If you have iTunes then you may have discovered the web radio feature in the playlist bar. Ethan (scroll down to "pictures"), a fellow world traveller, showed me the other day that the second station under the international channels is direct from Turkey.
I've been listening to it for most of the day.
At 4:38 a very familiar cadence broke into the normal programing of "Ee-Geh-Ee-Em FM Turkiye." The eerily beautiful call to prayer chanted without instruments called across the world from turkey for all good muslims to pray.
I laughed to myself because I've not seen good muslims respond to the call in their own country. I remember the same sound drown the entire city of Istanbul at night. We could see at least five mosques and countless minerets from our hotel window. They each simultaneous buried the city with the same drone. It did not stop anyone, but it still controlled them.
The station played a brief silence after the call went out, soliciting prayer. I obeyed it.
The reason I went to Turkey was to see what Islam looked like practically. I wanted to discover it for myself without the veil of an ocean between me and the real thing. And God allowed me to accomplish my goal.
The reason I came back is to tell you that there is a wide open feild out there waiting for harvest. Please pray for the people of Turkey. They are realizing that Islam is as dead as its first prophet. Please pray for labourers. Please pray for those serving there now. Pray for the strength and unity and purity of the Church. Pray that God will use people like you and me to somehow lead the Turks to know God before this amazing window of opportunity closes.
"so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." Acts 19:10
When creatives plan a party no detail is overlooked. You've got the hay bales, corn stalks, caramel apples, and everything. Including pumpkin carving contest and costume contest.
You would not believe how the office atmosphere changes with a little decoration and a showing of 'Ghost Busters.' Eyes are creeping around office doors to follow the trails of cotton candy and goodies going to the party site. People are emerging fully decked in the craziest stuff (the winner of the costume contest gets a half day of vacation).
Basically, it's a ton of fun 'cause we're forgetting for a moment the projects and business because, hey, it's Friday and we're letting our hair down for the week-end.
I had forgotten how much fun pumpkin carving is. I like the smell of the fresh pumpkin and the feel of the seeds in your fingers and the sound they make when you mush them on your little brother. I made a simple celtic flower knot thingie. A lot of the other entries have really interesting twists such as a martian green pumpkin, an aquarium carved all the way around, and a few faces and animals - even a Cinderella carraige. This is an entierly untapped artform totally worth developing!
(pictures to come)
That's the news from the internship. We're keeping it lively and festive... at least until monday.
there's a little restaurant called el molcajete that you may have seen in the bi-lo shopping center on the corner of pleasantburg and 291.
i had lunch there a few weeks ago with a couple friends and thoroughly enjoyed it. i ordered a lunch platter with fajitas for just over five dollars. what i got was a tray of assorted vegies, beef, rice, and sauces that could feed a family of eight for a week! the atmosphere is really nice and you know the food must be good when all the mexicans are eating there too.
just under five months ago i was deplaning on the euro-asian land bridge of turkey. i really had no idea what to expect despite my research.
last night the tour group was reunited save one. it was really good to sit and talk about the changing nature of missions, graphic design, teaching public speaking, the tone of the upcoming generation, german polotics, looked at pictures, remembered things we thought everyone else had forgotten, and (what party would be complete without) blonde jokes.
But it was more than reminiscing over a trip that taught us about another people group or enlightened us to the wide open opportunities in turkey (though it did teachus that). We saw in each other again the changes that trusting God to draw all the details together into a neat, tidy little package forged. our faith was renewed in turkey. literally walking the footsteps of the ancient church leaders in their own country in many ways showed us how to follow the footsteps of Christ where we are.
and i can say that for me, seeing God guide the past (recent and distant) as He has makes me excited about the future He is unfulring for us.
i·ro·ny n. pl. i·ro·nies
1. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: “Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated” (Richard Kain).
2. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.
I have time to blog today only because I've finished a project for a class early.
I came to class with my tidy little brochure design saved and ready to print. I made some tweakings and then packaged the file for pre-press and printed to the trusty lab printer.
I have been waiting for a little more than two hours for the file to beat down the print demons that are sending 27 copies of the front of a Trix cereal box. Everyone else is printing and trying to be patient. The printer will be in pieces. Soon.
On the up-side I finally found time to catch up on my correspondance, joke around with friends, and surf the web. I think that snags like these should come more often - as long as i have the project ready ahead of time.
Guess what.
really, guess...
I'm taking guitar lessons.
A guy that lives a couple doors down the way has and plays a guitar. He's been excellent in teaching me the right technique and motivating me to practice and work hard with learning the chords and notes.
This is the first time I've ever tried to learn an instrument. It amazes me how simple the chords can be and how mathematically ordered the notes are on the strings. The more I practice the easier it becomes to recognize notes on a page and play them, almost as easy as sight reading to sing. I'm hoping that I'll be good enought to play hymns out of a hymnal or pick out a tune after hearing a really cool song.
So, if you ever want a mottled rendition of 'Shenandoa' or 'Be Thou My Vision' please give me a call.
It is sometimes hard to find just the right gift for a special occasion. That's why I tend to go with food. Specifically chocolate. Everyone loves it. It doesn't sit around in someone's closet and collect dust. It doesn't wilt.
Last night I made a quick run to the local fresh market to pick up a chocolate something as a gift for a friend.
A display table greeted me as I entered the door and offered me a delightful collection of chocolate covered animal crackers in a crystal box. Naturally I accepted and brought the little choco-critters to the cashier. She made the adoption complete and I walked them to the car. Each of them behaved so well in their plastic carrying cage. But they looked so forlorn and I knew they needed attention. I think the car made them restless because soon the tigers were chipping their nails on the lid and the weaker animals were shedding their cocoa coats in fear as the stronger animals pushed them to the bottom of the clear container. So I set them free. And they were so good! Really, chocolate covered animal crackers are the best thing since sliced bread!
So I am off to the store again. This time for something with an opaque container. And maybe for some more zoological confections :-)
If you are HTML savvy please leave a helpful comment.
How would I get the white space on the sides of my 700 pixel wide main page to turn a particular shade of green?
Also, I would like about fifty pixels of the same green shade to separate the masthead from the bottom edge of the browser's tool bar.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
In case you wondering why I haven't posted in a while:
It is because I'm still reconfiguring my templates and stylesheet in my meager spare time. I've become vain about how it looks while underconstruction and I've tried to attract as little attention as possible.
So now that I have a bit of time I am going to figure out how to center my masthead.
More updates to come.
I was one of those wierd kids that had to rearrange the furniture in his bedroom frequently for no real reason other than to see if I would remember where I was when I woke up the next morning.
Well, I don't think that augmenting the HTML of a blog will give me the thrill of a temporarily twisted equilibrium, but it's worth a try.
Please enjoy the new masthead and expect more changes.