October 8, 2008

Today was Wednesday.

I slept very well last night. I took off from school today to rest and get some things done. One of the things I got done at breakfast this morning was call the Louisiana Revenue division and find out how much I still owe in Louisiana state taxes. Answer: $955. I called the IRS and found out that we have paid them in full so the $8,000 in debt we owed them three to four years ago is finally paid. What a nice feeling that is.

I came home after breakfast at Jack in the Box where it was very cold and the cold air from the AC hit the back of my neck and my back and made my muscles tighten up. When I got home I went outside with Midnight, my black Labrador, and I laid in the sun on the trampoline for about 20 minutes or so.

I also cooked some steaks this afternoon and a mixture of fried cucumbers, onions, celery and some other things. Donna liked it and Andrew ate some of it too.

I played the keyboard as Mark, Patti and Kitty lead worship tonight at CLF.

It was depressing watching the stock market go up and down today on the news. It is different to watch and feel the uncertainty in real time than to just come home at the end of the day and get the final result.

I read some Ghandi quotes today. I was looking for and found the quote where he mentioned seven moral sins one of which is worship without sacrifice.

I am reading through the Bible this year online in The Message version. I am currently in Jeremiah and Colossians.

Donna said I was a good cook today. I got tired this afternoon for some reason and did not have a lot of energy but by church time and this evening I had some more energy.

I sometimes get tired of the poking that some of the senior citizens do at church saying that we better sing good. I know they are joking but it puts pressure on our worship that should never exist. I hope I never play a worship song the rest of my life to please a single person. I hope I only and ever please God with my worship. If man hates it then so be it. I am sick of pleasing man. It is sad that I have spent so much of my adult life learning how to please man. I suppose this is not all wrong because it is good to be a servant of all, but to try to gain the approval of all is such a heavy burden to bear. I pray that God will help me to lay down this burden and carry it no more.

September 15, 2008

Today was Monday, our first day back at school after Hurricane Gustav.

I went jogging this morning without my contacts in. I saw a dog outside but I could not tell if it was Midnight or not. The clock on my MP3 player was 10 minutes faster than the clocks inside the house so I wasn't quite sure what to believe.

I was tired today after getting only about 4-5 hours of sleep last night. My Spanish II class of 25 high schoolers was talkative today. I was patient with them even though their mouths needed some bridles on them. I took off 5 points of participation on four students.

I learned how to play the song "Call Me Old Fashioned" on the keyboard at home tonight.

At 5:10 PM I visited Dr. Wolverton, my chiropractor. He did a great job as always on my back.

LA state is intercepting some of my payments to the U.S. Treasury. I owe LA only about $1000 now and Federal only about $400. I was trying to pay of the Federal taxes first but LA is getting in the way. I just hope they are keeping books right for me. They only send out a yearly statement so I never know what they are doing unless I pick up the phone and stay on hold for a while.

Matthew ate two pieces of pizza for lunch and almost threw them up the next period in P.E. He said to me, "They worked me harder today than you."

We had family devotions and read I Corinthians from The Message Bible. The best part I thought was this: "Just think--you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale."
I like this because if you realize you don't need another thing to make you content, you can be content with what you have. Mr. Purdue mentioned in the finance class that I missed, of which he briefed me on later that all the advertising we are flooded with on TV, Internet and billboards teaches us to be discontent so we will buy what they are selling.

I had an idea to start a word processor file on my computer today called blessings, in which I would keep a running list of all of my blessings and keep adding to it.

Another verse I read this evening was from II Corinthians 13. "We don't just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them."