I've been doing a lot of thinking the past couple of days about stuff. Some of what I've been thinking about is stuff I've talked about before on here, so I won't go over it again, except to say 'once more around the mountain' .  You'd think I'd learn.  Anyway.  Start with the non-essential stuff, I guess you'd call it.

• I upgraded my Firefox to 3 RC1.   I like it a lot.  I like several things about it, expecially the fact that I can type a part of the name in my bar, even of the title of the page, and there it is.  I also like the speed.  So, once they get all the bugs out, I think it'll be an excellent browser.  
  
• I'm really really enjoying RP right now.  A little worried I might be addicted to it.  If so, I may need to back off, go cold turkey for a while. But trying to keep accountable with spouse and with gut, and seem to be okay for now.  If any of my RP buddies think I am, give me the proverbial *Thwap,* please.  Thanks.   Best if lived in a community, and since right now, that's the one I've got...
  
• Went to see "Iron Man,"  As previously twitted, and went to the drive-in.  I liked it, it was good.  The first part was rough, but that was almost required as a 'conversion' type experience.  As I said, the car battery died, and when you're at the drive-in, listening to the movie on the radio, that's not a good thing to happen mid-movie.  Also, I think I was dealing with some adverse reactions to the Novocaine, and my legs locked up and  then my arms locked up and... yeah. It was loads of fun.   So, I liked the movie, what I heard / saw of it, but sometimes, I wish I could go to a movie without complications.  Oh, the joys of having small fry.  I love 'em, though.  
  
• Been listening to a lot of podcasts lately.  Many of them have been from http://twit.tv, but I have some from the  YWAM site, Fear the Boot, my friend Morrow's, and a couple others.   It makes it nice to have something to listen to that's adult, that I picked, and that I enjoy.  Sometimes, I notice myself having them on as background noise, which is more like my family than like R's family, so it's nice when he's not there. If he is, I still listen sometimes, just not as loudly.  
  
• Also, I've been listening to 100 portraits again, drawing different things from it than before.  Or maybe some of the same things I've forgotten.   It's really good. Their lyrics are awesome, their music catches me, and well, I just love them.  So, yeah. 
  

That's a lot of what I've been thinking about.  Maybe not as deep as normal, but when the "I need food" and the, "Mommy, s/he hit me"  cries come, there isn't much time for thought. Heh.

Happy Birthday, elehu!


I was musing yesterday during service about how our church does worship. This is for the second service: the "contemporary" service. I love the songs, but I have a beef, and I wonder if anyone else has noticed it.
Let me preface this by saying that I was spiritually nurtured by the music of Ben and Robin Pasley, one of the best improvisational worship teams I've ever heard.

The phenomenon of worship CD's has been good for the Christian community. It allows everyone to know many of the same songs without having to travel hundreds of miles to attend the particular church the worship band ministers at. However, there is a drawback, in my opinion. It creats a staticity of worship. When many small church (or big church, small town in our case) worship leaders get a worship CD, they listen to it over and over, and fall in love with some of the songs. So, they bring said CD to their team, and say, "We're doing this one. " Said team listens to the CD over and over, getting every chord right, but also memorizing pitch, tone, and how long the song goes, how many refrains it has, even how many "hallelujahs" the singer adds. I don't mind the addition of the artist's own descant, heaven knows I do it myself. But, when you will only sing that song that way, I think it's limiting to the worship experience.

The church I grew up in had a different approach. They'd get the music or CD for a new song, and learn the chords. Then, they'd decide how they'd start it. Maybe it'd be sung two times, or whatever, and then, it was up to the pastor and team to feel things out.

I even sense more improv in the 8:30 service, which is the traditional service. There, the pastor has been known to test the organist's patience, by limiting or expanding the number of verses sung, depending upon the need. I've even seen him give her a sign that said, "keep playing, there's still people at the altar."

I don't sense that in the later service, where it seems it should be more prevalent. It's really starting to grate on me, and I'm trying to prevent that. I'm there to focus on God, but when it's so static I can tell you how it will go, how many letters'll show up on the power point slide, it's hard. I miss the simple days of overheads, or at least simple PP presentations that require up and down keys, not just paging through the way it'll go exactly.

The other thing that bothered me about yesterday's service was that the pastor had been gone and the worship leader said something to the effect that we should sing more loudly to welcome the pastor back, and then it was a song directed at the Lord... it really seemed incongruous to me. I understand stirring the people to worship, but ... that seemed downright wrong.

Of course, I was grumpy yesterday, for several reasons, not the least of which is a mild chest pain I've been having. I don't know if it's from the gas stove, having hurt my diaphragm, or just stress.
But, having the threshold of pain I do, I didn't recognize it for pain until it had gone away. If it persists much longer, I may have to see someone about it.
Hopefully it doesn't though, because it makes me grumpy and we're uninsured for a couple weeks...