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Day’s Verse:
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:1-2
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Yesterday I told somebody that I wasn’t a leader when she suggested I lead the Bible Study that night. But thinking about it, I realize that I am a leader. I’m that take-charge person who talks for a group, who keeps things moving briskly along, who keeps everybody on-task and going in the right direction. I’m confident in what I think most of the time; although often I present myself as deferential or cringing, what I believe I advocate firmly and unwaveringly. Over the years my problem has been listening – or rather, not listening to others. In a marriage, though, you need to have the ability to listen and compromise, not just charge ahead confidently. So I’m also learning to shut my mouth and really hear what other people think and what they want as well. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who despil me, my deadly enemies who surround me.
Psalm 17:8-9
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In a symbolic gesture of welcoming spring, I have taken all the blankets and padding out of the windows over my desk and opened the window shades for the first time in probably four months. Natural light, reflected off the bright white house next door, finally penetrates our haze of artificial dimness. Boldly, my workout buddy and I have also begun discussing doing our cardio exercises outside in the morning. Even more boldly, crocuses have begun to seriously assert themselves – not the flowers, yet, but the shoots white-tinged-purple petaled flowers stand strong and boldly, popping out even between cracks in the sidewalk. It must be 60° out; everybody has emerged from their hibernation to bask in this new warmth. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 16:5, 6, 8
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A friend and I have started going to the weight room at 7:00 in the mornings every day. Something about urging myself physically to lift more, push harder, go longer – and feeling the dull ache of muscles that have seen use – leave me feeling happy inside. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.
Psalm 15:1-2
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As you can see, I’m experimenting with changing the general feel of my blog. This is, I readily admit, a direct result of reading material on branding for non-profit organizations. I realized that I wanted my blog to give off a certain feel, to reflect my philosophy of life: to show, as one article says, “the one thing that I do better than anyone else.” What is that? I love to write, and that’s what this blog is about more than anything else. But I also love photography, and that’s why I’m implementing the Pictures button (which will, like the Death Star, soon be operational) to display 10 current pictures. This is a switch from displaying the images on the front page, and I hope that you’ll take the time to look at my pictures if I don’t put them directly in your face. Additionally, I’ve taken as a basic symbol the rectangular button you see everywhere on the web to indicate my involvement online and show some of the dividedness I feel at times: sometimes bright, sometimes dark, never quite reconsiled to my situation, I just try to fit in the way I can. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
“Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.”
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He is risen indeed!

…And in honor of this bright, joyful day I’ve launched a new set of side-buttons and background. In the coming days I may change fonts and link colors, etc. This site can be altogether too dark and basement-like at times, and I’m ready to brighten it up! Let me know what you think of the changes, and if you have any further suggestions on designing it don’t hesitate to comment. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
And Jesus cried out gain with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and rocks were split.
Matthew 27:50-51
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This picture is of a tomb labeled Kennedy in the cemetery near our apartment. One day during the middle of winter I walked through the snow to the graveyard to see my favorite old stone, but snow had covered it too deeply. So I looked inside the Kennedy tomb, one of the few actual buildings in the cemetary, and saw that the designers had engraved on the wall next to the cross “It is life which is night and death is daybreak.” Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
The Lord has looked down from heaven…to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Psalm 14:2-3
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Have you noticed how certain music can recall certain events to mind strongly? Certain songs seem to have this power to draw me into a reverie of remembrance, often of bittersweet events. For instance:

• Hearing Jars of Clay’s disc Who We Are Instead, particularly the song “Only Alive,” brings back a vivid memory of wearing a sweater Ian left behind when he went to London. I was sitting on the floor hugging myself, listening to that song over and over, unable to stop crying. Much of Ian’s tenure in London I listened to that Jars of Clay CD and now I can’t hear it without thinking of that seven weeks.
• Hampton String Qartet’s HSQ Rides Again irrevocably conjures up the feelings and images of myself sitting in our apartment here A-term doing Calculus I problems. I just kept doing problems, sitting in that wooden chair, hunched over the table, papers strewn all over, HSQ playing on repeat until I memorized every nuance of every song.
• Certain classical songs, particularly Pachelbel’s Canon, bring to mind laying sick on our old couch at home, wrapped in an enormously hideous but warm quilt. Mom always played “green music,” thus named because of the green CD cover, to help us calm down and feel soothed when we were ill.
• Nearly all techno music makes me remember my Freshman year in college when I really got into that type of music. I listened to it constantly sitting at my desk, that typical college furniture, wedged between the wall and our mini-fridge. One song, Ferry Corsten’s “Be As One,” makes me think of a guy I got to know well that year, then lost all contact with the next year. We spent so much time together that first year – I did with several people – I felt sure our friendships would never end. That’s when I learned that moving two miles away put too much stress on those tenuous bonds, and that college friendships often mean less than a fall leaf’s blowing in the wind.

Those are some things certain music makes me think of. Do you have any particular music associated with certain events? Continue Reading >>