One of my best friends called me last night with news you never want to hear.

Bible Study last night. My buddy Sean and I led the discussion, using "Too much [whatever], not enough God" as our topic. We prepared like mad dogs--I'll bet we each put more than five hours into preparation for this thing--and yet I still looked every bit as disorganized as I do when I prepare an hour beforehand. So it goes. I think when I speak in front of a group I'm always going to look a bit disorganized and a bit eccentric and it's probably just part of me. People seem to like it anyway. One of our regulars brought a couple of friends, and one of the friends came up to me afterwards and asked if I was on the radio, because I seemed to have the voice and charisma for it. That was odd. I've never been complimented on my voice before. And the charisma is easily explained. There wasn't anyone there tonight I was trying to impress. (Which ought to teach me something, but I'm digressing.)

Luke doesn't think he's anything special.

Do you believe in miracles?

Sorry, not thinking much about computers tonight. Short version of the story: I was at church Wednesday night, and I sat near the front. I never do that--that's the last remnant of "Good Lutheran" in me. (I'm a very, very bad Lutheran, partly because I believe a guitar's proper place is near the altar.) I was staring off into space before the service when I happened to turn around, and there was a lady my age sitting behind me. I'd seen her at Wednesday services a couple of times before but we'd never been introduced.

Late post Sunday. If you checked early and it wasn't there, there's mail. The post I originally intended is no more, unfortunately. So it goes when you depend on something other than a real operating system. Say what you will about Linux's ease of use, but its stability certainly is a productivity gain. I'll take having to learn new tricks over having to tolerate crashes any day of the week. Now if Southwestern Bell will just get their infrastructure working right again so something other than Win98 can connect...

I played hooky from church yesterday. I made the mistake (depending on point of view) of turning on the local Christian station as I was getting ready for church, caught the tail-end of a message about unanswered prayer, then went into a message about patience. Seeing as I have little, I listened intently. It was good stuff, so I stayed home and listened. By the time that was over, services had started, so I listened to a third message. This one was supposed to be about marriage, which isn't terribly useful to me at present, but quickly veered off topic. The pastor had no focus whatsoever, but there was lots of good stuff in there. Among them: Write down the five greatest compliments you've ever received and who said them. Then, flip the piece of paper over and write down the five most lingering cuts/criticisms. The lesson: The criticisms are probably older than the compliments, and probably come to mind more quickly. The source also tells something. I wondered why I was never able to have an effective relationship with two particular people, and suddenly I understood why. One was responsible for two of the top five; another was responsible for a definite one and another that arguably belongs in the top five. Suddenly it made sense.