I am a relatively patient guy I think. If someone can’t hold their word for one reason or another, I usually give them the benefit of a doubt, quietly forgive, and continue on. However, sometimes people continue to “change their minds”, forget, or otherwise not do what they say they were going to do and there comes a point when it really irks me. Sometimes it’s small things that have no effect on me really, but other times it has an effect on my entire day and I have to change my plans because of the inconsistency of another. I understand when things happen beyond our control and we must make changes, but when you just change your mind because you don’t “feel like it”, well…that’s just not good enough for me. Does your word mean nothing? because the longer you carry on without keeping it, the more meaningless it becomes and the more trust you lose. Simply let your yes mean yes and your no mean no.
With all of this said, I can’t help but think of how God must have immeasurable patience and grace in order to put up with us. Every time we say “I’m going to pray more” or “I’m going to start reading my bible God, I promise” and we don’t follow through…how does God tolerate us?
Seems I’m not too different from the people I’m frustrated with. so, since I know they won’t change, WE won’t change, my only hope is that God can give me the forgiveness, patience, love, and grace that I need to not be angry with them.
So God, please grant me the patience today.
My 26th Christmas is quickly drawing to a close. Today was my first Christmas not at home in Winchester with my family. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be, but it’s something I really would like to avoid in the future… I have a good home in Ohio, a good family, and a good church. I miss them all…
I recently learned that one of my favorite bands, Over the Rhine moved out to an area in the country just a short distance from my home. It seems that I’m not the only one that thinks Ohio is nearly paradise, this is what they have to say about it:
Last year we moved to a pre-Civil War farmhouse on a piece of land surrounded by open fields and meandering tree lines. The sky is bluer out here by day and blacker by night. We see real stars after dark especially when the moon is new. When the moon is full, we walk the mown night paths in a light that feels sacred, a light that has the same effect on the body and senses as a good glass of wine, or secret good news, or maybe good laughter remembered silently from a distance. It was a dream to land in a place like this, plant our feet on a piece of earth surrounded by a few tall trees, trees that have been alive much longer than we have. Apart from good music, the sound of the wind moving through the pines next to the back porch may be as close as we’ve come to the sound of the Holy Spirit moving. We can get lost there.
My mind is refreshed when I remember that I’ll be back to the place I call home in just 7 short days. I can’t wait.
I’m now into what is likely the 6th or 7th version of this site. I was just getting tired of the old look and had been thinking about an upgrade for a while, I just hadn’t found the inspiration, time, or theme that i liked. fortunately all three of those things converged today and what you see before you is the result. i hope you like it.
two other things to note…i imported all of my old entries from 2004-2005 when i was using movable type, so there are now over 200 posts to trudge through if you wish. I also upgraded to Wordpress 2.0 on the back end (should have long ago!). I love the changes so far.
alright…two posts in one day, it’s a record!
If you haven’t already checked out last.fm you really should. (well, if you’re into music and tech that is)
last.fm is essentially a streaming music service, but it’s oh so much more than that! It’s like myspace in that it’s somewhat social and you have your own profile page, but instead of pictures and comments its mostly about the music. The basic rundown- you type in a few artist you like, hit play and it generates a streaming audio station based on similar artist. If you download an iTunes plugin (which i recommend doing), it will automatically upload a list of what songs you’ve played recently and in turn it will help you find more music you might like. It will even give you HTML code that you can put on your myspace and/or blog to let people know what songs/artist you’ve been listening to (something i plan to do soon). On top of all that, when it plays a song it gives you full disclosure about what you’re listening to…usually a biography of the artist, discography, and links to purchase the music. AND…you can recommend music to your friends with a simple click.
it’s not without it’s downfalls…for instance iTunes or other online music store links would be a nice touch, but since theres no partnership i understand why there’s not. Also there’s no “back” button…so if you’re wondering what the last song was that you heard, you’ll have to dig a bit to find out.
overall though, a great experience and something I would recommend if you’re in the mood to discover new music or would like to share your favorites with others…it’s better than fm or satellite radio that’s for sure…NO commercials, decent quality, and a HUGE selection.