the intersection of life and grace

I may be late to the party on this, but I discovered macfun.com today thanks to a post at the MacWorld blog. It seems that macfun has expanded its game offerings (there are a lot there!), and is even offering freebies. I’m not much of a gamer, but today’s freebie, Big Bang Reaction, is a puzzle game that looked fun. If you click the image at right you can download it too, or browse for other fun.

The prices seemed reasonable, but you’ve gotta love that free fun, right?

In customer service news:

• No response from Mr. Bach at Microsoft Entertainment today. Yes, I reported the charge to my credit card company’s customer service department (and the agent was astounded at how we’d been treated as he initiated the complaint process) and will refuse the package when it arrives.
• While I was out of town at the NYWC, my daughter received a duplicate shipment of a racing swimsuit, which had a duplicate charge to go with it. One phone call to Warnaco (maker of Speedo competitive swimwear), 5 minutes of time, produced a credit for the product and they are sending UPS to retrieve the item at no charge to us. Apparently it helped them to uncover a computer glitch that duplicated a number of shipments they’ll be following up on. Not only did they correct their error, they thanked me for pointing it out. Imagine that.

Microsoft. Seriously. My annoyance at being overcharged and told no we can’t let you return the Xbox 360 power adapter because our agent made a mistake wasn’t enough, it was when the 2nd supervisor (of 5 different representatives and 2 supervisors on the same issue) said to me “I have no way of verifying that you are telling the truth about the misquoted price,” that I lost it. She flatly refused to give me to a higher supervisor, so I found the highest fish on the food chain in her division of Microsoft and faxed him a letter about the situation.

At Microsoft, the customer service representatives are apparently trained to protect the interests of the company rather than provide customer service.

We didn’t know what one of these adapters should cost, so we asked the guy on the other end of the phone. If he’d told us $79 plus shipping, we would not have placed the order. He told us $18, twice. The don’t even sound alike, no matter what accent you use (his English was pristine, so that’s not even relevant). To read the letter I wrote to Robert Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division, Microsoft Corporation, click the more link. (more…)

Brian tagged me to answer that question from his old blog, after he moved to a new blog.  Now that I’m over that minor confusion, I’ll answer.

I wish I was better at (man, this is really going to sound dumb, but it’s the truth)… housekeeping.  In actuality, I wish I was more motivated about housekeeping especially since I spend the majority of my days at home.  I much prefer spending time with people rather than cleaning implements and products.  In a household with 5 busy people, the problem is really more about clutter than dirt and dust… but anyway… that’s my honest answer.

Hm, so now to tag some folks.  How about Cathy, Angie, Mel and Kristen… girl power, oh yeah!

Worship House Media is one of my favorite resources for motion backgrounds, illustration video and more because they have such a wide variety of content that’s well done and easy to search and preview.

Another fantastic thing about them is they are giving away a free download every day until Christmas. That means you still have time to get a bunch’o great stuff - just by clicking here, then looking for the WHM daily freebie icon on the lower right.

Please indulge me in a mommy moment? I just want to brag on my kids for a few sentences.

Tim’s search for the right college for his goals and needs is over. Within 5 days of submitting his application to his first choice, The College of Saint Rose, Tim was accepted and awarded a partial academic scholarship. CSR has an excellent music department, and we have friends (and some of Tim’s teachers) who attended their program. Tim still has to audition for the music department, and that is scheduled for January 19.

I had a conversation with Cathie last night that blessed me by her honesty and compassion. She had a concern and asked my advice about the plan of action she wanted to pursue. It was exactly the right course for the situation, all I had to do was confirm that and reassure her. I’m really blessed that I have a relationship with her that allows that kind of communication and gives me the opportunity to support her in all kinds of circumstances.

Here ends the mommy moment.

That question has come up a bit recently in relation to a few aspects of life, but most intensely in relationship to my family’s desire to know what I want for Christmas. I’m having trouble answering that question, but it’s been interesting to think about (you could cue the music for that ages old song “My Grown-up Christmas List” if you like).

I want

• to see Tim get better
• to see my family happy and thriving
• to experience vibrant community
• to live in keeping with the teachings of Jesus
• to have meaningful interactions with people I don’t know yet
• to see the cause of peace advanced
• to see the poor and displaced helped
• to see violence in the name of God end
• to have children be safe from predators of any kind
• to see higher value for my tax dollars
• to see government actually be ‘by the people, for the people’
• to have clarity
• to be content
• to be generous
• to make a difference

There are more rolling around my brain. I think you’ll notice my dilemma… these aren’t “things” people can give me as a pretty wrapped package on Christmas day. I’m having difficulty coming up with gift ideas… obviously.

We spent Thanksgiving day with a huge chunk of my husband’s large Irish Catholic family, which is always a fantastic meal and a time filled with the noise of children and the laughter that comes from re-living family stories, spontaneous singing and dancing, and observing the humorous interactions that come when three generations are gathered in one place.

All those gathered are descended from five sisters, four of whom – Kitty, Nora, Anna, Della – emigrated to the US in the 1920′s while the fifth and youngest, Mary, took care of the family farm in County Mayo and followed much later. In the finest of Irish family traditions it was difficult to tell whose children belonged to whom because they all grew up together on the same block of 138th Street in the South Bronx. In fact Tom and I were already married before I fully matched up the “aunts and uncles” with their parents, realizing that two had borne none of the nine in Tom’s mother’s generation. That emigrating first generation has gone on in the past couple of years, leaving three generations to carry on (and carry on they do!).

Only 4 of the 11 second generation cousins (who have 9 spouses and soon to be 20 children among them) were missing from this particular holiday gathering and there was one guest. We got to meet new spouses and new babies, a pleasure delayed by distance and circumstances. The newest addition to the children of the clan is Kate (picture inset), but younger twins are expected by the end of this month.

“The Aunts” as that first generation is called by one and all, would have adored the chaos their great-grandchildren were making, and would have busied themselves giving marriage advice to the newest wed (and as of yet childless) couple, parenting advice to those with babies, and playing pranks with the eldest (whom they did actually get to know and properly dote upon). By the time we got to the end of the evening I could still see them with their Sunday coats on, buttoned up and purses on their shoulders with their hands folded in their laps waiting for their ride to cooperate and leave the party. Some memories never fade. They would also have found a way to get into this play that the youngest children did yesterday, and that I dedicate to the many happy memories of The Aunts, for whom many are thankful.

[googlevideo:http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-7809380949590016225&hl=en 400 326]

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.  It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

President Abraham Lincoln,
Proclamation establishing Thanksgiving, October 3, 1863

One of the artists that performed for the 5,000+ youth workers at the NYWC was the amazingly fun Family Force 5. Ang, the sign language interpreter (a volunteer and a friend of Jeff and Stacey’s), is a huge fan and it was sheer joy to watch her make the music come alive for the deaf youth workers in attendance! This video is part of the song Earthquake.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRX0AQkfVqQ 400 300]

I share it because we all need to know that the authentic gospel message does really bear fruit in due time. We just don’t always get to know it. Shared with permission.

I feel shy writing, I wanted to Apologize, but to more so thank you.

First, the Apology is for the way I had acted in my imaturityness, and how I did not respect you in my years as a a teen, as someone who had authority over me or someone who had more experience or even as a friend. I am sorry for that but, also, for going behind your back and talking poorly against you. It brought me down to level of slander and I was in fact lowering myself. Even when you treated me with respect and like a person should be. We might of not had the straightest and smoothest relationship, but you had treated me much better than I you.

Hindsight is 20 20. I like to think that my maturity has gone up a little since, and I was looking back at my spiritual walk and how I have grown in the past years.
It has intrigued me to look back and see where I matured and why. In going back and thinking about it all, I have figured out that I was begining to figure out things about Christ on a deeper level during my years in youth group. I really feel that you were trying to let me in on the power of Christ, to open the door, to what i could have. The hunger of the word, and its fulfillment in my life and to be walking Daily with Christ, but I was to busy being a middle and high schooler as we all go through those stages. Some quicker than others. There were many times where you could have closed the door and given up on me. You helped me see the power of Christ with my own eyes.

I really want to tell you an example of how you helped me open my eyes. Remember, I think it was the first year we went to the camp as a youth retreat, and you had challenged us to really personalize our walk with God. To talk to God on a personal level, I will never forget it, It did not hit me full force then but later down the road it did. That even though we were at church and that saying the Nicene Creed meant things to some people it might just be words to us. And you hit the nail dead on. You had said “make up your own prayer! As long as you are REAL with God” It is that realness and that personalized touch. The message you were portryaing was to have personal relationship with God, and do what ever it takes to get that relationship because its great.

Again it did not fully click then, but it did later on. And I can’t even begin to tell you that near the end of when I left the Youth group your words were still a light house as I drifted into some dark waters in the following years to come. I could have gotton lost and been lost for an even longer amount of time. But it was gods grace that brought me back And though your words might not have affected me as hard as you wanted them to that day they did in the end.

In m mind I feel that your arms have always been open and when I had closed my arms to you yours were still open, It reminds me of Christ and how his arms are always open and how you have reflected Christ to me. I am eternally Thaankfull for your persistance not to me but to Christ! Thank You Very Much!!!!!

I hope this email was not to much, I really felt an obligation to Apologize for my behavior, but also to Thank You I hope that htis is also and encouragement. You have an awesome day and God bless You!!!!

In Christ, your former student

This note slays me, God is so strong and so faithful, so graceful to show us fruit of our labors in his vineyard. I share this for your encouragement, not my own glorification, and with the hope that you’ll join me in praying that the seeds youth ministers plant, nurture and tend year after year will bear much fruit, and that they will be similarly encouraged. God gets the credit, all of it.