Pantheism:

After church (which was on 1 Jn 2:14-17 - encouraging us to continue to walk w/ God, which was real good) I had some lunch and went for a bike ride. Nothing major, but it was good to get out. 18 miles, 1 hour and a half I guess.

As some of you may be aware, Lloyd takes Wednesdays off, and on these days I do the shipping in his stead. Last week we reached our record (not counting skid orders), and this week we had 31 boxes go out the door. The worst part of that, is I had only 6 boxes done by 12:30 (lots of customer service calls.) I was still packing when UPS came a couple hours later. It was a relief when he came because I knew I could stop!
Ryan packed Audio CD’s, and then I was able to (hopefully) finish the changes for the Spanish Lamb reprint. I sent the last files out to be proof-read.
Oh, and I finally figured out how to get Closed Captioning on the DVD’s I’m mastering right now. It’s not a big deal, but in creating the files for Subtitles, I ‘double bold’ everything so the subtitles come out big and easy to read. Taking that file and exporting the Caption data, if the text is still bold, it makes the text blink (as you can’t make Captions bold, as it’s just like a text file.) It’s one of those experience things that you almost only learn by accident. Now, to run that process through the 110 video clips this one DVD has…
Thanks, Boo, for the package! It’s great! You guys have too much time on your hands…or is it too many hands for your time?
Very full day!

Today I shot myself (not like a friend of mine who shot himself in the foot.) It’s a lot harder to take someone’s photo if the someone you are taking is you. But after a few tries I managed to come up with something that works. If you want to print one and hang it up, you’ll have to download THIS, get it printed, then trim the bottom to do it justice. Or send me an email and I’ll mail one out to you.

Today I packed and shipped 53 boxes of books. I think that’s the highest we have done yet in one day. Our UPS bill was just about $1k!

I just realized today that this is the first post of 2007 that I’m making that includes photos. Not a good thing, but glad I got back on. The freezing on the truck was referred to a few posts ago. The basement is Jim and Leslie’s, almost as I left it (the ceiling had been textured before I left.)
Today started with moving out of Lloyd & Faith’s house (of which I was house sitting), which was not too much trouble (the move out, that is.) Just before 8:00 am, a truck arrived with 8 skids of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus - a real blessing because we had been out of stock for a few days.
So, most of my day was re-stacking the 10,000 books to such a way that would fit in our warehouse nicely. They come stacked 10 per layer on a skid, and with a little care and concern, you can get 12 boxes per layer. And if you stack them higher, you can turn that 8 skids into 6. So, because we are so crowded (see photos) I took the time to consolidate them. Don’t forget, we have 10,000 Beginning with Moses coming and I think around 5,000 By This Name on it’s way yet too. (Hopefully we’ll sell a few skids worth before they come in.)

I’ve been home sick last couple days. Nothing serious - muscle aches was the main symptom. But Bill called this morning, and asked if I was going to be in the office so he can drop off 4 big boxes. (Bill is our mail man.) I had been thinking of going to the office today, and this pushed me over the edge. He came around lunch time and got that taken care of.
In the meantime, I was able to do the corrections for The Lamb in French, and most of the corrections on the Portuguese Lamb.
Also, I uploaded some new MP3 Bible Study lessons at http://www.nsbiblechurch.com There aren’t tons there, but some real good studies if you have the time. I recommend starting with Romans.

It’s good to be back in the US office, and in good time, too. Lloyd is here today (the fellow that does most all of our shipping) but he is leaving tomorrow for a week, and then it becomes my job. The office is short-staffed these days, as Russ and Ken are away for the week, Tom’s in CO, coming back Thursday, and Rachel is still in Canada. So, it’s only Barney, Lloyd, Faith and I. It’s still do-able, just not as redundant as before!

Today, I finished up Jim / Leslie’s basement (as far as the mud-on-the-rock goes), basically just shot texture on the ceiling and some last touch ups on the archway.
After that, Melissa and I loaded up and headed south, leaving at around 10:30 I think it was. There was a light snow, but no accumulation on the roads. They were, however, quite wet. And that means a lot of spray coming up from the traffic in front. This is where I missed my Toyota, because the washer / wiper combination on my GMC doesn’t work well at all (something I’ll have to fix one day.)
There was some interesting ice patterns on the truck, photos to come later.

I’m still helping out in Jim’s basement, finishing up the sheetrock mud job. It’s going well, probably a couple more days yet to go to finish things off.
Yesterday Trevor came in and framed in the arch doorway, and then I hung the rock around it. It’s now taped and has the first coat of mud, and will sit for a day before I get back to it. But all in all I’m pleased how it’s going—I learned a lot from the last time (where I helped out with 2 bathrooms and a hallway a couple weeks ago.)
But I did buy a new tool (you see, a job’s not worth doing unless you can buy a new tool.) It’s nothing major - just a floor scraper - but something that will be a big help in days to come.
Tomorrow looks like fixing some shelves at the GS office. Oh, and answer the phone.

Today started with 20 skids of Tabernacle Furniture (temp link) arriving at our office at 8:00 am. With a borrowed pallet jack, our electric forklift and our pallet jack, we made quick work of unloading. By 10:00, we had about 12 skids worth pack high on our shelves. Such a blessing to have the tools to do a job right.
These are only for sale to ‘walk-ins’ right now, as we have shipping supplies ordered to properly ship these packages. There are no shipping orders till next week Thursday!
After, I packed up my truck and a borrowed trailer to take a load of these materials up to our Canadian office. Rachel and MJ are riding with - Rachel to work with JRC on By This Name, a new book coming out in April, and MJ to hang out with her friends up in Canada for a week.
So, if you need to call me this next week, don’t! (unless you just leave a message.) My phone will be OFF while I’m in Canada.

Sure is nice to get things done.
1) Hauled 3 desks down to Marc - cleaning out the warehouse for the Tab furniture.
2) Fixed the trailer brakes on the truck (was scheduled for last Saturday.)
3) Got the trailer to haul tons of stuff up north to the Canadian office.
4) Corrections completed on the Portuguese Lamb. (Need logos and title designed.)
5) Most of the corrections done on the French Lamb (need to replace the logos is all that’s left.)

I was going to come back after supper, but then I remembered I need to do laundry. No comments, please.

Today, it was a good day in that Majkl’s court case is being reviewed by a court that seems to want to get to the bottom of things, which is a good thing. See http://www.majkl.org/ for more details.

Also, today I was able to mail out the last check for my car purchase. That is a big praise item too!

2 Corinthians 9:6-15 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  9 As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”  10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.  12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.  14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.  15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Today I was thinking of the need once again to find a place to live. I’m not totally sure about the 3-5 year house-sitting plan, but it doesn’t look good in my favor. So that leads to the point of looking—either for a place to buy or a place to rent. I’ve always thought of renting as a waste of money, but with my current income, I might be able to borrow $50-75k. That, as you may already thinking, won’t buy much! So, the other options available are buying something like a camper-trailer, or renting something small like a studio apartment.
I know God is faithful and fully trustworthy. Just knowing what to do is often the problem. Some say, “What are you trusting God for?”—meaning: make a list and believe God to fill it. That sounds good, but my list is short: A place to live. A garage would be nice, a place for my tools and possibly to work on other’s vehicles and the like. But that’s extras that aren’t a part of the contract.

We’ll see what God does! In the mean time it’s prayer for wisdom and foot-leather (or is it elbow grease?)

Just a note on the basement story…did get the texturing done today (that is, if everyone likes it!)
All that’s left is clean-up and some small odds to fix. It’s been a big project, though it didn’t seem like it at first.