Still Ringing in the New Year – Tom and I just finished reading three chapters of Genesis. We’re still on track with our 2009 resolution to read the Bible from cover to cover in one year. It’s easier when the world-wide Church body is doing it too, as our church is doing. Today’s story of Joseph and the 7 years of famine brought to mind the present world economic crisis. We prayed for wisdom, faith and strength. Genesis is a fast-moving book. We’re going to get a bit bored when we get to the “begots” and other repetitious books but the Holy Word is a living seed that will undoubtedly sprout when it falls on good soil and is watered and tended. Reading the Bible is like eating spinach, “I don’t always like it but it will always do me good”.
When I compare myself to the typical person I can say that I know my Bible very well, but then I meet some people that are full of the Spirit and can quote tons of scripture for any situation and I know I still have far to go. I have to admit, I was going through a lull during a lot of last year where I hadn’t read the Word consistently. They say, “If you don’t read the Word for one day, you know it. If you don’t read it for two days, your family and friends know it. If you don’t read it for three days, everybody knows it.” So ya’ll readers probably knew it too.The other thing about this New Year is my new Skype phone that Tom gave me for Christmas. It’s a VoIP (voice over internet protocol) phone. It looks like a cell phone, but it only works in a wireless internet area (which our house has). It cost $100 for the hardware and $5.99 per month to make unlimited calls to anywhere in the U.S. from anywhere in the world, including from the U.S. (No other fees are included and it can also call cell phones). Calling other Skype phones is free. It’s a good deal for me. Twelve years ago it cost me $40 a month to call Mom for 40 minutes (and I didn’t go over those minutes). When I returned to Korea in 2005 it cost $2 to call America for 40 minutes, but since I usually talk for more than 500 minutes nowadays it costs me $25 per month. I thought that was a good deal then but technology keeps getting better and cheaper. I’m one of the last foreigners here to jump on the Skype bandwagon. I’ve been hearing their praises for months. The Skype phone isn’t necessary to buy. I could make the same calls using my computer with a headset but I would be stuck to the computer. We can choose to pay $16 per month to get the same type of service to call any nation in the world that Skype serves. I was thinking of getting one for my parents to call Mexico for unlimited minutes for only $5.99 per month but Mexico is not listed among their many nations served. That’s too bad. Many international companies use these types of phones nowadays for their employees to make business calls overseas.Another new thing this year for us is that Tom has decided to start his university professor career this year. He’ll stop working in Microsoft at the end of January and start teaching in March (kindergarten through university school starts in March in South Korea). We’re planning on going to Texas and Oklahoma during February to see the folks, get a look at the big sky, Tom to prepare his lessons and Andy to get reacquainted with the other half of the family. I’d like to meet old and new Boise City, and other, Panhandle friends.
