Natalie’s Narrative

harmless stuff…bouquets of sharpened pencils…

Fingerprints July 31, 2008

Filed under: Uncategorized — natalier @ 9:36 pm

I started reading in Esther today and was reminded of this…

From John MacArthur…

Why isn’t God directly mentioned in Esther?

…When it comes to God, Esther seems strangely silent.

   In fact, the silence is so obvious that it becomes an argument.  Esther challenges the tendency to demand that God prove His power and presence.  Must God be apparent?  All too quickly we expect God to demonstrate in unmistakable ways His identity.  Yet God has repeatedly resisted human ultimatums.  God reveals Himself for His own purposes, not human requirements.

   Throughout history, God has more readily operated behind the scenes than in plain sight.  The Scriptures are filled with unusual circumstances in which God worked obviously.  But Esther comes close to revealing God’s standard procedure.  God’s fingerprints are all over Esther’s story.  His superficial absence points to a deeper presence.  God chose to be subtle, but He was there.  The events in Esther give us a model for hope when God works in less than obvious ways in our lives.

Lord, thank You for resisting my ultimatums.  Please grant me eyes to see Your less-than-obvious ways.

 

Preparing for Life on the Border July 29, 2008

Filed under: Uncategorized — natalier @ 10:30 pm

…oh wait…wrong border…:)

 

Disturb Disturbed Disturbing July 9, 2008

Filed under: Uncategorized — natalier @ 10:33 pm

Does anyone else find it disturbing that Celine Dion intends to cover “Shook Me All Night Long?”  I would find it in far better taste for AC/DC to cover her.  What’s next?  Sandy Patty covers Metallica?  Bette Midler covers GunsNRoses?

Also disturbing…pet insurance.  Aren’t we in a health care crisis?  Isn’t the insurance industry supposed to be struggling and striving just to stay in the black?  Is this new product supposed to shore up falling profit margins?  What in the world?  All I know is we are probably only three good months away from Dateline running a story on some blockhead who insured their dog ahead of their kid.

Deep breaths.

Potentially disturbing…Google Maps Street View…Now, if you know me, you know I am slightly freak about maps.  Google Earth pretty much rocked my 2005.  I am crazy about the bird’s eye view.  However, Google Maps has added a feature known as “street view.”  They have not covered Springfield yet (guess they aren’t as prolific in their coverage as Celine).  Go look at a bigger city…say, St. Louis.   Zoom in to where you can see side streets, then click “street view.”  It will CREEP you out!  It’s like you are driving down the street!  How do they DO that?  What would George Orwell think of that?  Google…it’s like they’e taking over the world.

Sadly disturbing…Kansas City’s Royals.  I am truly getting soft in my old age.  I carried a bitter grudge against that town for 21 years…couldn’t even truly enjoy The Plaza until my Redbirds finally won a series.  But, let’s face it.  You can’t really hate a rival that is so pathetic their franchise is in jeopardy.  I find myself secretly pulling for them!  I ACTUALLY pay attention to their highlights on KY3 because I just want them to be respectable enough again to at least DISLIKE them.  *Sigh*  It disrupts my mellow to feel pity for an enemy that I would prefer to despise.

Disturbing only to me…I did not…NO…COULD NOT post the entire month of June!  I have started a post about Yancey’s Soul Survivor at least 1,000 times in my head and half a dozen times in print.  I just can’t get it out…I’m blocked…and I’m bugged…because it’s only the most thought provoking, convicting, informative thing I’ve ever read outside of Scripture!  Maybe SOMEDAY I’ll find words to express it.  The older I get, the more I find that words fail.  Too often, they fail.  Nonetheless, they are what we have.

In other not so disturbing news, I won a gift card to Marias!  Did I hear date night? )