If anyone wants to hang out, come around after midnight.

Well, Easter Sunday is upon us once again. That's awesome! The children are all dressed up, the ladies have all gone to a lot of trouble to look their prettiest, and a big dinner is in store for most of us. The traditions never really change and that's okay. Because something else that hasn't changed is that Christ is still risen, His tomb is still empty, and His work here is still ongoing. What a great day.

On a related note (related to Christ), tomorrow I start a new work schedule. I'll be working 12 noon until 12 midnight for six days a week. That's a grind by anyone's standards. But I volunteered for it so I won't gripe (too much). Actually, I have a little word of testimony about it.

With this tortuous schedule also comes extra money. Why else would anyone volunteer to spend over half of each day at work, right? A little extra never hurts so I thought, "Sure. Why not." But I learned something a few years ago that applies here.

I've never been one to work much overtime. I prefer free time to overtime, to be honest. Money just isn't that important in the big scheme of things. But occasionally, I have no choice but to work extra. I began to notice that each time I had to work over, it wasn't long before a need arose for that extra money. Every time. Without fail. The money I picked up over and above my regular pay always, always, always met an urgent and unexpected need.

So I finally (I'm a little thick) realized that God has ways of taking care of His children that we don't always expect. It isn't always a surprise check in the mail, a long lost relative's inheritance, or a Franklin under the couch cushion. Sometimes it's just an opportunity that He provides, even if those opportunities cause me to complain and fuss a little bit.

So when the opportunity came about for me to land this crazy, grueling shift, I decided to jump at it. Could be that God has something planned for the extra cash. Wow. God's smart.

But I may not be the most pleasant of persons for a while. Consider yourself warned.

Details... and nightmares.

Sacred Storm - Final Exam from Faith Promise Church on Vimeo.

Finally, our first Sunday School outing! And probably our last for a while. I'm pretty much tied up the entire month of April. But that's another post.

If you are in the College and Career class, or if you would be, were it not for other commitments, then feel free to join us this Friday night for a trip to see Sacred Storm. We'll meet at Stock Creek at 6pm (leaving by 6:10). Admission is free. I have no idea how long it will last so eat first if you're easily hungered, like me. Seating is limited so cross your fingers.

Now, if you know me, then you will appreciate the sheer terror of this next little item. At work today, I felt my hand tingle. Well, more of a tickle than a tingle. I looked down to see this lovely lady tip-toeing across my knuckles.

I freaked. In fact, I'm still freaking.

A few quick notes...

Dazed and Confused, pictured above, came over for "girls" night. We talked about boys and watched New Moon. No pedicures, though. But I did cling to one male/caveman ritual -- steaks on the grill. Oh! Microwave cookies, too. You ain't lived until you've had chocolate chip cookies from the microwave. I wonder... why would anyone ever use an oven for anything?

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This is for my Sunday school class. Not that any of you read this anymore, but, just in case, we're planning on going to Faith Promise Church this weekend for their Sacred Storm production. It's called Final Exam and I'm told it deals with the spiritual warfare involving a college student. I've heard nothing but praise for their previous productions so it should be good. Details to come on Wednesday night.

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Finis.

Yeah, I know. I'm a slacker.

I haven't exactly been the faithful blogger here lately. I would give the tired old excuses about work and having little free-time, needing more rest and all that jazz, but that's not entirely the whole truth. And half a truth is still a lie, right?

Truth is, there's a lot of ch-ch-change going on right now. Not earth-shattering stuff necessarily, but change nonetheless. Things at church, things at work, and especially stuff with moi have me... well, befuddled is the word that comes to mind. I've just been sort of foggy lately so I haven't had much luck at putting thoughts together. But change is sometimes good, and even when it isn't you just have to pray hard and roll with it until something gives.

Let's shift gears. I'm reading a book that I think is really a cool idea. It's called Lucifer's Flood and it's about an ancient scroll that is found and determined to be the diary of one of the fallen angels. It gives the account of the war in heaven and the subsequent events of creation. The diary was written by a demon who had no special purpose or gifts and found himself guilty by association because he was too afraid to choose a side and aligned himself with Satan because he figured if things didn't turn out, God would forgive him. He quickly regretted his decision. But he was expelled just the same as the rest of the rebels.

Anyway, I'm enjoying it as light reading and find myself pondering just how much the future and final battle between good and evil will resemble the first one. I imagine it will be over quickly.

Here's an excerpt that I thought was especially profound. Adam has just been created and the demon has a very strong opinion about God's choice to allow man the responsibility of free will.

There were many trees in Eden, but only two that mattered: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat of it, you will surely die."

Considering the consequences of the cosmic rebellion, surely someone in heaven must have tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to convince God that His insistence in giving Adam the ability to choose between one thing and another was a terrible idea that had no possibility of ending well. If God couldn't be talked out of the free will idea, He should have at least let Adam practice a little on something that had no consequences. Let him choose between an apple and a kumquat. Don't let a novice's first choice be one that could alter the balance of the whole world.

The choice to obey or not is far too dangerous to be experimented with. It should be banned from every universe. I could be the poster child for why free will is an eventual disaster for anyone who has it. The ability to defy God is the cause of all my misery. Lucifer decided he could rebel against God. One-third of the angels chose to follow Lucifer. And what did it gain for us? Loss of everything we once held dear - loss of our home with God; loss of our purpose for being; loss of our high place; nothing but loss with regret, despair, fear, and hatred becoming our destiny.

Why does God insist on imposing free will on creatures who cannot possibly use it correctly? He knows what is best for everything He creates. We would be so much better off if He just eliminated the choices. I would not be wasting my existence sitting on a perch in the service of a tyrant if God had only restricted Satan's ability to defy Him.

It is that part of God's nature I cannot understand. He created all there is and all there will be, and He made it perfect. Then, for no reason anyone can explain, He programmed in a fatal flaw. Into every intelligent life form, God deposited the ability to defy its Creator. Can someone help me understand why this was a good idea?

This, of course, is the (fictional) view of a (fictional) being that chose to separate himself from God. As someone who has chosen the other way, I can understand very easily why God chose to give the ability of choice. Because forced love isn't love at all. I think what the demon is experiencing is the reality of not being able to blame his actions on someone else.

Have a great week, you'uns.

This is a "Thank You" post, but a few days late.

You see above a bird's-eye view of Winterjam, more specifically Third Day. I'm sure you recognize Mr. Powell on the screen. I've heard countless bands in my well-worn life, but I really think these guys are the best live band I've ever heard. But that's not what this post is about.

This is to thank my dear, lovely friend, Vanessa. You see, I had plans to go to Winterjam with family Thomas when Vanessa called and asked if I would like to sit with her and a crew in her company's skybox at Thompson-Boling. Well, DUH! She said she had four seats available and, coincidentally, we needed four seats. In the meantime, the number we needed changed to five so I called her back and regretfully declined.

Then, about two hours before the show, she said some seats opened up and I could bring my five. SWEET!

As you can see, the seats were fabulous. Perfect, I would say. And private, not crowded, and the bathrooms didn't have troughs.

The show was great. We all had a blast, even though Juli was terrified of getting too close to the edge, to the point that she crawled on hands and knees up the steps. Trust me, it was snort-worthy laughter.

Vanessa, I don't know if you read these posts anymore, but just in case you do, I think you rock! So do the Thomases and the Reagans, who have continually commented on how gracious you are to have let us come and hang out with you in such sweet digs, especially since we don't hang out enough, anyway. That's two really big favors I owe you now; favors that I probably will not be able to repay.

Honestly, God is really good to have given an idiot like me such great friends. It seems I'm always in amazing company, no matter where I am.