Cybersalt News

Sunday greetings everyone!

I had another "time is flying by moment" yesterday when I learned of the passing of singer B.J. Thomas.

I became a follower of Jesus in the fall of 1979, when I was 13. A couple of year's later I bought one of B.J.'s records (technically it was a cassette) and listened to it countless times. That would have been around 1981, which was 40 years ago! It blows my mind that those memories I have are as old as the amount of time that Israel wandered in the desert after being freed from Egypt.

As if that "40 years" math result was not enough to make me feel my age, I searched YouTube for the first song that came to mind from that cassette; "His Eye is On the Sparrow." That was an eye opener too, because as I listened to it for the first time in decades, I thought "You listened to that when you were a teenager? You are OLD!"

Listening to it again has reminded me of my teenage faith in Jesus and the promise and hope that in all the things I had ahead of me (known and unknown) His eye was on me and He would be with me. It's a popular conversational icebreaker to ask people what they would tell their younger selves if they could travel back in time. But in matters of faith, we might do just as well to ask what our younger selves would say to us if they could travel forward in time.

After all, what was true in 1981 is still true today, even if a lot has changed in 40 years.

Not surprisingly, todays "video" share is B.J. Thomas singing "His Eye is On the Sparrow."

Click here to listen the video.

Enjoy the rest of today's mailing!

~ Pastor Tim

Oh look, Chicken Thursday!

For self-encouragement, I think it is important to seek out quick little victories from time to time, especially when other things you are forced to do become more complicated than they should be.

Case in point: A client, who usually pays by cheque in the mail, was more than a month overdue paying their most recent invoice so I charged them a late fee of 2 percent. They contacted me and asked if they could pay what they owed by credit card and I accommodated their request. I then realized that the credit card company was going to take a fee higher than the late fee I charged so in the end I was going to end up being paid less. I figured, "Oh well, that's the cost of being in business."

But then I heard back from the client that when they tried to pay the invoice by credit card the online form would not allow them to enter the full amount they owed. So I took some time to duplicate the issue on my end and then I called the credit card processor to try and get the situation fixed. I explained everything to a support person who then put me on hold to try and solve my problem. Twenty minutes later I was disconnected. I phoned back and explained my problem to someone else. They were a really good listener - so good, in fact, that at one point I had to ask, "Are you still there?" They were - until 5 minutes later when I was disconnected.

So I called back, a third time, and explained, a third time, what was going on. That person put me on hold to look into the problem. I was on hold for over 60 minutes. The hold music was the same song over and over and over and it wore me down almost to the point where I was about to give up the secret location of the troops when number 3 returned. He told me he was going to have to pass me to a different technical department - and did.

The guy in the next department answered and asked me what was going on and how could he help. Yup, I had to tell my whole story for a 4th time. Three hours after I had begun my quest for a solution, he explained that their payment form was best described as "finicky" and suggested a workaround.

Which brings me back to seeking out little victories in life. Since that little result took a 3 hour time investment to produce, I decided it was time to do something little that would bring some greater satisfaction. I went straight to unplugging some very slow flowing plumbing in the basement of our house. It was messy, gooey, and super stinky, but after 20 minutes I had won! I even broke one of my wrenches in the process, which I also consider a win because I can go shopping for a new one - score!

When some tasks have fought/are fighting you all the way, look around for one you can beat easily. Sometimes the biggest win you can get is only a small one.

Enjoy the rest of today's mailing.

~ Pastor Tim

Sunday greetings everyone!

Grandma Cybersalt learned a new word today - so I did too. The word is liminal, defined in one way by Mirriam-Webster as, "of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition." (I wonder if any of us are *not* in that state right now, given how our world is currently!)

I know I am in a liminal time in my life in regard to the loss of my childhood friend 2 months ago. As confident as I am in the genuiness of Darrell's faith in Jesus, and God's faithfulness and ability to take care of him in eternity, whenever I begin to be comforted by those facts my heart says, "Wait, I'm not ready yet."

One of the great (and hard) features of a such a season is that it provides a pause that lets what has to belong in the past to be left in the past, so that the future can come can as it must and bloom without what is no more. Rushing, or being rushed, too quickly forward from one into the other is a recipe for the emotional disaster.

So, my body may be living in a world without Darrell, but part of my heart is taking a pause before joining it in a this new present. This liminality is protecting me from being torn by a tug of war between the past and the future. And that's OK for a season.

Today's video share may make you feel sad and maybe cry. But being sad and crying is also OK, which is one of the points of the song that these people are filmed listening to.

Click here to watch the video.

Enjoy the rest of today's mailing!

~ Pastor Tim

Oh look, Chicken Thursday!

I had to go for some bloodwork and an x-ray on my foot yesterday afternoon and hoped to squeeze in a haircut afterwards - if there was time. I had blocked out two hours to hopefully get the medical stuff done, which would involve lining up in two different places in the same building. I suspected that it was going to be more like two and a half hours and I was ready to miss out on my haircut.

When I got to the x-ray department I was pleased to discover that there was only one person ahead of me. Ten minutes later my feet, tanned and tingling from the radiation, were taking me upstairs to get the other test done.

When I walked into the lab I was amazed to see 5 staff members sitting and hanging out amongst themselves in the reception area. There was nobody waiting. Just like that time Grandma Cybersalt was looking for someone to marry, I was number one! Ten minutes later I was on my way to the barbershop.

It got even better after that! When I pulled my shaggy self up to the barbershop, there was my barber, sitting reclined in his chair waiting for someone to show up. Once again, just like that time I was in a police lineup, I was number one!

So, all in all my afternon outing was pretty much obstacle free!

Speaking of obstacles, today's fun video share (there are actually 2 videos) shows some quirrels that are so nuts for nuts they won't let any obstacle stand in their way.

Squirrels for Nuts - video one
Squirrels for Nuts - video two

Enjoy the rest of today's mailing.

~ Pastor Tim