Greetings to all on the Lord's day

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, [1] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. (Mark 3:1-5, esv) Greetings friends. Well, unfortunately I am at work on the day traditionally referred to as the the Lord's day. :( Unfortunately IT is a 24x7 environment, and since most of the "users" do not use the network off-hours (and in this case a Sunday) it is better to make changes during these times. And since it is for a health-care system... I would still rather be off on such days. Since my direct involvement is pretty much limited to monitoring a conference call I am typing while I listen. It could make for some interesting typos. :) Last night my Guard unit participated in the 21st annual Forth of July celebreations at the Antietam National battlefield. We gave the battlefield salute, as well as participated in the 1812th overture performed by the Maryland Symphony Orchestra (or MSO), and then a connonade at the end of the fireworks. This was our first year and there were a few hitches, but I hope that they were undetected by the masses. We had a lot of fun doing it. When the entire battery was letting loose it was quite a site to see. Since they were just blanks the concussion was not all that impressive IMO, but the fireballs coming from the end of the tubes was quite spectacular. but that was not all. Due to the inferiority of the charges, and there was assition smoke there were mini-fire balls coming back out of the breech when they were opened to discharge the previous round and loading the next. That does not happen when a live round is used so the #1 man was suprised to see those flames coming back at them! The result was a half second delay as the loader waitied for the breech to clear, but the crowd loved it. And since Antietam is referred to as "Artillery Hell" how appropriate. :) Side note... I sent an e-mail to a respected friend to encourage him to start his own blog - and he has! :) I've added the link on the left there. He is new to blogging so please be patient, but he has a sharp mind (IMO) in the ways of God. I am never bored discussing things about God with him. Rich always seems on fire for Christ, and if you were ever to meet him in person you can see his eyes light up as he talks about his Savior. As a means of introduction I met Rich about the same time I met my wife. He was a member of the Christian Student Union at the college they both attended. I believe he was one of the group leaders even then. After college he and his bride moved to take a job closer to his wife's family. To abbreviate it some, they have since moved back to the area I live in. They have three wonderful children, and at this time he is a stay at home dad. Well, I need to wrap this up for today. May the Lord bless each and everyone of you this day, and may you each have safe travel for those heading to other destinations. ybiC... Verse for today: Well, I shared it above. I was wondering about my motive, but I felt the Lord put it on my heart to share. In the end the work I am doing is helping patient care... but then there are things that I will be doing later that is not contributing to any form of rest... one area I know I want to work on, and not just for myself - but to instill it in my family - is to honor the day of the rest that the Lord gave us, and to use it as a day of worhip and reflection of God... like Jesus once said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27, esv) Maybe this is something I can meditate on the rest of today...