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Conversion Experience

I received a bit of manna from heaven today in the form of a laptop.  Someone gave me an iBook.  I would tell you the person's name, but I don't want to embarass them.  So, yes, I have now become a Mac user. 

I will continue to use my PC laptop for recording purposes, but it was not portable enough to use for school (both the hinge on the screen and the keyboard are trashed), so this iBook is really going to be a blessing.  Now I can be like all the other cool kids who take all their notes on a computer!

To the providers of this manna (God and the person who previously owned the iBook): Thank you!

An Encouraging Night

Last night I played at a funeral for a gentleman I didn't know.  He knew me, though.  I played at a service at the nursing home where he was living before he died.  Apparently, his granddaughter used to ask him how the services were each week.  Each week he would say "nice" or "fine."  When she asked him how the accompanist was, he would usually say the same.  But on the day that I played, his answer was "he's gifted."

Thank you, God.  That feels good!  It just goes to show how often we might not know who we are blessing.  I find it all too easy to recognize my shortcomings, so it's so nice to be encouraged like that.  As I played the postlude last night, the congregants had to walk past me in order to exit the sanctuary.  I received so many nice compliments that it became hard to ignore the fact that I was appreciated.  It's kind of sad how much I have to hear it in order for it to sink in.

Thanks again, Lord, for your insistence on encouraging me last night!

The Spiritual Flu

I thank God for this bit of spiritual manna this afternoon:

"Sometimes I just know that I am going to come down with an attack of atheism again.  It's like the flu.  Spiritual flu, I call it.  I get ready to endure three or four days of doubt and deep distance from God.  Then through the grace of God, I find myself spiritually well again." (Madeleine L'Engle as quoted in Out of the Question...Into the Mystery by Leonard Sweet, p.113)

Debt

"At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts." (Deuteronomy 15:1)

What a great idea! If you are in debt, like me, just stop to think about that for a moment. What would happen if that were a law in your country? Every seven years, the credit card companies would just erase their records. Wouldn't that be cool? Of course, if you own a credit card company, you're thinking, "No, that would really be very uncool!"

I tend to think that this kind of rule might have been a lot easier to employ in the more simple economy of Bible times. But then again, the Israelites who were owed the money might have had the same reaction as above. It's interesting, however, to ponder the lesson involved here. God was obviously teaching his people something about the positives of grace and the negatives of extortion. It seems to me that those credit card companies have an awful lot of policies in place which are just plain designed to cheat, or at least fool, you into emptying your wallet into their bank account.

Anyway, the original purpose of this post was not to criticize credit card companies. My wife and I have been struggling with debt and were starting to "go under" after completing our adoption this past May. This has, among other things, threatened to hinder my plans of going back to school for my Masters. Someone has stepped in with one of the best kinds of manna, as I call it: money! They have given us a loan, to be paid back over 30 months. The percentage rate? A big fat, whopping ZERO.

I'm not saying who they are because I don't want to embarass them. But I will name the name of the God who makes this sort of thing possible. His name is, uhh...God. You know who I mean.

The Little Gifts

"Let the tools of the monastery and its whole property be regarded as if they were the sacred vessels of the altar...Allow no one to treat the monastery's tools and implements in a slovenly or careless way." (The Rule of St. Benedict, 31:10; 32:4)

I have found it theologically difficult to figure out what is from God and what is not, what belongs to God and what does not. On the one hand, we tend to compartmentalize life into what is sacred and what is secular. On the other hand, I wonder if there is something to be said for revering certain things, certain days, certain relationships. What do you think?

I have tried to live by the simple words from James 1:17—"Every good and perfect gift is from...the Father..." But this doesn't clear up where the bad things come from, does it? Nonetheless, it does clear up some confusion about who to thank for the obviously good things. What I would like you to think about today is this:

What are some of the good gifts from God that you tend to overlook?

-and-

What are some things that you/we could perhaps show more reverence toward?

Babysitter Manna

After my post "Photography Manna," the other day I decided to create a new Manna category. It's my way of publicly expressing the extra ways that God provides for me and my family.

Yesterday, my mother called up telling us she wanted us to go out. At least that's the way my wife communicated it to me. Basically, she wanted to babysit my son, so she offered to send us out on a date. Parents, this is a new revelation for me. This seems like a much better arrangement than the usual babysitting contract. Why should I have to pay them? They should have to pay me to babysit my darling child, right?

Valerie (my wife) and I have gotten serious about paying down some of our debt over the next year in preparation for seminary. It was a blessing to be able to go out on a date that was already paid for. Thanks, Mom, and thank you God!

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Grandma and grandpa with Liam on his first night home (we adopted him about four months ago).
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Photography Manna

I used to call any money I found in laundered clothes "manna." I figured it was money I didn't know I had, so why not give thanks to God for it! Yesterday I got a huge chunk of photography manna. A friend of mine has an uncle who does photography and has some spare change, if you know what I mean. He has a $24,000 photo printer, if that helps paint the picture (or print it, as the case may be). Anyway, this uncle decided to give my friend one of his lenses. I think it's a 28-300mm made by Sigma. My friend, in turn, decided he would sell the lens pictured above for $50. It's an 80-200mm f4.5 Canon zoom.

This is exactly what I've been wishing for to do my portrait work. A "long lens" helps to blur the background when taking pictures close up. I can also use it to do some sports photography, which I really enjoy. Thanks, Jeff, and thank you, God!