When Wireless Isn't An Option

I was inspired during a recent move to clean up the mess behind my desk so it would be easier to clean my office and maintain the myriad power and other cables plugging into my workstation.

By attaching as much as possible to a piece of plywood, and then mounting this beside--rather than behind--my desk, I can now get at anything that needs attention without straining to reach around behind my desk at floor level...

The Ultimate On-line 'Status'

Everyone should have one of these...

http://www.abevigoda.com

Conservation I can definitely support...

A quote from conservationist Chris Packham from an MSNBC.com article by Lizzie Buchen:

Humanity's experience with pandas has shown us that saving the species is not going to be easy — or cheap. In fact, eminent conservationist Chris Packham has called panda conservation "possibly one of the grossest wastes of conservation money in the last half century.” He said he "would eat the last panda" if it meant he could transfer all the money thrown at pandas to other, "more sensible" species (like insects, rodents, and plants) or to entire habitats.

See entire article here.

It occurred to me...

...that cell phones all over the US must have awoken this morning with a sense of insecurity that they can't explain.

Well, at least those without web access...

I'll be curious to see if the new iPhone delivers. It amazes me how shorting supply and creating panic demand effects buying decisions. I know several work colleagues who took today off or came in late to stand in line to buy...a cell phone.

The Importance of Patience and Perspective

From the book "The Making of a Leader" by J. Robert Clinton, quoting Miles Standford's "Principles of Spiritual Growth":

We might consider some familiar names of believers whom God obviously brought to maturity and used for His glory--such as Pierson, Chapman, Tauler, Moody, Goforth, Mueller, Taylor, Watt, Trumbull, Meyer, Murray, Havergal, Guyon, Mabie, Gordon, Hyde, Mantle, McCheyne, McConkey, Deck, Paxson, Stoney, Saphir, Carmichael, and Hopkins. The average for these was fifteen years after they entered their life work before they began to know the Lord Jesus as their Life, and ceased trying to work for Him and began allowing Him to be their All in all and do His work through them. This is not to discourage us in any way, but to help us to settle down with our sights on eternity...

Fifteen Years....wow.

BTW, I highly recommend Dr. Clinton's book if you're looking to get a 'big picture' perspective on your life and development.

Permanent Vacation

"However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." -- Romans 4:5 (NIV)

One Year and Counting...

My life changed on June 24, 2007 at 4 pm. I took today to mark the anniversary and reflect over the past year to see if time had softened the impact of what transpired between me and Jesus during my time of prayer that day.

It hasn't.

I'm happy to provide details to anyone that wants to hear them, but the bottom line is that I came to realize that my experience with Jesus wasn't lining up with what I said I believed. And when I took a quiet moment to let a few key truths sink in--and place my full weight and hope on them as reliably true--I experienced healing, and I began to be freed from a Perfectionist Mindset that was controlling my life and emotions. There's much too much to explain here; simply know that a truth you can't experience does you no good at all....

In my review of the past year's journal entries, I came across a passage from Psalm 73 that I think describes what I experienced:

When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

Yet I am always with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my
portion forever.

While it's painful to re-live the raw emotion and despair while re-reading these pages of my journal, I hope to return to them every year on this day as a reminder of how I want to live out the rest of my life--free from the self-condemnation of perfectionism and a performance-oriented value system.

Old habits die hard, and it's not as if my old ways of needing to do all things well to feel acceptable and valuable changed overnight, but I can say that I am not the same person I was a short year ago, and that brings great hope.