Archive for June, 2008
Posted on June 29, 2008 - by ray
A Call to Re-think How We Think
Piper. Brilliance. Read.
Posted on June 27, 2008 - by ray
Featured Friday Quote
For Friday, June 27th:
Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “Holy cow…what a ride!”
Dr. Martin Scurr
Posted on June 27, 2008 - by ray
What I Do
One of the things I struggled with after moving overseas was coming to terms with how my “day job” was defined. I came from nine years of IT work in a Fortune 500 company. My job was very neatly defined. I knew what was expected of me. I had yearly reviews and my annual raise was based on that review. I knew what was expected of me in order to get a promotion. I knew exactly where I fit in the organization.
Here, things are not so neatly defined. Early on there were days I would wake up and not really know what to do with my time. I struggled with understanding what was expected of me from an organizational stand point. Raises and promotions are things that don’t exist with my present employer. Organizational structure is not nearly as important as it once was (some might argue with this). I knew my overall task was to facilitate a CPM (church planting movement) among my assigned people group. That’s a little bit easier said than done. I was told that my first year was a “gimme”…that I just needed to focus on adapting to my culture, learn language, to not stress out too much. Again, that’s a little bit easier said than done.
So now, in my third year, I feel more comfortable with my “day job”. I understand my culture, I’ve learned the language, I don’t get too stressed out, but there’s still that uneasy feeling, that tension, between “working” and “living”. I’ve set up a charity organization, a non-profit, and the bulk of my relationships come through my charity. It eases the tension that I sometimes feel for not having a “real” job. I help small organizations with some of their IT problems. I do a little business training. I meet people. I engage them. I try to offer them something that will make their jobs (and lives) a little easier. But in the back of my mind there’s this tension, this question that lingers, what’s the path from helping these people to starting a church to helping to facilitate a movement.
Most days I do a good job of pushing that thought out of my mind…to focus on the individuals I meet, to be Jesus to them, and at the end of the day, hope that they are a little bit closer to Christ for having interacted with me.
Posted on June 20, 2008 - by ray
Featured Friday Quote
This weeks quote:
For many years I looked at life like a case at law. It was a series of proofs. When you’re young you prove how brave you are, or smart; then, what a good lover; then, a good father; finally, how wise or powerful or whatever. But underlying it all, I see now, there was a presumption. That one moved on an upward path toward some elevation, where…God knows what…I would be justified, or even condemned. A verdict anyway. I think now that my disaster really began when I looked up one day and the bench was empty. No judge in sight. And all that remained was the endless argument with oneself, this pointless litigation of existence before an empty bench. Which, of course, is another way of saying — despair
Arthur Miller through the character Quentin in After the Fall.
Posted on June 13, 2008 - by ray
Featured Friday Quote
This weeks quote:
The idea many Christians have of grace is this: that their conversion and pardon are God’s work, but that now, in gratitude to God, it is their work to live as Christians and follow Jesus…No, wandering one, as it was Jesus who drew thee when He spake “Come,” so it is Jesus who keeps thee when He says “Abide.” The past grace to come and the future grace to abide are alike from Him alone.
Andrew Murray from Abide in Christ.
