Mín Englisc Blog

The LORD in your distress attend;
Let Jacob's God exalt you still.
Help from the holy temple send,
And strengthen you from Zion's hill.

Though parents may betray,
The LORD will care for me.
Teach me, O LORD, Your way;
On level path lead me.
For me my foes in ambush wait;
My way is lined with those who hate.

As Elisha urged Jehoash of Israel to take hold of God's promises,
so do I take hold of God's promises of safety. If God keep his people
in wartime (the context of Psalm 20) and gives individuals aid in
situations as dire as parental abandonment, surely he will keep me now,
when I've simply lost a tool! After all, I'm not reduced to no
computer; I'm only reduced to being a normal student, who takes class
notes on paper :-)

God is our refuge and our strength,
A present help in our distress.
We will not therefore be afraid
Tho' all the earth should be removed.
Tho' mountains great be hurled
Into the oceans' depths,
Tho' seas may roar and foam
And billows shake the shore,
Tho' mountains tremble at their
power.

Aside from all this, I don't have too much going on. Earlier today, I went downtown to refill my antiseizure medicine. I must admit, there sometimes are benefits to having a car :-) At least today's weather is quite pleasant. For the rest of the week, I have a test tomorrow morning (Modern Europe) and a paper due Friday afternoon (Latin America). And then it's
spring break!

I'm sorry to announce that posting the rest of the week will be sporadic. My laptop's power cord has failed, so I can't use the laptop. Pray that I might find an affordable replacement: checking at two stores tonight, I was told that replacement &mdash remember, a simple power cable &mdash would be $120!

Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta

News tonight from Abby Bowser: Zach Kail (middler at RPTS) and Liesl Gamble are betrothed! Apparently, they became engaged on Tuesday, but (as far as it seems to me) it wasn't announced until yesterday at College Hill RPC. When Abby (whose boyfriend Josh is Zach's younger brother) told me, I was shocked; Zach and Liesl didn't become a couple until after New Year's. They're looking to be married on a Saturday in August, either the 18th or the 25th. Whenever the date is, I'm sure of one thing: Zach obviously is on decent interpersonal relations with at least one of his professors :-)
Other than that news, not much happened today. I'm taken with a bit of work: I have to read two books (one is half done) and write a paper on one, along with taking a major test and writing reports on two psalms. It's not impossible, and it probably won't be extremely difficult, but I'll still be quite busy.
Just before work, I finished reading Reed's book. I'm glad I read it; I learned far more than I would have otherwise. Most of my understanding of Russian Communist politics is Stalin or post-Stalin, and reading about this is vastly different. It's amazing, though, to see the foundations already being set — less than two months after the October Revolution — of the one-party state that, instead of being a dictatorship of the proletariat, becomes a dictatorship over the proletariat.

Today, although busy, was quite enjoyable. Despite the ice, all twelve of us (although with only eleven seats and seatbelts!) were able to leave for Pittsburgh at about 9:00 after facing transportation difficulties (two of our drivers were unable to come), and arrived for worship more than fifteen minutes early. Due to problems with the flooring, the congregation has been meeting at a Holiday Inn for the past few weeks, although it was announced today that the building will be repaired sufficiently to allow them to meet there next week :-) Although I was able to speak with several people from the congregation whom I know, I most appreciated speaking with Peter and Rachel McDonald, the former of whom is originally from Belle Center.
After church, at the Troups', I again had a fine time. While Bekah (and Tony :-) were familiar with the house and family, I'm not sure how many of the rest of us were; I knew Dr. and Mrs. Troup, but I'd never visited the house, nor spoken with them for very long. Mrs. Troup served a great lunch of spaghetti :-) As I had a chance to see them for more than a few seconds, it struck me: without a doubt, Mrs. Troup resembles her sister, Mrs. Wade Mann!
One really annoying thing about today: when I wanted to take a picture, I discovered that the camera screen is damaged. It still takes pictures fine, but I'm now restricted to the use of the little window in the top left corner, like with a film camera. This, you can imagine, makes it harder to take pictures of anything except a pose, since I can't hold it in a more stable position away from my face. I'm hoping that it won't cost too much to fix, but I'm not certain; I know nothing about repair of electronics.

Because I have rather little to do, I've done virtually nothing today. I was on Wikipedia much of the day, along with reading from John Reed's Ten Days That Shocked the World. I'm now well past halfway through the book.
As I read this book, written by a communist who saw members of virtually every stratum of society, I'm better understanding the mindset of the early Bolsheviki. On the surface, it really does seem good, with every group controlling its own affairs, religious persecution not at all a factor, and the government including plenty of dissent — not at all what we think of with the USSR years later! However, we see the basic problems: despite the protests of many, newspaper censorship is beginning, the Bolsheviki are already beginning to consider that they and their supporters are the real proletariat, and that all their opponents — regardless of their orientation — are bourgeois.
Overall, on the surface of things, Marxism is a great system: we have people controlling all their own affairs, no need for repression of any sort, and society all working together. If only it accounted for the fact that people don't always do what's best for themselves! Aside from the question of religion being the opiate of the masses, Marxism has this critical problem. Nevertheless: if you grant Marx's ideas of the uselessness of religion and the perfectability of humanity, there's really no better option than his own.

Fountain near Swarovski museum in Wattens, Austria

Now that's an impressive fountain!

The Hopi Chipmunk, a resident of the southeastern United States

Because of technical problems, my Modern Middle East course was cancelled today; we handed in the essay that was due and left. I was thankful that the professor stayed around for a while; some of my friends and I ended up talking with him for nearly half an hour.
I had considered as a final paper topic for Modern Middle East the development of Libyan politics since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1969. To understand this, of course, one must understand the personality of Muammar al-Qaddafi, the defacto leader of the state. Therefore, I found online the text of The Green Book, a philosophical text he wrote to describe his political beliefs. Not all the statements are especially profound; listen to the first and last sentences of a paragraph on the rôles of women:

Women are females and men are males....The man, on the other hand, neither conceives nor breast-feeds. End of gynaecological statement!

Maybe it's because I'm sleepy, but that's still an odd statement to find in a work devoted primarily to political philosophy.

Sixty-two years ago today

Red-headed Rock Agama
in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya.

Well, I'm finally finished with my midterm paper for HIS 300, the Middle East course. I could get done faster, but so often the words come so slowly to me — either I don't know what exactly to say, or I have multiple ideas and can't easily decide which one is better or best.
Today's weather was much cooler than yesterday, with large snowflakes falling around dinnertime. I ended up wearing my jacket over my sweatshirt a significant portion of the day :-(

As part of my Modern Middle East course, we're reading texts such as parts of the Hamas charter. Remember: Hamas is an Islamist organisation that was formed to resist violently the existence of Israel and "liberate" Palestine for the Muslims. Note this statement, from article 20 of the charter:

The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone.

Four times in this selection, which includes only parts of thirteen of the thirty-nine (or more) articles, does Hamas speak of Israel as Nazis or Nazi-like. FOUR TIMES! It's no wonder that groups such as Hamas and their friends like Ahmadinejad are deniers of the Holocaust — except how were the Nazis evil to the Arabs? The only Axis influence in Muslim lands, other than somewhat friendly connexions in Iran, consisted of the war in North Africa: a war that was supported by a majority of Egyptians and did not at all harm Muslim interests!

Ha Long Bay in Viet Nam

Classes today went generally well, and I succeeded in getting a bit of homework done. After about two hours of work, I am almost half done with my written midterm for Modern Middle East, and I think I should have enough time to complete it comfortably before it's due on Friday morning. Regarding the rest of the semester: I have a book to read for Modern Middle East, a book to read and a paper to write on in for Latin America, a quiz for How to Read the Bible, two psalms worksheets for Psalms, and midterm exams in both Psalms and Modern Europe.
Weather today was great: instead of wearing jacket, sweatshirt, and T-shirt, with boots, I wore shoes and T-shirt while carrying sweatshirt. Granted, I was a little cool, but to be able to walk around outside comfortably wearing nothing more than jeans and a T-shirt, especially with all this snow around, is wonderful! Of course, I should note: the snow is melting, the sidewalks are all clear, and we can now see the grass in many places. It should be even better by dawn.
This evening was a fire drill, and very successful, too — we all were out of the building within 90 seconds of the alarm.
My across-the-hall neighbor has these most interesting Valentine's balloons: his girlfriend sent him simple balloons on strings that speak when vibrated. By pinching the plastic string and pulling, one can cause it to produce the phrase "I Love You". It's the same principle as a record player, but who in the world would think of making such a product?

Praise God for those who seek to raise our spirits! As one who often tends to be pessimistic, I am so thankful to God for giving me family and friends who remind me of God's promises.

To get an idea of my stupid European history textbook (with which the professor has noted she isn't satisfied on many points): in its treatment of the First World War, it devotes one sentence, fourteen words, to the four-year-long British war against the Turks in Mesopotamia and Palestine, while it devotes thirty-eight words to a quote (by General von Hindenburg) about the numbers of Russian casulties. Okay...so the British front was a peripheral front (both in geography and significance), but it kept the Turks tied up and paved the way for (1) significant Turkish defeats toward the end of the war, and (2) the British mandate system that led to the creation of a separate Palestine (today's Jordan and Israel) and an independent Iraq.

On Saturday morning, in Greene County, Pennsylvania (in the southwest corner of the state), a house fire claimed the lives of six children (all siblings or cousins) and a woman, the mother of three of the children. At their church yesterday, a relation acting as family spokesman mentioned that the woman died with a child in her arms — and that she had reached safety but returned for her children. As I said before, I appreciate my church family; I hope that this church family, not much larger than my own, is as loving as my own surely would be.

Observed by Him and precious in the LORD's sight
Appears the death of all His saints each one.

Today wasn't extremely exciting. I did rather little homework, but tomorrow should be different. Work at the Brig tonight went very fast; we were busy enough that it seemed as if I'd worked 1½ or 2 hours instead of 3. After that, I met Kail and Abby (I'm almost saying "the Kails" :-), where we talked for almost an hour. I wish I could eat lunch with them as last semester, but when Kail's schedule has him in class 11:00-5:00 or not on campus at all at lunchtime, it doesn't work very well.

Black-Headed Gull in St. James Park, London

Micah Ramsey, our pastoral intern, preached this morning, as Dr. Robson is away. This was the fifth time that he had preached at Eastvale, but only the first that I'd been able to attend. I appreciated his sermon, drawn from somewhat in Hebrews, the section where Christ's sacrifice for his people is described. Micah's style is pleasant, not very refined, but obviously sincere and easily understandable. As he discussed the great redemption of Christ and our ability to receive assurance of salvation, I was even more thankful that I'd been able to hear him. Wherever he's ordained will be blessed indeed.
Tony (along with Bekah) came today, because his work at Treasure Diggers made him eager to hear Micah preach. Although they were present (countering the lack of the Robsons), attendance was significantly down, as two families were home because of the weather and others were missing due to illnesses or other problems.

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a psalms journal to do for Dr. Curtis. While I didn't finish that tonight, I was working on it for a good while and got a lot completed. I hope to finish it tomorrow, but it's not a big deal; it's not due until Tuesday afternoon. Here's the text, which I expect that you can identify:

I love the LORD, because He heard my pleading.
He's heeded me; through life I'll call on Him.
The cords of death and Sheol's terrors bound me;
In deep distress I grief and trouble found.
Then on the LORD's name in prayer I called:
"You I implore, O LORD, deliver my soul!"
The LORD our God is merciful and righteous;
Gracious, the LORD the simple ones preserves.
When I was low, to me He gave salvation.
Turn back again, my soul, unto your rest,
Because the LORD has dealt well with you,
Because my helpless soul You rescued from death.
You saved my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
Before the LORD I'll walk in lands of life.
I have believed and said, "I am afflicted."
I in despair confessed, "All men are false!"
What shall I render now to the LORD
For all His benefits upon me bestowed?
Salvation's cup I'll lift up in the LORD's name,
Vows to the LORD before His people pay.
Observed by Him and precious in the LORD's sight
Appears the death of all His saints each one.
O LORD, I am Your servant, Your slave.
I am Your handmaid's son, for You set me free.
To You I'll bring my off'ring of thanksgiving;
With sacrifice I'll call upon the LORD
I'll pay the vows I made unto Jehovah
Before His people all, O may it be!
Within His courts, the house of the LORD,
In midst of you, Jerusalem! Praise the LORD!

As I stated in the journal, "I love the first part, and I recite it mentally rather frequently, considering and praising God for my own salvation."

Hoverfly on Flower

Today has been quite relaxing, with me getting rather little work done. I hope to get a 2-page reflection paper and my latest psalms journal done before Monday night.
Because of relatively little to do, I spent a good deal of time on editing Wikipedia. This was interesting and rather useful, but I'm still glad to have done a bit of reading of physical books. Among the articles I passed through on Wikipedia was that on Admiral Miklós Horthy, longtime Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary after there was no king, even though the last king had attempted to regain his throne. For those of you familiar with Tolkien, he could be compared to a Steward of Gondor taking power during the Kinstrife and refusing to return it to the proper ruler, Eldacar. I really liked this line from his Wikipedia biography:

The Admiral without a fleet, in a country without a coastline, ruled for the next 24 years as the Regent for a Kingdom without a King.

This morning, I finished reading Virgil. I read it primarily because I want to understand the general storyline and because I want to have read many of the classics, even if (as in this case) I don't understand them well or remember them well. While most of the book was boring (since I didn't understand it well), I liked Book XII, the final, which I could follow with a bit more understanding.
As well as finishing Virgil, I decided to do a little more reading today. Therefore, I checked out two books from the library: John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World, a firsthand account of Russia's October Revolution, and also Anne of Green Gables — an interesting combination! Although I've not started yet on Reed, I ended up reading the entirety of Anne this evening. I'm so glad to be able to lie in bed and spend an evening in a pleasant book!
Here's one interesting quote that I found in Anne:

That's the worst of growing up, and I'm beginning to realise it. The things you wanted so much when you were a child don't seem half so wonderful to you when you get them.

I can definitely understand this statement and agree with it to an extent. Now that I'm old enough to drive, stay up really late (!), and sit with those with whom I want to sit at church, it's not so impressive. However, I'm thankful that this statement doesn't necessarily apply to me. While the idea of sitting with friends at church is generally non-applicable (seeing that I'm the only Geneva student at Eastvale), I'm so thankful to be able to sit with Dr and Mrs Carson frequently and see them even more often. As I told my parents recently, I've gradually come to feel as if they're almost my grandparents, and I'm so thankful that God put my life into theirs. While daily life isn't always the best, I love living with friends; although I might not think of it all the time, it's a wonderful time just being able to see friends every day everywhere I go. I consider what it would have been like at Miami: I never would see so many friends all the time. Yes, I don't know the large majority of students, but it's almost impossible to go somewhere without seeing people I know. I'm sure that, at a large state school, I would almost never see a familiar face, but here I recognise tons of people whom I don't at all know. I can virtually always count on going to dinner and seeing several good friends.

But He from trouble lifts the poor By setting them on high, And like a flock in families He makes them multiply.

When I began college, I left my family behind in physical terms. However, as I consider my life, I see the blessing of the preceding statement (from late in Psalm 107) in it. I don't have (most of the time) my blood family, but I have "grandparents", a church family who (most of the time) are comparable to aunts and uncles, and friends to be my siblings.

Over the last few days, I've not been excessively busy. Among other things, having checked out from the library the ancient classic, Virgil's Æneid, I've read nine of its twelve books. Don't think that I've done tons and tons of reading; these "books" are in the sense of the five books of the Psalter or of the six books of The Lord of the Rings — simply text divisions.

I found this image at the Wikimedia Commons. Imagine visiting this place, the Breithorn, in the Swiss Alps!

Although the notice meant that only one of my three classes would be cancelled, I only attended one — my 1115 class was cancelled, since the professor couldn't get out of his neighborhood :-)
It's impressive how thoroughly the footpaths on campus are covered. While the central paths are decently clean, with some areas even showing almost exclusively pavement, the subsidiary ones are completely different. Try walking on the sidewalk behind Memorial and McKee to the Student Center, on the east edge of campus — it's entirely covered with snowy ice, perhaps two inches thick. And everywhere that you go off paths, you have the best part of a foot of snow, covered with a sizeable ice crust. I found one area, near a sidewalk, with a double layer of ice — ice had formed on the snow, more snow had fallen on the ice, ice from sidewalk cleaning landed on the snow, somehow the snow partially melted, and then froze again!

The 8:00 and 9:05 classes are canceled Wednesday morning due to weather conditions. The campus is open and staff should report if they are able. The chapel service will start at 10:15 as regularly scheduled.

I never expected this. It's nice to have a class cancelled, even if it be just one.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Right now, I feel like we're in the bleak midwinter. They actually cancelled night classes (since I don't have any, that doesn't affect me), but whether they'll cancel tomorrow morning's classes is another matter. You'd think that the college thought that there was some sort of "Thou shalt not cancel classes..." in the Bible!
Despite the weather, let's keep this in mind:

You have made the LORD your refuge,
God Most High your dwelling place;
Nothing evil shall befall you;
In your tent no scourge you'll face.
He will angels charge to keep you,
Guard you well in all your ways.
In their hands they will uphold you
Lest your foot a stone should graze.

Some schools cancel classes. We have six-inch-deep snowdrifts on our sidewalks. Why do we have to have classes?

Sorry for no posts for two straight days! I've been really busy, and I never got around to it.
The highlight of the weekend was attendance at the formal senior recital of Lauren McBurney, a floutist, at the Old Main Chapel here on campus. It was just amazing to listen to the music, to watch her fingers play the flute, and much more — what great music! Among the performers complementing one piece were Mr. Schaefer (from church), playing a cello — it has been a long time since I heard a cello being played — and my first-ever chance to see or to hear in person a harpsichord. I know well their sound, but I'd never before gotten to hear a harpsichord. What a pleasant evening!
At church this week, we had fully forty people! This isn't due so much to several visitors; instead of lots of visitors, we simply had almost everyone there who don't always come. Please keep Al Miller, one of our members, safely in prayer — after his diagnosis of congestive heart failure recently, he was released from the hospital, and he's still not doing the best.

On Fridays, I have a class (HIS 300, Modern Middle East) in Northwood 013, a large basement room in one of the main classroom buildings. The room's two-person desks are usually lined up in several four-column rows throughout the room. Immediately after HIS 300 lets out, a section of BIB 300 meets in this classroom.
Today, after class, I was speaking with my professor as Bible students filed in and began rearranging the back of the room to make a large circular arrangement of tables. As we talked and as the other students chatted, someone accidentally knocked over a table. And then, another table fell...and another...I have never seen something like this happen before. We all stood speechless, with virtually no sound in the room other than that of the tables.

Five tables fell in a domino-effect pattern, each falling slowly but not even knocking down the chairs. As you can see if you look closely, the last table (not having anything to fall into) ended upside down, with its legs in the air. After the last table fell, and after looking around for a moment, we picked up the tables — but what a way to interrupt a conversation!

Memorial Victory 1-0 — Only Goal Scored Less Than Five Minutes Remaining In Overtime

It's broomball tonight!

Wow, it's late! I hadn't planned to stay up this late, but I've been doing enough reading for my European history paper that I got carried away. I just hope this paper isn't too hard...at least last semester's papers with Smidt (other than the long one) didn't take too long to write, and this doesn't seem significantly different.

A quote from the carried-away reading that I've done, made by the British Foreign Minister on the night of 3 August 1914, the day before the British entered what would become the First World War:

Thus, the efforts of a lifetime go for nothing. I feel like a man who has wasted his life...The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."

What a despairing statement. Let this drive us closer to the words of the Bible:

Put no confidence in princes,
Nor for help on man depend;
He shall die, to dust returning,
And his purposes shall end.
Happy is the man that chooses
Jacob's God to be his aid;
He is blessed whose hope of blessing
On the LORD his God is stayed.

Compare Tony after last year's Super Bowl with him after this year's Super Bowl. Notice the difference?

Robert Dale Bishop, 85, of 134 Brians Court, Portersville, died Jan. 31, 2007, at 5134 Bel Air Ave., Sarasota, Fla. Born July 10, 1921, in New Castle, he was a son of the late Clyde and Hilda Dale Bishop. He was first married to the former Doris McElwain for 47 years. She died Jan. 19, 1993. He subsequently married the former Evelyn Hartford on Jan. 4, 1997. She survives in Sarasota. Mr. Bishop was an IBM operator at the former Shenango China. He was Navy veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He served from 1943 to 1946 as a radar operator second class on the USS Cowpens, CVL 25, aircraft carrier, and LC16 542 gunboat. He was on the USS Perry and USS Gatling during the Korean War. He received the World War II Victory Medal, Good Conduct Ribbon, American Theater Ribbon, Victory Medal and Philippines Liberation Ribbon with two stars. He was a life member of the Coachman’s Club. Mr. Bishop was a member of Mount Hermon Presbyterian Church, where he was very active, and Tri Par Covenant Church in Sarasota. In addition to his wife, survivors include a daughter, Linda Burns of New Castle; a stepdaughter, Lee Hollis of Shelby, N.C.; a brother, Kenneth Bishop of Bellville, Pa.; three granddaughters, Colleen Withrow, Lori Weir and Lindsey Burns, all of New Castle; and two great-grandchildren, Frank Snyder and Kaylee Withrow, both of North Carolina. In addition to his first wife, he was preceded in death by a brother, Oscar Bishop. Calling hours are 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the R. Cunningham Funeral Home, 2429 Wilmington Road. A service will be conducted at 11:30 a.m. Monday at the funeral home. The Rev. John Borter of Mount Hermon Presbyterian Church will officiate. Burial will be in Mount Hermon Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Mount Hermon Presbyterian Church, 3116 Frew Mill Road, New Castle 16101. Online condolences may be received at cunningham@cunninghamfh.com.

Today, I attended the funeral of my great-uncle, Bob Bishop, as you read above. My grandmother Wilson's older sister was his first wife, who died when I was five years old.

Today, several weeks delinquent, I've finally linked to Isaac's blog. I think I should read it more often.

Dr Robson preached from Hebrews 8 today, using the extensive quote about the new covenant from Jeremiah 31. As he noted, it's amazing that we have such a joyous section in one of the darkest chapters of one of the darkest books of the Bible. After all, earlier in verse 31 we have the following text:

Thus said the LORD:
"A cry is heard in Ramah—
Wailing, bitter weeping—
Rachel weeping for her children.
She refuses to be comforted
For her children, who are gone."

But still, we see how even through the darkness comes light. Darkness there was, deep darkness, over Bethlehem that night: the House of Bread saw little children dead in every street. And yet through this darkness, a young native of Bethlehem came, who brought us a new covenant, unlike the covenant made with our fathers when God took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.

We had 37 people at worship this morning, very high compared to normal. Of course, that included two visitors, as well as two people who have been coming for the last few weeks, but that also didn't include two ill men and a couple who found the roads too dangerous to come to church. I wonder if these two new people (a man and his mother-in-law) are interested in continuing; it would surely be a blessing to have new people, and two more Eastvale residents at that!

Today has been altogether relaxing; with relatively little work to do, the only work I've done is reading for my Modern Middle East course. "No God but God", about the rise of Islamism in Egypt. I'm thankful for a chance, be it just one day, to relax and do relatively little.

All the gods of the peoples are mere idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.

As I prepared for bed tonight, I felt a need to read the Bible, so I read bits out of the Prophets, along with some of the Psalms. I was stricken by this verse (96:5) and its power — even the greatest of human thoughts are just human, while the Most High is responsible for our very existence. When we worship our Lord, we are worshipping him who enabled us to exist!

Psalm 92
A psalm. A song; for the sabbath day.

(2) It is good to praise the LORD,/to sing hymns to Your name, O Most High,
(3) To proclaim Your steadfast love at daybreak,/Your faithfulness each night
(4) With a ten-stringed harp,/with voice and lyre together.
(5) You have gladdened me by Your deeds, O LORD;/I shout for joy at Your handiwork.
(6) How great are Your works, O LORD,/how very subtle Your designs!
(7) A brutish man cannot know,/a fool cannot understand this:/(8) though the wicked sprout up like grass,/though all evildoers blossom,/it is only that they may be destroyed forever.

(9) But You are exalted, O LORD, for all time.

(10) Surely, Your enemies, O LORD,/surely, Your enemies perish;/all evildoers are scattered.
(11) You raise my horn high like that of a wild ox;/I am soaked in freshening oil.
(12) I shall see the defeat of my watchful foes,/hear of the downfall of the wicked who beset me.
(13) The righteous bloom like a date-palm;/they thrive like a cedar in Lebanon;/(14) planted in the house of the LORD,/they flourish in the courts of our God.
(15) In old age they still produce fruit;/they are full of sap and freshness,/(16) attesting that the LORD is upright,/my rock, in whom there is no wrong.

What a wonderful psalm of praise to the Most High! "I will praise the LORD all my life,/sing hymns to my God while I exist."

Ugg...I was about to go to bed when I realized that I'd not yet taken my medicine. I guess I get a shower in the mean time...
Someone passed onto me tonight that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book of the series, will be released on the 21st July 2007 — 5½ months from now!