Candle Light Magazine

If you’ve got enough geek in you to appreciate this you’re a kindred spirit.

I have debated on what to use clmag.com for lately.  Originally this site was registered (way back on July23, 1997) as a place to put my online Christian magazine.  That magazine has evolved into a whole different site and clmag.com isn’t really being used that much for anything.  I guess I just keep it for sentimental reasons. 

I’ve decided to turn this little site into my personal blog.  Anything that interests me.  I’m not going to try to optimize it for search engines or sell anything as a marketer.  I’m just going to post random stuff that catches my attention and if you like this stuff great.  If not, well, there are billions of other sites out there and I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for.

You may want to subscribe to the rss feed as I don’t know how frequently this site will be updated.  Where’s the rss feed you ask?  Click on RSS in the menu on the left.  Then click the “Subscribe to this feed” button.

Have you ever noticed that God is reminding us of the things we need to learn on a regular basis?

Sometimes our relationship with God resembles a marital relationship.  In the beginning there’s all the excitement; the honeymoon period.  We spruce ourselves up for our new partner.  We pay a lot of attention to them.  We praise them regularly.  We can’t get enough of them.

Christianity is like that.  When we’re first saved the newness of our life with God causes us to look at all the areas of our life that need cleaned up and we spruce ourselves up for God.  We hang on every word that comes from him.  We worship and praise him regularly and we just can’t seem to get enough of him.

Yet, just as all honeymoons end, so the newness with our salvation begins to fade and we’re left with the realities of living with our new partner.  Sometimes this takes a lot of hard work.  It’s not easy having a partner who really is perfect.  We’re stuck dealing with our imperfections. 

It gets old being wrong all the time and having to grow.  So our love for God grows cold.  We forget to pray, read our bible, praise, and most importantly we forget to listen to him and include him in each day.

The best way to deal with this is to shift our mindset.  By understanding that he’s already paid the price for all our shortcomings we can begin to see that we’ve been made perfect through his grace.  All we have to do is relax into the grace filled life he has given us.  By leaning into his ever present strong arms we’re safe, protected, and made perfect.  We can then begin to renew the intimacy that belongs in all good relationships.

I had some problems with the registration database and had to reset everything.  Sorry about that.  You’ll find a new registration system in place along with a new membership control.  If you’ve registered in the past and aren’t one of those silly bots (grin) then please reregister.  Everything’s in place now and once you’ve registered you’ll be able to start posting comments. 

This whole thing was caused by massive bot registrations.  I believe I have a system in place to deal with that now.  If you run into any problems please contact me and I’ll get everything worked out. 

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding in this matter.

Tim

It’s amazing how God stays the course even when we fail.  I know that there are times when I just get too tired  to keep believing that a particular thing will happen.  Then, like magic, out of nowhere, God will speak and reinvigorate me. 

Recently I’d been facing a problem getting a particular piece of copywriting done.  I had all the particulars, I knew the product inside out.  I had massive skill to do the job.  It should have only taken a few hours.  I already had most of it written.  I was just sick of it.

I was so focused on this copy that it filled my every waking moment.  The deadline was looming and in fact had passed several times.  I just kept moving it from day to day.  It wasn’t for a client.  It was copy I was writing for myself!  You’d think I could muster up some excitement for that.  But nooooo. 

Instead, every time I sat down to do my copywriting I just drew a blank as I stared at the screen.  As I sat there sighing after several hours of avoidance, I heard God say, “Lay your head back and close your eyes.” 

He proceeded to share a parable that closely matched my situation.  Then at the end he showed me that I had tried something different with this copy and had ended up trying to be someone else; to use someone else’s approach.  It wasn’t working.  I suddenly knew exactly what had been wrong and how to fix it.

I was reenergized and started writing that copy immediately…with enthusiasm!

I invite you to remember that in whatever work you do, God is there to help; to guide.  He’s interested in our success and knows just how to recharge our batteries when they’re at their lowest.  I invite you to invite God into your work today.

Thank God we’ve made it through another election.  We can all breathe easy now, right?  Wrong.  Everything up to yesterday was nothing more than laying the foundation for the direction America is going to be taking.  Today the work begins.

Today we need to start making an action plan on how we’re going to change things.  They say all politicsa are local.  It couldn’t be truer.  Everything we do locall affects the national level of the political scene.

“How do I start?” you may ask.  Simple.  Sit down and make a list of everything you’d like to see changed.  List the things you think are bad that need to be corrected, then list the things you think would be good if we did them. 

Now look your list over and decide which things are easy, which things may be hard, which things might get done but seem unlikely, and finally which things just aren’t going to happen. 

Take those that just aren’t going to happen and put them on your prayer list.  Pray and trust God for them but other than that, ignore them.

Take the list that remains and prioritize the list.  Getting the easy things done first will give you some confidence and experience.  It will spur you on to keep working on your list.  Your first goal is to finish all these easy things.

Make an action plan for the remaining items on the list.  This should include milstone events (progress checkpoints) so you can adjust your action to stay on track.

Then, go do what you put in your action plan.  I’m looking forward to hearing how you’re doing on your action plan.  I may put one together and put it online here, then follow its progress in the blog.  What do you think?  Should I do that?

I’m so excited!  I get to vote today.  I moved several years ago and it was just before the election.  They told me that since it was so close to election day that I would have to go vote at the same place I’d voted for nearly 15 years.

Unfortunately, I completely forgot the second half of what they told me.  “Make sure you find out where your new voting place is being held for the next election.”  What a horrible thing to forget.

So in 2008 I got busy and was BARELY able to get in line.  It was so close and so late that one of the workers came out and told us, “You are the last two that will be able to vote here today.”  We were so grateful that in spite of the horrible day we’d had, we actually were able to make it in time to vote.

I hadn’t missed and opportunity to vote in 34 years.  Missing my chance to vote was unthinkable.  We waited in line for 2 hours before we finally stepped up to vote.  We were shocked to find out that our names weren’t on the list!!!

I felt like voter fraud was afoot but it wasn’t.  It was simply forgetting a simple thing that I had been clearly told.  Nobody was after me or trying to deny me my vote.  In fact, I was still on the rolls but in another voting place.  My mistake not only cost me my vote, it cost my wife her vote because I forgot.

I have waited for 2 years for the opportunity and privilege of casting my vote.  In three hours the polls open.  I tried to lay down and get some sleep but I’m so wired I can’t sleep.  We called to find out where our new voting place is and to double check that we’re still registered to vote.

We’re still registered and we know where we can cast our vote.  I’m like a child on Christmas Eve who’s so excited that they can’t sleep.  That’s ok, It’s good to know I still have some patriotism in me.

If you read this I just hope that you take the opportunity to go vote today.  It doesn’t matter what political persuasion you have.  What matters is that you cast YOUR vote.  When we all work together, even by casting votes, we all win.

Regardless of who you are…

Regadless of your party affiliation or lack of affiliation…

Regadless of your past record of voting…

Just do it!  Go Vote!

Hey there, it’s another great Saturday.  I’m gearing up to grab a bite of breakfast and then I’m off to work.  Yes, work.  I tend to work on the weekends.

It’s not always work type work.  Often it’s just working on personal projects that I enjoy working on.  So, work is what I do for fun!  Yikes!  Does that mean I’m a work-a-holic?