Saturday, August 29, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Magic
Sandra's seen a leprechaun,
Eddie touched a troll,
Laurie danced with witches once,
Charlie found some goblins' gold.
Donald heard a mermaid sing,
Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known
I've had to make myself.
-Shel Silverstein
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Kind Of Leader I Want To Be
I've been thinking a lot about leadership lately and what kind of leader I want to be. Honestly, I'm a behind the scenes kind of a girl who is always behind the camera or back in the sound-room instead of on the stage. And I'm happy there but sometimes the life that I am living thrusts me into a leadership role and when that happens, I want to be a good leader. Whenever I think of good leadership, a certain memory comes to mind.
In 2002, I was a summer intern with Amor Ministries. A couple of the other interns and I decided that we wanted to read through the book of Acts together as well as daily readings from Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest." We would meet every morning at 6am on the edge of the rock quarry where the Amor camp was and start our days in the Word. As interns, we were somewhat oblivious of the Amor staff. We knew there was a huge staff support making everything happen but we didn't have much contact with them. And when we did, we didn't blame them for staying away from us. Weeks of living in a tent on a rock quarry, with holes for toilets and bucket showers (which we could have used more often), left us smelling pretty bad so we kept to ourselves! :) We also knew about Scott and Gayla Congdon who started the ministry but they were a bit like superstars to us. One morning, I was sitting on a rock waiting for my fellow interns to join me when the 'famous Scott Congdon' walked up and sat down on a rock next to me. He asked if he could join us for our devotion time, which he did and then he spent some time in prayer with us. Afterwards, he told us all to have a good day and then he got in his truck and drove away.
In 2002, I was a summer intern with Amor Ministries. A couple of the other interns and I decided that we wanted to read through the book of Acts together as well as daily readings from Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest." We would meet every morning at 6am on the edge of the rock quarry where the Amor camp was and start our days in the Word. As interns, we were somewhat oblivious of the Amor staff. We knew there was a huge staff support making everything happen but we didn't have much contact with them. And when we did, we didn't blame them for staying away from us. Weeks of living in a tent on a rock quarry, with holes for toilets and bucket showers (which we could have used more often), left us smelling pretty bad so we kept to ourselves! :) We also knew about Scott and Gayla Congdon who started the ministry but they were a bit like superstars to us. One morning, I was sitting on a rock waiting for my fellow interns to join me when the 'famous Scott Congdon' walked up and sat down on a rock next to me. He asked if he could join us for our devotion time, which he did and then he spent some time in prayer with us. Afterwards, he told us all to have a good day and then he got in his truck and drove away.
This probably doesn't sound like a big deal to you but it was huge for me. That occurrence was a prime example of leadership to me. The bible always talks about Jesus being among the people during his ministry but so many leaders now-a-days stay hidden in their offices and never get their hands dirty. Scott was not one of those leaders, instead he followed the example of Jesus and worked amongst the people. I started paying more attention after that morning and I lost count of how many times I saw him 'getting his hands dirty' helping build houses or spending time with the families receiving houses.
This was one of the many reasons I applied to work full time with Amor and spent the following three and half years doing so. Soon after that morning on the rock quarry, I realized that Amor was full of leaders including Gayla Congdon, Wendy Johnson, Alon Banks, LaDonna Barron and so many more.
To this day when I think of leadership, I remember the morning when Scott Congdon joined a few very stinky interns on a rock quarry for a morning bible study. That is the kind of leader that I want to be.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
It'll Change Your Life
I've always heard people talking about Macs like they were an incredible new species. They said things like "it will change your life" and "once you use a Mac, you'll never go back." I always thought that was weird, I mean, it is just a computer after all. I totally didn't understand where these people were coming from.
A few months ago my Dell died, really died. I'd been researching computers for several months already because the Dell was terminally ill for about a year. I wanted a computer that would be beneficial to my photography, amongst other things, and my final conclusion was that I needed a Mac. So, a few months ago I invested in the new Macbook and spent the following few weeks completely lost whenever I sat in front of it. I am still finding things on a regular basis that I didn't know it did and really wish that I could take a class or something. A friend set me up with Adobe Photoshop CS, Elements and Lightroom for my photos and I am currently learning how to use them. Well, I am learning how to use Lightroom (and absolutely loving it) but still way too intimidated by Photoshop! I bought a green cover for her (yes, the Mac is a her) to protect her and to make her pretty (green is by far the best color in the world).
And I have to say, this Mac HAS CHANGED MY LIFE and I"LL NEVER GO BACK!! Seriously, I can't believe how attached I am! BTW, her name is Lynn...
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
What a Feeling, Bein's Believing
I tend to associate emotions with moments in time.
For instance, when I think of sadness or shock, I remember the moment I learned my sister was dead. And I remember getting off a plane in San Francisco 24 hours later without many memories of the hours since the phone call.
When I think of stress, I remember a day in 2005, just before I moved to Thailand when I was so stressed that I went for a run and ended up sitting on a curb crying my eyes out. A lady came out of her house to check on me because she was so concerned. I wanted to explain that I was about to move to Thailand and scared and stressed out of my mind but I couldn't stop crying.
When I think of peace, I remember sharing a room with my nephew Joshua when he was a baby. At night I would stand over his crib and watch him sleep and the whole room would fill with peace.
When I think of contentment, I remember a night when Tam and I were living in San Diego. Our parents came down to visit so I was sleeping on Tam's floor and before going to bed we were talking and laughing and there was something about Kermit the frog.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about a specific feeling that I've been missing. I'm not sure what to call it, the closest I can come is that it is the feeling of being taken care of. The memory I associate with the feeling is actually a collection of memories on a trip to Israel with my parents in 1998. For two weeks I traveled around seeing pretty much the most amazing sites ever and I didn't have to worry about anything. My parents took absolute care of my lodging, meals, transportation, everything. I was 19 at the time and part of a tour group where I was one of only two people younger than my parents. I was cared for by the entire tour group. It was such a great feeling to have no responsibilities and to know that I could just go with the flow and enjoy myself. I miss that feeling. Wonder if I'll ever feel that way again...
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