Psalm 37 (NLT)

I was going to attempt to do some sort of a study on verse #6, but I feel like I should post the whole chapter. Truly, God is in control. When it seems like things are at their worst, He is still in control. Think of Joseph; sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused by a wicked woman, but yet look where God brought him too! I'm going through a fiery trial right now and sometimes it seems like it will never end, but I know that in the end, God will bring forth my innocence as clear as the dawn and the justice of my cause like the noonday sun:

1 A psalm of David. Don't worry about the wicked. Don't envy those who do wrong. 2 For like grass, they soon fade away. Like springtime flowers, they soon wither. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. 4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires. 5 Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you. 6 He will make your innocence as clear as the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
7 Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. 8 Stop your anger! Turn from your rage! Do not envy others – it only leads to harm. 9 For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the LORD will possess the land. 10 In a little while, the wicked will disappear. Though you look for them, they will be gone. 11 Those who are gentle and lowly will possess the land; they will live in prosperous security. 12 The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance. 13 But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming. 14 The wicked draw their swords and string their bows to kill the poor and the oppressed, to slaughter those who do right. 15 But they will be stabbed through the heart with their own swords, and their bows will be broken. 16 It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and possess much. 17 For the strength of the wicked will be shattered, but the LORD takes care of the godly. 18 Day by day the LORD takes care of the innocent, and they will receive a reward that lasts forever. 19 They will survive through hard times; even in famine they will have more than enough. 20 But the wicked will perish. The LORD's enemies are like flowers in a field – they will disappear like smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and never repay, but the godly are generous givers. 22 Those blessed by the LORD will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will die. 23 The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives. 24 Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. 25 Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly forsaken, nor seen their children begging for bread. 26 The godly always give generous loans to others, and their children are a blessing. 27 Turn from evil and do good, and you will live in the land forever. 28 For the LORD loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly. He will keep them safe forever, but the children of the wicked will perish. 29 The godly will inherit the land and will live there forever. 30 The godly offer good counsel; they know what is right from wrong. 31 They fill their hearts with God's law, so they will never slip from his path. 32 Those who are evil spy on the godly, waiting for an excuse to kill them. 33 But the LORD will not let the wicked succeed or let the godly be condemned when they are brought before the judge.
34 Don't be impatient for the LORD to act! Travel steadily along his path. He will honor you, giving you the land. You will see the wicked destroyed. 35 I myself have seen it happen – proud and evil people thriving like mighty trees. 36 But when I looked again, they were gone! Though I searched for them, I could not find them! 37 Look at those who are honest and good, for a wonderful future lies before those who love peace. 38 But the wicked will be destroyed; they have no future. 39 The LORD saves the godly; he is their fortress in times of trouble. 40 The LORD helps them, rescuing them from the wicked. He saves them, and they find shelter in him.

Okay, Muzak, what happened?

I've already related my distaste with Muzak junk once in my blog so I won't rehash that conversation.

That being said, is there anyone out there from Muzak who can explain what happened Saturday before last? I came into work and instead of hearing the same old normal drivel that passes for music, I heard either original versions of songs that they normally play shoddy remakes of or music I've never heard played before! For an hour or two, my ears were treated to the likes of The Drifters, B.J. Thomas, Jimmy Durante, and a host of other fine music!!!! I thought I had died and went to music heaven, lol! Then just as quick as the good stuff started the junky likes of Chicago and other lacking musical wanna-be's came back on. Come on, Muzak, 'fess up-did someone temporarily find their mind and decide to play some good music for once?

I found out a few years ago that Muzak programs the music for the CD channels on Dish Network. Man, they play some good music on the oldies country and rock stations both! Why can't they pass a little of that along on their Snot, er Hot, FM selection I hear up at work? Come on, Muzak, I challenge you to play some real music and see what happens!!!!!!!!!

Something sounds fishy......

Last week a co-worker at work got this unannounced phone call saying that she had been recommended by a customer for another job with better wages, etc. All in all she decided something sounded fishy and didn't look into the position any further.

Today was a hectic day at work. Our manager was gone to a meeting, Pat (the co-worker in question) had to sit in on a broadcast and our other supervisor, Julie, was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to train a new person and get two other new employees set up in the system. That left me covering not only the floor but the catalog department as well. My day was going very stressful to say the least!!!!!! In the midst of waiting on a customer, two different people called wanting to know the status of their order and I had to explain that I was in the midst of waiting on a customer and it would be a few minutes. Then the phone rang again.......

This time a very pleasant sounding lady was on the other end, wishing to speak to our "men's dpt. mgr." which, of course, is me! I told her that she was speaking with him and then she asked was I over the children's department as well; I explained that I was indeed in charge of it as well. She told me how that a friend of hers (she gave me a name) was so pleased with the way I always helped her all of the time and that she had recommended me to her for a job with this company! She asked would I be interested in coming in for an interview and all of that jazz. I explained to her that I was not, that after being with JC Penney for almost 6 years I had put down pretty good roots and that the only thing that could lure me away was a job with the State of Missouri that I had applied and interviewed for. She wished me luck and then left me her name and phone number in case I changed my mind.

This is the almost exact same conversation Pat got last week! Earlier that day someone had called inquiring as to who the supervisors were and then she gets this phone call! I don't know and may not be the smartest crayon in the box, but something sounds funny!

8-tracks and repairing my parent's stereo

Ah, yes, the butt of many jokes, the much maligned, long forgotten 8-track tape. Okay, let's face it, no matter what you do, the 8-track is never going to have the sound quality of digital music. We are talking a format that pretty well died out 25 years ago and was certainly not designed for long lasting play but for some reason has caught the fascination of a dedicated group of folks scattered across the country.

I've been collecting the things for a long time now and have somewhere around 200 in my collection. I've been through several players during that time. I started with my parent's old Magnavox console stereo which eventually got tired of me and the motor started giving out! I bought a Soundesign player/recorder for $15 at a now defunct flea market but after a few days, the motor quit on it. Later, I bought both a GE and Magnavox deck at a flea market for like $5 apeice or so, along with gospel tapes by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jimmie Davis, and The Inspirations for $1 apeice. The GE deck was shot, so it hit the garbage rather quickly. The Magnavox deck had a good sound but had a horrendous amount of noise (more than what would normally be expected of a player playing at 3 3/4 IPS, lol!). A few years ago I bought a Panasonic deck at another flea market. It played but it was too slow. It had to do though, lol, as by this time 8-track players were becoming more of an expensive premium thanks to eBay!

Last year, Dad called me and asked me did I want the old aforementioned console stereo. If for nothing more than sentimental purposes I agreed to take it, but really thinking it was a piece of junk by now. He and Mom bought it when I was like 2 years old. They had a Sears Silvertone before it and I "worked" on it for them one day, lol! They took it to John Dale at Dale TV in Caruthersville, MO who basically thought it was beyond repair. He gave them $100 trade in toward a new Magnavox stereo which brought the bad boy down to $280.

I got it home and as I remember, the 8-track player was going south. The motor made a wobbly sound and would not play right. If you left it running for a while it would eventually line itself out and play right until you removed the tape. When it started doing this in the late 80's/early 90's, I had no one to turn to. Now I had the Internet! Someone suggested cleaning the shaft of the motor with alcohol thinking the belt was not making good contact. I did that and WOW, it worked! Thinking very highly of myself I came back a few days later to play a tape-wobble, wobble wobble........ I sought help again and was told to oil the motor lightly with machine oil. Lightly didn't do the trick, so I used 1/3 of a bottle, lol! It got it back running, lol! My system was this-whenever I wanted to play it, oil it, lol! That finally stopped helping and I contacted a gentleman named Dan Jobin for repair work, as recommended online. For $27, he fixed the motor, put a new belt on, soldered on two new capacitors (the programs weren't switching right), cleaned it, and re-hinged the door. It took a nasty hit on the way back or something and I had to re-align the head, but other than that, all systems were go!

Tonight, I'm sitting here listening to a tape of the Inspirations doing some good ole Southern gospel music. I have a messed up volume control on it so I'm running the line outputs to the computer but I'm still enjoying it! I have to get the turntable fixed next. The tone arm is bent or something and the arm that holds up the records is broken. It also needs the standard things such as oiling and new stylus/cartridge. I'll let y'all know how that turns out when I get it done.

I've also been recording my 8-tracks to CD. I invested last year in software from Polderbits that allows you to record to your computer from external sources. Once you filter out the noise and use the equalizer, these dreaded little tapes that people laugh at don't sound too bad. I loaned a co-worker some CD's of Ronnie Milsap that I had burned off from the player and she said that if she did not know it came from an 8-track player, she never would have known!

Been a while!

Well, it's been quite a few months since I've written anything. As a matter of fact, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and April Fools Day have all passed, lol!

Well, to update y'all folks who are anxiously waiting, I'm still working for JC Penney. I went for an interview a couple of weeks ago with the State of Missouri for a job with the Dpt. of Human Services, but at least for now, I have gotten turned down for the job. My name is still on the active list and I may well be called back for an interview at some point in the future. So for now, JC Penney is home, lol!

The kids are still growing like weeds. Charles seems to be staying sick a lot at times. I was like him as well when I was a kid, so I guess it's hereditary.

I've watched Worthy Boards continue to grow and grow. Please continue to keep George and the moderating team over there in prayer. I can't get in tonight due to server problems, so I've been posting over at Christian's Corner and took a look at a friend's blog (howdy Hannah J. Doodle!) and decided to come on over and post on mine!

Anyway, I'll post more later. Y'all have a blessed night in the Lord!

Been a while!

Well, it's been quite a few months since I've written anything. As a matter of fact, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and April Fools Day have all passed, lol!

Well, to update y'all folks who are anxiously waiting, I'm still working for JC Penney. I went for an interview a couple of weeks ago with the State of Missouri for a job with the Dpt. of Human Services, but at least for now, I have gotten turned down for the job. My name is still on the active list and I may well be called back for an interview at some point in the future. So for now, JC Penney is home, lol!

The kids are still growing like weeds. Charles seems to be staying sick a lot at times. I was like him as well when I was a kid, so I guess it's hereditary.

I've watched Worthy Boards continue to grow and grow. Please continue to keep George and the moderating team over there in prayer. I can't get in tonight due to server problems, so I've been posting over at Christian's Corner and took a look at a friend's blog (howdy Hannah J. Doodle!) and decided to come on over and post on mine!

Anyway, I'll post more later. Y'all have a blessed night in the Lord!