I was blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit this morning. I began just talking to God, not really a typical prayer exactly, not like normal. Just standing in my apartment, looking at the Christmas tree and the mess that was encompasing several areas. (Organization is STILL my arch-nemesis!)
And all I could think was how thankful I am at this moment. :) Yes, our apartment is small. Yes, we would love to be in a beautiful home again, In fact, Blake prays EVERY night that God will find us a new home soon. :(
We have been through the gamut of emotional, financial and spiritual struggles in the last several years. Depression and fear have been my familiar companions. But through it all, moments of peace that cannot be explained have been granted to me at times unexpected.
Today was one of them. But it was different than many others.
Like I said, I began talking to God, my Father. But I was talking to Him AS my father, as if He were standing right beside me, just conversing with Him my thoughts, my dreams, my failures and regrets.....
And as I talked, it became more and more personal. More and more intimate. I thanked Him for everything that was before me, even the mess that signifies I am abundatly blessed so much so that I cannot contain my abundance!
I thought of all those out there who would gladly be in our position, to have so many socks that you cant ever find a match, lol, and struggle with the pile of laundry that constantly threatens to overpower your basket!
I began praying for our country and that is when the Spirit really seemed to take over, so to speak. I could not stop the words form flowing or the tears from falling!
I praised God for His abundance with me and in this country, and prayed for Him not to remove His hand of blessing on us as a Nation. I pleaded that if He has any plans of discipline because of our disobedience....I prayed for mercy. I couldnt help but think of the prayers of Abraham for the sake of his relative, Lot, in the wicked city of Sodom n Gomorrah.
God was willing to preserve the city for the sake of His prayers for His family. At least for a time. In other scriptures, God repents of His judgment and in fact sends emmisaries or prophets for the VERY sake of turning the hearts of men toward Him, despite the desire of that prophet, himself, that God would punish the people.
But no.....God is a merciful God, long-patient and loving.
And I TRULY believe that should we, as a people, we as a nation, were to turn back to God in Truth; if we were to praise Him and Glorify Him publicly, that He will once again RESTORE OUR NATION.
God speaks of filling His storehouses with food and tithes. WE, as His PEOPLE, are to provide sustenance for the nation(s) as a whole, NOT the government! I KNOW that we, as Christians, have fallen down on our duty to provide for our communities, the poor, the needy, the sick, the widow, the fatherless.....
If we were doing what we are supposed to, collectively, the government would rarely need to be an option for provision.
I speak from experience. I, too have felt the sting of need and have not been able to find all that is necessary within the church when I needed it. As a mother of two children, when I was a single parent for a time, I have had to resort to govt health svcs and food provision at one time.
I do not regret it, although I wish I hadn't had to. Although it was a choice for me, I do NOT believe it should be mandated by the government. We should ALWAYS be given the choice to REFUSE help from the government without repercussions. But that is where we are headed, I am afraid. If something doesnt change, we as a nation will be under the mandate of government in every area of our lives.
We are headed that way because we, the People of God, are not glorifying Him and not serving Him as we should. We need to be the Hands of mercy and love and provision in a sick world. WE need to show God's Glory and Grace to a needy.
Thank you, God for your provision. Thank you for your Presence and only YOU are the answer to our every question! Help us show that Answer to the world!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Spoke to the Man
Call me crazy, but I went to the Apple store today at Northpoint Mall to let them know about my Holy iBand videos I uploaded to YouTube. I eventually spoke to "The Man", but the first guy I spoke to was a trip. He was very helpful adn nice. I told him I had some ideas I wanted to run by his boss. He was all anticipating what I was about to show him becuz when he asked me if he could help me, I told him I couldnt really tell him, I needed to show him.
He got a big grin on his face. Of course he knew he was in for something good when I went to YouTube. He said, "This is going to be amazing isnt it?" I said, "Yes!"
If you havent seen my Holy iBand videaos, go check them out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/sweetemmilyn
When we got to my youtube channel, Sweetemmilyn, he said, "I saw this!"
I said, "You did?!"
He said, "Yeah, I saw this already. Its really cool!"
Well, he said, "YOU posted this?"
"Yeah! I did!" I said and proceeded to tell him about our church and how I came to miraculously sitting on the front row that morning. He went to get his manager and I look up and about 4 people are coming toward me! "Wow!" I'm thinking.
I met the manager, Mike Smoltz, and told him about the awesome church band and said I had a couple of "ideas" for marketing, and didnt know how to get them to Apple. SO I came here. I thought that Apple should approach the church about doing a real TV commercial. A Christmas iBand commercial would be AWESOME and would surely be great marketing for Apple as well as the Church.
I mean, really! Who says Church has to be boring! I know a lot of Christians think this kind of "commercial" use of music is demeaning to the Church. But I TOTALLY think this was an amazing blessing to ALL who hear it. Not only is it new and fresh, it showed all of us what our potential is as HUMANS to interact in fun as well as praise-worthy ways not only with eachother but with all of the world!
Even if you are NOT a believer, you can enjoy this performance because it was PURE JOY! And it was possible because of the JOINING of all these things...God's creation and His Love, the Church and its members who dedicate their talents to leading us in music and praise, and the innovative minds like Steve Jobs and his company!
I mean, God Himself is the Ultimate Creator and loves to see his creation come up with innovative ideas, products and processes. He wants us to enjoy the process of creating ourselves as much as HE does. I mean, He cant help Himself. He IS creativity!
Of course I dont know if my church would be interested or not in doing a commercial, but maybe they would.
Funny thing is, the manager goes to my church! He said he saw the performance in the early service and was sitting a couple of rows behind where I sat! Who would have thought?
I said I looked all over and could not find anything on the net of this scale. Sure, a few people playing on their iPhones or iPods, but not a FULL performance fed through the sound system like a real band! Mike said he hadn't seen anything like it before either.
He said he had already sent info on the performance all the way to corporate, even Steve Jobs himself!(I guess I'm in good company if I'm on the same wavelength as the manager of one of the largest Apple stores in GA!)
I then showed the guys my tweets and shared with them a couple of other marketing "concepts" I came up with in the process of tweeting.
Ck out my twitter page! http://twitter.com/sweetemmilyn
It would be funny to if see my "Red Riding Hood" concept with her "Basket of Apples" makes its way up to Corporate and ever shows up on TV. But even if they did hear about it, I probably will never hear from them! They are VERY tightlipped about their marketing, as any large corporation is. And of course I KNOW they pay a LOT of money to some very big marketing firms to come up with campaigns.
Still....to hear from Apple, or even better, Steve Jobs himself, on my concepts....that would be, can you say....A-MA-ZING!!
Well, I know there are a LOT of marketing gurus out there. So....Professionally and Personally speaking, anybody out there think that either one of my concpts for a TV campaign sound good?
1 - A commerical with a full Progressive iBand, one instrument growing into a full band of instruments, singers on iPhones, etc (not just a couple of people on iPhones)
2 - Red Riding Hood walking thru the forest, carrying her "Basket of Apples" and picking Apple products...iPads, iPhones, iPods, etc from a tree! So cute! Can see her in her red cape and basket, very pretty, picking out her Wishlist of products. Maybe even could have a big bad Wolf show up!
So what do ya'll think? Do I have good marketing "instincts"?
He got a big grin on his face. Of course he knew he was in for something good when I went to YouTube. He said, "This is going to be amazing isnt it?" I said, "Yes!"
If you havent seen my Holy iBand videaos, go check them out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/sweetemmilyn
When we got to my youtube channel, Sweetemmilyn, he said, "I saw this!"
I said, "You did?!"
He said, "Yeah, I saw this already. Its really cool!"
Well, he said, "YOU posted this?"
"Yeah! I did!" I said and proceeded to tell him about our church and how I came to miraculously sitting on the front row that morning. He went to get his manager and I look up and about 4 people are coming toward me! "Wow!" I'm thinking.
I met the manager, Mike Smoltz, and told him about the awesome church band and said I had a couple of "ideas" for marketing, and didnt know how to get them to Apple. SO I came here. I thought that Apple should approach the church about doing a real TV commercial. A Christmas iBand commercial would be AWESOME and would surely be great marketing for Apple as well as the Church.
I mean, really! Who says Church has to be boring! I know a lot of Christians think this kind of "commercial" use of music is demeaning to the Church. But I TOTALLY think this was an amazing blessing to ALL who hear it. Not only is it new and fresh, it showed all of us what our potential is as HUMANS to interact in fun as well as praise-worthy ways not only with eachother but with all of the world!
Even if you are NOT a believer, you can enjoy this performance because it was PURE JOY! And it was possible because of the JOINING of all these things...God's creation and His Love, the Church and its members who dedicate their talents to leading us in music and praise, and the innovative minds like Steve Jobs and his company!
I mean, God Himself is the Ultimate Creator and loves to see his creation come up with innovative ideas, products and processes. He wants us to enjoy the process of creating ourselves as much as HE does. I mean, He cant help Himself. He IS creativity!
Of course I dont know if my church would be interested or not in doing a commercial, but maybe they would.
Funny thing is, the manager goes to my church! He said he saw the performance in the early service and was sitting a couple of rows behind where I sat! Who would have thought?
I said I looked all over and could not find anything on the net of this scale. Sure, a few people playing on their iPhones or iPods, but not a FULL performance fed through the sound system like a real band! Mike said he hadn't seen anything like it before either.
He said he had already sent info on the performance all the way to corporate, even Steve Jobs himself!(I guess I'm in good company if I'm on the same wavelength as the manager of one of the largest Apple stores in GA!)
I then showed the guys my tweets and shared with them a couple of other marketing "concepts" I came up with in the process of tweeting.
Ck out my twitter page! http://twitter.com/sweetemmilyn
It would be funny to if see my "Red Riding Hood" concept with her "Basket of Apples" makes its way up to Corporate and ever shows up on TV. But even if they did hear about it, I probably will never hear from them! They are VERY tightlipped about their marketing, as any large corporation is. And of course I KNOW they pay a LOT of money to some very big marketing firms to come up with campaigns.
Still....to hear from Apple, or even better, Steve Jobs himself, on my concepts....that would be, can you say....A-MA-ZING!!
Well, I know there are a LOT of marketing gurus out there. So....Professionally and Personally speaking, anybody out there think that either one of my concpts for a TV campaign sound good?
1 - A commerical with a full Progressive iBand, one instrument growing into a full band of instruments, singers on iPhones, etc (not just a couple of people on iPhones)
2 - Red Riding Hood walking thru the forest, carrying her "Basket of Apples" and picking Apple products...iPads, iPhones, iPods, etc from a tree! So cute! Can see her in her red cape and basket, very pretty, picking out her Wishlist of products. Maybe even could have a big bad Wolf show up!
So what do ya'll think? Do I have good marketing "instincts"?
Monday, December 6, 2010
Red Riding Hood and her Basket of Apples
I just tweeted Santa! I know, I know. I'm too old to believe in Santa. But hey, never give up on your dreams, right?
I have wanted a Mac for sooo many years, but it is always low on the priority list. Family, food, rent, and utilities first. Wait, that is right isnt it? I cant change that, can I? Maybe we can put computers under "utilities". Just a thought.
Then I wanted an iPhone.
I am currently stuck in a Sprint contract with a piece of **** phone that I've had to replace at least TWICE already! I've haven't gotten around to replacing it this third time becuz EVERYTIME I talk to Sprint customer service, they tell me have to pay to get a replacement even with my insurance! Aghhh! (Unless of course I want the same piece of trash that I have had to replace twice already) Sure! They'll send me the very same phone I DONT want!
Oh, and btw, it will be "refurbished", not new. Thanks, Sprint! But no thanks.
So I sit and wait till my contract ends next June because I cant pay for TWO contracts at the same time just to let this phone sit unused while I get the phone I REALLY want. Tick Tock, tick tock......
WHAT..EVER! I dont know if I could qualify for an AT&T contract for the iPhone anyway, since my husband's business failed and our credit tanked.
Anyhoo.....I want a Mac desktop for home, family and busines use. Sick of viruses and slow speeds!!!!
And of course, MUST...HAVE....iPAD!
My hunger is fueled even more so now! We just saw an amazing performace by our church yesterday using ONLY ipads, iphones, and ipods that were fed into the sound system thru the earphone jacks! A HOLY iBAND! Who would have ever thought possible!
So I cant stand it! I want an iPad! And I want an iPhone! And I want a MAC!!
So this of course means I want a whole "Basket" of Apples!! Hee Hee!
If I were lucky enough to have a whole "basket" of Apples, I swear I would sew my own Red Riding Cape and wear it just on PRINCIPLE!
Let's go Apple picking!
I have wanted a Mac for sooo many years, but it is always low on the priority list. Family, food, rent, and utilities first. Wait, that is right isnt it? I cant change that, can I? Maybe we can put computers under "utilities". Just a thought.
Then I wanted an iPhone.
I am currently stuck in a Sprint contract with a piece of **** phone that I've had to replace at least TWICE already! I've haven't gotten around to replacing it this third time becuz EVERYTIME I talk to Sprint customer service, they tell me have to pay to get a replacement even with my insurance! Aghhh! (Unless of course I want the same piece of trash that I have had to replace twice already) Sure! They'll send me the very same phone I DONT want!
Oh, and btw, it will be "refurbished", not new. Thanks, Sprint! But no thanks.
So I sit and wait till my contract ends next June because I cant pay for TWO contracts at the same time just to let this phone sit unused while I get the phone I REALLY want. Tick Tock, tick tock......
WHAT..EVER! I dont know if I could qualify for an AT&T contract for the iPhone anyway, since my husband's business failed and our credit tanked.
Anyhoo.....I want a Mac desktop for home, family and busines use. Sick of viruses and slow speeds!!!!
And of course, MUST...HAVE....iPAD!
My hunger is fueled even more so now! We just saw an amazing performace by our church yesterday using ONLY ipads, iphones, and ipods that were fed into the sound system thru the earphone jacks! A HOLY iBAND! Who would have ever thought possible!
So I cant stand it! I want an iPad! And I want an iPhone! And I want a MAC!!
So this of course means I want a whole "Basket" of Apples!! Hee Hee!
If I were lucky enough to have a whole "basket" of Apples, I swear I would sew my own Red Riding Cape and wear it just on PRINCIPLE!
Let's go Apple picking!
Amazing Holy iBand!
PLEASE check this out! http://www.youtube.com/user/sweetemmilyn
Yesterday, our church, Northpoint Community Church, in Alpharetta, put together this AMAZING performance! We missed church last week because Blake was sick with a very high fever. SO GLAD we made it today!
Who would have thought that today of all days, we'd have a front row seat? We were looking around for a seat when one of the ushers offered to show us to a seat and we were lucky enough to be put right on the front row!
So we just sat down when these two guys came out and stood silently with their iPads in their hands, the camerman trained on them. I'm thinking "Huh?" (The band and singers are usually rocking out Holy praises about now.)
Well, so one guy starts this music mix, sort of a Mannheim Steamroller sound, by just tapping the screen on his iPad! And it gets fed over the whole sound system through the earphone jack on his ipad! I was surprised at the sound quality for one, not to mention amazed at teh ingenuity of the idea!
The next guy joins in shortly with an instrument to develop the sound. It already sounded amazing but then more guys kept filing in, one by one, bringing other sounds to life on their iPads or iPods! The whole church was amazed. We were laughing, and just totally digging this ingenius performance!
Then they did another song, and as we are all laughing and hootin', ANOTHER guy comes out singing "Feliz Navidad" into his iPhone! Hilarious! Not only was it great timing, but his performance was so perfect, too. Great voice.
This was just so fun, I WISH I'd had my wits with me enough to start recording from the very beginning.
GREAT JOB, NORTHPOINT!!!!
Who said Christianity and God had to be staid and serious all the time?! We are to praise, love, laugh and ENJOY God forever!
I can only imagine what Heaven will be like if we humans are just a foretaste of the creativity of GOD Himself!
Yesterday, our church, Northpoint Community Church, in Alpharetta, put together this AMAZING performance! We missed church last week because Blake was sick with a very high fever. SO GLAD we made it today!
Who would have thought that today of all days, we'd have a front row seat? We were looking around for a seat when one of the ushers offered to show us to a seat and we were lucky enough to be put right on the front row!
So we just sat down when these two guys came out and stood silently with their iPads in their hands, the camerman trained on them. I'm thinking "Huh?" (The band and singers are usually rocking out Holy praises about now.)
Well, so one guy starts this music mix, sort of a Mannheim Steamroller sound, by just tapping the screen on his iPad! And it gets fed over the whole sound system through the earphone jack on his ipad! I was surprised at the sound quality for one, not to mention amazed at teh ingenuity of the idea!
The next guy joins in shortly with an instrument to develop the sound. It already sounded amazing but then more guys kept filing in, one by one, bringing other sounds to life on their iPads or iPods! The whole church was amazed. We were laughing, and just totally digging this ingenius performance!
Then they did another song, and as we are all laughing and hootin', ANOTHER guy comes out singing "Feliz Navidad" into his iPhone! Hilarious! Not only was it great timing, but his performance was so perfect, too. Great voice.
This was just so fun, I WISH I'd had my wits with me enough to start recording from the very beginning.
GREAT JOB, NORTHPOINT!!!!
Who said Christianity and God had to be staid and serious all the time?! We are to praise, love, laugh and ENJOY God forever!
I can only imagine what Heaven will be like if we humans are just a foretaste of the creativity of GOD Himself!
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