1 person

  62. Yup!

    Goodnight, y’all! Another day of first shift childsitting tomorrow. Had today off.

    (Decided to switch to calling it “childsitting” because Little Guy is not a baby nor a toddler nor even a preschooler anymore. Kinda miss those years, though. But he’s still cute & sweet now, even with his little boy rambunctiousness & occasional craziness.)

    Liked by 1 person

  64. So none of ya’ll attended the National Nite Out?..you know where you turn on your porch lite and then mingle with neighbors?? We had a small turnout tonight in our community park but our two deputies were a delight and their safety tips were encouraging to us all. I was blessed to meet a young couple and their high energy two year old son who just moved in the neighborhood a couple weeks ago. We had a pot luck…..we didn’t have any ice cream…but I did make some killer brownies😋

    Liked by 4 people

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.