The church name is changing!

After months of prayer, planning, and discussion, we took a congregational vote last night of intent to change the church name. The question wasn’t one of voting for a specific new name; rather, in this step, we indicated our decision that we want the name to change. Next up is to pick a specific name. We’ll meet again in a couple weeks to do that.

Our hope in this whole thing is that our church name would not be an impediment to the gospel. I think it’s a good step.

fun with guitars

So yesterday I took my guitar in to see about getting the pickup fixed.

Let me back up. I have a Takamine Acoustic/Electric that my folks got for me back 12 or so years ago. It’s been a very serviceable guitar. About 2 years ago it developed a short in the end-pin jack, so I couldn’t get it amplified. Now, I hadn’t been playing it that much, so it didn’t matter too much. Finally, about 18 months ago I took it in to our local guitar shop, Stars Guitars, to have them replace the jack. They replaced it, but then found that they couldn’t get the pickup to work at all. So, they didn’t charge me for the jack, but didn’t solve my problem, either.

Fast forward to this week. I’m now playing guitar for church every-other week, and my in-hole single-coil passive pickup just isn’t cutting it. So, I figured I’d take it back in and have them take another look. About an hour after I left it there, I get a call on my cell phone. When can I come pick it up?

It ends up that whoever installed the end pin jack last time wired it backwards. Oops. Switch the wires and everything works fine.

So I’ll go pick it up tonight. Better late than never.

in another life, I would like to be...

I keep a little running list of things I’d like to do if I had another life to live. Not that I’m complaining about my life now - it’s great and right where God wants me. But this is still a fun little list to keep. Feel free to add your own!

In another life, I would like to be…

  • …a Major League Baseball umpire
  • …an FBI agent
  • …a US senator
  • …a musician in a touring rock band
  • …a proprietor of a music store
  • …a crew member on a freighter or cruise ship

I’ll add more later when I think of them.

my blog is boring

Becky was bored the other day and reading over some blogs (something she doesn’t do very often), and after about an hour she informed my that my blog is boring. While other folks (my siblings and friends) tend to write about their feelings, what’s going on in their lives, what they’re learning, deep stuff, my posts tend to be more “informational”.

I thought about it a bit and agreed with her; because I tend to post quickly, my posts end up being short bits of information, updates on my life, and occasionally reviews of things I’ve heard or read. You find precious little in the way of soul-searching or philosophizing. I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t do those things enough in the rest of my life, or if I just don’t get them transferred to my blog with much regularity.

In my defense, I did point out to her that blogging styles differ greatly depending on the person; I gave her for reference Geof’s more terse, informational style, Kari’s writings on life (and her book reviews), and Michaela’s picturesque essays. I don’t think she read them; she had to go do something else. She did remark, though, on how my being able to reference, from the top of my head, several other blogs for examples just made me even geekier. I suppose she’s right.

Also in my defense, I noted that when I extra time to just sit and write, my writing style changes. Reference a post from the pastor’s conference this summer. She acknowledged that this was true, and that I don’t have much time to write. Of course, then last night after I’d spent 45 minutes catching up on my blog reading while we were watching football, she remarked that if I hadn’t spent all that time catching up on other people (most of whom I’ve never met), I’d have had time to write some stuff myself. Probably true, but I just wasn’t ready to write last night. Reading was good.

So I guess from time to time I should try to make my blog more “interesting”. In the mean time, bear with my “informational” style. :-) Hey, if anything, a blog should represent the personality of the person behind it… and mine does. Good enough for me.

feel the beat of a distant thunder...

I have a confession to make. I had been avoiding purchasing Andrew Peterson’s latest album. I don’t know exactly why; I think I had listened to his previous album once and it didn’t really do anything for me. So, I ignored the rave reviews of the RMFO folks and passed it by. I mean, I purchase too many CDs anyway. It’s a really bad habit.

Yesterday, though, I was in the local Christian bookstore on a quest to purchase another item, and The Far Country was sitting there on the demo rack, taunting me. I fearlessly slipped on the headphones and took the challenge. About 30 seconds into the first track I was hooked. I listened to bits of the first three songs, had my opinion cemented enough to merit the sacrifice of $13.97, grabbed a copy, and headed to the cash register. I took it home and listened all the way through it twice (along with repeats of a couple songs an additional time or two), and have listened to it twice again today.

I don’t know how else to say it…. this is a phenomenal album. Andy P has captured the longing for that far-away place with songs like The Havens Grey, Lay Me Down, and, perhaps most notably, Little Boy Heart Alive. His songs are rich in imagery, with abundant references to the writings of C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Musically, this album is also a gem. From the light rock of the title track, to the soft tones of The Queen of Iowa, to the acoustic wonder of Mystery of Mercy (a nice contrast to the Caedmon’s Call version of the same song), it just grabs you from beginning to end.

There were two times listening to The Far Country when I felt like I was listening to the late great Rich Mullins: the hammer dulcimer on Mystery of Mercy, and, well, the whole song Little Boy Heart Alive. I could write so much about that particular song… maybe I’ll make it a separate blog post. It is terrific.

Learn from my lesson. If you haven’t heard this album yet, go listen to it. It’ll grab you. In the end, you’ll thank me. Yes, it’s that good.

One final comment: there is this choice credit in the album liner: “Assistant Executive Producer: Andrew Osenga’s Right Middle Toe, Esq.” :-)

OfficeMax Replacement Watch, Day 26

I received my OfficeMax gift card yesterday in the mail. It was accompanied by a cheesy little letter telling me how sorry they were that my PDA broke, and praising me for my foresight in purchasing a replacement plan, and expressing their hope that I would buy a replacement plan again for my new PDA. Heh. So, last night I went to OfficeMax and purchased a new Palm Tungsten E2.

It’s going to work out OK. I had to put an extra $50 out of pocket, but it has a $50 rebate coming back from Palm, and it came with a nifty leather cover as a bonus. The one thing I’m a bit disappointed about is that they changed the sync cable interface… the old Tunsten E had a mini-USB connector, which was great since I already had a couple of those cables. My guess is that Palm realized they weren’t making enough money on extra cables and such, so they went back to some proprietary connector. Arrrgh. Now I need to decide what to get so I can sync it at home, too… I’m thinking maybe a cradle for here at work…

So now I’ll have to find other subjects to keep up my consistent blogging. Maybe it’ll be good for me to prove that I can consistently write even when it’s not about something that’s making me mad. :-)

OfficeMax Replacement Watch, Day 25

Still counting. Maybe I’ll get my gift card before the holiday weekend… but that may be too much to hope for.

I sent an inquiry last week via the OfficeMax website, requesting some contact information. I wrote:

Could you please send me the name of the store manager for the Cedar Rapids, IA Collins Road store, and also the name and mailing address of the district manager who has oversight over that store? I would like to contact them regarding my recent store experience. Thanks!

This morning I finally received a response, but it was not very helpful…

Thank you for your interest in OfficeMax.com. I don’t have the name of the store manager. The district manager is [name deleted]. I have forwarded your email to his email address. I do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. If there was anything else we can help you with please feel free to contact us. Once again thank you for you interest in OfficeMax.com.

Sincerely,

Unique

Customer Service Representative

First of all, “Unique”?!? I hope that’s not somebody’s real name… secondly, they totally ignored my request for a mailing address. Maybe he’ll respond via e-mail, but I doubt it. Grrrrr……

Take heart, though, my entire life isn’t this frustrating… I guess those parts are just the easy ones to blog about.

OfficeMax Replacement Watch, Day 24

Today I missed my first event due to not having a PDA to beep at me… I was supposed to meet a friend for breakfast at 6:30 and I totally spaced it. Sitting at work about 8:15 it finally dawned on me that I was supposed to meet him… Arrrgh.

OfficeMax Replacement Watch, Day 23

Still nothin'.

On another warranty replacement topic, I remembered this morning that the Countryman E6 microphone that broke on me has been in for warranty repair for nearly two months now, with no response from Countryman. Guess I’d better get back on their case about it.

The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers

On my last visit to the local library, I found a slim volume on the “new books” shelf: The Simple Faith Of Mister Rogers, by Amy Hollingsworth. I was a moderate watcher of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood when I was young, and I’ve read just enough about Fred Rogers to know that I was intrigued when I saw the book on the shelf. Yesterday provided me with some blessed free time to read, and so I made this little book my Sunday-afternoon diversion.

Ms. Hollingsworth is a pastor’s wife, a journalist, and writer. She met Fred Rogers when she had the opportunity to interview him some years ago. They then carried on a correspondance that lasted until he passed away in February 2003. From her experiences with Mr. Rogers she is able to share both observations about and philosophies learned from the man who was a daily TV visitor in so many families’ homes. The result is a book that is part devotional, part biography, and part personal memoir. Regardless of the composition, though, the result is a wonderful little book.

Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, but took great stock in that charge oft-attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: “preach the gospel… when necessary, use words.” As such, his gracious, encouraging manner spoke love, peace, and comfort to his watchers even without verbal gospel presentation. What is comforting to know is that the sincerity and earnestness seen on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood permeated Mr. Rogers in real life, too. Ms. Hollingsworth notes that more than one person who has met Mr. Rogers has later remarked that “he’s more ‘Mister Rogers’ than Mister Rogers!” He was the real thing.

The devotional points of the book were simple, and yet good reminders for those of us who live hectic lives: go slow. Take time for silence. Don’t neglect prayer. Encourage others. I was impressed by the consistency and simplicity of Mr. Rogers’ daily routine: Up at 5:30 for devotions and prayer. Early morning swim (including singing a bit of praise to God as he entered the pool!), breakfast, then to the studio. In bed no later than 9:30 PM. The same routine, every day. I was challenged.

I’d recommend The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers to anyone who wants to gain a bit more appreciation for the value of living a genuine, simple, whole-hearted life. It will also be interesting to those who have enjoyed Mister Rogers Neighborhood but are unfamiliar with the man and the faith behind that program.