Our Final Week in New York

The Haps
Listening to: A mix of alternative country, sixties avant-pop, soul jazz and general weirdness at Pandora.com.


Can anyone help me with the spacing on this blog? It's weird that this is the default formatting. Why is there so much space between paragraphs? I can't figure out the HTML.


This was a tough week, and I'm still pretty tired since I had to get up at 6:15 today to attend my last Gideons meeting.


Besides packing boxes, I had to spend late hours working on my last project for my current company. If not for Tara organizing the move and finding us a temporary place to live, I don't know how I would be ready to leave town on Friday. Thank you, God, for such an amazing marriage relationship! It's the biggest blessing in my life, by far.

"I'm as hot as ever!"
She didn't really say that, of course.
That's my own opinion.

Tara is about to attend her second baby shower this morning. She hit 24 weeks this week (that's six months for the mathematically challenged like me). Here's a picture! My pictures of her never do her any justice, sadly.

Oh, and a friend and her new baby came up from Manhattan to spend the night with us tonight. Should be fun!


Tomorrow at church Tara and I will be putting on a mini-worship concert with our pianist friend Joel. I've been pretty excited about it. The setlist, our final one at this church, is all about God's love and glory and will go like this (but with keyboard and acoustic guitar only): "God In Heaven", "God's Romance", "Beautiful One", "How He Loves", "Lord You Have My Heart", "You Never Let Go".


We're leaving Saratoga on Friday, so my next post will be from...elsewhere. Wherever I can find an internet connection, I guess. I start work on August 9th.


Thoughts
On future hobbies, if there's ever time for such things again: Anyone can write a book. I've recorded a twelve-song rock album and made it available to the entire world, all for under $25. And it ain't half bad, in my opinion. I've proven to myself it can be done, and I can do it again, even better. If I can find the time and energy!


Copies sold since its release in March: None.


Regrets regarding my achievement: None. Until November, I'll consider it the greatest thing I've ever created.


Today's Scripture
2 Samuel 6 (NKJV) [Right, I haven't read since last Saturday except for church, Monday Bible study and Gideons this morning. That's why I'm doing this!]
Key verse: (13) "And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep."


Reflection
This is kind of hilarious to me. Despite the sad death and marital strife seen here, this is a relatively happy chapter of the Old Testament. David was determined to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem, the center of God's holy land and the capital of Israel. But this was no ordinary box, and God wanted his holy object to be recognized as something that represented himself to his people. The respect you have for his ark is in correlation with the respect you have for him. If he killed a man for disrespecting the ark, it's no wonder he destroyed all of Jerusalem for killing his Son, leaving no stone on top of another!


After God killed the man who tried to save the ark from falling off a cart, David was upset, and you and I probably would've been, too. When he saw that the family who kept the ark in their house for three months was blessed, he decided it was safe to try again. I bet he put it on a better cart this time!


I can just imagine those first few steps. David must have been ready for something terrible to happen, because as soon as they'd gone six steps, he called out, "Stop! Everybody praise the Lord! Get the sheep and sharpen the knives!" (Or something along those lines.)


What happened to our fear of the Lord? We're reading Judges in our group Bible study, and it's so obvious there how quickly we forget God from one generation to the next. We talked the other night about how God really has to shake a generation to get their attention and make them remember the God of their fathers. I believe it's only a matter of time before that happens here in North America and hopefully other places. I believe there will be an ultimate revival around the world and that "all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3) when God's  promises are fully fulfilled. 


Based on biblical history, something drastic is probably going to have to take place before that happens. Like David, I might get upset with the Lord when it does, but I will trust him in all things and wait for the glorious end. He loves his children, and we will know victory in a way the nation of Israel never did.


Prayer
Lord, when awful things happen in this world, may I recognize your voice in the thunderclouds and trust in you. May I sacrifice my heart in praise and worship each day, for you and you alone are worthy.


Please keep Tara and the babies healthy. Help her blood pressure especially, Father. And please be with us during this move. We need you, and we will recognize your presence as we travel. Please help us to find a good house, too.


Thank you, in Jesus' name.


Final Thoughts
Goodbye Saratoga Springs, New York State, and everyone we know here. We'll never forget you. This was our first home as a married couple, and it will always have a special place in our hearts. Our family at New Horizon Church will especially be missed, as will the amazing family for which Tara worked as a nanny for two years. My company...not as much. I'm just hoping right now that the next one won't be any worse.


Thank goodness for Facebook! Let's keep in touch! Seriously!