2011 Books I Listened To

The introduction of downloadable audio books from the local library makes for nerd-fun.

• My Favorite: Golden Ocean - a non-Aubrey O'Brian
• Unexpectedly Good: the Cadfael series, which I have another dozen to enjoy.
• Unexpectedly Bad: World is Flat - when reading, I was able to skim through the endless repetition; I was not afforded the same when listening in the car. The book is excellent, and twice the length it deserves.

1. Fellowship of the Ring (dramatized) - JRR Tolkien
2. The House on the Strand - Daphne Du Maurier
3. Ben Hur - Lew Wallace
4. The Black Cauldron - Lloyd Alexander
5. Moneyball - Michael Lewis
6. The Wild Things - Dave Eggers
7. The Heretic's Apprentice - Ellis Peters
8. Doctor No - Ian Fleming
9. Monk's Hood - Ellis Peters
10. In a Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson
11. A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
12. Brother Cadfael's Penance - Ellis Peters
13. Unnatural Causes - P.D. James
14. All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot
15. In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson
16. The Broken Gun - Louis L'Amour
17. Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson
18. Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane
19. Surgeon's Mate - Patrick O'Brian
20. The Golden Ocean - Patrick O'Brian
21. A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans - Michael Farquhar
22. The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman
23. Genghis: Lords of the Bow - C. Iggulden
24. The American presidency: from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan

2011 Books I Read

My 2011 reading list in reverse order...

A couple of these were not completely finished, either because the point was overdrawn (1434) or the writing just short of terrible (Templar, a vacation book, and O, a gimmick).

• My Favorite: Born to Run
• Unexpectedly Good: Freakonomic series
• Unexpectedly Bad: 1434, a follow up to 1421, was a 200 page book, stretched to 350, full of salesmanship of his theory of Admiral He's sole-source cause of the European Renaissance. 

1. Wanderings - Chaim Potak
2. Liar's Poker - Michael Lewis
3. 1434 - Gavin Menzies
4. The Big Short - Michael Lewis
5. Foundation - Isaac Asimov
6. Ordeal of Innocence - Agatha Christie
7. War - Sebastian Junger
8. The Burden of Southern History - C. Vann Woodward
9. The Legacy of Atlanta - Webb Garrison
10. When Character was King - Peggy Noonan
11. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
12. Fair Tax: The Truth - Neal Boortz
13. The Fair Tax Book - Neal Boortz
14. Thunderball - Ian Fleming
15. A Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie
16. Whose Body - Dorothy Sayers
17. Our Kind of Traitor - John LeCarre
18. The Templar Legacy - Steve Berry
19. O: A Presidential Novel - anonymous (didn't finish)
20. When Helping Hurts - Brian Fikkert
21. Leading on Empty - Wayne Cordiero
22. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior - Ori Brafman
23. The Secret Pilgrim - John LeCarre
24. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John LeCarre
25. True Grit - Charles Portis
26. Strengthfinder 2.0 - Tom Rath
27. Good to Great - Jim Collins
28. SuperFreakonomics - Levitt/Dubner
29. Freakonomics - Levitt/Dubner
30. The Complete Tales of Sherlock Holmes, vol. 1 - Conan Doyle
31. Born to Run - Chris McDougall

Splinters

Took Garrett and Eliza to Kaleo the other day to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Started the afternoon with a walk of the property with Rush, Remus and Dozer, telling stories of days gone by. Crossing the foot-bridge as we headed back to main camp, Garrett did what all kids do: run his hand along the length of the bridge until a sizable splinter set in. Splinters create more fear than pain. A truly painful event overwhelms fear, while splinters are defined by fear. 

"Show him," Eliza begins the conversation. Garrett hesitates; finally revealing a sizable piece of Kaleo history embedded in his palm. "No stress, kid. We'll get it out," as we head up the steps past the Worship Center and towards the Nurse's Quarters, as I did countless times throughout the summers of 1995-1997. 

Every few steps we stop to talk through the process: Yes, it's going to hurt a little bit. No, it will not hurt a lot. Yes, I can get the splinter out. No, I won't cut your hand off in the process. Repeat.

We enter the infirmary, and while I search through last summer's supplies for tweezers and wet-wipes, Garrett is hunched in a chair, continuing through the same questions. "It'll be alright," I comfort him, letting him know what I'm about to, am doing, just did. "Here is is," I surprise Garrett as I hand him the splinter in all its faded glory.

I hate confession. It is healthy, wise, necessary... but I avoid it if at all possible and let the shards of sin fester. Is it going to hurt? Yes. A lot? No. Can you heal and forgive? Yes. Will you cut me off? No. Repeat. I hesitate, and slowly climb up on the infirmary chair to let God heal and change me through confession, finding that the fear was greater than the pain, and grateful for God's patient response to my reluctance.

sok

The Conclusion

This post is tied directly to The bottom of the lists, which may be worth reading for point of context.

After spending an inordinate amount of time Facebooking and emailing people who are my friends, people who I barely know, and people who are not my friends but who may be willing to vote for me anyway (and the best of all, people who I do not even know, but love the FB community well enough to 'like' me sight unseen), I pulled ahead of my competition, 220 to 170, which is pretty good given that my enemy combatant had 70 'likes' before I got started.
I'm sitting at church and thinking that I might actually win this thing (between announcements, of course; I'm sure I was listening the rest of the time), that I might actually be given the gift of LASIK (forget Jared). 

That was until I checked the tallies around 4pm, whereby my 50 vote advantage devolved into 90 person hole, 225 to 315. Turns out this part-time fire fighter is also a youth minister. How can one compete against such reckless connections? I can see it now: two dozen teen-churched facebookers granted permission (nay, asked) to whip out their device of choice and spread 'likes' amongst their web of friends. 

"You've got to know when to fold them."

The bottom of the lists

An unexpected email yesterday from the Thomas Eye Group, a rather large outfit here in Atlanta. Maggie had nominated me as one worthy of free LASIK surgery, writing a short essay of my general contributions to life (taking her cue from the political establishment, the writing exaggerates the reality). Worthy or not, it is a generous gesture. The trick, for myself and the two other finalists, was to convince the Facebook world to 'like' one of us the most.

Somehow I am expected to branch out and ask friends, Romans, countrymen to do the great favor of "liking" me, crossing all sorts of indeterminate lines in my life. But if Maggie has gone out on this limb to honor me, and Thomas Eye has taken a step of faith that this gift of theirs will gain some sort of advertisement medium, I need to swallow my introverted pride and get bawdy.

In a moment of appropriate irony, LASIK is something I would love to have, but will never likely put on the top of the list of financial expenditures ("Sorry, kids. No Disney this year. Dad doesn't like his glasses."). I am now being asked to win a LASIK contest to move this dream-ticket to the top of the heap, as long as I engage in self-promotion, distinctly at the bottom of my activity-list.

     "Uhmmm, excuse me, but would you mind clicking this link and 'liking' me?" - too pitiful.

     "My wife really wants you to..." - don't hide behind Maggie; be a man.

     "This is SO CRAZY! I cannot believe that this once in a lifetime opportunity has landed on my lap. I'm just hoping you want to join me in this." - too bobble-headed.

Time to start begging...

The Effects...

See posts What He Says and What He Did for the first portions of this line of thought.

Jesus' resurrection is a key point in both the Christian faith and Christian living. From 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15:

• The Jesus story, condensed: 
• verses 3-4 - Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead
• Resurrection as a Key Component of the Christian Faith
• vs 12-14 - if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, then our faith is in vain
• vs 17-19 - if Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, our faith is worthless, and we are stuck in our sins; we put our hope in the wrong source, and are to be most pitied
• vs 32 - if the dead are not raised, "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die"
• What Jesus' Resurrection does:
• vs 21-22 - Adam, the first man, brought death; Jesus, the Messiah/Christ, brought resurrection from the dead.
• vs 45-47 - "The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam [Jesus] became a life-giving spirit."
• Resurrection in its Importance to the Individual
• vs 26 - "The last enemy that will be abolished is death."
• vs 51-57 - Mystery... dead will be raised, imperishable... this mortal will put on immortality... "Death is swallowed up in victory"... thanks be to God, who gives the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
• vs 35-38 - the seed is sown and dies before it comes to fruition
• vs 42-44 - our body is sown perishable, dishonor, weakness, natural... then raised imperishable, in glory, in power, spiritual

My Birthday Wish

A truly valuable portion of our congregation’s liturgy (if I may modernize said term) is the request for each participant to share their birthday wish at the commencement of each month. A noble experiment: What do you want from God this year?
What do we want? Healing, or shoes? Reconnection with a loved one, or a new job? The answers vary by the person, the year, the life circumstances... the trivial, the eternal and everything in between. Upon sharing our desire, we gather and pray for the birthday-folks, and seek God’s blessings for the big and small alike.

35th birthday, 2011: My wish: for me to experience enduring grace, to let go of my guilt, regardless.

I seek this, ask it, and need the faith, courage and presence of mind to receive this gift from God. Theologically, this grace, freedom, resurrection, and redemption has already taken place. The stumbling block is me, my mind, my lack of acceptance. I understand that; but I want/need more help – I need the breakthrough of understanding, receiving the tangible reality of grace.

My Mentor

After an unreasonable battle with an unreasonable illness, my mentor left this earth a few days past. His mind was willing, body weak. Distinctly successful in the world's eyes, his influence spread throughout our town, this state, and in various corners of the world. 

We each have a number of qualities, talents and strengths afforded us, which with a certain combination of work ethic and favor propel us forward. His was a special mixture, and I am grateful for his influence on me. I do believe he was my favorite leader, one of the very few my independent self purposefully sought to emulate. While I have not worked directly with him for five years, I continue to hear his voice in my mind as I approach my professional life, just as I hear my high school coach push me each time I go for a run. "Work smart not hard", he would say, which of course meant "Work smart, and hard". We aspire to the character and actions of Jesus; but it is helpful to have folks on the ground we can look up to as well.

Faith is tangible here; it was for him, his family in mourning, and for me; he was humble in the midst of life's success, inviting God's activity in his life; this helped prepare him for life's inevitable end. I trust that he has been healed in the presence of God.

I attempt to balance my appreciation and honor of him with the God who molded him, taught, shaped and inspired him. It is appropriate to admire the creation as well as the Creator.

We lost a good man

Johnny Gaskins passed away 3 days ago, the first person in my daily life to have died (all before have been on my life’s periphery).

He was suffering, and is no more. Brenda and the family were suffering, tired; and while they are in a period of distinct mourning, they may soon find God’s peace and rest.

Johnny loved God. I believe God loves him, and has brought about his eternal healing. We mourn the loss of a truly great man whom we loved and admired. We rejoice in his personal deliverance.

I’ve had very few people I have allowed to mentor me. I am so fortunate and grateful of my time with Johnny. I am a better man for his presence in my life, as a man, a believer in Jesus, and engineer, and a business leader.

Guilty until proven Innocent

I sat next to a very nice and distinctly talkative lady on the flight down here. She was fulfilling her daily verbiage quota, and I was doing my best to be a gentleman. A Belizian expat returning home to visit family, she knew everyone in this small country, and dropped names and titles beyond my memory capacity.
"If you ever need anything, have any problems getting something done, you just give me a call and I will call my (insert name) , who is (insert title), and we'll get it cleared up." Then she gave me her card, which I directly put in my pocket.
I am now returning home; as I pack I find the card, a very dangerous card, which yields a corona of guilt around all who carry it, regardless of their intent. Scripture teaches that what comes out of a person determines their guilt, not what they carry with them. I do believe this card is an implied exception: "Julia Torres, Divorce Specialist"

Choosing between having a potential helper in our work here and having my wife find the card, I do what we learned in basic training: tore it into little pieces and sent it to separate trash bins in the four corners of the airport.

When I was a kid... (part 1)

When I was a kid, "Jinx" meant something. You might be chatting with a group of friends, and two of you innocently slip the same word out. There's a pause, pregnant, broken by panicked "JINX!". Crap! Both yelled out at the same moment; time for plan 'B': "one-two-three-four-fi-si-sevn-eigh-ni-ten, JINX!" Got 'em.
Or you might be on the prowl, listening to your rambling friend with one ear while patiently anticipating his every word, until at just the right moment you double him up, followed immediately by "JINX!". The slower responder man'd up, and stayed silent until their name was spoken aloud, and the sacred spell was broken.

This is lost on my youngest two. Jinx has devolved into a community activity, announced to one another, where we repeat "Jinx" over and over while giggling and not succumbing to its inherent powers. Once it is revealed that "Jinx" has no control over the mutual participants, we start calling out "Peanuts", hoping that word conjures some additional humor.

When I was a kid...

What He did...

What Jesus did:

• Crucifixion - Mark 15
• Resurrection - Matthew 28

 Why He did it ('four spiritual laws'):

• God has intentions
• John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
• We don't meet His expectations
• Romans 3:23: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
• Romans 6:23: The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Jesus repairs the relationship
• Romans 5:8: God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• 1 Corinthians 15:3-6: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time
• John 14:6: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
• Through Jesus, we have the life God intended
• John 1:12: To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
• Ephesians 2:8-9: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
• Revelation 3:20: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
• Romans 10:9-10: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

What He says...

What Jesus says about himself, grouped together in the Book of John, written by John the Disciple, who was with Jesus during his time of ministry:
  
Book of John

• Bread of Life - you will not hunger or thirst
• 6:35: Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
• 6:48: “I am the bread of life.”
• Light of the World - you will not walk in darkness
• 8:12: When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
• 9:5: “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
• Door (Gate) - enter and you will be saved
• 10:7-9: Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”
• Shepherd - lay down my life for my sheep, who know my voice
• 10:11-15: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
• Resurrection and Life - I will (and you will) live, even though I (and you) die
• 11:25-26: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
• Way, Truth & Life - through me to God the Father
• 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
• True Vine - connected to me, you will bear fruit
• 15:1- 5: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

 

 

 

Not Right

I happened a reason to take my glasses off for a moment tonight, sticking the temple in my mouth for barely a moment.

What concerned me is that the end of the glasses tasted good, a sweet honey flavor. I cannot begin to justify this reality or properly determine how I ought to have handled the situation.

Bowling 2011 Roadtrip – Day 11: The Line

At 11:00pm tonight, as I headed to the bathhouse of our campground to brush my teeth, I happened upon a couple (the wife holding a flashlight and the husband a wet-nap), as they were wiping the derriere of their Shitzu.
I’m not sure what to say.
I realize that pets have increased their individual value in modern days, and I don’t want to open an avenue of discussion on the appropriateness of $X000s surgeries to extend the life of a pet who is more at peace with their death than we are, but at some point, if you are on vacation in your motor home, and are forced to get out of bed to manually wipe you dog’s ass…
There must be a line somewhere, somewhere very near here.

Bowling 2011 Roadtrip - Day 7: Welcome to America

Walking stride in stride down the thoroughfare of Mt Rushmore’s viewing area with a Japanese couple. He is speaking in rhythmic tones, rather interesting to listen to, which is why I am eavesdropping. Every 5-10 seconds, the cadenced Japanese is interrupted with “Crazy Horse” (a similar sculpture to Mt. Rushmore not far down the tracks). The tone is not “Crazy Horse”, as in “Hey, Crazy Horse, come on over for a Sunday lunch” or “You know Crazy Horse, he’s crazy.” But rather, “CRAZY HORSE, you b*st*rd! I will get even if it is the last thing I do.”
This continues for 4-5 repetitions, while the wife listens quietly to her husband’s obvious disagreement with this long-dead Sioux, until the next discernable statement is “Water Slide”, said without the same vigor, at which point two random Japanese children come out of the woodwork yelling “Yeah!” It is like a scene from a Miyazaki film.

Bowling 2011 Roadtrip - Day 6: Don’t be a Poser

Tonight was the 2nd time I have been fooled by the promise of sweet tea. One should know that foreigners do not know how to make sweet tea, and that when you leave the homeland, you must make do with unsweet or whiskey.
I blame myself: I know the rules and had every logical reason to question my ears, but when a restaurant claims they serve sweet tea, and you’ve driven a long way with four kids, you get weak-minded, and make mistakes that would embarrass your forefathers.
I also blame the communists who invented Gold Peak products, developing their syrup-based ‘tea-beverage’ in a Siberian industrial lab and distributing their non-carbonated soft drink to unknowing restaurateurs around America. I give the Frenchies a pass; no one is gullible enough to pass off Nestea as anything other than what it is.
I realize the temptation to drink non-brewed tea; your tea-fast has weakened you, and the waitress smiles so nice, and it seems rude to ask if the tea is brewed or some hostile upstart; I implore you to hold strong and stay faithful to the Luzianne of our parents, grandparents, and the Disciples.

Bowling 2011 Roadtrip – Day 6: South Dakota, You Are Welcome

In typical Bowling-fashion, we bypassed the Rapid City metropolis with its two modern hotels for Hot Springs, town of 891 people on the far end of Mt Rushmore. We also decided a Teepee would be an adventure within an adventure. Allen Guest Ranch was happy to oblige.
It is safe to say that Allen’s website was a bit misleading. Clocked at 0.43 miles from the cinder-block bathhouse (measured via the car odometer by my wife), the teepees where not exactly what one would call ‘clean’, ‘not-musty’ or ‘infestation-free’. I spent the first 20 minutes grabbing and tossing grand-daddy long-legs from the inner walls; an activity repeated every two hours throughout the night.
And since we decided to camp in a tube with a hole in the roof and another on its side, it rained 1.5” as soon as we unpacked and began to set up. I suppose if we had washed our car, a monsoon would have happened upon us. For a high desert town that receives 14” of rain per year, I do believe we deserve your thanks.

Bowling 2011 Roadtrip - Day 5: Being an Artist Comes at a Price

Salem, South Dakota

There are certain advantages to one's choice of residence. A New Yorker gains first access to the world: Broadway, music, fashion… but must live in close proximity with the masses of humanity. A Cajun’s taste buds live in the luxury of Po Boys, etouffee, boudin, Tabasco… but must live with other Cajuns and an unreal quantity of bugs. And if you choose the Great Plain States, you embrace Americana, with open skies, the world’s food supply at your feet, and distance everywhere you turn.
This distance has its own price, impressing itself on each resident, molding them in both subtle and distinct ways. For the artist Porter, political science major turned sheep farmer turned metal sculpture artist living in a trailer amidst his work (searching for something), 28 years of the Great Plains has made its mark on both him and the landscape.
(insert link to picassa album of photos)

Bowling 2011 Roadtrip, Day 4: KC

Props to Kansas City for recovering from the St. Louis fiasco. Whereas St. Louis reminded me of ATL in 1988, KC was a modern Columbus, GA, clean, vibrant, interesting. I wish the Royals had been on a homestand.

And while I do not care to make a habit of it, KC pulled off gourmet BBQ. As a proper Southerner, I don't see the point in getting all uppity about comfort food. But when in Rome...

Johnny-cake, Johnny-cake, Johnny-cake Roll

That is the title of a old book my dad gave me when I was a kid. I can remember him reading it to me once or twice, and me reading it in my room many times. A country boy named Johnny whose biscuit fell off the table and rolled across the rural landscape, meeting and greeting the old-South along the way. Maybe the cake was named "Johnny"? I loved that book...

... and had forgotten it until yesterday when I see a menu item, "Journey Cake", which my Belizian friend re-pronounced "Johnny Cake", explaining it was like a flat round flour-based item, not sweet, that you eat a breakfast. Sounds familiar.
I ate two Johnny-cakes for breakfast and grabbed two for the plane ride home. There is nothing new under the sun, and the connections between us all are endless.

Hat's Off to the Redneck Riviera

I have the hardship assignment of putting together a Feasibility Study and Conceptual Design for a Wastewater Collection and Treatment system on the Placencia Peninsula, Belize. This 15 mile stretch of beach along the east coast of Central America is considered one of the most pristine of beaches in the region, and it is undoubtedly nice, beautiful, culturally interesting, relaxing...

But for one who grew up a 6 hr drive (plus 30 minutes stop in Dothan to pick up a speeding ticket) up the highway from the Redneck Riviera, generally every other beach in the world pales in comparison. I'm only speaking of the quality of the sand and water; the scenery is pure bonus.

"Climate Change" Covers It All

Attended a community meeting tonight hosted by the Belize Sustainable Tourism Board. In 1999, in grad-school, we had an entire course dedicated to defining what 'sustainability' was, as it was a word no one knew, explicitly understood, or could use in a sentence. Times have changed, and the word, once inserted in any topic, under any circumstance, can bolster your chances at people agreeing with you. As in, "I know we want to win at the meet tonight, but we really need to be thinking about the sustainability of the swim team program." It is the modern 'smurf'.

The pièce de résistance, however, is everyone's concern: Climate Change. As in (and I quote from tonight): "It is important that the Peninsula have a Community Disaster Response Plan in case of Natural Disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and climate change."

A quick note: (1) the meeting was very well done, very professional, and successful, and (2) I am a climate change agnostic, neither bowing to it or blowharding it. I do, however, enjoy its amazing abilities.

Miscommunication at its Finest

It is 10:00, Wednesday morning, and I am standing with my Manager and the Country Water Representative at the door to the Town Meeting hall. The closed door. The one with no one except us on either side of it. And while the lack of people milling around the hall may be normal on a typical day, it started to concern us, as we were to facilitate a community meeting, at 10:00am, Wednesday morning, at this very hall.

The Water Rep dives into the topic we were all contemplating: "I do not believe you asked me to set this meeting up. I did not do so; I assumed you set this meeting up." At which point my Manager replies, "Do not look to me," turning his head in my direction, "you need to ask him who set it up."

In the second of pause I have trained myself to take before responding to these situations, I recalled (1) I am not the project manager, (2) I have been told that all official cross-country communications were to go through my Manager, and (3)(most importantly) I had ignored (1) & (2) and had asked the Belize Government Official not present to set the meeting up via a confirmed email weeks before. "I am not positive, but I believe I asked for this to be set up."

I can 'believe' all I want, but I am the junior member of the group, and the ship is going down around me. My Manager flew down specifically for this meeting, and was leaving the next morning. "Maybe we can spread the word and have the meeting later this week with Alan." Not a bad idea, but certainly not a good show for me.

So, we linger a bit, then drive over to the local Water Office, where we see a prominent town citizen, who immediately states, "I'm coming. I'll be there in 2 minutes." It is 10:20am, and as she doesn't seem in a hurry to get out of her chair any time soon, I learn in a slightly more victorious moment of silence that (1) the meeting had indeed been set up, (2) I was not going to lose my job and (3) one must remember to account for Belize time.

The meeting started at 10:50am, and was a general success.

My own personal Theory of Relativity

It is 7:27am.

No it isn't.

Yes it is.

Well, which is it?

I'll give you a hint. If it was actually 7:3oam, I would be getting ready for the day rather than blogging. So, it must be two hours earlier, just like it was yesterday when I performed this same stunt.

Yesterday morning I and my boss had a 9am meeting 5 minutes from our hotel. The last thing he said the night before, "I will see you at 8:15 at the front desk," implying that we would grab a quick breaky before heading out. I set my Droid Tablet clock to the revised time after traveling, then an alarm, and head to sleep. The next morning, I wake up moments before the alarm, and get myself ready to go.

8am - take my packed bags and walk to the front lobby / restaurant, where the doors are locked. Walk around to the main entrance, where they are locked as well. This is a casual culture. Back to the room.

8:15am - check back, doors still locked. Head to my deck and read.

8:45am - Why hasn't Elio called on me yet? I'll go check on him. Knock-Knock

6:45am - Elio opens the doors, sees me dressed and my bags with me, "Well, it is a quarter to seven, so you have some time."

Apparently, my Droid Tablet found out it was in the Central American Timezone on its own, and reset its clock. A good start to the career, eh?

And here we are again today, where it is 7:38am according to my laptop, which means absolutely nothing, since I cannot trust electronic devises. After checking multiple sources, I determine that in fact, I do have time to blog, and probably take a short nap, seeing as though I don't need to get up until 7:30am local time, which is another 1h 52m from now.

Feeling Young Again

Well, here I am. After many months of searching for the next stage of life, I have landed at a new job in a new role without a strong sense of what it is I am doing.

Things are good. Started out pretty slow, but getting better. Some definite culture shock - going from big fish/small pond, to small sardine/atlantic ocean. Going from 10 years of relational leadership, positional leadership, to being the newbie. Going from a role where I juggle 10-20 jobs in any given week to one where I work on 1-2 per month. Going from clients walking in the door for unannounced meetings to international, see each other each quarter...

AND I sit at a desk. My previous talents for multi-tasking need to be replaced with the forgotten skill of long-term concentration. These are not complaints - they are the reality of the transition that I am in. Fortunately, Maggie encouraged me to remember my life the first few weeks at Gaskins in 2001 - and also, a wise Ozzie once told me to "not overestimate what you can do in one year and underestimate what you can do in ten."

I'm getting there, and I am confident that 'there' is going to be good. If you are going to be in a transition time, it is much nicer to be on this end of it.

A Better Baseball Schedule

We have a sacred right to 162 games, so let's not start this venture with any heresy to the contrary. But we are stuck in a historical rut, and have a simple opportunity to invigorate the schedule and bring an increase of interest to the fans. (I only ask for a small percentage of the increase of ticket sales and Neilson ratings)

I will use America's team, the Braves, to lay out this plan. Differences in the leagues and divisions should find their individual solutions.

Division Play:

4 teams - 4 series (two home and two away) - 3 games per series: 48 games

League Play:

9 teams - 2 series (one home and one away) - 3 games per series: 54 games

Interleague Play:

14 American League Teams

2 series against each team (one home and one away) - 2 games per series: 56 games

This is a decrease in Division games to create opportunity across the remainder of the sport. In league and interleague play, each team plays one home series and one away series against every other team, an opportunity to provide a balanced strength of schedule with fans lining up to see new teams in town.

Play outside the Division is completely unbalanced, playing teams anywhere from 3 to 8 games, while your Division rival is playing the same teams anywhere from 8 to 3 games. Depending on who you are playing, one team receives an inappropriate soft-spot in the strength of schedule.

Interleague Play is currently based upon anticipated popularity and regional hoped-for rivalries. The result is a biased system - some teams Interleague battling against Yankees, while others get to feast on the Mets. The Win-Loss column is damaged and teams head into September with different strength of schedules even within their own Division.

Total 158 games - I suppose the 162 game schedule isn't so sacred after all. I believe the additional interest of the interleague games replacing the 24 yearly games between Milwaukee and Houston will cover the loss of the four games, as well as pave the time needed for Selig's 4th playoff round he's aiming for.

Balanced Schedule - Variety in Schedule - Opportunity for Fans to see Each Team

Make it happen.

Welcome

There exist distinct differences in opinion (or ought I say, 'facts') amidst the wide spectrum of Christendom. Spending a weekend with my frozen-chosen friend Mike brings these to light.

I am a sensible person, not prone to edginess or harshness. I have learned through time, talks, reading of history and hopefully the Spirit of God that much of our lives are the extensions of the precepts of men, even godly men; even myself.

I used to spend much time seeking a full and complete understanding of my faith and that of others, seeking to identify the differences, preparing to battle for the intellectual chalice of perfect doctrine.

Now I am more likely to meet out the root causes for the differences, to be more understanding. Contrary to the fears of the stalwarts, this journey has in general strengthened my comprehension of God, man and our connection.

That being said, at church with Mike this morning, as the Preacher forbade people who were not believers from participating in Communion, I was immediately irked, insulted at the barrier of participation built by man around God. He does not need our protection.

My immediate reaction was to refuse to join in Communion under such circumstances, participating with those who refused to participate with others. Fortunately, as the portions of bread and juice were passed from pew to pew, my hypocrisy was timely revealed, and I was reminded of my own belief that Communion is a welcoming table for all, including those who believe otherwise.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I begin the first day of the rest of my life.

I am encouraged by the celebratory spirit of my friends when I announce the day upcoming. Some are interested in the journey, questioning and drawing out the circumstances that led to this life-change as well as the core of my personage that has been the underlying current leading me.

But all are supportive; and for one such as myself who struggles with guilt, with an overriding sense of responsibility towards those at Gaskins, who questions doing anything that brings me pleasure as being untrustworthy (as I am untrustworthy), this affirmation has been immensely helpful, specifically building a platform of excitement towards tomorrow rather than an alter of guilt towards leaving my past.

In an era of continuous personal humility, as one who has always prided himself as not being swayed by the opinions of those around me, I find myself seeking and absorbing the encouragement of others.

My Lent Score

Not growing up in church, and then coming to faith in a church that did not acknowledge anything not explicitly written in Scripture, I do not have much formal education regarding 'Lent'. However, I enjoy the study of history, the connections we make across generations, and making things hard for myself.

For the previous couple of years, in the 40 days leading up to Easter, I have chosen to give up all drinks except water. This is a simple yet challenging goal, and while I am not sure it actually brought me closer to God, it did stretch my personal patience and strengthened my ability to abide by my word.

In a fit of lunacy, I decided to take the next plunge: no meat (a rather hasty consideration).

1. W 3/9 - Ate spaghetti sauce at supper - in Haiti, and seemed like the right course of action, since it was served to me. In hindsight, should have had the noodles san sauce.
2. T 3/10 - Eggs at breakfast - in Haiti and still being served - totally forgot - not doing so well. Maggie says 'eggs' don't count. Not sure on that one.
3. F 3/11 - Still in Haiti, but found a way to sneak through the day without partaking
4. S 3/12 - Haiti end-of-the-trip dinner - ate Fish - I don't know for sure, but I've been told that doesn't count - seems like cheating to me.
5. S 3/13 - After the 7th hour in the Port au Prince airport, given a voucher and eat a chicken sandwich - I've failed the test at least 3 of 5 days.
6. M 3/14 - Clean
7. T 3/15 - Clean
8. W 3/16 - 80% through a 4" sub sandwich I was served at a lunch meeting, I realize my error. Totally forgot.
9. T 3/17 - St. Patrick's Day, to be celebrated with Veggies, as the Irish before me did ??? Clean.
10. F 3/18 - Clean
11. S 3/19 - Clean, including having to grill out for everyone else for Eliza's Birthday Party
12. S 3/20 - Ate two leftover hamburgers - there is a LOT of leftover food, and Sunday's are supposed to be celebration days where the lent fast is broken. I didn't intend to 'cheat', but it is ridiculous to throw the food away.
13. M 3/21 - Clean
14. T 3/22 - Felt tired of doing this. Ate a seafood burrito for lunch. They say that seafood doesn't count, so I don't know if I cheated or not. It sure made me feel better to eat it.
15. W 3/23 - Clean
16. T 3/24 - Clean
17. F 3/25 - Traditionally Clean - ate DQ Fried Shrimp for lunch (why?) and a Shellfish dinner with Emily for her BD in Chattanooga
18. S 3/26 - Clean
19. S 3/27 - Day Off - Ate a mini chicken burger and mini turkey burger at Ruby Tuesdays.
20. M 3/28 - Clean - ate eggs at Brinner - Maggie says its OK. Not sure what to think.
21. T 3/29 - AGGHHH!!!! - Halfway through my Taco Bell meal with the guys from work, I remember. Of all the ways to fall off the wagon, and I waste it on Taco Bell - probably not even real meat anyway.
22. W 3/30 - Clean
23. T 3/31 - Emily's Birthday at Viva - I at the remainder of her Chicken Nachos
24. F 4/1 - I failed miserably, eating 2 orders of ribs from Johnny's BBQ. April Fools! Actually went to Buffalo Wild Wings with the guy and at Mozzarella Sticks and Fried Mushrooms.
25. S 4/2 - This is pitiful - ate a few bites of ground beef within a spaghetti mixture - picked around a decent bit - if you are going to fall, this is NOT the way to go.
26. S 4/3 - Day Off - I mean, Day of Celebration - split a Turkey Club with Mags at lunch.
27. M 4/4 - Clean
28. T 4/5 - Clean
29. W 4/6 - Clean (ate shrimp)
30. T 4/7 - Clean
31. F 4/8 - Fell victim to a coworker Zaxby's run - I tried to buy a House Salad and Fried Mushrooms for $6, but I couldn't make myself do it, so it was the $6 Chicken Finger meal with Fries and a Tea.
32. S 4/9 - When you are at your in-laws, and the neighbor, in celebration of your visit, brings the best Ribs on the planet, you must politely accept. Must.
33. S 4/10 - Swapped this cheat day with the yesterday - seemed only fair.
34. M 4/11 - Clean
35. T 4/12 - Clean
36. W 4/13 - Clean
37. T 4/14 - Clean - When you don't plan for a veggie-meal, it is pretty difficult to get one. There's no 'veggie fast-food' joints. You just have to order french fries and a side salad.
38. F 4/15 - Some sort of seafood was eaten - Catholic for a day.
39. S 4/16 - Was planning on cheating, hanging out with the guys after insulating the attic... but really didn't feel like it. This no-meat thing gets easier over time.
40. S 4/17 - Celebration Day - ate KFC for dinner after soccer.
41. M 4/18 - In a point of stressed out, too busy for my own good, worked through lunch and now driving across town late for a meeting weakness, I ate a small Chicken Biscuit from Martins. Should have gotten a large.
42. T 4/19 - Clean
43. W 4/20 - Clean
44. T 4/21 - Clean
45. F 4/22 - My last Dept Mtg at Gaskins, culminating in a trip to Johnny's BBQ for old time's sake. Pork Thrift Plate - barely finished the meat, left half the fries. Something is wrong with me.
46. S 4/23 - Rocko's 40th BD at Pappadeaux's. Had to revert to my Orthodox side, and enjoy the Pan-Fried Catfish topped with Oysters, Shrimp and Crab-Meat.

I'm my own worst enemy...

I am changing jobs (which is a saga in and of itself), which in turn means I am in the market for an automobile, having the luxury of a company vehicle the past few years. I have been the primary driver of only a few vehicles in my lifetime:

1. 1992-1997: '86 Pontiac Grand-Am, which belonged to my mom [hand-me-down]
2. 1997-1998: '83 Volkswagon Vanagon, a gift from my uncle [hand-me-down]
3. 1998-1999: a myriad of borrowed vehicles in Australia and Thailand
4. 1999-2001: the Grand-Am again; dad took the van for his own [hand-me-down]
5. 2001-2005: '96 Geo Metro (the low point, Maggie's wedding dowry) [hand-me-down]
6. 2005-2008: '01 Subaru Outback, inheriting from Maggie as the Bowling fam decides to jump into Minivan country for her car [hand-me-down]
7. 2008-present: '06 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which belongs to my (former) boss [hand-me-down]

Now I have to buy a vehicle of my own, for myself, which is a strangely new experience. As an engineer's-engineer, I have taken this effort a bit seriously:

April 5th - Four hours in a first look at Consumer Reports, determining all eligible car options. For those of you who did not make the cut, regardless of price, color or style, you are dead to me. The initial contenders:

Hatchback: Sedan

Honda Civic Honda Accord

Honda Fit Honda Civic

Mazda3 Mazda6

Nissan Versa Nissan Altima

Toyota Matrix Nissan Sentra

Toyota Camry

Toyota Corolla

Toyota Yaris

April 10th - a second look, to narrow the pack down to:

Hatchback: Sedan

Mazda3 Honda Accord

Toyota Matrix Honda Civic

Mazda6

Toyota Camry

Toyota Corolla

Volkswagon Jetta (I cheated, and added this one)

April 15th, a trip to Carmax, where I ask to sit in each of these models and see what I think. Now I only have:

Hatchback: Sedan

Mazda3 Honda Accord

Honda Civic

Volkswagon Jetta

April 19th, I return to Carmax with a 3rd party observer, and ask to drive them. I walk away with the following options:

Sedan

Honda Accord

Honda Civic

Volkswagon Jetta

April 20th, I look at 5 local dealership websites and Autotrader.com and print out ALL eligible sales, based upon mileage, cost, and the ALL-IMPORTANT I'm NOT driving old-man-tan or old-car-silver. Turns out I have 7 Accords, 9 Civics & 11 Jettas to choose from. After a talk with the Misses, the Civic is stricken from the list and the cars to assess is weeded down to 3 Accords & 6 Jettas.

Time to start pitting these folks against each other and see who comes out on top.

April 23rd, Leave the house at 10:30am to VW Lithia Springs - look at 3 Jettas. Decide on one. Talk Maggie into going to VW South Atlanta, "only 20 minutes away", just to check their inventory to make a final decision. Key "VW South Atlanta" into my Droid, and have Maggie direct me. When we finish up in Westview, in what is obviously not Car Dealership country, we know something is wrong. So, we key in the address into my car's Nav system, which takes us due south, parallel to I-85. "Why don't we just get on 85," Maggie asks. "Dunno, let's just follow the directions. Already got lost once."

After about 37 turns through Cambellton, East Point, College Park, Camp Creek, I finally relent and we get on I-85. Two miles later, the Nav tells us to get off the exit... there must be some reason. After another 13 minutes driving 4 miles south through red-lightville, I realize that the Nav is on the "No Freeway" setting.

65 minutes after leaving Lithia Springs, we pull into VW South Atlanta, where Maggie turns to me and states with clear authority: "We are NOT leaving here without a car." And so, finishing the deal at 5:10pm, I drive away with a '08 VW Jetta, the first car I've ever bought for myself.

I love the BBC

Tent Stakes

I have been amidst a major career decision the past two years, year, four months, 6 weeks, 2 weeks and finally day. What a ride, trying pick from two very different destinations whose journeys would contrast in almost every way. It is a blessing is to have options. I am grateful to have them as well as having to learn from myself what I want, what I was made for, where I want to go. In many ways (as I was reminded by my lovely wife), it was a return to who I was and who I wanted to be when I was young enough to not realize that the world is challenging. As a person of faith, we should continue living in that world, with requests and hope that God will help us overcome the challenges of the world.

You are tempted to write out a scorecard, to list all of the positives and negatives of the differing job options and tally them. But a calling is not a comparison between options, it is a matching of an option to who you are.

What is important to me? The most thorough answer would involve traversing years of journals and seeing what they say back to me. But that takes too long, and I am sleepy, so here are my tent stakes, the items that hold in place who I am.

• Work needs to be important and valuable to the world and works of God.
• I want to work with like-minded people - those who view the job as a service to others.
• Flexibility based in performance success - if I prove myself trustworthy, then I want to the room to act independently.
• I do not want to be an administrator. I was fooled to believe that leadership was administration. That is wrong, and it disagrees terribly with me.
• People are first. When faced with a decision between business, profit, reputation, perceived success... give the individual priority, whether that be your client, coworker, boss or wife. If in doubt, the person deserves the benefit over the object.
• I will not lie, cheat or steal to accomplish my, my company or my client's goals. I am willing to lose my job before my integrity.
• I am a leader. I have spent the last few years attempting to abdicate myself from this reality, and it is like trying to cut out a part of my soul. I need to embrace this part of who I am, who I am called to be, in a manner that vitalizes me and those I am with.

How I am not like Jesus

We are called to conform to the likeness of Jesus.

What was He like?

Amongst His many attributes, we find:

Kindness: giving people the benefit of the doubt, being for them, a shepherd.

Compassion: not succumbing to cynicism before a foolish audience who won't learn, sheltering them from evil without and within, healing body, mind and soul.

Power: walking forward in the faith of His Father and the action-ministry of the Great I Am, transforming people (not merely soothing them)

I lack "power" - I don't normally dare ask God to bother with me - I don't deserve His attention. I don't seek His supernatural intervention with me... and that bleeds over to my intercession for others.

I have recognized this reality for two years, and started acting to overcome this weakness (this lack of faith in God and understanding of the world and myself) one year ago. This day I am in the midst of the movement of God in my life, Him reaching into my world and moving, twisting, altering in ways only He can. I rejoice today, and will decide in the days to come whether to learn from this experience, to see His power and take hold of it, or not.

You Don't Need to Wash Your Hands.

Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of man are what defile the man.

Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him; because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?

That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. - Mark 7

For one just returning from Haiti, this is GREAT news, to know that none of the soot and muck we gather traversing that land stains me. This is an encouragement, that what was embedded on my skin, in my hair and on my clothes does not affect my heart. As well, it removes an impediment before me which attempts to keep us away from the unclean world.

There is no unclean world, only unclean people. I have cleansed your heart and you will not be stained by the world. Go into the world, amidst the dirt which will cake your skin... and be a heart-cleansing source for others.

Our position before the Lord God Almighty is not based upon the state of our hands, our clothes, or our body; nor is it based upon our activities or inactivities. Rather, our cleanliness is "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe... being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ."

Somehow...

Somehow He is the God who has already overcome

as well as the God ever-present in our times of trouble

He is the God who is both here and over there

He has it figured out

while allowing us to figure it out

He is the BIG

the small

the BIG within the small

and the small within the BIG

Grace’s Mission and Our Mission

This is the first of two posts that have been stolen from Spring 2011 EMI intern Samantha Rowell (I believe a recent VT grad). I found the post in December 2015 while surfing. Sam had not touched her blog since the trip, but I wanted to hold onto the memories. I’m a cad, a thief, a man with no soul.
Sam’s blogspot site: http://samrowell.blogspot.com/

It was hard to resist the feelings of hopelessness that crept in as we drove around Haiti, but the people and mission of Hatian owned and operated Grace International was inspiring. Their vision is to bring opportunity to the Haitian’s and in doing that empower the people. One of the ways they are trying to do this is by building communities, not just homes. In the 2010 earthquake displacement camp tent village that Grace runs, we saw that they were applying expectations to the people who lived there and enforcing strict consequences. It seems simple, but I think this is a huge value to the Haitian people.

View of a portion of the displacement camp on Grace International’s property

Soccer game in Grace village

Our mission was to provide Grace with a master plan for a new community. We achieved that, but could not give as much detail as will be needed in the future for this site. EMI has worked with Grace for several years. It is very likely that this partnership will continue and we will be involved in helping them realize this long-term vision for the community at Lafiteau.

Our EMI team (Ash Wednesday)

The beautiful planning work of Dan Ford.

Our presentation at the end of the week to Grace Int’l

Be Flexible. Really.

This is the second of two posts that have been stolen from Spring 2011 EMI intern Samantha Rowell (I believe a recent VT grad). I found the post in December 2015 while surfing. Sam had not touched her blog since the trip, but I wanted to hold onto the memories. I’m a cad, a thief, a man with no soul.
Sam’s blogspot site: http://samrowell.blogspot.com/

The EMI staff really meant it when they said expect things to go awry and that we must be flexible. Our trip required a lot more flexibility than most.
First, it was a surprise that we would be riding back from the airport with another group (Fuller Center) that was there to help the same ministry we were, Grace International. The result was this –

35 people plus their luggage in a extended-cab truck

Upon arriving at Grace Village we found out that their other vehicle was broken down. So that meant our team and the Fuller group had to coordinate transportation the whole week between our respective schedules. The bus became known to the EMI team as “the cage.”

All those people came out of the cage

That first night we found out that the Mardi Gras celebrations would mean roads through Port au Prince would be blocked off. Sunday and Monday we could not drive through past 3-4 pm and on Tuesday we could not drive through at all. This meant we had to push our visit to our work site back to later in the week.EMI was involved with Grace Intl on a previous project in Fall 2010 and that site (Lambi) is fairly close to our new site (Lafiteau). Our team had planned to go to Lambi and do some survey stakes at that property. Because we could not get to Lafiteau, we went to Lambi at the beginning of the week (we did not have to travel through Port au Prince to get there.)

Yes, that is a large pig next to the surveyors

In a way I think this was a blessing in disguise for a few reasons:

There was a big rain event the night before our visit to the Lambi site and this helped the engineers and our client, Grace Intl, to see that drainage at this site was a bigger problem than first realized. Basically it’s a flood plain and not an easy good [edited by sokkaleo] site to build on.

Construction on the first house at Lambi started a few weeks before our arrival and when we got out there, we saw that it was not located according to the plans we gave them. It was misplaced enough to knock out space for several homes.

Because of these two things, some of our team spent half the week re-designing the Lambi site…not what we had intended to do during the week.

Another little surprise at Lambi. We spent a whole day putting stakes with flags in the ground to mark out the road and some drainage ditches. That night we found out that some kids had gone around and pulled them out of the ground…we think mostly because they wanted to play with flags.

Later in the week, on Lafiteau, some of the guys that went out to walk the perimeter of the site were met with men with guns and they were not happy that we were there. That night the team found out that the site was 13 acres. We were told it was going to be 105. The next day it turned out that we actually did have the whole 105 acres. But this information on how much property we had was not a promise. Grace is currently working on securing the property.

Beginning stages of planning

Walking the Perimeter of Lafiteau

Meeting with Grace to talk about the site