Woe to me, made a mockery by the colour of my little Mazda Protoge5. Dr. White’s praise of my work seems hollow when he lacks respect for the fact that MY WIFE PICKED THE COLOUR!!!!
*whimper* I would have picked red… or black… or lazer-blue… or some other manly colour.
We’re in #ProsApologian right now listening to Canadian tunes via streaming MP3. I’ll keep the stream running for a few hours, so feel free to tune it at http://www.peteweb.com:8020/listen.pls!
My daughter, Alyssa, hit the double-digits today. She turned 10! AUGH! We’re having a thing at Micky D’s, and we’re gonna party like it’s 1999!
Happy birthday, also, to Tieren who turned 28 on Thursday. Birthday’s galore!!
We also had a blast yesterday with 80’s Flashback Friday. 10 hours of Duran Duran, Journey, The Bangals… and somehow Debbie Gibson kept slipping in there like some kind of fungus. Debbie Gibson = the Eighties Britney Spears. Apperently she’s now “Deborah” Gibson, and does Broadway stuff.
In the next few days, we’re going to have “Love A Canadian Day” where I’ll be sharing some tunes by Canadian folks, new and old. Remember Luba? Gowan? Alanis before she found her last name? Plus the cool stuff.
Join us on the #prosapologian chat-channel, where we’re enjoying Eighties Flashback Friday. If you have a high speed internet connection, and WinAMP or RealOne, ask for the stream URL and bop to the hits of the 80’s!
Lots of fun yesterday with the “Open Phones” edition of The Dividing Line, and some excellent questions/discussions.
Click here to listen to it.
Also, Pete’s Eighties Flashback will definitely be making a comeback. That was fun.
Well, my division has officially moved to its new offices centrally located in the downtown area of the thriving metropolis of Wolfville, Nova Scotia. We produce vertical-market software, so we don’t have a “walk-in” space, but I’ve got my own office now, and a quiet space to work, so that’s pretty cool. Originally, when I discovered that I was the only staff member getting a “private” office, I thought it was because I was special in some way. But now I’m wondering if it isn’t “special” in the sense that nobody wants to work in the same room as me.
Gee… I wonder why that is? I mean, I don’t do anything TOO weird, other than sing “Goin’ to Kenya” in an unending loop, occasionally punctuated by a hearty cry of “mushroom, mushROOM!”
The only big down-side to this whole situation is that our offices are located right next door to a Tim Horton’s. The last time I was in such direct proximity to a Tim’s was when I worked next to one at Bayer’s Road Shopping Center, and some 30% of my income went into the eager hands of Dave Thomas. Thankfully, my coffee consumption has gone down a great deal since then, and hopefully the Rrroll Up The Rim to Win campaign will end before I file for bankruptcy. Thankfully, I know who to blame for this now… or at least, I know who’s mom to blame for this.
Small groups at the university went great last night, and I can’t express enough the level of encouragement I get from these younger folks – most of whom have been Christians far longer than I have. Every single one of them are so unique and precious (as in diamonds, not as in baby-pictures), and each brings something no other could offer to the discussions. Sharing time with those folks is the biggest booster anyone could ever want!
“They came back looking exactly the same… but we all knew… they was all SWITCHED UP!” -Fisherman The Blair Thumb
Once again the Dividing Line has changed it’s airtimes. It’s returned to the “Tuesday Morning/Thursday Evening” setup. click here for the current schedule. They claim it’s because of schedule conflicts, but I think it’s just because they are trying to make it impossible for me to schedule maintenance on my server, so things will go terribly awry, and my brain will explode, and spread debris for miles and miles.
Here’s yesterday morning’s Dividing Line so you can catch up.
PS: Thanks to all those who had words of encouragement regarding my last entry. I think Rev. David King said it best when he advised, “That only comes by doing it.” One of these easy ways to tell when someone is speaking in the Spirit is when the Lord punctuates that with Scripture (Mark 10:17-22), and then brings about circumstances to further reinforce the point. The Lord is indeed patient towards me – infinitely so. I’m thankful for that, because I’m generally a big dummy who doesn’t like to learn the hard lessons. =)
It’s been a really confusing couple of weeks, and I’m sort of at a loss on how to describe it, as you can sort of gather from my previous blog entry. In fact, I’m really not sure if it’s even worth the effort to describe, because really… what’s the relevance? Who cares?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying “Woe is me, nobody cares about me,” or anything like that – but I have to be honest. I don’t have any close friends other than my wife, and even she recognizes that I have a self-destructive tendency to distance myself, especially from things that are going to be emotionally stressful, even from her. That’s nobody’s fault but my own, so recognize that I’m not whining about how people haven’t been there for me or anything along those lines. There’s billions of people in the world who have far deeper needs than I do, rest assured.
But, the fact remains, I don’t have any real Christian friends per se. The only time I get called/emailed is when somebody wants something. Whether it be help with a computer, or a web site, or something done at the church. That’s the only kind of telephone call I get. The irony is if someone actually did call for anything other than that, I would get uncomfortable and anxious to get off the phone! *click* Boooooooooooooooo…
Ask the folks on #prosapologian – every time someone starts talking about me in any way, I go on a crazy tirade about Furbies or Pez or the like – anything to put focus on something other than my problems. Yes, I know some see right through it, but hey – as long as they’re distracted long enough to realize that “these aren’t the droids they’re looking for,” then all is well. Or is it?
No, it isn’t. In our small groups, and in my church, there’s been a lot of talk about the absolute need for fellowship, and the mutual compassion we are supposed to have for the members of the body. Who can I depend on? Especially now, when I’m going through an emotional mine-field, which is affecting my life and loved ones in very real ways, when I’m hurting people I don’t want to hurt all because of my own introspective stupidity! More importantly, who can depend on me?
Intentionally cutting one’s self off from real fellowship is just as self-destructive as something like alcoholism. God gave us not only His grace and a relationship with Himself, but he gave us each other. What does it say about me when I rejoice in one of His gifts, but then say, “Umm, you can keep the fellowship-thingy, okay? It’s not really my color.” How does one manage to fight their way out of that degree of utter madness?
Heh. The real beauty is, nobody really knows what that previous blog entry is about. Nobody knows why I think “ignorance is bliss.” Why? Because I haven’t told anyone – and even when I have talked about it, I’ve done my best to be cold and separated from it. Why? Well, because ignorance is bliss, I guess.
Duh. It’s a wonder He lets me take another breath.
It’s a sunny Sunday morning, and there’s a thick blanket of fresh snow on the ground. It should prove to be an… [thinks for a moment]… interesting day. For starters, we’re going to be looking at Polycarp and Ignatius today in Sunday School. “Iggy,” as I affectionately call him, has to be one of my favorite fathers of the early church. He was so passionate, and yet slightly unbalanced, specifically when it came to the subject of martyrdom. We’re going to look specifically at his letter to the Romans, as his high view of martyrdom is going to become very relevant a little later on, as persecution wanes.
However, more importantly, I’m thankful that I’ve heard from a loved one who I was very concerned about (as mentioned in the previous entry), and I’m looking forward to becoming reacquainted with someone who’s been very distant for a very long time. I would covet your prayers for this person – God knows their name. Pray for peace in their life, a peace which can only be had in Christ. I am desirous that you should pray for a family member, as well, who also desperately needs that peace. These things – peace, love, joy, hope – they can only come from one source, and I pray that wellspring would pour out generously upon these folks.
At the same time, while Christ commands us to proclaim the Gospel, it is of primary necessity that we meet the needs of those with whom we would share our testimony. Before Jesus spoke of being the bread of life, he fed those who were hungry (John 6), for who can hear the words of the Teacher above a rumbling stomach? Who can hold the Scriptures to read them when they shiver from the cold? Can the parched man speak an answer to your questions? Can the ill or infirmed come to the church to hear the sermon? What hope can there be for those imprisoned in either body or mind when all they know is despair?
Therefore, I pray that I might be more vigorous in meeting the needs of those I would reach. The greatest testimony for Christ’s work in our lives is not the ability to dialogue on matters of ‘ologies’ and ‘isms,’ but how His love for us, and involvement in our lives plays itself out in our actions, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) I pray He help me (and all of us) to see that, and know that, with more clarity daily.
