For Thou Art With Me

He clicked on an icon. The program opened. As usual, pop-ups came and, as usual, were closed. He typed in his destination, waiting for the list to appear. Many choices came to view, but none to his satisfaction. He tried again, narrowing his topic to a more specific phrase. The familiar ring of his father working on finances sounded in a room nearby. Meanwhile, the narrowed search proved to no avail. "Oh well, off to another one, then." The thoughts mulled over in his mind, attempting to discover another need, another want, another non-existant desire. Music played in the background, softly in his ears.

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence
Living in me...

His eyes scanned the screen, taking in various windows and links. "Aha! There's one..." He knew what to do now. Switching to the program again, he typed in his search. The desired selection appeared time and time again, a smile on his lips, signaling victory. He moved the courser to a song, hovering over the text. His conscience suddenly pricked his mind and the thought crossed in front of him...

...do not steal...

...but something rose from the depths, tempting thoughts entered his mind...

...it's just a song...no one will really know where it's from...it'll be ok...shareware is the whole concept, so your actions are fine...you've done it many times before...

But the original thought persisted...

...do not steal...

He knew what to do this time. A few key-strokes, and the program closed.

"Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul. . . .

"In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?"

Beside the Still Waters

No emotion displayed in his face as he silently read the screen.

Why do I go through this? Why must the barrier be there at all times? Why is my faith lacking?

Questions raced through his mind, not finding an answer. The tears wouldn't come, the feeling from within wouldn't arise. He silently prayed a prayer, seeking guidance for the situation, but nothing came which might have. How much longer will this barrier persist? When his faith is restored properly. The words appeared as his fingers typed them out. The dull presence left him not, although hope lingered. He paused, opened a program, and turned on a song near the bottom of the list. It played while he silently sat, listening with bowed head and clasped hands. The lyrics continued: "I owe my life to you my Lord, here I am," he mouthed the words to the song. The barrier silently started to crumble from within. The lingering of hope shone brighter.

When I think I'm going under,
Part the waters Lord.
When I feel the waves around me,
Calm the sea.
When I cry for help,
O hear me Lord,
And hold out your hand.
And touch my life,
Still the raging storm in me.

I need Thee every hour,
Most gracious Lord
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.
I need Thee, O I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee
O bless me now, my Savior
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour
In joy or in pain
Come quickly and abide
Or life is in vain.
I need Thee, O I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee
O bless me now, my Savior
I come to Thee.

O bless me now, my Savior
I come to Thee.

When I think I'm going under,
Part the waters, Lord.

~ Part the Waters / I Need Thee Every Hour by Selah

Merry Christmas!!

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

~Luke 2:1-20, KJV

An Evening Tale

Last night the plan was to watch The Nativity Story at the local theater...somewhere over the rainbow....

We walked into the theater, expecting "The Nativity Story" to be right up there on the list of movie thingy, when we saw it wasn't... Ahh, better back up a bit.

*ahem* *insert suspenseful music*

This past week my sister Grace and one of my many cousins discussed at church the proposition of the aforementioned movie. Not any proposition in particular, just discussing it, mind you. Something along those lines. Katie (being my cousin) said the only day she could watch the movie would be Thursday, which was last night. So Dad and Mum tried to find the best theater to attend to watch this movie, coming to the conclusion that [some movie theater] would be the best bet. They even looked in Satruday's newspaper for confirmation of it being on this particular night, which was last night. More discussion ensued, and my parents decided to make a whole family get-together of it: while us three older kids, along with two other family members (my cousin and aunt), would be watching The Nativity Story, the rest of the Bandy family would watch...

Charlotte's Web.

So bringing the narrative up to speed, we shall analyze last night.

*music comes to a crescendo*

Supper was eaten earlier than usual, seeing as the traffic would be horrible with Christmas less than 5 days away, and also because Dad was off earlier than usual as well. We all then left for the capital, and since the two movies were separated by a 30 minutes time span, we decided to spend time at Panera across the way for the wait. So time was spent there.....we then walked over to Shop-Ko to spend lotsa money, around the area of 5 dollars....went back to the theater, expecting "The Nativity Story" to be right up there on the movie listing thing. But it wasn't. I went up to the counter, asked the guy if they were showing the movie, he responded that they weren't, but offered that another theater across town was showing the same movie two hours later. All of us just stood there staring at each other, not knowing what to do. An awkward few minutes passed.

*music pauses*

A hot debate began within those few minutes: should we travel all the way across town? (no...the movie was in two hours and Charlotte's Web would be finished by then) should we just sit out in the hallway, waiting for the rest of the family? (an emphatic no :-P ) or...should we watch another movie instead? (bingo!)

The final choice? Eragon.

*music resumes*

Overall...rather good movie, to say the least. I'd give it...maybe 4/5 stars. Kinda like a mix between Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia, in my opinion... Around an hour and fifty minutes, so not too lengthy... Although the prominent showing of magic disturbed me a little...

But I would not have rated it PG. More along the lines of PG-13.

MPAA...ugh.

*music ends*

Flying Factoids

The Setting:

Chelsea, Katie, Amanda, and I playing Scattergories at the Christmas party this evening...

The Context:

The letter we had to list things with was "S," and the promt was: Things That Fly.

So my logical answer?
...

Scuba divers.


What?! Don't look at me that way! Wouldn't you agree that scuba divers fly underwater?!

Voting Time

Ok, y'all...

Time to vote. :-D Except with this one you don't have to be 18 or older. ;-)

"Many of you may have heard of SpunkyHomeSchool, a homeschool mom (and mother of Spunky Jr.). And if you haven't, you have now. Anyway, she was nominated for 'best educational' blog in the 2006 Weblog Awards. Right now, she is neck-in-neck with another blog (Michael Berube, which I don't want to link to). She started yesterday (Wednesday) about 400 votes behind, and ended the day 170 or so behind. Today she caught up, and the two blogs have been trading 1st place back and forth throughout the day."

Vote SpunkyHomeSchool. :-D

http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_educational_blog.php

[Source: SecDef]

By Request

Sorry for the lack of posting...life's been rather busy lately.



There's also a vid from my sister's recital on Saturday......hehe

but it's on my Mac. (yes, I'm on my Dad's PC right now *everyone gasps* :-P ) Or maybe I haven't uploaded it yet off my camera...hmmm. Can't remember. *halo* :-D

The Weekend

As many of you have heard, central US received interesting weather this past weekend, consisting of snow...and ice. On Thursday we traveled down to St. Louis to repair Grace's borrowed violin, along with spending much money at Bass Pro Shop and some Penzy shopping as well...then on the way home--usually this kind of trip takes around 2 hours, however this time it took 4 and a half hours. :-P For weather reasons.

The trip:

1-2 inches of ice on the front of our van after arriving home
many cars seen off the road on the way
7 miles taking 2 1/2 hours to drive
work traffic @ 4-5:30


So, time of interesting had we.

That night around 10--the power went out. And stayed off until the next morning......then went out again after breakfast for most of Friday. Thankfully we have a gas-powered cooktop. :-)

Following day (being Saturday), hunting commenced at 6:30, after driving there in a truck full of bricks. For weather reasons. After arriving at the hunting grounds, we (being myself, Dad, and brother) all found that our blinds were frozen shut. For weather reasons, once again. ;-) Throughout the day, only three deer were seen, and at 120 yards, to boot. So needless to say, no dead deer at the end of the day. *sigh*

And yesterday........

church at Providence. :-D The baptism of the Lansberry's newest child, Margary Rose, was the big sha-bang occurring, followed by an very-well-prepared baptismal feast--main course consisting of lasagna and ceasar salad. (must include what we ate, no? ;-) ) Then in the afternoon...

Slide show of pics from the sledding day. ;-) Some examples...

And today...

We were out of power again for 4 hours this morning.

You don't realize how essential something is until you lose it. :-P In this case....

Power. Or electricity. Whichever word suits your fancy...

But God is sovereign over all. :-) And that thought can bring much reassurance, lemme tell ya. ;-)