Bloglines hiccuped

Posted on April 20, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Last night I fell asleep on the couch watching the news, and next thing I knew it was about 2 a.m. Everyone else was already in bed, so I got up to turn everything off and go on to bed. I had left my e-mail provider and Bloglines open earlier in the evening, and as I went to turn Bloglines off, I noticed it said there were over 11,000 new posts. I thought I was seeing things a little fuzzy from my sleepiness, so I squinted and looked closer, then saw that every blog I am subscribed to through Bloglines was bolded, indicating new posts, and the parentheses beside each blog had numbers in the 70-200 range rather than 1 or 2.

I clicked on the “Bloglines news,” and it said they had experienced a small hiccup during the night and they hoped it wouldn’t cause any problems.

That was some hiccup!

I clicked on a couple of blogs and saw that there were no new posts — a brief glance through what was listed showed they were all old posts.

I went ahead and closed everything down and figured this morning I would just mark everything read and then go back and check out the ones that do tend to have posts every day. Thankfully all was back to normal — I think there were 21 new posts from the 79 blogs I’m subscribed to.

I love you guys, but 11,000 posts would have been a bit much. 🙂

Helping, not hurting

Posted on April 19, 2007 by Barbara Harper

This post by Yekwana Man is an excellent answer to those who think missionaries are having a negative impact on indigenous peoples.

I have known two missionaries, one in person and one through books, who ministered to primitive tribes who were killing each other off, the first by cannibalism and headhunting, the second because that tribe’s only way of dealing with any wrong was murder. This latter tribe was the Waodani, formerly known as the Aucas (an outside name given to them, not their name for themselves) of Ecuador. In the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor they told anthropologists that they had been almost down to two people before the missionaries came. Why would even any non-Christian want to see a whole people group extinguished due to infighting or disease? Especially these days when we clamor to save the spotted owl and other endangered species? Shouldn’t endangered people be at least equally as important as endangered animals?

Would anyone in their right minds really want such practices as burying a widow along with her husband or killing twins or deformed babies to continue? So many primitive tribes practice these kinds of things.

Why deny these people the choice of hearing that there are other ways? Why not allow them to hear the gospel and let them make their own choice? So many who bask in the multitudes of freedoms we have here in the US would rather keep people like this in darkness in the name of preserving their culture. Most missionaries I know of these days consciously and conscientiously try not to “Americanize” the native churches but rather try to respect their culture and form churches within that culture while introducing healthier ways of living and civil practices. Who could possibly have a problem with that?

Thursday Thirteen: Mixed Metaphors

Posted on April 19, 2007 by Barbara Harper

OK, so there are more than thirteen, but I didn’t want to eliminate any more than I already did. 🙂 I received these in an e-mail some time ago and thought they were funny. Enjoy!

1. “I don’t want anybody stepping on anybody else’s thunder.”
2. “You can’t pull the sheep over my eyes!”
3. “That guy’s a bullhead in a china shop.”
4. “We don’t want this project to snowball into a can of worms.”
5. “We were up the creek in a hand bag.”
6. “It’s best not to open that can of wax.”
7. “Let’s pair up into threes.”
8. “I just thought myself into a corner.”
9. “We really need to hang on to our coattails to ride the waves of change.”
10. “Once you open a can of worms, they always come home to roost.”
11. “She grabbed the bull by the horns, and ran with it.”
12. “They were up a tree without a paddle.”
13. “He’s got too many oars in the fire.”
14. “We’ll tackle that bridge when we come to it.”
15. “I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel.”
16. “You can beat a dead horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”
17. “Those two get on like a horse on fire.”
18. “You’ve buttered your bread, now lie in it.”
19. “Grasping at the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
20. “Don’t burn your bridges till you come to them.”
21. “He’s been burning the midnight oil at both ends.”
22. “It’s as plain as the egg on your face.”

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Heather’s love offering

Posted on April 18, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Don’t forget, today starts the love offering BooMama has set up for Heather at Especially Heather. Heather is the mother of the Emma Grace whose “Pray for Emma Grace” buttons you may have seen around. Heather just recently found out she has a brain tumor. She had appointments at the Mayo Clinic and M. D. Anderson for further opinions. This love offering is to help defray the costs of those trips and whatever other expenses they might incur as a result of this finding. Details for participating are here. But whatever you do, please pray.

Book Review: Finding Your Path

Posted on April 18, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I met Mitch and D.K. Raymer through the Thursday Thirteen. They both seemed like kind and gracious people, were genuine Christians, and I noticed Mitch often posted helpful job tips. My husband is in business and my oldest son was a business management major in college, so these caught my eye. At some point I noticed that Mitch had written a book called Finding Your Path: Your Path to a Job. It looked like something that would be good to pass along to my sons, but I never got around to ordering it. Then came a Thursday Thirteen in which Mitch offered a free copy of his book to thirteen people who signed up for it, asking only for our thoughts about the book when we were done. So I signed up right away! I received my book in the mail, told my son about it and left it on his desk, but kept forgetting to pick it up myself. So I finally put it on my Spring Reading List and just finished it this morning.

According to Mitch’s blog:

This book introduces Christian principles that will not only help you find a job, but find Christ, too. It is not intended for degree-holding professionals – they’ve already found their career path. This book is written for you, the backbone of America’s workforce. If you are:

a high school student who is not going on to college

a college student looking for part-time work

a SAHM who wants to supplement your family’s income

a blue-collar or service worker looking for “an edge” before your next job interview

a middle-aged worker facing a career change

a retiree re-entering the workforce

anyone who wants to brush up on your job hunting skills

Mitch has been an administrator and Human Resources director, reading thousands of applications and interviewing thousands of job-seekers. This book grew out of some of his experiences, finding that some did not know the basics about preparing for a job interview. Mitch is imminently qualified to write this book” he has been on the other side of the desk and knows what employers are looking for.

The first few sections of the book establish some basic foundational principles: how to have a relationship with God and know your sins are forgiven, how to grow in Him and depend on Him and seek His wisdom in “finding your path,” several character issues such as honesty, self-esteem (not based on false flattery but in the security of knowing God created you and has a plan for you), fear, humility, integrity, patience, God’s love and provision. As I read this part, I thought, what a great way to start! These issues are helpful in all of life as well as in finding and keeping a job.

The next section helps determine which path to follow by asking questions and giving advice about interests, aptitude, skills, levels of responsibility one would be comfortable with, needs, wants, and priorities. Two of my favorite passages in this section are Exodus 31:1-5:

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:

3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

4 To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,

5 And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

and Exodus 36:1:

Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.

It was an encouragement for me when I was a young person to learn that God didn’t just call people into “full-time Christian service,” but He also called and gifted all of us for the particular task He has for each of us. Mitch’s section here is very helpful for someone trying to determine just what skills God has gifted him with.

The next detailed and extremely practical section defines the tools one needs when job-hunting: resumes, cover letters, letters of reference, and examples of each. Then he moves into how to find job openings, how to proceed in applying for a job, what to expect from the interview process and how to present oneself during an interview, the best way to follow up an interview. Sprinkled throughout this section are helpful business etiquette tips.

I think Mitch did a wonderful job with this book. The words “practical” and “helpful” came to mind often as I read the different sections. There are many nuts-and-bolts tips and a foundation of faith: he not only starts out the book establishing Biblical principles, but all throughout the book he reminds the reader that God is in control and will guide and help him in this process.

This book would make a wonderful graduation gift or a great tool for anyone seeking to “find their path” in today’s job market. I highly recommend it.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Organizing quotes, jokes, poems, anecdotes

Posted on April 18, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I’ve collected a lot of quotes, jokes, poems, anecdotes, etc. on various topics over the years. I used to just save them in a folder with my saved e-mail, because most of them I received via e-mail. If I found something somewhere online that I wanted to keep, I’d copy and paste it, along with the source, and send it in an e-mail to myself to put into the folder.

But it was getting harder to find particular ones I wanted, plus all the saved mail was causing my e-mail provider to load slowly. So I have been working on taking all of these things and organizing them into Word documents.

Each member of our family has a folder with their name in “My Documents” on Microsoft Word. In my folder I created another folder called “Topic file.” I created several subfolders in my topic file for Holidays, Seasons, Marriage, Raising children, Trials and afflictions, Prayer, Missions, etc. — I add categories as I come across things in my files. Some of the folders are further subdivided into categories: Holidays, for instance, has subfolders for various holidays. In most of the folders I have a page for quotes; in some I have a page for jokes. There is a page for shorter poems but longer ones often have their own page as do anecdotes.

I use many of these things in personal correspondence, but I also use many both in my blog and in a newsletter for our church’s ladies group. When I use something, say, for instance, a poem about Easter, in parentheses after it I’ll put whether it was used on my blog or the newsletter and the date. This has been a great help because previously I’d have to leaf through past newsletters (all the May ones, for instance, to see if I had used a certain Mother’s Day poem yet).

This is a work in progress. So far as each holiday or season approaches, I go through my files and pull out everything on that holiday or season and then put them in Word documents and then create folders for them. That way it is not overwhelming trying to do all this at once. As I find new quotes, etc., I want to use, it is handy to find or create the file it needs to go in.

I thought about organizing it a little differently: making a folder for jokes, a folder for poems, etc., with topic categories within each folder, but organizing it by topic seems to work best for me. It has been a big help already in finding that certain story or quote I want without having to dig through a lot of files.

I don’t have many quotes from books in my files yet. I have a few books that I quote from often with little pieces of paper stuck in the places I like to quote. 🙂 That might be the next project after this one: getting some of those written out in a Word document and then into the right category. I also have things like this in paper files in a metal filing cabinet (from the days before computers 🙂 ) that I need to go through and transfer to the computer some day.

I’d be interested to hear if anyone has a different way to handle this kind of thing.

As always, visit the Works For Me Wednesday creator and hostess, Shannon, at Rocks In My Dryer for great tips on a variety of topics. We’d love to read any tips that you have as well!

Psalm Sunday: Psalm 14

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I am late with Psalm Sunday this week. We were busy til late Sunday evening, and I had fully planned to do this yesterday morning and just forgot, I guess because my Monday morning I usually already have it done.

Psalm 14

1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

5 There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.

6 Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.

7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
This is another of those Psalms that seems pretty straightforward — there is not much to say about it — it says it all! 🙂

Verse 1 did remind me of Romans 1:16-32, which traces the progression of people who “do not like to retain God in their knowledge” (v. 28) and are then “given over to a reprobate mind.” I used to think “reprobate” meant “really sinful” unto it was explained to me that it meant “unable to make sound judgment.” That explains some of the weird and unreasonable views and decisions in this day and age, I think. Sometimes I hear and read things that make me shake my head in wonder at the blindness. I think when people do not acknowledge God, as the first verse of this Psalm says, that opens them up to corruption, abominable works, and a lack of doing good.

Romans 1 also says,

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Man tends to glorify himself and his own “reasoning” powers these days. “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse…” God showed evidence of Himself clearly, yet people refuse to see it, choosing rather to explain away God’s majestic and marvelous creation by contrived theories of evolution.

Is there no hope then? There is always hope until the Lord returns again. “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three…” (I Cor. 13:13a). There is hope in the mercy of God, shown to all of us. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9). And there is hope in His Word: “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” (Psalm 119:130). May we faithfully share God’s Word, praying that it will give light to darkened hearts just as it did to ours.

More thoughts on this Psalm can be found at Butterfly Kisses.

An April Day

Posted on April 16, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Spring

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you’re two months back in the middle of March.

—Robert Frost

The past few April days have felt more like the middle of March…or even February!

The yard sale went well, though not quite as well as I’d hoped. I made about $100, Jesse made $20-something. I had come all set up for sitting in the sun, wearing a lightweight dress and having brought sunscreen — but we were freezing! We boxed up what we didn’t sell and are thinking about having another yard sale later on after we have a chance to sort through the attic. Or we might just give it all to Salvation Army — by the time you itemize it and get a receipt so you can claim it on your taxes, I think you probably come out about the same.

I thought families with boys would snap up some of the toys Jesse was selling, but I kept hearing parents say things like, “You have enough toys!” I understand that feeling, too! It’s funny what we get sentimental about — Jesse had about four “army sets” as we called them. One of them looked like a big tank from the outside but folded out into a flat playset for army men and Hot Wheels type tanks, etc., with little hills, turrets, roads, etc. He spent so many hours playing with those spread out all over the living room floor. I thought about saving them for grandkids some day — they are just neat play sets that I don’t think anyone makes any more, plus one day they might think it is neat to play with something that was their dad’s. But I was torn, so I didn’t say anything. Only one sold at first, so I thought we might get to keep the rest. But the last three sold in the last 15 minutes. 😦 Oh, well — I try to remind myself they are just things and hang on to the memories. One friend said it signified “the end of an era,” and I guess that’s part of it — knowing that my youngest is growing out of favorite toys.

I wrestle some times with saving for posterity vs. keeping sentimental things. We really don’t have much in the way of mementos from either side of our family, and I’d like to keep some special things for posterity. But I try not to keep anything that I don’t really think anyone will be interested in or that might break down over time — I figure it would be better for someone to go ahead and enjoy that now, so I give it away. And I remember my kids weren’t much interested in boxes of faded old toys at grandparents’ houses, so I only keep things in great condition that might be timeless in its appeal.

The fellowship also went well. There were a few less than usual, but it was “cozy.” I think our new youth pastor is doing a great job with the kids. His new wife was away for the weekend, and I had been looking forward to having her over, so I was a little disappointed there, but my friend Carol came over for a little while — she teaches first grade and usually just hangs out in her classroom while her kids are at fellowships since she lives too far to make it worth going home and coming back in that time period, so I told her she was welcome to come if she wanted to. So it was good to “visit” a little. 🙂 Before she became a teacher here we used to volunteer once a week at the school, and I really enjoyed working with her and getting to know her — I’ve missed our visits!

I told myself with all the busy-ness of the last week that I was giving myself today “off,” so I am sitting back enjoying my nice clean house and catching up on e-mail and blog-reading. While I was in the shower I was looking at the freshly-painted ceiling and thinking, “We ought to have people over more often!” Not for a while, though — we both need to recuperate! I wish Jim could have taken off today — I don’t know when he’s going to have time to do taxes.

I usually keep up pretty well with the regular weekly housework — meals, dishes, laundry, bathrooms, floors, etc. — and an almost-weekly “extra” job thanks to tackle-it-Tuesday. But somehow I need to incorporate some of the “extra” jobs into a regular routine so we’re not having to catch up on everything before company comes. Yet I don’t like a real rigid system, like every first week of the month this and this are done, etc.

After I got out of the shower this morning, I started having pretty bad muscles spasms in my back. I don’t know if I wrenched something this morning or if this is the result of working the last few days. After an Absorbine Jr. patch, ibuprofen, and a heating pad I am able to move a little better (did you know that when you blow your nose you use muscles in your back? I never knew that until blowing my nose sent a spasm across my already-spasming back!) I guess it is a good thing I hadn’t planned anything for today!

Walking Through the Flames

Posted on April 16, 2007 by Barbara Harper

A young woman’s faith in the midst of finding out she had a brain tumor* reminded me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s faith. They knew God could deliver them from the fiery furnace in and they resolved to believe in Him even if He didn’t. Since then a song has been running through my mind based on that passage in Daniel 3.

“Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).

Walking Through the Flames by Jeanine Drylie (words are here):

*I originally had links to her blog, but it is no longer online.

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Hobby

Posted on April 14, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Theme: Hobby | Become a Photo Hunter | View Blogroll

It’s been a busy day — and I am late with my photo hunt!

Needlework has been one of my favorite hobbies, and this piece was one of my favorite pieces to do. I made it before Jeremy was born, 22 years ago.

Here is a close-up of the detail I love about this piece. I don’t know if it will show up well, but the little iced cookies are raised and the little cupcakes have french knot icing. I love the stitching for the grass and fringe on the blanket as well.

It’s kind of sad that the boys have outgrown it and there is no place for it in the house now. I hope when the grandkids come along to have a room for them when they come over, so it will be back up then. 🙂

Most of the needlework I have done had been cross stitch, but most of that has been for gifts. I haven’t done any kind of needlework in ages — I wonder how well I’d be able to see it now.

One of my favorite hobbies has always been reading, as represented by two of our four bookcases: