So this morning, the person on one of the other sides of my work cube yells over the wall that she needs my help with an excel chart.  Now understand I'm no whiz with excel, but I definitely know enough to make it seem like i am!

Anyways, come to find out she's got some goofy font going that only shows her squares instead of letters.  7 seconds later, I had her "all-fixed" and she was once again in awe of my God-given talents.  (patting self on back here)

But as I got back to my 8x8 cell, i thought to myself...who actually uses a font that only gives you squares??!?!  What was Bill Gates thinking!?!?  "Hey techy guys...come up with a font that every letter you type gives you this square box...users are REALLY going to be excited about this feature."  (that was my Bill Gates impression btw...giving myself another pat on the back)  But forget about the squares for a moment and let's focus on two words..."Wing Dings".  First of all, it is my life's goal to find and shake the hand of the person who came up with that description...it's truly brilliant and i find joy everyday in saying it 10 times fast.  (and i bet you just said it to yourself at least 3 times fast...feel free to pat yourself on your back) 

But consider this...we as users not only have "Wing Dings" available to us...but the brilliance of Microsoft has created versions 2 and 3.  I can picture it now...some excel genius somewhere who's a "Wing Dings" expert emailed Bill Gates personally and made this request..."Mr.Gates...I need MORE Wing Dings".  And the money machine that is Microsoft delivered again.

Not sure why it is, but I've never really been a "mainstream" CCM lover.  I've seen Smitty and Steven Curtis and a bunch of others in concert, but for some reason I just never get as fired up by them spiritually.  They all have awesome ministries and I know they're affecting souls for the kingdom each and everyday and that's awesome, but there's something about the "struggling" artists that I love.

Now I know this is sort of sacrilegious on Xanga, but I actually follow artists' pages on Myspace and came across this fairly new artist on there named JJ Heller a couple weeks ago.  Never met her and I'm probably at least 1500 miles away from any concert she's probably doing anytime soon, but there's just something about her music that's got me enchanted.  Sounds like a mix of Jennifer Knapp (who I loved and miss greatly) and Sara Groves for those that are looking for some kind of comparison.  I'd encourage you to check her out!

www.myspace.com/jjhellermusic

Lyrics from her title track "Only Love Remains":    "Scenes of you come rushing through you are breaking me down, so break me into pieces that will grow in the ground.  I know that I deserve to die for the murder in my heart, so be gentle with me Jesus as you tear me apart.  Please kill the liar, kill the thief in me. You know that I'm tired of their cruelty.  Breathe into my spirit, breathe into my veins until only love remains. You burn away the ropes that bind and hold me to the earth. The fire only leaves behind whatever is of worth. I begin to see reality for the first time in my life.  I know that i'm a shadow, but i'm dancing in your light.  Teach me to be humble, call me from the grave  Show me how to walk with you upon the waves.  Breathe into my spirit, breathe into my veins until only love remains. Teach me to be humble, call me me from the grave. Show me how to walk with you upon the waves and breathe into my spirit, breathe into my veins until only love remains."

The boys and I attended a pro basketball game this past Wednesday and had an awesome time, but the highlight of my night was when a woman behind us tapped me on the shoulder at the end of the game to tell me that I had two of the nicest well behaved young boys she's ever seen.  And then she threw in an "and they're really cute" too on top of it.  Things like that help encourage me as a parent that even with all the craziness and unknowns, that maybe just maybe, we're getting a few things right once in a while...it's a really good feeling.

I'm soooo thankful for her stepping just slightly out of her comfort zone to tell me that.  I would encourage everyone to do the same.

God is good...alllll the time!

P.S.- Because it's Good Friday, I wanted to add this amazing lyric from Andrew Peterson's Isn't It Love? (Just uploaded it into my audio files as well for you to check out!)..."Isn't it love to look down from the sky, see your only son on the cross asking why.  And somehow let him die that way and not call the whole thing off."