Author: Sistertech

Psalm of the Day

Sistertech understands where the Psalmist is coming from. There are those clients that seem to suck the joy out of going to work. But The One In Charge can and does help turn that around.

Psalm 90:13-17

13Turn, O Lord! How long?
Have compassion on your servants!
14Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16Let your work be manifest to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands!

Polycarp – Psalm of the Day

Sistertech so admires the steadfastness of St. Polycarp. People seem so fickle these days, don’t they? But here was an individual who would not renounce his Christian faith. Psalm 121 addresses the kind of faith that Polycarp had. The One In Charge will never abandon us.

1I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
2My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

3He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and for evermore.

Learn more about Polycarp here

Eric Liddell – Psalm of the Day

We remember this day Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman”, the star runner depicted in the movie Chariots of Fire. He famously refused to run on a Sunday in the 1924 Paris Olympics.  The Psalm today evoke those flying feet!

Psalm 18

31For who is God except the Lord?
And who is a rock besides our God?—
32the God who girded me with strength,
and made my way safe.
33He made my feet like the feet of a deer,
and set me secure on the heights.
34He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

A missionary to China, a prison of war, and an amazing man of God. Read more about him here.

Psalm of the Day

It’s going to be a long day today. People get the idea that we rest on the Sabbath. As if. Hello! We’re on 24/7. I used to work the midnight shift. We do not call it the  “graveyard shift”. I made a mistake once and called it that. Didn’t go over well. No. Not at all. If looks could kill! (Technically, I can’t be killed. But you know what I mean.)

Anyway, Sistertech is looking forward to her few moments of rest, beginning this evening. That’s when the choir will be singing Psalm 63. I especially love this part:

5My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

Have you got what it takes?

I just had coffee with Georgie M, at least that’s what I call him. You probably know him as George Macdonald. He’s a really great guy. Anyway, I was telling Georgie about how helpful his advice was the other day.

You see I was having difficulty getting one of my clients to gain some balance in his life. The guy has the nasty habit of working to exhaustion on anti-virus definitions. But he’s so tired, he keeps making mistakes and not catching them. Of course, then I have to do all the clean up. Continue reading “Have you got what it takes?”

Frederick Douglass – Psalm of the Day

Today Sistertech remembers Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, circa 1818 – February 20, 1895). He’s one of the most important figures in both African American and United States history. Have you read his narrative about his years in slavery? About learning how to read? Amazing stuff.  For one who fought for the abolition of slavery and for equal voting rights for women this Psalm nearly says it all.

7Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

8Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12The Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.

Psalm for the Day

Isn’t Psalm 35 a balm for troubled souls? Sistertech thinks it is.

Yes, I am an angel, but I’ll let you in on a secret: we’re not perfect. You probably heard of the guy on The Other Side. Sistertech’s competitor. The guy really has a way with words, I’ll say. He can persuade people to do just about everything that is bad for them to do. Especially all the bad things they know they ought not to do with their iPhones. A coaster for your cocktail?! People! C’mon!

Once a millennium we submit to a rigorous debriefing. We jokingly call it “angel rehab” or “angel camp”. I cannot lie: I was working through some “issues” at the last debriefing. I blamed my ministry for my my short temper and frequent use of the “H” word: “hate”. Frankly, Sistertech was getting rather potty mouthed, for an angel, that is.

Continue reading “Psalm for the Day”

Martin Luther – Psalm of the Day

This guy certainly mad a big splash! Every now and then Sistertech hears a bit of, well, gossip, about Luther. Some days it’s “The nerve! Who did he think he was?!” to “What in Heaven’s name took him so long?” It is only because of my supreme unflappability that Sistertech smiles at both sides and says, “I service all manner of computers. It makes no difference to me whether their owners are Catholic or Protestant.” That shuts them up rather quickly.

The Psalm is a foretaste of that famous hymn of Marty’s, er, Luther’s A Mighty Fortress is Our God:

Psalm 46:

1God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

You have to admit, the hymn is glorious. True, the tune is a bit ponderous, but those were ponderous times, I suppose.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Ash Wednesday – Psalm of the Day

The forgiveness Psalm. The compassion Psalm. The ashes Psalm.

Psalm 103.

8The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9He will not always accuse,
nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him;
12as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.
13As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
14For he knows how we were made;
he remembers that we are dust.

Sistertech prays that we all may have a blessed and holy Lent.