Trailblazin Ministries Blog

Ramblings

I Feel Like Writing

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Filed under: Ramblings

I feel like writing, but I don't know what to write about. Any other day, I would have a whole list of things to write about, but tonight I just don't feel like I have anything to say; yet, I feel the need to write. So, I'm just going to ramble on about whatever comes to mind, and if it makes sense then that's great.

I guess I'll talk about work first. Things are going well right now, and I can't complain one bit. I continue to say it, but I truly believe that WORDsearch is the greatest place I've ever worked and I feel a sense of purpose in being there. I get to have a hand in making the best Bible study software in the world better. For instance, I was just given my task for the year, which is to update all of our old books to the latest standard, starting first with all of the Bibles. Right now they all work fine, but there really isn't a standardized look for them. So, for the past three days I've been working to create a standard set of stylesheets so that I can then go in and redo all of the Bibles. One of the major changes in doing this is switching the font from Times New Roman to Georgia. Just in my testing, the font change alone makes a huge difference in the appearance and readability of the Bible. As a result, I'm looking forward to getting all of these updated and out to all of our dedicated users. On top of that, I'm also looking forward to updating our older books as well and making them look just as beautiful as our newer books. It's going to be a challenge, but I'm up for it and am truly looking forward to it!

Let's see, what's next... Ahhh! Daycare! Can I vent for a moment? Not that you care, but I'm going to anyway. Can I just say that daycare prices are absurd?! Right now, our two youngest (Ramiah & Leila) are in daycare full-time, while Ryan goes to the YMCA after school. The prices for that are ridiculous! Right now we're paying roughly $1,200 a month to send the two younger ones to daycare, plus $160 a month for Ryan. Something just seems so wrong about that, especially considering we just got a notice that the daycare rate is going up effective next month. So now instead of paying $1,200 it's going to be closer to $1,450 (minus about $50-70 because of a "sibling discount"). Either way, those prices are outrageous. Our rent doesn't even cost that much. Shoot! Rent, lights, water + sewage, Internet, and phone service combined don't even add up to that! I feel like I'm being robbed, seriously. I just don't see how sending two kids to daycare is costing me more than what it takes to live in a 4-bedroom house.

Okay, I'm done venting, I just had to get that out of my system... Anyway, on to other things...

What am I digging in the music world lately? In the genre of holy hip-hop there's The Yuinon's "Genocide: The Sequel," Sho Baraka's "Turn My Life Up," and JR's "Life by Stereo" that are getting the most airplay from me right now. Of course, I am anticipating the release of Shai Linne's new LP titled "The Atonement," which deals almost exclusively with the cross of Christ and our response to it. For someone who didn't even want to be an emcee, that is one gifted brother. In other Christian music, I've been really feeling Chris Tomlin of late, as well as Jeremy Camp's "Carried Me" album. I also picked up Kathryn Scott's "I Belong" from the Zune store, and something new called Chill Cafe which takes modern worship songs and puts them to euro styled techno/house type music, which makes for an interesting listen. But yeah, I'm really looking forward to Shai's release; I'm really fiending for some deep lyrical theology right about now.

My Scripture reading has been going okay, I guess. I'm still on schedule with my reading and haven't missed any days yet, but it has really been a struggle. I'm not really one who likes to do reading at night because I'm more of a morning person, but it seems that it is the only time that I have available to do my reading. I've caught myself dozing off quite frequently while reading, so I end up having to get up, moving around, and coming back to the text in order to finish my reading. It's hard because I know I need to spend time in the Word, but I don't feel like I'm getting very much from it if I'm falling asleep while reading. I had considered waking up earlier, but I already get up at 5 AM as it is, and I don't see myself getting up any earlier which forcing myself to go to bed much earlier. I will say that I've caught a second wind a few times and have finished my reading very strong, but that hasn't consistently been the case. I really need to figure this out though because I feel that my reading and time in the Word is going to suffer and be inadequate if I don't find a proper solution. With that, I'm also needing to balance the amount that I'm feeding myself so as to not take in more than I'm able to digest. Sure, some of it can get in through osmosis, but I really want to understand what I'm learning. I hope I can figure it out soon.

That reminds me too, I still have yet to figure out a schedule for how I'm going to do devotions in 2008. I want for them to be consistent, but with all that's going on and with the reading above, it's hard to try to factor in time for this as well, also throwing in the larger Bible studies. Am I trying to do too much? Do I need to back off or what? I don't feel that I should because this is who I am and what God has for me to do. I feel that I'd be neglecting my gift if I slowed the pace and not feed those who frequent this website (even though it's only a handful of people). I guess at this point in time, I have more questions than answers when I feel that I should have more answers at this point.

I don't know, I'm going to attempt to finish reading for the night (Job 15-17 & James), and go from there. G'night & God speed!