Manage THIS!

In a surprise move, I was asked to step up into a managerial position at my job not too long ago.  I took the position after much prayer and consideration last Monday.  I have no clue what I am doing, but my boss is very gracious and patient with me.

I am beginning to realize that the position is a job in and of itself, it is not just added responsibility.  I have spent more time over the last week in meetings and fielding questions than with any other leadership role I have had so far.  It has been great, and challenging, but will take some time to really understand what I am supposed to do.

I find that I work well with a defined role, and a clear set of expectations.  This not only pushes me to meet requirements, but also gives me an edge to where I can safely explore options and alternative methods.  I like to see where I need to be, complete it, then move on to challenge myself and my supervisor’s expectations.  There seems to be something inside of me that wants to go above and beyond, just to see if I can do it.

I realized this morning that I need to make sure that between my full-time position at Frontier Label and volunteering with student ministry that I need to make sure that both of my supervisors have given me enough direction and have set clear enough expectations so that I can move forward with purpose and not get bogged down in juggling unspoken tasks/demands.  It hit me like a ton of bricks this morning.  Kind of crazy.

Quarter Century Mark

So, I am now 25. A forth of the way to the big C. A score and a quarter. I guess I get to look forward to lower rates on my car insurance starting soon. I think 25 is a solid age, well enough into adulthood to be legit and responsible, but not at the point where 30 is impdending doom on my youth. I hope to spend the next year figuring out what I was put on this earth to do and charging after it whole-heartedly.

I would like to thank my Mom and Dad for liking each other enough for me to be here. Also for loving me after I got here. I love you guys so much.

Entrepreneurial Advice

I had the privilege of having breakfast with a man that I respect yesterday. I wanted to talk to him about starting businesses and how to balance that in life. Here is some of what he told me:

• The vision for his own business was never an ‘if’ but always a ‘when.’
• Get started in manageable increments, then, with confidence, step into a larger arena.
• If you have some form of expertise, stick with it, few will have niche talents like yours.
• Develop/participate in/use a community of peers to have somewhere to take your produce and ideas for feedback and buy-ins.
• Find your niche, where competition is thin and you can excel.
• Have a defined plan for a set amount of time to realize/sharpen your vision.
• His toughest lesson was not heeding the advice that he often sought about business practices, trying to step outside of his expertise without a vision for his efforts.
• Once you have a clear vision, with tenure, capital should not be a worry.
• Be smarter, know the laws/maxims/industry standards (repetition rings true over time).
• Lead from above, the business depends on the people who do the work.
• Don’t put someone in an administrative position who isn’t smarter about and can’t do their job better than you can.
• Take your time to achieve retirement, it is supposed to take 45 years anyway.
• Don’t rush into marriage/family/business, it leads to being over-stressed and under-financed.
• Get as much education as you can, it makes the physical work easier.
• Have the character to own business mistakes, being a real man in your marriage, and constantly work on the relationship whether you are in a boom or bust season. It takes reassurance either way.
• Make sure that your priorities are correct when investing: wife, family, business, friends. You only get one shot at some of them.

Daniel Chapter 5

This is a continuation of my reading of Daniel.

5:1-4 Am I using something that God has set up to honor himself to glorify something other than him? Am I setting myself up for a confrontation with reality?
5:5 God’s creativity in how he gets our attention is endless.
5:10-12 Daniel’s reputation is built off of what God has given him, not on personal accomplishments. That is how I wish to be known now/remembered when God is done with me on Earth.
5:13 Sometimes God has to take us out of our home and people to put us in a place to fulfill our purpose. Daniel would not have had the chance to advise the king of Assyria from Judah. We don’t have to be the guy in charge to change the world. We only need to be available, obedient and have a reputation of integrity when we are near kings. When we are stable and integrated individuals who are constantly looking out for the best in our leaders, they, who are often living precarious lives, will look to us for advice and support. That is when we have the chance to change the world.
On a side note: My father has taught me so much about having integrity and doing the work right the first time, every time; even if you have to work outside your expertise to do it. He has set a high bar and put plenty of ground under me to jump off.
5:18-24 In a related note, what a father passes to his child can mean the world, literally life and death, to that child. God calls all of us who are fathers, or will be fathers to teach our children all the lessons that God has taught us. I can’t imagine potentially throwing my kid’s life away because a conversation is tough or might be awkward. But then again, I am not a father yet, so I don’t know all of the pressures involved.
5:25-28 I guess this is where the phrase “the writing is on the wall” comes from.
5:30 God is never wrong. What he says goes. That hasn’t changed since… ever.

Thoughts on poverty…

As Jesus ministered to people, he fought poverty. He did this in two ways. First, he healed people of sicknesses and debilitating physical situations. This would allow the person to no longer be secluded socially, meaning they could legitimately pursue employment or servanthood. They would be ceremonially clean. Also, Jesus took care of the heart issue. A lot of people are unable to work because of something internal, like intense bitterness or hatred that clogs a person’s heart and head from being able to focus clearly. The deep emotional problems could impede a person’s ability to work consistently or productively. When Jesus forgave them, a heart transformation took place and they had the ability to rid themselves of the guilt, emotions or depraving effects of sin. If we take this model to a modern era, we could be effective in fighting poverty just as Jesus did. Take care of people’s physical and spiritual needs. If you get rid of the excuses to work, then they will have to own up to who they are inside. At that point, they will either choose to move on in God’s forgiveness and make something significant of themselves, or they will go back to self-pity and self-deprecation; rendering themselves beggars of pity, and “helpless” aside from others’ charity.

This may come across as a little harsh or hard, but it also comes from not knowing every circumstance of every person who is living in a poverty situation. I am only writing out of a general sense from the stories I have encountered in life, not an all-encompassing knowlegde.

Not sure what to do

I still have this desire inside of me to go to Africa some day. I don’t know when that opportunity will arise. I think the desire started when I was much younger, maybe 12 or so. At the CMA church of which I used to be a member, I had the fortune of meeting many missionaries. They told amazing stories of adventures, people who were very different from me and of what God was doing in his world. I believe it was then that the smallest seed of curiosity was planted. By the time I reached college, I was able to take courses about any subject I fancied. I took a few which touched on Africa, its history and its geography. I was sold. I needed to go see it for myself. I needed to affect change. I needed to help whoever and however I could.

So, it still comes down to waiting to see what happens in the near future – what direction my life takes.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Here are some thoughts that I found about being a disciple. I gathered them from various sites by Jewish and Christian communities. Here they go:

Talmid is the Hebrew word for disciple, it means student.

Talmid’s job is to learn everything that his master had to teach.

The disciples of the first century Judaism learned everything from their teacher, and they learned to be just like their teacher. They learned the stories that the teacher told. They learned the lessons that their teacher taught. They learned to eat the foods that their teachers ate, the way their teacher ate them. They learned to keep the Sabbath the way their teacher kept Sabbath and to give charity the way their teacher gave charity. They learned to pray the way their teacher prayed and fast the way their teacher fasted. They learned how to keep God’s commands the way their teacher kept them. The disciples followed their teacher everywhere he went, and the teacher taught his disciples everything he could.

Then, after a disciple was fully trained, he would become a teacher and teach disciples of his own.

Every disciple fully trained will be like his teacher. – Luke 6:40

Disciples regarded their teachers higher than their own fathers. This was a servant to master relationship.

There are 4 jobs of a disciple: memorize their teacher’s words, learn their teacher’s traditions and interpretations, imitate their teacher’s actions and raise up disciples.

Matthew 28:19-20 shows that what we are to do is nothing more than what disciples are supposed to do anyway, make more disciples.

The disciples of Jesus were never to take the role of master, because unlike the masters of the Pharisees or the men of the Great Assembly or sages like Hillel or Shammai, Jesus is still alive. Followers or Jesus are forbidden to make their own disciples because their job is to raise up more disciples of Jesus.

Jesus was the kind of rabbi that had authority to teach new interpretations of the scriptures. Sermon on the mount is full of examples of this kind of teaching.

The purpose of the talmidim was to totally duplicate the lifestyle of their Teacher.

Hebrews 13:7

It is a daily effort to deny self, know the Savior’s way of life, and live accordingly.

John 13:34-35

Luke 14:26

These thoughts came from here, here and here.