salguod.net

Another goodie courtesy of Jared:

Your badness is not as great a barrier between you and God as your goodness.

Mull that over for a while.

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Categories:God and Church

I'm posting this from BlogIt on Facebook. If this works, it'll appear on Facebook, Twitter, Vox and salguod.net.

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Saw this on Jared's most excellent blog (which will definitely get a link once I get my blogroll issues sorted out) last night. He lists some sad facts on what the burdens of ministry are doing to pastors. They're leaving the ministry, they feel inadequate, they're depressed and burdened.

Think about it. They're the one that gets called when a marriage is in crisis. They're the one that gets called when a member is sick or dying. They're the one that gets called when someone doesn't like what's going on. They're the one that gets called when someone is in sin. They have to deal with the demons in the church. They're the one that deals with all of those messes and more.

How often do you call or email just to encourage? Just to say that you support them and their work? Not because they did something specific that moved or impacted you (by all means, call then too), but just because?

A good friend of mine stepped into the role of minister, temporarily, after theirs resigned. He and another brother decided to fill that role for the short time while they searched for a replacement. A short time turned into about 2 years, I think. Shortly after they finally hired someone new and he could step back, his comment was "I am so grateful for the folks we hired over the years to deal with that mess so I didn't have to." A little negative view, sure, but revealing as to what your minister deals with on a regular basis.

In the history of this blog, I've been critical of my denomination (I bet they hate me saying that, but that's what we are) and of my local church fairly often. I've been critical of my minister specifically at times as well. What I haven't done enough of, is tell you how much we are blessed to have Doug Geyer lead us. Is he flawed? Of course, but he's also humble, determined, and passionate about the church. He doesn't feed us what we want, he gives us what we need. He points us to God and illuminates His Son to us. He longs to grow and to see us grow. He makes me think and stretches me spiritually. I'm grateful that he's there.

Your pastor deals with the bad stuff. The least you can do is hold up his arms a bit. Call him. Encourage him.

Posted by salguod at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories:God and Church

I've amended my MT 4.21upgrade instructions to include revising the link to your MT installation in your Typekey profile, if you use Typekey. When doing a fresh install, the Typekey token will still be pointed at the old install and Typekey authentication won't work. Make sure you change it by logging into Typekey and editing your account preferences.

Any other services that interact with your MT installation (like Flickr's email to blog feature) will need to be updated as well.

Posted by salguod at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories:Salguod.net stuff

Last July, I wrote about loosing my wife's cat of 15.5 years. It was hard, but the pain was tempered by the long time she was with us and the understanding that she was sick and hurting and her time had come.

At the time I mentioned in passing that we had 4 cats. What I didn't write about was that a short time later, my oldest daughter's cat, Midnight (at right), which was almost 5, was having a hard time finding the litter box. While visibly healthy and happy (well, Midnight wasn't ever particularly happy. She was a bit like the Oscar the Grouch of cats), she was slowly destroying our carpets, throw rugs and whatever else got left on the floor. We took her to the vet and tried some medication, but it became clear that this wasn't working out. We took her to the local shelter, hoping she might get adopted, but knowing that once we told them that her litter habits were sporadic, she may not make it.

It was hard on Jessica because she had gotten her when she wasn't yet weaned. We bottle fed her for the first few weeks. Jess loved Midnight, even though Midnight wasn't overly affectionate. Though she's a very strong girl and understood why it had to happen, it was still hard.

That meant we were down to 2 cats, Emily's Cookey and the hitchhiker, Cally (remind me to tell that story some time). Not too long later, however, we got two new kittens, one for Jess and one for Audrey who hadn't ever had a pet of her own. Two little black boys, Twitch and Boo. Those two were a riot, chasing each other around and playing. Even when they'd calm down, they'd be together, laying in a chair one's arm over the other. Twitch, on the right with the white belly and paws, was Jess' and all-black Boo belonged to Audrey.

Well, wouldn't you know, on Monday we noticed Boo was throwing up and had slowed down considerably. By this evening when Maria got home, he was quite lethargic. Off to the vet he went.

The prognosis was not good. He was seriously dehydrated and had lost 0.6 of his 3.6 lbs. He either had a virus or an obstruction. IV fluids would be needed right away and a night in the hospital and a lot of money.

It one of those decisions a Dad hates to make. There's just not money to do what needs to be done, yet it's so hard to say no. Mom was with him at the vet and she didn't want to let go, but understood why we should. In the end, after further talking with the vet, a recovery would be very expensive and was, frankly, a long shot. That made the decision a lot easier, but still hard. Sigh.

Audrey was home with me, finishing homework. We hadn't had supper yet, so I asked her to go to McD's drive through with me. It was a diversion, as the real mission was to go say goodbye to Boo. In the car, I told her what was happening. We had done all we could, but Boo wasn't coming back home, but we wanted her to be able to say goodbye. After a lot of tears, I carried my brave little girl into the vet's and she held her kitty for the last time and said her goodbyes. There were more tears as we left and more at bed time and probably more to come. Even Twitch has been crying out, wondering where his brother and playmate has gone.

Boo only spent a couple of short months with us. There will be a new kitten, but for now we'll just mourn.

Posted by salguod at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories:Family and Friends

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "Jett-amino!" »

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Categories:Cars and Driving| Goofiness

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "Adventures In Upgrading: No Spell Check!?!" »

Posted by salguod at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories:Salguod.net stuff

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "Adventures in Upgrading: The Story Thus Far" »

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Categories:Salguod.net stuff

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "See You on The Other Side" »

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Categories:Salguod.net stuff

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "Heroes" »

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Categories:Just Like Jesus

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "Adventures in Upgrading: Plugins" »

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Categories:Salguod.net stuff

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "Mark 16 - Resurrection and Commission" »

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Categories:Quiet Time Journal

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "Really Unplugged" »

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Categories:News & Current Events

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "I Remember" »

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Categories:News & Current Events

But wait, there's more ... Read the rest of "Unplugged Sunday Followup" »

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Categories:Family and Friends