Small Thrills

We live about quite a few miles away from a town of any size, and I drive about 30 minutes to do any major shopping...even to another state for groceries. We have a few fast food places, one (very expensive and crowded) grocery store, several coffee shops, a couple banks, a few restaurants, and some other miscellaneous stores. When we they build something new out here, we all get pretty excited. Last year they put in a Burger King, and the line in the drive-thru was wrapped around the place for weeks when it first opened!

So when I found out we are getting a Starbucks, I was thrilled! Our closest Starbucks is about 25 miles away, which for the Pacific Northwest is unbelievable. It seems they are everywhere, often two in the same shopping center or on opposite sides of a street. We have a pretty good local coffee shop which I will still frequent (Starbucks can't compete with punch cards for free drinks and discounts for getting the trivia question right!), but every once in a while it's nice to have a Starbuck's latte. I just wonder how long the wait will be when it opens. I may have to wait for months before I can even attempt to buy one!

OS Air

My computer has been limping along for a while and a couple months ago pretty much took a nose dive, so my hubby got me a new one. I would love to have been able to buy a Mac, but it was several hundred dollars more than we could really spend, so we got another PC (maybe next time!). Now I have been learning Vista, and it's been a little frustrating from time to time, so when my husband forwarded this article to me, I thought it was pretty funny!

Different operating systems. Different styles. But what if the quirks and styles of the different operating systems were applied to AIRLINES? What if airlines ran things the way operating systems do?

Mac Airlines
"All the stewards, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look and act exactly the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are gently but firmly told that you don't need to know, don't want to know, and everything will be done for you without your ever having to know, so just shut up."

Air DOS
"Everybody pushes the airplane until it glides, then they jump on and let the plane coast until it hits the ground again. Then they push again, jump on again, and so on…"

Windows Air
"The terminal is pretty and colourful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off. After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning whatsoever."

Linux Air
"Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself. When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plane leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, 'You had to do what with the seat?'"

Featured Ministry

Since we have been looking for a church home for quite some time, I have needed to find a steady source of spiritual feeding. I got an iPod for Christmas and began signing up for different podcasts and listening to sermons and teaching by various pastors and teachers. It is tragic how much junk is out there in Christendom. I shouldn't be surprised. The Bible tells us that this will be the case, that wolves will rise up from within the church and seek to deceive and devour the flock. It's often hard to tell the sheep from the goats. After being dismayed over all the unbiblical teaching I was finding, I was so pleased to run across a sermon series by John Piper that was fantastic! He's not for the faint of heart, to be sure, but I have been listening to him for months now and have learned much.

Not only do I appreciate his candid preaching, but the website for his ministry, Desiring God, is fantastic. You can download hundreds of sermons and articles and even books...for free! They have a "whatever you can afford" policy when it comes to other things for sale, which I think is great too.