Interesting shipping routes that work

Recently I worked as a seasonal shipper for a shipping/logistics team for a large company. Here are some interesting routes that the products went on a ride for before arriving at the final destination...and why/how it works

product manufactured/produced in cin was shipped/bought by the company I work for in Columbus the next stop is Covington, Ky back to cin (to a store)

Here is another similar one I thought was intersting: Cin - Columbus - Covington, Ky - Lexington, Ky.

Some backtracking occurs:
product from Il shipped to Columbus then back to In.

Here is the most interesting/ zig zagging one: product starts in nj is shipped to Columbus then to covington then to cin

Here is an explanation:

What happens is that the company I work for is huge. They buy product from several companies. And they buy a TON of product. Then my company has to decide how much of each product is going to one of its stores. So we have to place a shipping label on each box. Anyways, after all the product is labeled then they are sorted and shipped to the correct location. All I do is shipping. All I had to do was place the labeled box on a conveyor belt and let the machines do all the work. The conveyor belt has scanners to read the labels and shots the box to the correct door and then the loader loads each box off of the conveyor belt.

Anyways, since we buy a massive supply of product, the product comes to me on a skid with shipping labels going to all locations. So while it seems odd that a product made in Cin is going back to CIn. There are some good reasons. the product needed to be processed and shipped to a store. The manufacturer just produces the goods, they do not care where it goes. Secondly all I do is ship. The logistics have been thought through by someone who has more responsibilities. Finally, all the back-tracking actually makes some sense too. The reason why the product going to cin goes to pit first is because how the logistics are set up. The Columbus hub does not have a direct to Cin, but cov does. So we see a lot of routes like this. Depends on where the product is manufactured, where we have a shipping hub, and where the store that the product (final destination).

Living in the moment in worship

I recently attended a worship event that was a little more charismatic than I am used to but it really was a great event.

The event really opened my eyes a little more to different worship styles and helped me see just how limited my view of worship is. Of course I have been to charismatic churches and worship events before but this was just a small "community" worship event and there were people from all denominations there so it was not limited to or focused on any charismatic sect.

As a musician I have a bad habit of focusing on the performance aspects of worship: the music, beat, the musicians, etc and sometimes this makes me less focused on actually worshipping.

Another nasty aspect of me is that I am thinker/reflector type. So I enjoy dreaming up ways to do the same song a different way or arrange the stage a certain way...again side tracking me from true worship. I like to selfishly think about me.I am not one who lives in the moment. I like to think and plan things out.

At this event we had gone through almost an hour of straight worship nonstop...and my barriers were finally breaking down. It was just me worshiping God and not focusing on anything else. The worship leader was really feeling the the Lord's presence and the mode of worship. He was playing more reflective and slower songs than before. He stopped one song and just laid on the floor in worship. He cried out "soak Him in....in this moment, worship Him."

I had not really thought about this idea of just soaking in the Lord's presence, just sitting there with God. I have done this before but I never really thought about it in a worship night setting before. It was delightful. My mind began to wonder as I worshipped God and I started praying. Then the leader said, "Just be with God in adoration and soak Him in. Do not worry about asking for requests, just worship God in this moment. Soak Him in."

I stopped praying for the prayer request and went back to to trying to "soak Him in." This was still new for me. I began to jot things down (these thoughts that I am not blogging) and remembered again that this is exactly the problem I (was writ ting about/now blogging about) - I am being all type A thinking and reflecting as all I am suppose to be doing is soaking in God.

Once I finally stopped and just focused on Him, it was a blissful, peaceful thing. I was just with God. Hanging out with Him. God loves simply to spend time with me. He just wanted me to love him and to be filled with Him. He wanted me to be still and listen.

It was simple yet hard to explain. It was surrender. I gave up my plans. I waited on the Lord. I remembered how good He is and How He has blessed me. I was living in the moment in worship.