Wednesday, July 31, 2013

SSMT - Verse 15

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I'm well aware there is no verse 14 listed here; just couldn't get it done as that was due the day we left for girls' camp.

Technically, this isn't due till tomorrow either, but since tomorrow is another full, booked up day I am posting here early and hoping to get a chance to link it up over at the LPM blog.

So...today's verse:

He will not let your foot slip -- he who watches over you will not slumber; - Ps 121:4  NIV 84

I would really like to memorize all of Ps. 121; maybe someday...

Meantime, this verse is giving me great comfort.  There are times when I just don't know if I'm doing the right thing or not; I'm trying but I'm way too failible.

So this verse is one of those that I need to remember when I'm afraid to step out into what he seems to be putting before me.

He will not let my foot slip.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Dropping by to say 'Hi'...

posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

We are coming down the home stretch on this data migration; the real dump is coming from our old provider on Wednesday.

I wish I had another month to clean more data, but, alas, I do not.  I'm going to run a couple more searches through my lists of possible inactive folks, just to make sure that no one who has been around for the last year or so is included in those lists, then I will deactivate the whole lot.

I'll probably have some mistakes, but we have so many old records that we really don't want to move that I'm willing to take the risk.

I missed the July 15 memory verse...headed out for Girls Camp that day and just couldn't get it in.  Not sure I'll make the Aug 1 list, either...as I said, this is the home stretch.  We'll see.

But apparently no one has any 15 minute stress-buster suggestions, so I'll throw out what I've been doing.

If I'm at work... Get up and walk away.  Get a cup of coffee, chat with a co-worker. 

If I'm not at work... Get up and walk away.  Sit on  the porch swing a bit.  Play a game with the kids.  Work through a couple of chapters of my Bible Survey.  Sort laundry (well, yeah, it is kinda stress relieving to see the piles shrink)

The less wise ideas:  eat a bowl of ice cream.  Eat a hershey bar.  Raid the refrigerator. 

Um, yeah. 

Getting there...

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Deep Breaths

posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Y'know, I've never been part of a data base migration before.

The thing that makes it so crazifying is that the current work doesn't stop while we get the new platform ready (and HOW do I match those multiple-selection drop down lists to a solution that only offers a scant handful of custom drop down lists...that can only have one choice?); add to that some personnel transitions that mean we are having to train folks on the old system just weeks before we move to the new system (oh, wait, I don't  have to create a new log in...I can just reassign the old one...so nice to know 3 weeks before we leave...) and some whose data just landed on my desk because there's no one else to put it in right now (Um, yeah, maybe I really did say I'd take care of that while you looked for a new data entry person...what was I thinking?) and a switch in branding that seems to be resulting in a slew of duplicate records...that we don't want to pay to move...and put it all right in the middle of three out-of-town trips.  It is summer, after all.

I never really thought I was susceptible to stress, but I am feeling it.  And I am not liking it.

But really, this is pretty minor stress.  Folks living in other countries who don't know where their next meal is coming from, or if the secret police...or the radical insurgents...will come and haul everyone off to prison or worse; people sitting in hospital waiting rooms with no assurance that the news about that sweet one who was so...normal...just  a couple of hours ago is going to be hopeful or devastating, whose whole world has been turned upside down for who know how long, whose dreams and plans have just evaporated.. THEY are the ones who are stressed.  Whether or not I get every record matched up perfectly really isn't stress.

But I have to keep reminding myself that I can only do what I can do and not worry about what I can't.  If it's not perfect, we'll fix it.  This time next year, it'll be done and we'll be on the upswing. 

But, I'm curious...if anyone is willing to share, what is your favorite 15 minute stress reliever?  'Cause I've only got 15 minutes... ;-)

Monday, July 1, 2013

Verse 13 - Numbers 6:24 - 26 (and a little rabbit chasing...)

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

One of the things I'm discovering on this 26 verse journey is that sometimes there is an obvious and direct line to the verse I choose; sometimes that path is considerably convoluted and vague.

Today's verse came after a series of subtle nudges and prods, which I'm not even going to try to recount.

And it is a very familiar passage; our pastor pronounces this over our congregation almost every week.  So it's not going to be a stretch to really memorize it...mostly just matching the reference with the passage.

Here's the passage:

The LORD bless and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace - Numbers 6:24-26, NIV 84

As I said, it's very familiar, but I wanted to make sure I have it learned.  But...the next verse really caught my eye:

So they [the priests] will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

I was riveted by the concept that the priests put the Lord's name on the people  with  this blessing...and that it was the Lord's name that was the blessing/carried the blessing.

NOTE:  That was pretty much where I planned to stop.  But somehow I wandered down a rabbit trail...you can follow it with me if you like...


Standard translation practice is that the all-caps LORD (Strong's 3068) is used to translate the Hebrew unpronounced Name of God, which is often rendered as Jehovah or Yahweh in English and means self existent or eternal one.

A quick skim of Zhodiates,  paying attention to the little numbers, shows that the first time word 3068  appears in the text is Genesis 2:4   - This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.  When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens --   ( I'm switching over to KJV, because this is from Zhodiates...)


LORD is used as the active subject of a sentence several times in the following chapters, but we see that Abram ...built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.  (Gen. 12:8) 

For Abram to have called upon the name of the LORD,  that name had to have been revealed to him at some point prior to the altar.  Perhaps when he was first called to leave his father's house in 12:1 - Now the LORD had said unto Abram....?

We first see God's declaration identifying Himself as the LORD in  Gen 15:7 - I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees...   which exactly identifies the One who sent Moses  in Exodus 3: 15 -  ...say to the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God  of Jacob, hath sent me to you:  this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations."

This is the name that the priests were to place on the people; and they carried both His name and His blessing; His name was in the blessing.