Strong Tree - New Beginning

Some of you may have read one of my first posts in November regarding my favorite tree. If not, you can find it here:
http://seekingsimple.blogspot.com/2005/11/strong-tree.html

Basically, the tree in her glory days looked like this:

March 25, 2005

The summer of 2005 took a toll on the tree, and she began to weep:

August 17, 2005

I took a week of vacation and returned to find that someone has taken a vested interest in The Strong Tree. Today I got a new shot of her in her state of new beginning:

January 11, 2006

I love the fact that this tree's owner finally decided to give her a helping hand. She has always been so strong before, with branches held high and in a posture of hope and strength. God promises the same for us, to nourish us when there is no nourishment to be found. "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will stregthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." -Isaiah 58:11

Mental Cases

Well, here's some disturbing news:
"BOULDER, Colo. -- A Boulder County man found shot to death with his wife over the weekend was due in court Monday to be sentenced for soliciting sex with young girls.
The two bodies were found just outside a home off Sugarloaf Road on Sunday by a friend who identified them as Paul James Stewart Scott, 54, and his wife Patricia Birosik, 49. The home is owned by Birosik, according to property records.
Guns were found next to the bodies, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office said, and a single, joint suicide note was found in the home. Deputies say that both committed suicide and it was not a case of murder-suicide."

And if that in itself is not disturbing enough:
"According to the Boulder Daily Camera, before the couple died, they created a trust fund for their parrot so they could leave their estate to the bird. "

Last time I checked, there exist PEOPLE in our country who could probably use a nice house, or even a not-so-nice house. The bird? I guess it could stay, but does it seriously need the whole "estate"?

Sleep? No, Not Really

Today is my first day back to work and my first day of class (one night class on Mon-Wed) after a week of vacation and a few weeks' break from class. Let's just say I hope I make it to/from work, and if I go to class I will pat myself on the back. I had everything all set for a good start this morning and was in bed in time to get about 7 hours of sleep, but I tossed and turned ALL NIGHT! I don't think an hour went by that I wasn't awake for some period of time. And in between periods of waking up I was having this bizarre string of dreams, so I never really felt like I was resting. The good news is I had no trouble waking up at 4:15 because I was already awake!

I am heading out the door now... we'll see how it goes.

Photo of the Week

Central Park, NYC - April 2005

The Lord's Prayer, Personalized

I'm in the middle of some major spring cleaning here on January 5, 2006. I'm finding that most of the "stuff" to sort through is paper, more paper, tons of paper, and yet more paper. Mail, notes, cards, packets, etc. from years past. Some are now ready to be thrown away and some are still worth saving. I just came across this extended version of the Lord's Prayer that I wrote down a few years ago in September 2002 while on a retreat. I remember it being a very worthwhile practice to say the Lord's Prayer while expanding on it to make it more personal. I would recommend it. Here is what I recorded that day:

"My Father, who is in heaven and reigns over the earth, who created all things and knows all things, who was and is and is to come, who loves me and gave his son for me, who is slow to anger and abounding in love, and whose mercies are new every morning of every day.

Hallowed be your name, glory to you and praise to your kingdom, you are worthy of praise and of trust, you are holy and righteous, you are the beginning and the end, you are the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, you are almighty God.

May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, may you shower the earth with your glory and establish your kingdom here among us and within us.

Give me today my daily bread, fill me with your goodness, with the bread of life, sustain my body and my spirit by your grace and power.

Forgive me my debts as I forgive my debtors. Fill my heart Lord with the reality and understanding of your forgiveness that I might extend it through your grace to those around me. Change my heart, God, that I might accept your forgiveness as a free gift and therefore offer freely my understanding and compassion and love to those who need it in your timing and by your design.

Lead me not into temptation Lord, and protect me from evil. Father, show me the way to be focused on eternal things, to look past the enticing world around me. Change my mind, Lord, that it would be transformed from a self-serving, self-focused, self-feeding perspective into a God-fearing, God-serving, obedient and thankful perspective.

For your kingdom reigns forever, for all eternity, and your kingdom will reign in the hearts of your people over the power of Satan and all evil. Thank you Father for the victory over sin that you have granted through your son Christ and that I will spend eternity in heaven with you both."

Time

Yesterday I came across this statement in a book I am reading: "The eternal problem of the human being is how to structure his waking hours."

As I am faced with a full week ahead of being off from work, I find this to be all too true. I am also realizing that I am not as good at this without someone (like my employer, for instance) to create some structure for me.

I am also reminded that I need to get a new calendar. I have already gone 2 days this year with absolutely no means to plan!

Happy New Year!

I have to say, I am excited about 2006. I do not look back regretfully on 2005, on the contrary, I am amazed at what a great year it was. Despite ups and downs, failures, illnesses, and rejections, I can honestly say it was a great year. The simple things of Romans 12:12, while I have not been always consistent in them (will we ever?), are the reason each year can ultimately be viewed as good. Patience in affliction, faithfulness in prayer, and joy in hope really do go a long way. So moving on to 2006, why am I so excited? I don't know if I can quite put my finger on it, but I just woke up this morning and had a great feeling of expectation. I don't know what to expect, but I know it will be part of life's adventure, and I can't wait to see how it will unfold. In the trailing wake of Christmas, the good news is that every day is Christmas with God. Every day we are forgiven, redeemed, and offered a savior. We just have to keep our eyes open and focused on this truth. I was reminded this afternoon of the invitation in Isaiah 55:

"Come, all who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."

I hope that we will all take advantage of this offer in 2006. I hope that I will ask myself often what I am spending myself on and honestly be able to say that I am delighting in the richest of fare. Have a great year!

Goodbye Nightshift

Ahhhh, I am breathing a sigh of relief and am a bit overwhelmed with joy as my final nightshift draws to a close. To make this joy even more complete, I am on vacation next week, so I will be off for 9 days! It has been an interesting year, to say the least, working a rotating shift. I have learned much, experienced much, and overall decided that shift work is entirely unnatural and I prefer not to partake of it. The bitter counterpart to that sweet is that shift work brings with it a cameraderie of sorts that is not found in the dayshift world. We deal with issues and problems with very few people on site during night and weekend shifts, so we really have to work as a team. The other aspect of shift work to be missed is the off time. Although I have worked a lot of overtime this year, I have had 3 separate stretches with two weeks off, which is unprecedented in my 5 previous years here.

I may have some more thoughts later, but right now I am headed to give turnover to the dayshift foremen and wish them well for the next few weeks.

I will try to remember the photo of the week later on today. And before I forget, GEAUX TIGERS!!!! I am going to the Peach Bowl tonight and hope to see the LSU Tigers take the Miami Hurricanes by storm.

Morning Diversion

I should be fast asleep by now, but this morning I saw one of those rare glimpses of sunrise that captured my attention. Unfortunately my attention was captured for about 30 minutes. In fact, I gave up after a few unsuccessful tries at capturing it in a photo, but before I made it home I was turning around to give it another shot. The good news is that I didn't miss the greatest part of the sunrise. The bad news is I am realizing that it is near impossible to actually portray what I saw in a photo. This was the best I got, overlooking the Augusta canal, but it's a far cry from the real thing:

My favorite part of this shot is the hazy fog you can see hovering over the water.

Waffle House Wisdom

Waffle House is hands down my favorite restaurant. This is a place that offers familiarity, good food, warm smiles, cheesy music, and hot coffee 24 hours a day. What more could one ask for? There are also added bonuses for regular customers, such as receiving your "regular" without having to order, getting advice on any and everything from the staff, and discussing the local and national news with those of (extremely) varied opinions.

This afternoon I was having a pleasant breakfast at WH when a "regular" walked in and sat down at the WH bar. The waitress asked him how his Christmas was, and he replied that it was pretty good, could have been better, etc. Then he said, "I don't have everything I want, but I've got more than I need." It warmed my heart. Only at WH can one overhear such simple but profound everyday wisdom, because everyone at WH is there to dine together.

Merry Christmas (a day or two after)

To all who I have not spoken with this week... Merry Christmas a little late. I arrived back in Augusta last night from Columbus, GA where I spent Christmas with my family. It was a different Christmas for us, now that we have two young kids (my brother's) in the family, but different in a good way. My nephew was old enough this year to understand that we were celebrating Jesus's birthday and also to understand the idea of gifts. As of now, he can grasp the idea of receiving gifts but not giving them. One day he will discover the joy of giving, but that's a bit much to expect of a two year old. I think the fact that we all got to sing happy birthday to Jesus with little Ben leading the moment was a good enough gift for us.

Oh, the Places I Go

On my way to work last night, I passed a favorite Augusta landmark:

Then, on my way home this morning, I saw this:

Deep Thoughts from Deep in the Night

It's amazing how our brains work...

For instance, I can look at Chinese characters or some foreign alphabet and be utterly unable to make sense of them. However, I can look at words in English and be utterly unable to make nonsense out of them. Try it. Look at this page, or a page in a book, or a box of cereal, and try to trick your brain into not reading the words but just seeing gibberish shapes. So I guess that means we are trainable but not untrainable? I don't know what it means, but I just thought I'd share.

On another unrelated note, I have become aware recently of a band that I think I love. They're called O.A.R. Very well-done website also, at which you can listen to any and all of their albums all the way through. It is when I make discoveries like this that I really have to thank Sirius satellite radio for being infinitely more hip than the old-school radio. I would be lost in a world of bad music without it.

movies:::movies:::movies:::movies:::movies:::movies

I've seen the following movies in the past two weeks:

March of the Penguins
Elizabethtown
Pay it Forward (I had totally forgotten how this ended!)
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
Cinderella Man
Upside of Anger
Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I think my favorite of these was Cinderella Man, though I really enjoy most movies. You might say I should cut back on the movie-watching, to which I would reply, "I don't think so." Unfortunately, movies always come in spurts for me. Usually those spurts are just prior to a round of nightshifts when I am trying to stay up late (or right after the nightshifts when I just can't sleep). Trust me, there is really nothing else more worthwhile to do at 2am.

I still want to see Walk the Line, and I'm sure there are other good ones I can't think of right now.

Ramble On

Ahh, another beautiful Saturday night at the plant. I would give details about the happenings out here, but that's all top secret squirrel stuff. I am happy to say this is my last weekend of shift work, as I will be starting a normal 8-hr day schedule in January. It is a somewhat bittersweet transition, but more sweet than bitter.

This afternoon when I woke up, I went for a nice run/walk in the neighborhood. It had just rained but was not raining while I was out, so it was kind of nice. I like that damp post-rain feeling for some reason. I ran about 2 miles or so, not including the segments of walking. That's the most I have run in many months, so I was very pleased. I'm really thinking about trying another sprint triathlon next summer. The first and only one I did was in the summer of 2003 I think, and I haven't even thought about it since. But I really think a regular exercise schedule will be good for my neck, and the best way for me to exercise is to have a goal in mind. It got me out for a run today, so that's a start. I've been swimming here and there for the last several months, so the bike will be my next trial. Slowly but surely...

In other exciting news, I will be going to Waffle House after work tomorrow morning. I have been thinking about the hashbrowns (scattered, double-covered, and chunked) all evening. It will be a nice treat.

I can't believe Christmas is only 8 days away... wow, that crept up on me pretty fast. I'm looking forward to spending time with my family, and relaxing!

Photo of the Week

Georgetown, Wash DC - August 2004

Baby it's Cold Outside!

I'm sitting in my house right now, with the thermostat set at 67 degrees. It's cold. I know it's colder outside, but it really doesn't feel very cold in the sun. With gas prices climbing every month, I'm trying to keep a tight reign on the heat use this winter. I normally keep the thermostat on 78 degrees between October and April, so I'm doing well to stay around 67-68.

My realtor just left, and we decided to try to put my house on the market in mid-January. Unfortunately, that's not a great time to sell, but hopefully by late spring we can find a buyer. Now I just need to spend the next few weeks cleaning up and getting the house ready to show. Shouldn't be too much work as I have been taking small steps in that direction for a few months.

I spent the weekend (12 hours Sat and Sun) at work. Not a particularly bad weekend - pretty boring actually. I don't go back until Friday night, so my nice long weekend started last night. I went to a Wigalia (sp?) party last night, which is a traditional Polish Christmas dinner. It was really fun, and the food was good for the most part. The only thing I didn't try was pickled herring - can you blame me? They were also making mojitos, and I had a very good homemade mojito. For some reason I can't get them to mix up right when I try.

Today I will be studying for my Psych final, which is Wednesday. After that, I will have no school or class or tests for a good three weeks, and I am VERY excited! When I start back up in January, I will have only one class instead of two, which will be nice. AND I will be working dayshift, 8-hr days, so I will be almost normal. The other department that wanted to talk to me at work stood me up with the first meeting, and I haven't heard back. I'm still hearing rumors that I'll be going over there, but I still haven't been asked (or told) officially.

For today's simple thoughts, I was looking up the word "simple" where it is used in the Bible. It's interesting, because it seems that "simple" is used to describe idiots, but it is also used to indicate those who the Lord will show himself to and who will understand his word. So I'm still working on understanding that a little better, but I think there is some redemption to be found in simplicity as long as it is the right kind.

Photo of the Week

My Nephew as Santa - Christmas 2003

Photo of the Week

Bucharest, Romania - July 2002

These are children at an orphanage in Romania. Words cannot do justice to the experience of seeing and playing with them. The fallenness of our world really hit home.

Busy Week

Wow, no post since Monday, and tomorrow is already Friday! I know there are many of you out there (ok, maybe one or two of you) highly anticipating the Photo of the Week. If you are lucky, I will remember to do that before I leave for work at the pre-crack of dawn.

My only thought for today that seems interesting to me is that I find it hard to think of much when I have been so busy. On off days and down times, the thoughts are flowing like milk and honey. When I'm running around like a chicken, the thoughts become second fiddle to production, to-do lists, and planning for the next busy day or hour.

Most of the busyness this week has been school-related. Finishing up my on-line psychology course, studying for the anatomy/phys lab that I bombed last night, thinking about studying for next week's anatomy/phys test but not having time. Oh, and work for 12 hours a day. I actually took yesterday as vacation, but it didn't really seem like it due to the studying. Today at work was an eternity of meetings and various other nuclear fun. I found out that tomorrow I'll be having an interview with another department, potentially to start with them at the first of the year. I'm a little torn on whether to accept (assuming they offer me a spot) knowing that my desire is to leave in May. On the other hand, I am wanting to justify the move on two counts: (1) I think I will be utterly miserable in the position I am supposed to have this year if I stay in my department, and (2) I really don't know if I'll get into school, so I may stay at this job longer than I hope to.

Any thoughts/advice regarding this conflict would be appreciated, especially if you help me to justify making the move to the new department.