What’s your focus

I read a quote recently in the book Wide Awake by Erwin McManus.  He said, “what you focus on is where you’re going”.  In addition to that, I was reading in Luke yesterday and came upon the story of Jesus calming the storm in chapter 8.  It starts out in verse 8 by saying, “One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake,”  So they got into a boat and set out.”

This is another interesting story about hearing Jesus’ voice and his calling but losing faith in the face of a storm.  Jesus clearly said, “let’s go over to the other side of the lake.”  He didn’t say, “let’s go in the middle of the lake and get overtaken by a storm.”  The disciples got distracted and forgot Jesus’ calling to go to the other side of the lake because of the circumstances of a storm.

This is another confirmation for me to keep my eyes on what Jesus has called me to.  Just like this story in Luke, he didn’t promise me there would be no storms or circumstances that would make the journey easy, he just called me over to the other side of the lake.  He is the master of the wind and of my circumstances and he can protect me when circumstances get tough.  My job, then, is to focus on the other side of the lake and persevere until I get there.

“What you focus on is where you’re going.”  What’s your focus?

Balance

I heard something interesting on the news last week.  The average lunch ‘hour’ for the average worker has shrunk to about 33 minutes.  It seems there is way too much work for us to do so that we can’t take any time off to relax at midday and have lunch.  The news reporter even said that he didn’t take a lunch break because he was afraid it ‘wouldn’t look good’.  It seems like a lot of this is just a facade.  People are all afraid for their boss to know that they actually have time and take time to go to lunch.  People want their bosses to consider them ‘good employees’ and ‘committed employees’ so they spend way too much time in the office so that they will ‘look good’.  

I think this is a worrisome trend.  We need to live balanced lives; lives with time to work, time to relax, time to eat, and time to sleep.  Think about it, ideally we work 8 hours, we sleep 8 hours, and we have 8 hours to ourselves.  It’s a nice balanced day.  However, this is slowly creeping to working 10- 12 hours, sleeping 5-6 hours, and only spending 4 – 5 hours in leisure, recreation, and family time.  Where is the balance?

I have noticed this trend continuing over the last few years of my corporate career.  So, I’m calling for managers from all areas of the work force to encourage their employees to live balanced lives.  The best way to encourage this is to live balanced lives for yourselves.  A relaxed and balanced mind is much more productive than a cluttered and overly busy mind.  

Let’s all plan a full and relaxing lunch time this week.  Let’s even spend it building relationships by talking with our co-workers, friends, and loved ones over lunch.  Work is great and we all need to be productive, and the highest productivity we can accomplish is a product of a balanced life.

Vacation week

I’ve taken most of this week off as vacation time.  I had 3 days left so I took Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  (That’s also my lame excuse for not writing in the blog for the week.)  My mom is in town for the week and I’ve spent time with her; just hanging around the house, going to Jakob’s soccer games, enjoying the nice cool weather, and doing a little shopping with her.  It seems like the weeks go so fast when we have company from Tennessee.  

I love having folks come up to visit.  I like to take them around and show them how beautiful New England is (unless, of course, they come in February or something like that).  I love to introduce family from Tennessee to my friends here in New Hampshire and I love to show them that New Englanders aren’t all that different from Southerners.

I think my mother has had a good visit.  She seems to like it here, the pace is pretty slow and she’s not rushed to do anything.  She likes to go out to eat and I’m always for that!  She likes Kathy and Kathy loves having her around so it’s a win for everybody.  

She has to go home tomorrow, though.  Hopefully, she’ll be back up soon.

Rwanda

It’s just a little over a month before we go to Rwanda on a mission trip.  We’ve been planning since early in 2008 and now the time is almost here.  It’s been amazing to see the team come together and to see some of the growth of the individuals going on the trip.  Some have seen miraculous things happen with their fund raising, some are growing personally, some are taking more of a risk than they have ever faced in their lives, and all are extremely excited about going.

It’ll be my fourth trip to Rwanda and I feel as excited as I felt the first time.  I love the Rwandans and have made some good friends there.  I am looking forward to visiting my friends, making some hospital visits, visiting some villages as we do outreach events, and even going on a little safari to a game park.  

It’s a beautiful place and I can’t wait to see it again.  I’ll blog and post some pictures while we’re there.

Rwanda Preparations

The mission team to Rwanda met today.  We will be going to Rwanda in only 6 more weeks.  It seems only yesterday that the team was formed and we all got together for the first time.  God is putting a great team together; there have been some who have dropped out for various reasons, but I know that God is sending the team that He wants to be in Rwanda.  

I saw a lot of team unity forming tonight.  It seems that we are getting to know each other better, learning more about each other, and learning how to appreciate the gifts that everyone brings along with them.  We’re going to have a great time ministering together.

I’m sure I’ll get some Internet time while we’re in Rwanda so I’ll be sure to blog and let everyone know how things are going.  In the meantime, please pray for us as we continue to prepare, as we continue to raise money, and as our families prepare to release us to Rwanda for 10 days.

                                            

Rwandan family

Shoes

Rev Kev blogged on the great shoe debate so I guess I’ll throw in my two cents.  Then, I’m going to be done with the controversial stuff and just go and try to live a life with less so others can have more.  

If you left on Sunday without leaving your shoes, please don’t feel guilty.  See, I don’t really think it’s all about shoes.  Sure, there were lots of shoes left and sent to Soles 4 Souls and that was a great thing.  Even greater than that, though, is that we learn to put God first, others second, and ourselves third.  

If we just use Jesus as a model for our lives, then we will be all set.  He lived a life focused on God, His Father, and others.  He sacrificed, even to death on the cross, so that we would be able to live in freedom and live a life of abundance.  Our choice to live a life focused on others enhances that freedom and that abundance.  

So, if you left with your shoes on Sunday, please don’t feel any guilt.  Just remember that faith is a verb and go and actively live out your faith.  God will lead you to a place where He wants you to be generous.  Listen to Him.

It’s football time in Tennessee…

 

It

Every September when I was a kid, I would hear John Ward say these words around the first of September.  ”It’s football time in Tennessee!”  I have such a hard time explaining University of Tennessee football to my friends in New England.  There’s nothing like it in New England.  Many of my friends think that NASCAR in Loudon is similar but I don’t think it really is.

Every year, late in August, you start to see it.  Everyone starts wearing their orange shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, hats, t-shirts, socks, shoes, and on and on.  You see cars with orange flags hanging out the windows, and pom-poms in the back window.  You see, Tennessee football isn’t just for UT alumni, it’s for the entire state. 

Then, there are the home games.  Well over 100,000 people fill up Neyland stadium every time the Vols come onto the field.  Oh, and watching them come onto the field is a treat as they run through the ‘big T’ formed by the marching band while the band is playing Rocky Top for the first of many, many times for the day.  When the team runs through the ‘big T’ the roar is deafening and the stadium actually shakes under the Vol faithful.

 

Running through the Big T

 

 

Also, the ‘Vol navy’ comes to the home games.  Neyland stadium sits on the banks of the Tennessee river and hundreds of house boats, yachts, and even small sport boats tie up outside the stadium for some pretty special tail-gating.  The aroma of barbeque, steak, sausages, and other tail-gating food is incredible.  

So, if you’re a New Englander, I suggest you make a trip to Knoxville and catch the Big Orange on a Saturday afternoon.  Get your tickets early, though, because there are only 110,000 of them and they go pretty fast.

Go Vols!