A Pet Peeve

Why is it that when you are in a store or other place of business, customers calling on the phone take precedence over you - the live customer, wallet in hand, standing a mere two or three fee from the clerk. This has happened to me several times. The Radio Shack on Bowman Road in Little Rock was especially bad about this. Yesterday, on my way home, I stopped by a Chinese take-out restaurant to pick up an order that James had phoned in. I walk up to the counter, then clerk is on the phone and does not acknowledge me. . .a head nod saying" yes, I see there" would have helped. Another employee walks up to the counter from the food prep area. . .he makes eye contact with me, and I think I'm about to be waited on. But no, the other phone is now ringing, and so he answers it. I wait for the 1st clerk to get off the phone and she finally waits on me.

Now, I worked in retail long enough to know that it is important to answer the phone in a timely manner, but I always felt more compelled to wait on the customer who was standing before me before I got to the phone call. Why doesn't the rest of the retail work think like that?

Election Day

I went to vote after I got off work this morning at 5 am, and there were already about 100 people in line. It was cold, and of course, I didn't have a jacket. The line moved along OK once they opened the doors at 6 am. Once I got to the counter to get my ballot, I had to wait some more. My name was not in the registrar's book. I had my registration card, and a young man got on the phone with a person at the registrar's office. The office confirmed that I was registered to vote, but they didn't know "what color ballot" to give me because I didn't have a voting history in MO. Well, of course I don't have a voting history in this state because I moved here 6 months ago, and there has not been anything noteworthy to vote on. I don't know why the ballots are colored. You don't register with a party in MO, and this was not a primary anyway, so party couldn't have been the reason for the different colors. Maybe it had to do with what school district you lived in, and thus which school district measures you could vote on. . .but couldn't they ascertain that from your address?? I finally got a "green ballot" whatever that means. James had the same trouble when he went to vote this afternoon.

This election has been a matter for prayer. I don't like either mainstream candidate, and I'm concerned about the direction that either man will take this country. The matter has been in God's hands from the start, and I'm thankful that we serve a Sovereign, Holy God who already knows how the story ends. I am also thankful that this world is not my final destination. Do not loose heart, Christians, we are aliens in this world, citizens of the New Jerusalem.

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. Ps. 146:3

It is God who places our elected officials in power.
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Romans 13:1

Pray for the next President. Pray for God to give him wisdom and pray that God would act in his heart and open his eyes to His truth.
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. I Timothy 2:1-2

Some words of wisdom from one of my favorite pastors, John Piper:

Halloween '08

This Halloween was the first time we booth dressed up for it since we met - 10 years ago. Lily was scared of James. After he put his costume on, she ran under our bed and would not some out. Almost every on out street and their yard decorated, and at about 5 pm, some of our neighbors blocked out our road so no cars could drive down. In front of our house, their were tables with buckets of candy for the kids, grilled hot dogs for everyone, and snacks and punch. I think we gave out about 200 hot dogs. There was music, and some had a skeleton that danced to "Super Freak."

James had fun as the grim reaper. There is a weeping willow tree at the beginning of our street, and he would hide behind its branches and come out when people walked by.


This is a pirate ship that one of our neighbors puts together every year for Halloween. It has moving parts and Christmas lights on it. He hooks it up to his truck and gets a generator to run lights and motors and drives in around the neighborhood.



This was the scene in front of our house. We didn't have a lot of decorations, so we went to the nearest Halloween store and bought some things on clearance to use for next year. I have more pictures posted here.