Usually, birthdays are not humbling experiences, but I have to admit that I was last night. First, because I forgot and second, because Mandy not only remembered, but she also surprised me with a "party." Just in case any of you are scratching your heads and wondering what I'm talking about right now, I turned 12 yesterday. That's right, I have had the blessed opportunity to be member of God's family for 12 years.
I have to admit that I have a habit of overlooking my spiritual birthday. I don't think that's going to be the case anymore. Partly, because I married a Spanagel, and partly because I learned a valuable lesson last evening. We remember and celebrate our physical birthdays with great joy, and well we should. It is, after all, one of the biggest events in our lives. But shouldn't we remember the point in time where we were given new life in Christ with equal joy and celebration? In the grand scheme of things, that's the biggest event in a Christian's life.
My spiritual birthday will, from henceforth, become a day of both celebration and reflection. Celebration of Christ's saving work in my life and reflection on His sacrifice for my sins and my relationship with Him. In a small way, I hope that the Lord will allow us a sense of previous time in Heaven, so that we might find even more cause to praise Him.
I don't normally do this, but it's a fairly extreme case, so I'll do it anyway. I'm posting a "help wanted" sign on my blog. My company's been doing some great work lately, and we're finding ourselves in need of some additional help in the design area.
If any of you know someone with strong web design skills who would be willing to move to Columbia to take a job with an up-and-coming web design/development firm, please drop me an email or leave a comment. Here's the description of the person we're looking for. Can't tell you what the compensation would be, but the benefits are great and the guys are cool. If you've already formed another opinion about me, you can delete me from the aforementioned group. :)
An Art Director at TrueMatter is responsible for the creation of all online visual design for the Internet and interactive platforms (e.g., Websites, Intranets, and Web applications).
Art Directors effectively communicate and coordinate with the information architect, site developer, copy writer, and usability professional to ensure that visual design communicates properly, fulfills the goals of the creative brief, follows usability imperatives, and allows properly for interface functionality according to technical specifications. Art Directors take creative responsibility for projects, communicate with clients in order to frame and solve design problems, and may complete production design on projects.
I'll be happy to email any interested party the complete job description document and any other information you'd be interested in getting (within reason).
Mandy and I had the privilege of dining with the younger St. Johns last night. It was great to finally be able to do something with people our age in Columbia. Mandy was particularly excited because she was finally able to talk Shakespeare with someone who's had as much training as she has. I try, but I begin to get shaky when we start discussing Hamlet from the Freudian, Marxist, or Feminist point of view. Stephen used words I'd never even heard before. Mandy dug it, but Becca and I just looked at each other and shrugged. Anyway, it's nice to have some people in town who are in a situation very much like ours. Fun stuff.
We've also met some other people at church who are really cool. Speaking of church...I've found that missing 5 Sundays in a row will really change your perspective on church (no kidding). I might be showing my carnality here, but church was often a dry place for me. Some of that dryness might be attributed to the fact that it was easy to get lost in the crowd in Greenville. Anyway, I really became aware of a thirst for fellowship with likeminded believers that I didn't know I had. I'm glad Mandy's finally feeling well enough to go to back church. The preaching and fellowship are sweet to a thirsty soul.
Just thought I'd let the world know that Mandy seems to be doing a little bit better. The Lord's really taught us a lot in 6 weeks of marriage. We've qute a bit about the part in the vows that says "in sickness and in health," particularly the sickness piece. For my part, the Lord's been teaching me a bit about compassion and selflessness. Not easy lessons to learn, and certainly not things that I'd have wished on Mandy for anything. Still God often demonstrates His goodness and His love for us in ways we don't understand.
As far as actual details go, we've learned a lot about different drugs, particularly the hallucinogenic kind. Mandy was finally able to see a lung specialist a week ago. He believes that she had some sort of viral infection that caused the nerves in her airways to become oversensitized. He prescribed a cough suppressant and rest. She seems to be doing quite a bit better, but there are good days and bad days. We'll see how much progress she's actually made when she goes back to teaching this next week.
Thank you so much for your prayers. They mean more than words I can write.