First off, I would just like to say that I'm excited to see so many new Immanuel bloggers this week... the trend is FINALLY taking off! Maybe that will provide greater incentive for me to xanga more regularly (note the creation of a new English verb in that sentence). I've certainly been checking my blogrings more regularly this week, and now I feel compelled to post something (It is also Friday, which is quickly becoming my regular posting day)...

 

Hmmm, you know, the problem with only having sufficient time to post once a week is that by the time Friday night rolls around, I have forgotten half of what I wanted to post earlier in the week and the other half is just a big jumbled pile in my brain... I'm about to try to untangle it, so bear with me :)

 

Oh, here's one thing... Anyone else had major customer service issues with AOL? Except for my E-machines comment (which I repented of when we bought another one of their computers), I don't normally like to publish negative comments about specific companies, but AOL takes the cake this week (in my book, anyway) for really poor customer service. I called them a week ago to cancel our account (before the free period was up, because we have broadband now and it's far superior to AOL dial-up, which we only had so we could connect to the Internet immediately after we bought the new computer... I was just so anxious to check up on my xanga buddies). Long story short and some spiel about anti-virus protection later, the guy refused to cancel our account and instead extended the free period for 3 more months. I didn't want the extention because we never ever use AOL anymore and the last thing I want to try to remember with a new baby in the house is to cancel AOL before Dec. 23. So after they charged us for some feature we have never used, I called back again to cancel the account. Again, same spiel about anti-virus protection and the guy (a different one) says, "I can't let you cancel your account before the free period is up because I think once you check out our security features, you'll see how valuable they are." So this time, I say, "No, I would like you to cancel our account immediately." And as if he hadn't heard me, he says, "Okay, so if you decide you really want to cancel, just make sure you call back before Dec. 23! Have a nice day!" and hangs up. Hello??!! I said, "Cancel it now!" Well, I figured, maybe I'm just too gentle. I'll wait till Nathan comes home and he can play hardball with them. So when he got home, he called to cancel our account (3rd time now). Well, the guy (yet another one) gives him the spiel and refuses to cancel the account, at which point, after being very kind to the guy for the first part of the conversation, he actually had to get somewhat rude and remind him that his job was not to give us a spiel, but to service the customer. So finally, we got a cancellation confirmation number. Six requests later. Thanks, AOL. You've given me the chance to use the word "spiel" 4 times in one story. A personal record :)

 

On a much less aggravated note, I've been thinking and praying much more this week about what it really means to be "cross-centred". Nathan and I have decided to try again to read The Cross-Centered Life together (we got through the first chapter or two about 4 months ago, and that was it). Anyway, I've just been thinking about how easy it is for me to go through a day and get everything on my list completed and checked off, and not think twice about how the Cross applies to any of it. Devotions in the morning (preferably before Susanna wakes up, although lately I haven't been sleeping so well at night and consequently have been sleeping later in the morning). Okay, check. Now on to the rest of my list. Not only that, but how often do I actually really meditate on the Cross, on my sinfulness and need of it, and Christ's perfect sacrifice for and justification of me on it, even during my devotional time? If that is the central and most important truth in the Gospel (well, it is the Gospel!), why do I gravitate so easily to more complex and less immediately applicable side-issues? Or, for that matter, why do I so easily go through my days without thinking about truth any more deeply than such inane (relatively speaking) things as "Naps are good" and "Man, the kitchen floor desperately needs a good scrubbing!" (that one is generally closely followed by "Oh, but naps are so much better than clean kitchen floors") If I'm truly living cross-centred, there's still room to think about the wonderful nature of a nap, but it should make me meditate on the perfect rest from all our strivings that the Cross has won for us. And the incredible service Christ poured out for us there should make me desire to scrub the kitchen floor so as to serve my husband and child who share my home. And His unimaginable sacrifice at the Cross should make it seem like so much less a sacrifice to lay aside my own momentary ambitions to read my precious daughter a story. Lord, teach me to think in this way!

Well, I think I've written my fair share for tonight. I'm actually starting to feel a wee bit hungry (morning sickness has returned recently, although in a milder form than before), so I'd better eat something while my stomach wants it (the doctor wants me to try to gain a little bit more, which, I have to say, I'm not used to hearing from members of the medical profession!). Maybe I'll actually post something again before Friday, but no promises :)