Wow! Where Does Time Go?

Okay, so you've probably noticed that I've been incredibly SLACK with the blog. It's been over a month since the last post. Let me see if I can catch you up with what has been going on.

For those of you with a Facebook account you probably have seen my status updates showing things about work. In case you don't have a FB account, let met catch you up. About a month ago, my managers came to me and asked me to work with the Wealth Division and manage a project that will develop their entire learning path and certification program. I was a little uncertain about it at first, but it's one of those things that just do because if you don't it's a career move. This project encompasses about 30 job families and a ton of curriculum that utilizes internal sources as well as external vendors. Fun stuff! (Not so much some days.) It's going well so far, but its completely exhausting.

I've also been fighting the various strains of funk that have been going around. I'm just getting over a cold which came on the heels of about 2 days of the flu. Fun stuff! NOT REALLY! I'm not a good sick person. I just sleep and try to avoid the world as much as possible. So I think I'm on the mend now.

Vacation is coming up! Wahooooo!!!!! I haven't been anywhere since summer of last year. We leave on Saturday and will spend a week in St. Augustine with a brief venture to Jacksonville and Hernando (a wide spot in the road north/northwest of Orlando, I think). That's where my uncle and aunt live; so we'll visit them while we're down there.

Overall, things are going pretty well. That is about all I can think of right now. If I come up with something else, I'll post again later.

Now THAT's What I'm Talkin' About. . .

On Sunday, Joey announced two evenings of work - Monday and Tuesday. Honestly, I was not looking forward to it because the tasks seemed overwhelming and my faith in numbers and manpower was little. Before Sunday was even over, we had people mowing and trimming the yard. Monday night we had about fifteen (15) people show up to help with the various things that need to be done in order to make the red room and the big room of The Underground "rent-able." It's a good thing since we have two events booked down there this weekend! Wahoo! It's already being used to bless the community and we haven't even begun to market the space yet. Tonight (Tuesday) we had about six people show up to help. What a blessing. Y'all, Amy can paint some trimwork! So keep that in mind if you need stuff done in your house. :) She'll get me for saying that. And Rita and Lydia are just jacks of all trades - cleaning, organizing, and painting. And that was just tonight. Last night was amazing too and the names and jobs are just too many to list.

With all of that said, things are looking good. But we need to a little more help to push us over the hump. The fire marshall is visiting again on Thursday. So if you can help tomorrow night (Wednesday) please come lend a hand. There are so many little things to do and we can use everyone in some way.

God is good! And GREAT is His Faithfulness just like Meredith said on The Smith's blog this week. Morning by morning, new mercies we see. All that we've needed His hand has provided. And He certainly showed me that I need to have more faith in the challenging times. I can't wait to be back downstairs worshiping and fellowshiping with all of our River friends this week. If you were not there this past Sunday, we are having a church potluck dinner and meeting on Sunday night. Please plan to attend. This will be a great time for us to enjoy each other's company and the space that the Lord has been so gracious to provide for us and the community - even through a few floods. Speaking of which, let's think of ways to Flood the community and share with each other on Sunday night.

Have an awesome week! Looking forward to seeing each one of you soon. Until then, as Joey always says, Be the River!

Random Thoughts

I'll go ahead and tell you. . . these are just my late night ramblings. There's no Jesus point to this post.

This Friday and Saturday brings another weekend of cool music at Confluence. If you haven't been in a few weeks or you've never attended, make plans to join us. You'll really enjoy it. Things get going about 8:00pm and run until close at 11:00pm. And you can try out one of the six (6) new freezer drinks. We have Banana Split, Chai, Garcia's Revenge (sort of like Cherry Garcia), Peppermint Patty, Bahama Mama, and Almond Joy. I've tasted all but one. . . and they're all excellent. So be there! Or else! :~P

It's been a strange week - probably becuase of the holiday and having an extra day off. It was great, but you know how that throws off your entire week. Monday was Sunday all day, so I've been behind a day (or is that, ahead a day) all week.

I've been fighting what I originally thought was a cold coming on. But now I think it was just allergy as I feel much better today. Amazing what some good over the counter drugs and sleep will do for you.

We have had some really crazy days at work lately. Our project was stalled (and still is) and so for about 3 weeks we didn't really do that much. But now it's like they're trying to pay us back all at once. The days are jammed packed and I don't think I've ever had so many voicemails in my life. Every time I turn around that $&#%@ little red light is lit up on my phone again. UGH! Today brought some relief though. We have been working on a blended learning project with a professor at San Diego State University. She's wonderful and provides excellent feedback. But I think the presentation hanging over our heads sort of caused some undue stress. Life is good now though. She loved our presentation and I think we are ahead of the other team that presented today for the ultimate "win."

We have been reading a book titled "Tellin' Ain't Training" as part of the process of forming our new larger team. It's an excellent book and I highly recommend it for anyone in the training field, middle/high school education, or even for college professors. The authors bring out some very good points about how we need to approach adult learners and what types of tactics will really help make our intended points without being the proverbial talking head. The thing to remember is that you want training and the corresponding materials to be "learner centered - performance based." Check it out or borrow my copy!

I think that's about all for right now. . . I do have one other piece of news to share. Our friend JOE OWENS, from The River Church, has a blog. Who knew that quiet Joe had so much to say and was so funny!? It's really cool. Check it out by linking from my Friends and Family section of the left side of this page.

Over and out!
J

My God Is Mighty To Save, Part 2

One of my friends sent this video today. Check it out! Very powerful and it is very appropriate based on my last post. Praise Him that He continues to fight for us regardless of how far we may stray!

My God is Mighty to Save!

The last several days have been weird. Periodically we all deal with some spiritual warfare and I think Satan picked me this weekend for whatever reason. There's no need to go into detail about all of it as it has all been dealt with and life is good now. However, it confirms a few things: 1) no one is exempt from it - no matter how much you think "it can't/doesn't happen to me." 2) good friends and people that care about you are essentials in life; they don't have to know what is going on, but just be able to sense that you need something 3) being part of a good church is important 4) you can't let yourself get bogged down in everyone else's junk; they have to deal with that themselves; that is not to say that we shouldn't be good friends and listen and pray as needed 5) everything is made better by talking with someone that can offer an objective viewpoint. With all of that said, the most obvious even before these confirmations is that we need to be in the Word and spending time with God. And even still, we're going to face some "stuff."

So when you deal with our "little red friend" or whatever color he is in your world, remember to tell him "Hey, Satan, dude, MY GOD IS MIGHTY TO SAVE. So take a hike!"

Does Your Faucet Need to Be Cleaned?

I mentioned in a previous post about our new team at work and that we are really in for some adjustments in the near future. Today we had a team meeting and discussed a lot of the team dynamics and began development of our working agreements. A few of the things we came up with were in regards to respecting each other, how to work well and communicate, and basically never make each other look bad. Ever!

Reflecting upon these interactions this evening and thinking back to the last several weeks of Joey's messages, I wondered how often we say things or do things to co-workers, family, friends, or just the person we pass on the street that either comes out wrong or we say something before we have a chance to really think it through. How many times have we said something and ended up trying to suck the words back in as they escaped from our mouths? I know I've done it. Sometimes it really stinks to know that we've hurt someone or made them look bad and the damage is already done. The worst thing is when it's in writing and more than just the two of us see it. Technology like email and blogs are not always our friends. I've learned that the hard way. Note to self: Never leave a paper trail. It doesn't make the situation any easier, but it does save a little embarassment.

One of my favorite quotes is "People will forget the things you say and do, but never how you made them feel." And so I try to think about that before I speak or write, especially since I've been on the receving end of those hurtful words before.

Having said all of this, how can we overflow with God's love and show it to the community when we don't even treat co-workers, family members, and friends the way we should? Is our proverbial faucet (i.e, our minds and mouths) clogged up with gunk that needs to be cleaned out? Do we need to spend a little more time with our assigment from week 1 - spending time in the Word - before we can focus on overflowing? I ask all of this becuase I know that I'm challenged with this sometimes too. My words may not be particularly telling, but maybe my actions speak more loudly.

After reading Joey's post today, I think we are doing the right thing at the right time. The community around our church and Confluence, and even the communities where you live, need us. We have to clean out our gunky faucets so that we are truly overflowing with the right things as we come into contact with the people we want to touch. But things have got to be right in Jerusalem before we can tackle Judea. How are things inside of your Jerusalem walls? Are they ready to overflow or does the faucet have some issues?

BOHICA!!!

That was the motto of the day yesterday. If you don't know what it means, you'll have to ask me. Yesterday was one of those days where everyone and everything seemed to be against you. Every single way that we turned at work there was a roadblock or a complication. We were not feeling the love!

Thankfully there was Life Group to look forward to last night. I needed to be around people that could bring things back into focus. We talked about our challenge for this week - finding someone within our "own personal Jerusalem" (Acts 1:8) that we could be of help to and could minister to. After thinking about this and talking about the people that we want to reach out to, the problems of the day seemed to fade into the background and not seem so overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, they're still there. But with proper focus, they seem manageable compared to what other people are facing.

Sometimes its good to stop, listen, and hear God saying, "Child of mine, I promised you that I would never give you more than you could handle. Think of others. . .you could be in their shoes."