Up the Sunbeam

-- Sometimes the same thing can look different depending on where you're standing. After the last few weeks, I would count copyright laws among those things that don't look the same from both sides. I have been both the copyright owner having to defend my copyright AND the one seeking permission to quote copyrighted material. What a different feeling I have about each position. Click . . . click . . . click . . . I follow the links from page to page, site to site, watching a video here, perusing images there. My inherited Irish temper grows with every selection of my mouse. One of my pictures is being used all over the internet, without my permission, to promote a product for sale no less! You might think I'd feel flattered that someone thought enough of my photography to use this photo in this manner, but all I feel is cheated and disrespected. Harumph! On the other front, I'm still online, still clicking away, my eyes scanning pages and pages of tiny pri...

-- Years have come and gone since I got the first phone call . . . and the second. Twice in two weeks a well-regarded ministry leader here in my area called to make an invitation. Both times she said that while praying about a ministry position she needed to fill, my name came to her mind, and she wondered if I would be interested. I had only recently learned that I wasn't required to give an automatic yes to everything I was asked to do, so I flexed my new muscle and twice told her I would pray about it. The reason she called twice is that the first time, I told her no. I had, true to my word, prayed and asked God whether He would have me take this position. There was nothing in my seeking of Him that gave me even the slightest whisper of a "yes" answer. I then talked to Hero Husband, and he agreed with me for many reasons that it didn't seem that I should do it. When the second call came, I was a little confused, and almost wavered, but since I believe God is p...