Monday, September 27, 2004

SOTD: Mercies New

Today’s Song of the Day is Mercies New by Nichole Nordeman. Based on Lamentations 3:22-24 and Psalm 103:11-13, it’s a nice reminder of God’s unbelievable compassion, grace, and mercy for His willful children.

Mercies New
by Nichole Nordeman

Is it fair to say I was lured away
by endless distractions and lovlier attractions then?
Or fairer still, my own free will
Is the better one to blame for this familiar mess I’ve made.

So I would understand if You were out of patience
And I would understand if I was out of chances

But Your mercies are new every morning
So let me wake with the dawn.
And when the music is through, or so it seems to be
Let me sing a new song
Old things gone…
Everyday it’s true, You make all Your mercies new

The distance left between east and west
Is how far You would go to forgive the debt I owe
And thrown into the sea the wicked ways in me
Will never have a chance to wash back on the sand

So I would understand if You would make me pay
And I would understand lying in the bed I made again.

But Your mercies are new every morning
So let me wake with the dawn.
And when the music is through, or so it seems to be
Let me sing a new song
Old things gone…
Everyday it’s true, You make all Your mercies new

Up comes the sun on everyone of us
Gone, gone, gone the guilt and shame that knew Your name

But Your mercies are new every morning
So let me wake with the dawn.
And when the music is through, or so it seems to be
Let me sing a new song
Old things gone…
Everyday it’s true, You make all Your mercies new

Posted by at 11:44 AM
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Sunday, September 26, 2004

Praying for the President

Bryan challenged Christians to pony up to praying during the last 40 days of the election.

I’m under the strong conviction/impression that we must be committed to pray for the President. What I want to make clear is that I am sincere when I say this is non-partisan, and I’m acknowledging the possibility that John Kerry could win, and Christ-following US citizens—myself included—are equally responsible to pray for him as we have been to pray for President Bush.

So, setting aside my bias toward submission to this duty, here’s my plan.

I’d like to have (at least) thirty-nine of you commit to joining me in a recorded concert of prayer for the President—for the person, for the Office, and for the candidates.

I had to pray about his challenge because I realized that I wasn’t willing to pray for a potential President Kerry. So, after some struggling with God and my own political heart, I’ve decided to join the ranks of the faithful who will be praying daily through November 2. Click here to see the current calendar of daily prayers and praying bloggers. Posted by at 08:46 PM
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Shoe Fly Sunday

I drank my morning coffee from my Sgt Hook coffee mug, so it’s only fitting to let you know the latest in Hook’s effort to bring needed supplies to the people of Afghanistan.

JILDALEK VILLAGE, Afghanistan – As the helicopters touched down and Soldiers exited the aircraft, many villagers looked on with anticipation.
The two CH-47 Chinook helicopters that landed in Jildalek Village were carrying more than 800 pounds of humanitarian aid donations including food, clothing, shoes and toys for the villagers. The donations were the result of the “Operation Shoe Fly” and “Angels for Afghanistan” programs.

[...]

“When we found out the Soldiers were there for the donations, we sent word out to the surrounding villages that donations were available at the school construction site,” said Qayoom, the regional security commander.
The construction site that was used for distributing the donations is a PRT-funded project to help rebuild the education system in the area.
While the PRT is working to improve the educational opportunities in Jildalek, the Soldiers of TF Pirate are using the donations supplied through the two organizations to improve the everyday lives of the people.
Although not all the villagers knew about the donations in advance, more than 200 people came to the donation site to receive clothing, shoes and humanitarian aid from the Soldiers.
Along with supplying the villagers with supplies, the Soldiers are also working to make the village elders a part of the re-stabilization efforts in the region.
In an attempt to give the village elders a larger role in the donation process, the Soldiers let the elders hand out the gifts, while they oversaw the process and took care of crowd control, which was necessary due to the large turnout.
On a recent trip to Jildalek, the only villagers that came to receive the donations were the men and boys, said CWO Layne Pace, TF Pirate AH-64 Apache pilot. During this visit the Soldiers had a nice surprise.
“This time, while there were still no women, there were quite a few young girls who came to the donation site and received shoes, clothes and stuffed animals,” he said.
As a sign of gratitude for what is being done for the people in the village, Qayoom invited the Soldiers to a tea lunch, which included green tea and cookies in the shape of a tree.
Qayoom again thanked the Soldiers for all the help they are providing to the village.
“We welcome all the help you are able to provide to the region,” said Qayoom. “We know that all help is from the heart, and we are very grateful.”

Thanks for all you’re doing to serve our country and the people of Afghanistan, Sarge. Posted by at 08:26 PM
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Saturday, September 25, 2004

Possession

It’s been a typical Saturday of errands and laundry and cleaning. I managed to watch Possession this afternoon.

A pair of literary sleuths unearth the amorous secret of two Victorian poets only to find themselves falling under a passionate spell.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhardt play the literary sleuths, Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle play the Victorian poets. It wasn’t the greatest movie I’ve seen, but it passed a nice couple of hours. I have to say that there were some scenes where Gwyneth reminded me of Grace Kelly - she was luminescent and has that classic face. Jennifer Ehle will always be Elizabeth Bennet to me, but she was good in this, too.

It’s definitely a chick flick and I give it 2.5-3 stars out of 5.

Later, I tried to watch Oklahoma! with Hugh Jackman, but instead of the correct disc that contains the actual filmed musical I got the bonus disc. I did watch that, but there wasn’t enough Hugh to make me completely happy.

Posted by at 10:03 PM
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Friday, September 24, 2004

215 Years

On this date in 1789, the US Marshals Service was born. For a good general overview of the USMS, click here.

We received a nice letter from the President to mark the occasion. It’s always nice to get kudos from the boss.

Posted by at 06:54 PM
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To The Sandbox

A friend of mine is heading to The Sandbox for a short-term bit of “playtime.” At a farewell lunch for him today, another friend of ours kidded that he thought we should pray for his safety as he departs, but then reconsidered that maybe the bad guys Over There need the prayers for safety against our cohort. (He’s a little intense and very “go get ‘em")

If you think about it, please be praying for him and his wife (they have no children). He’s excited to be going, but his wife is understandably concerned. He’ll be gone for up to about 6 months. The main concern is that he’ll be roaming for the most part - they’ll start in Baghdad, but then they’ll be travelling for the rest of the time. Communications with him will be spotty at best.

Posted by at 05:38 PM
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TAR Extras

My sister mentioned Team Asshat in the comments to the finale post and I decided to do a quick check at TWoP for info on some teams from previous seasons.

Team Asshat has their own website. As I explained in the comments, they were so named by Miss Alli at TWoP because Ian acted like an @ss and wore a goofy hat for the entire race. And don’t forget that Teri was the enterprising racer who wore the paper underwear.

The Brothers from Season 3 also have a website. They were a fun team to watch because they gave each other such grief, but in a good way. Loved them!

The detested Team Guido also has a website. There’s not much there, except a cute picture of Guido-the-dog.

Kevin and Drew also have a website. I know a lot of folks didn’t love these guys, but I did.

FloZach no longer have a live website and Team Cha-Cha-Cha’s website is down as well. I’m a bit meh about searching out other teams.

I think I’m going to have to create a TAR category for all of my TAR posts. Especially since we have Season 6 coming soon and I’m the game leader for the leagues this time.

Posted by at 11:53 AM
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BS of the Day, Item 538

Two bumper stickers this week:

1. Defend America - Defeat Bush

2. Be Patriotic - Vote Against Bush

The first is catchy, no complaints really on that one for the content. The second one I don’t much like for a couple of reasons. One, I don’t like the idea of voting against anyone - I think voters should vote for someone. Two, I don’t like the patriotism of those who plan to vote for either candidate to be questioned - voting in and of itself is patriotic, no matter for whom the vote is cast.

Anyway… I report, you decide.

Posted by at 11:33 AM
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Thursday, September 23, 2004

O & D

The latest pictures of the two cutest kids on the planet.

Posted by at 07:06 PM
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Please Make It Stop!

There’s a local bank that has a newish jingle on the local radio stations that I loathe. It’s dreadful and it’s playing all over the place several times a day. I can’t escape it (except to turn off the radio, but that ain’t happenin’ b/c I love my talk radio).

Why it’s bad:

1. It’s trite.
2. It sounds like it was recorded in 1982.
3. The singer has a pleasant enough voice (at least she sings in tune), but she sounds like an amateur. I’m an amateur singer and I know that I could sing that jingle better than this chick.

By amateur, I mean that on a word like “you” that covers more than one steady note, she breaks out with the “yoo-hoo-hoo” to cover the three notes that were written for that word. I hate that. I also hate when singers slide up or down to find a note, but she doesn’t do that, thankfully.

One morning this week, I was listening to one talk station and that jingle came on so I hit the button for another talk station and they were playing the same jingle! ARGH! I’ve been listening to CDs in my car ever since.

Anyway, I hope they had a small budget for this particular ad campaign, because I can’t wait for this thing to stop being inflicted on my ears.

Posted by at 05:15 PM
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Serendipitous Things

I just rediscovered a blogger whose blog I used to read regularly, but who decided to quit blogging when he started grad school. It was one of those random, weird finds.

I was checking my referrer stats and noticed a link I hadn’t seen before. So I clicked it and found this blog that was in Spanish, but I scrolled down to see how they got to me and got to the BlogSnob ads. Listed in the BlogSnob ads was the blog of the brother whose blog I used to read (are you confused yet?), so I clicked on that link out of curiosity. Read a few posts and then noticed a link for his brother’s blog in his sidebar, so I clicked it.

Looks like Matt decided to return to blogging in August with a new blog called Infinitely Tortuous. He’s been added to This Roll in the sidebar on the right and I’m very excited that he’s back to blogging.

In my perusal of his blog today, I found his post about Iraqi blogs, in particular Iraq the Model.

I just figured I’d plug a blog I’ve been reading regularly since June, and just haven’t gotten around to mentioning here yet. It’s one of many blogs written by Iraqis who are taking full advantage of their new freedom to say whatever they want without fearing for their lives or those of their families.

There are a few such blogs that I read, but I’ve found Iraq The Model to be the best. (It has links to others, which have links to others, etc., for the curious.) It’s written by three brothers—two dentists and a doctor.

I was astonished when I first came across it. All kinds of stories about how thankful many, many Iraqis are for what we have accomplished over there. Do we hear any of it over here? Of course not. Just quick daily sound bites of how many people had died in fighting the previous day. Anyway, I was hooked. These people are not “partisans"… their number one interest is survival, both their own and that of their country.

I plan to spend some time reading over at Iraq the Model when I have more time to devote to their archives.

And welcome back, Matt!

Posted by at 02:50 PM
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There Are Some Good New TV Shows

This may turn into a TV blog since that seems to be what I’m talking about the most lately. I’m eschewing politics for a while to keep family harmony - I have plenty to say about what’s going on in the election, but I’ve decided to zip my lip for a bit. I’m sure that once the debates start I’ll have a hard time with that.

Anyway, I watched the premiere of Lost last night and I have to say that I think I’m going to like this new show. I was surprised by some things - one being that there are 48 survivors that the show will be following. That should keep things interesting. I was also surprised by the scene with the plane engine (I won’t say what happened for anyone who may not have seen it yet, but plans to) - pretty intense for the 8 o’clock hour. This may be the new 24.

I caught the promos for The Bachelor, which I have no plans to watch. Interesting twist with the ladies getting to select from 2 men before the chosen man gets to winnow down the firled of 25 ladies to his one true soulmate. */sarcasm* My initial thought on seeing the two fellas was that on looks alone, I would choose the traditional looking guy over the shaggy haired dude.

I read a book in the 9:00 hour while I waited for CSI: NY at 10pm. I like this iteration of the CSI franchise much better than the Miami show. I don’t like that it’s on at 10pm, but I guess I’ll have to deal with that to see some good TV.

Posted by at 11:37 AM
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Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Lame Church Sign #8

This week’s isn’t lame in the cliched sense, although it still elicited a groan from me this morning.

TGIF
Thank God I’m Forgiven

Amen. But I’m not sure that will draw the masses in the doors. Posted by at 07:26 PM
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Dinner With Dave J

I had a lovely dinner with Dave J, he of the frequent visiting and occasional commenting here. My regulars may recognize his name. He needs to start his own blog, and I know that I’m not the only who has told him that. He’s got a lot to share.

Anyway, he let me know that he was going to be in the DC area this week and we made tentative plans to have lunch. Schedule conflicts turned lunch into dinner, which was cool since we were able to chat for a little longer than I would have been able on a lunch hour. Although I did have to cut our time a little short because of Annie.

Dave’s a charming fellow with a sweet smile and killer dimples. He’s also wicked smaht. Why he reads my ridiculous blog is beyond me - judging from the other, way more lofty blogs he reads, I’m truly mystified by his continued presence in my stats and comments. Of course, he’s always welcome to elevate the conversation here.

Thanks, Dave, for a nice evening and safe travels.

Posted by at 04:22 PM
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TAR5 Finale and League Standings

Man, that was a great finale! I’d have to rank this season as one of the best, although there were a few weak things (the Yield idea for one) that maybe the producers should rethink.

Our league finished 4th overall, with 18,680 total points. That’s pretty good, I think.

Our league winner, kdeweb, came in 12th overall. That’s pretty impressive. She took the lead in our league early and no one was able to catch her. Well done.

Our league standings:

The Amazing Race 5 Weekly Challenge
kdeweb—2935
jenspeaks—2855
Jaynee—2610
tygertyger—2510
princessjami—2290
chrissw—2275
SteenShell—1665
denis—1540

So take a breather for the next month or so and we’ll get geared up for Season 6 when CBS finally announces when it will air.

I do have a ton of notes from last night’s episode, but I’ll have to add them later. Busy morning ahead.

UPDATE (12:23pm): My finale thoughts are here. ----->

Posted by at 11:45 AM
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