Life Goes On

The baby shower was oozing in hormones--three pregnant women were there. Janet and Sarah made some great sandwiches and Italian cream cake was for dessert. Gwennie got lots of nice baby boy things. There was a game to guess the mother-to-be's girth. Another old lady and I tied with a guess of 40 inches. So she and I had a playoff by guessing the measurement across the belly, top to bottom. I won with 14 inches, and got a Starbucks card for my reward. Too bad I don't like coffee.

The wedding was nice too. Lovely hammered dulcimer and guitar music by Paul and Cathy McAndrews. There was a minor hitch during the ceremony when the unity candle refused to stay lit. They kept trying and trying. The accompanying song finished and they still kept trying. Finally a groomsman produced a jackknife from his pocket and the groom did some excavation on the candle, and then it stayed lit. Pastor Ken used it as a humorous teachable moment: "You know, becoming one isn't all that easy." True enough.

Cards

I wonder how many greeting cards I will have to make before I break even on the money I've spent to buy the stamps, ink, paper, etc?

I don't just sit around and make cards for fun. It is more like "cards on demand" whenever a baby shower or wedding come up.


Speaking of which, tomorrow we've got a baby shower at 11 and a wedding at 2 and the cards have been stamped and signed, ready for delivery.

Today I Voted

...for Ron Paul.

I hate politics. I have no clue about global economy. I just deal with life on a personal level. Ron Paul at least takes my personal stance on the abortion issue. (Now how that translates into legislation for him, I don't really know.)

If I were voting for someone to be my personal friend, I would have voted for Huckabee. He seems like an all-around nice guy.

However, neither Ron Paul nor Mike Huckabee have a chance, so, perhaps it was futile to even vote.

Another observation: at my precinct, the Democrat-Republican line was drawn very obviously along racial lines.

Rejoicing With Friends

This isn't the best quality video in the world, but the content is great. It shows the dedication of the Mofu New Testament which took place a couple weeks ago in Cameroon. Carrying a translation project all the way through to completion is really hard, there are so many things that can go wrong. So we praise God for the persistence our coworkers have had in order to be able to finish well.

And now we hear news of unrest in Cameroon. Our other colleagues who went there to escape unrest in Chad are really wondering what's up.

When the Body of Christ Lets You Down

That's kind of how I've been feeling recently. However, since I try not to whine too much on this blog, I won't go into the specific details.

I remind myself that disappointment in life comes from expectations that don't get fulfilled. So if my siblings in Christ fail to show interest in my well being when I have clearly expressed a need, I'm disappointed. Perhaps my mistake was expecting it in the first place.

Scripture (Galatians 6) tells us to bear one another's burdens, but in the same passage it also says to bear your own burden. Does that mean that I should help others when they hurt, but not necessarily expect they will help me when I hurt? Maybe it does.

2 Help carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are something when you really are nothing, you are only deceiving yourself. 4 You should each judge your own conduct. If it is good, then you can be proud of what you yourself have done, without having to compare it with what someone else has done. 5 For each of you have to carry your own load.