What shall I render to You for the gift of gifts,
Your own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,
His self-emptying incomprehensible,
His infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love:
when I cannot rise to Him, He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.

Herein lies power:
when Diety and humanity were infinitely apart,
He united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom:
when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.
In Him, You have given me so much
that heaven can give no more.

From The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers.

I’ve emphasized a portion which our pastor read the Sunday before Thanksgiving this year.

—–

March 30, 1863

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and

Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;

And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

I find myself curiously attracted to this offer. Of course, I’m mostly curious to try out the laptop myself. A Newsweek article had good things to say about its hardware and software. Perhaps after playing with it for a little bit, I may decide to donate it to a local charity or school or perhaps to a homeschool family. In fact, I’d rather be certain that I was giving it to a school that desperately needed computers or to a family I know cannot afford their own. Maybe this will be my Christmas charity this year.

I’ve signed up for a reminder email at XOgiving.org, to help me remember the Nov 12 launch.

I got the vast majority of my wardrobe shopping (for the new job) done on the 4th. It was one of those “jackpot” days — the wavelengths were all in synch or something, and I found plenty of clothes and shoes, most of them on sale. I put everything on store credit cards, which I will pay off this week. Now I have another 2 weeks, and hardly anything left to buy to wear at the new office! I think a trip to Kohls is next to pick up “fashion” jewelry.

After spending 5 1/2 hours at the mall on the 4th, I went to Windsor to see some friends from college. (I really had to tear myself away from the mall too… I was tired and sore from all the walking, but like I said, the wavelengths were all in harmony. I hated to stop!) Windsor had a town-wide cookout that was free for everyone — the town provided hot dogs, pizza and chips, and residents brought enough dessert to have 3 tables laid out with just about every kind of good American treat you’d expect: cookies of all sorts, cupcakes in several flavors, brownies, other cake-like bars, and even fudge. In the middle of all the sweetness were a few bowls of cut-up cantalope. In the whole town, only one person brought a healthy dessert. Now that’s American! There were also huge condiment containers to dress the hot dogs, and sweet tea and lemonade were being dispensed from huge kegs into tall styrofoam cups filled with ice.

That evening we watched the Windsor fireworks from the front yard of my friends’ house. The kids were jumping with excitement at the (illegal) fireworks being shot off in the neighborhood, but when the real fireworks started I think they were overwhelmed. It was a very pretty show, very small town in a good way. I chatted with my friends afterwards, so I didn’t head for home until around 11:30pm. On the way, I saw the moon rise, and it was massive! It wasn’t even full, and it was bigger than any full moonrise I’ve seen before. Wow.

I was finally able to talk to the VP about my new job on Thursday. She didn’t even make a gesture of asking me to stay, she simply said, “So tell me about this new job.” So I am officially the 7th person to leave that set of departments in the last 2 months. The 8th (much to my surprise) is the VP herself! When she gathered everyone together to tell them I was leaving, she also announced her own retirement, effective Sept 15.

My own supervisor has been on vacation the last 2 weeks. She knew the job offer was coming, so she won’t have a rude shock or anything on Monday. We’ll have the next 2 full weeks to make sure I have done as much as I can to wrap up the projects on my desk, and to make sure she has all the info about my tasks.

This whole new job thing is still a little surreal.

No photos of woodworking yet. I discovered that three of the bits I ordered for the shroom project had a smaller shaft than the Dremel I bought — 3/32″ instead of 1/8″. I’ve been looking at stores all week to find the right size bits instead of going through mail order again. Today I found a solution. I will just go ahead and display my ignorance here — I didn’t realize I could purchase a smaller collet (the metal piece that tightens on the bit shaft to hold it in the Dremel) until I visited Hobby Town USA today. So now I can use the 3/32″ bits. The good part of my ignorance is that shopping around this week taught me the kinds of bits Wal-Mart carries, which art/craft stores carry any rotary supplies at all, and that the more specialized bits at Hobby Town USA are actually very reasonably priced. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a rotary carving day.

Oh, and today I also redeemed a free 2-month membership at BJ’s wholesale club. I was bummed to find that they don’t sell packaged sliced roast beef like Sam’s Club does. But I did get some lean frozen burger patties, a big bag of garlic parmesean toasted Italian bread slices (mmmm), a bunch of mac and cheese (vitamin fortified, unlike Kraft’s) and a canister of dried Procini mushrooms from Germany. (hehe, shrooms..) I had some shrooms with my mac and cheese tonight. They’re really quite good. Exactly what I would expect in terms of mushroom taste. If nothing else, it’s totally worth the $7.99 I paid just to have great shrooms on hand whenever I want.

Sorry if you didn’t really want to read the whole shopping list. I feel compelled to describe it all. Incidentally, that’s also why I find it hard to keep a journal. I want to describe and tell things in detail, and by the time I lay out the scene, I’m almost too tired to continue with the meat of the story.

Speaking of tired, I think it’s time to lie in bed with a good book. The cat is already “relaxing” in the box bottom that held the BJ’s groceries. He’s oozing over the sides a little bit. But it’s not as bad as some boxes he’s squeezed himself into. I don’t even wonder anymore.