Author: Sistertech

Psalm of the Day

“Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. We will come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.” Just one of the many hymns and religious songs that draw upon Ps. 126.

Ps. 126

1When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
3The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
4Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.

Fending off viruses

Just got off the phone with panicked client. Seems slew of dastardly viruses have infected his hard drive. He’s in pretty bad shape. So is his laptop. Not much Sistertech could do by phone but offer what little reassurance I could. My advice to others? There are two key lines of defense.

First, take a deep breath. Lay your hands on the computer and say this prayer.

Prayers for protection of a computer

Visit this computer, O One In Charge, and drive far from it all the snares of the enemy; let your holy angels dwell with it to preserve it in peace; and let your blessing be upon it always.

Amen.

Second, get yourself good virus protection. Pay for it if you have to. Install it. Activate it. Keep it on. Use it early. Update it often.

I’m just sayin’…

Oh no. Another call.

When a peripheral dies

We know that death is not the end of life. It is, for many computers and peripherals, only the beginning of that new life which has been preordained for them. Still, delivering the news to the owners of deceased devices can be tricky. Owners go through the typical stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance.

I had to give “the news” to a client this afternoon for her wireless keyboard.

Here’s the prayer I gave. It’s for a deceased computer, but I also use it for peripherals. You might want to keep it handy.

Psalm of the Day

This one’s a real gem. Psalm 23. It’s on my top 10 list.

For Monday, January 18, 2010

1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.

4Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.

5You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.

Psalm of the Day

Another favorite Psalm of Sistertech’s. (I’ve been lucking out lately!) Steadfastness is one of those key attributes, don’t you think? Not only is The One In Charge steadfast, but we have our end to hold up as well. We, too, must be steadfast.

5Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.

Continue reading “Psalm of the Day”

When the Lord gets ready

There’s a lot we can learn from the blues. “You Gotta Move” is a perfect example:

You got to move, you got to move,
you got to move child, you got to move
But when the Lord gets ready, you got to move
You may be high, you may be low
You may be rich, child, you may be poor
But when the Lord gets ready, you got to move
Continue reading “When the Lord gets ready”

Psalm of the Day

A busy day for Sistertech. Glad to have it coming to a close. And what a lovely Psalm to end it with, Psalm 22:4-7. I couldn’t help sneaking in verse 4. It’s a familiar one. Even though I don’t imagine most people pray, “Dear One In Charge, just let me get to church one last time!” Many of my clients are not the “church going” types. This isn’t always a bad thing. I’m sure some of you have had simply ghastly experiences in some churches and glorious experiences in others. Verily, even in the same church, services vary wildly. As we say: YREMV – your religious experience may vary.

Sistertech urges you not to stress out too much on finding the perfect church to attend. Such an institution does not exist. It’s an acquired skill, but it’s nice sometimes just to bloom where one is planted.

4 One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.

5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.

6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.

7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!

Launching a new service

We were discussing how busy people seem to be and how nice it would be for them to receive brief portions of The Document, especially from the Psalms, sprinkled through the day. Besides saying the Offices, the odd hymn verse or psalm verse seems to rise up in Sistertech’s heart whenever she needs it most. I count this as a great blessing and comfort. Dealing with people when their computers have crashed or their wireless connections seem irreparably torn asunder is rarely a pleasant affair. In the tech support industry let’s face it: one mostly is dealing with people at their worst, if for no other reason than because they are at their wits end.

Anyway, we thought of a catchy name: PsalmBytes. Get it: small portions of the Psalms delivered electronically. “Bytes” seemed quite appropriate. These will be sent out from another Department down the hall. I’ll still be doing the Psalm of the Day and will experiment with various formats. Feel free to comment here or email me directly at tech AT sistertech DOT com. (There. I hope that keeps the spambots at bay!)

Yours faithfully,

Sistertech