Still Learning

I haven't commented in a little while about how things are going with the website design. I must say that I am happy with the progress that I am making - with the exception that I wish I could do it a little faster. I am becoming more and more proficient with HTML which has been very rewarding. I have been progressing through the tutorials pretty well, although I have taken a little bit of a sabbatical from them to gain some practical experience. I have been helping a friend to develop her website and have been creating some HTML forms for it. I hope that we will be able to publish the site early next week, and I'll give you an address where you can check it out.

Today I am fighting off a cold that has been passed around my family now for weeks. I think that I am still winning, but it is taking a lot of my energy reserves to fight. Hopefully, I'll have the energy and the ability to sing at church tomorrow morning.

Tonight I am heading over to my sister's house to have dinner with her family. I hope they like what I have made. I've made a shepherd's pie. I think that it will be good. I'll report back on it later.

Next week I plan to hit the tutorials again hard. Hopefully I can finish the advanced HTML tutorials and move on into the CSS tutorials. If I can do that I should have most of the tools that I need to begin modifying the Joomla site in earnest. I think that I have figured out enough now to begin collecting the components that I will need for the site. Then I can begin to modify the skin to make it look the way I want it to. I suspect that somewhere along the line I will also have to pick up the JavaScript stuff and the SQL. The good news is that each of these skills that I add will increase my marketability.

I have had some responses to my resume and a good friend has let a lot of his friends know that I am looking, which has turned up some good leads. We'll see if they materialize into anything. I used to think that I knew the direction that God was taking me, but now I really have no idea. I still want to go to seminary, but I don't know if I am cut out to be a vocational pastor. There are a couple of elements to the job description that I am not sure that I am comfortable with - like the deathwatch. Not a job that I think that I would like to do - especially if the person dying isn't saved. And I can't imagine trying to do a funeral for a lost person. What comfort can you offer the family? They most certainly AREN'T in a better place. How dreadful. The only thing that you can do is point the way to salvation - but how do you do that without reminding the family of the terrible consequences that their loved one is facing even at that moment? How tragic.

By contrast, I went to a very positive funeral yesterday. It was for a brother in Christ - a friend of my church - who died. It was very uplifting and encouraging. As I have gotten older, I would much rather go to a good funeral than a great wedding. So often with weddings, that is the happiest moment of the relationship. Cynical, I know, but all too often true. At least with the funeral for a Christian it is only the very beginning of their eternal bliss - something that we can't even begin to comprehend on this side of eternity.

I haven't been paying much attention to the political scene lately - bigger fish to fry, but I was a bit surprised by the outcome of the primary the other day. I didn't expect Huckabee to win by such a large margin, and I didn't expect the 3-way split between the Democratic front runners. I REALLY didn't expect Edwards to do so well and for Hillary to finish 3rd. Looks like it is going to be an interesting lead up to November. I would really hate for John Edwards to win the nomination. He is too good a liar. I think he even believes his own lies. I guess it is a necessary skill for trial lawyers.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I need to go and finish up my shepherd's pie. I'm supposed to be over at her house at 6:00. Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Update:

The shepherd's pie turned out very well! It was a big hit.