Huh.

(A promised, and quick, continuation of Thursday's post.)
Wow, nobody's found terrestrial joys whilst downcast? Not a single one of you have slipped a giggle under duress? There's been a complete black hole of earthly encouragement? I shudder to think that God would create such a magnificent world, then fill it with a plethora of people we so dearly love, (argh, "All For Love" by Adams, Stewart, and Sting just came on over the Musak-- almost as irritating as Bryan Adams' Prince of Thieves' opus [sorry, Josh and Holly]. And, yes, I'm aware of the irony in the timing of the song's entrance in my posting.) only to let all the Godly wonders and marvels be of little consequence to us when we need them the most.
Well, alright, then, there ought to be an enormous outpouring of Spiritual responses, Bible references, sermon notes, hymn lyrics, and gentle whispers from the Almighty Himself as encouragement during dark and troublesome times from each of your (plural) past. Let 'em rip. Overload the server. Sing (or shout, if you prefer, just not in all caps) from the electronic mountaintops of how the Glorious God of all creation lifted up your head while He Omega'd the work which He Alpha'd in you. (See what I did there?) Who, what, where, how (the other's don't matter herein) was your hope restored, were your legs revived, your burden lifted and went rolling away, rolling away, rolling away ... ? (Bonus points for your hymn quote if you can tell me the page number from the old EAC hymnal.)

Now nobody can say it's been a month between posts.

Indeed, just in case someone who glances here has not heard, I was passed over for the sales job at work. Until ten hours ago, this was disturbing to me, for various and sundry reasons (not the least of which was the raise and immense possibility of bonuses). However, the aforementioned ten hours ago, I was looking through the benefits booklet that mom had on her counter, where I discovered that the group insurer for our company has LOWERED premiums starting 10/01/2008. That in itself is pretty great. Until you consider the new and improved cost to cover my family with medical alone is $998.74 per month! Now, I don't know what you pay for your insurance, but I'm sure that it's not 77.4% of your gross monthly paycheck. If I were to have been given the sales position it would have given us an extra $640 per month (plus bonuses), but cost us a grand. I would have netted -$350! So, having a substantial reason to be glad I'm not in that position, we move on--hitting the bricks again, and pressing the flesh. There are a few really good openings that I am/have appl(ing/ied) for. So, we'll pray and wait. And call and visit and harass, as we always do.
Listening to the news less than an hour ago, I was way-layed with the new jobless rates, WAMU cuts, and overall suckitude of the job market across the nation and in our state specifically. It's getting hard. But, like the bottom-weighted vinyl punching clown we all had, or wanted, as kids, there's no choice but to get back up and say "Thank you, please may I have another". So! Let's hear about the time you were that clown. More specifically, what put that creepy clown smile on your face and laugh in your belly the whole while. (I know, and constantly hear, the verses and Christian responses. So while I don't want to rob you of your praising and sharing, let's try to keep those to a minimum--one per post? [I'll put a separate post for that in a day or two.]) I want to hear about your terrestrial joys and happy places!