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Experience is a good thing. We need experience in order to grow. But there is a downside of experience. The more experience we get in using our God-given gifts/abilities, the more confidence we get in our abilities. (BTW, I believe I got this idea from a book by Bruce Wilkinson that I read several years … Read more
I love what Jesus said about calling us to be fruitful. As a Christ-follower, I want to honor God with my life. I believe that means, in part, living a fruitful life. Jesus said … You did not choose me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that … Read more
Following up on my Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry post, I’ve been mulling over the difference between urgency and impatience for a while now. On the one hand, impatience is obviously a bad thing. But I believe that having a sense of urgency is a good thing. What’s the difference? Impatience is defined as … a dislike … Read more
The phrase, “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry,” has been nagging me from time to time ever since I read it several years ago (John Ortberg wrote about it in 2002 in an article at christianitytoday.com; the follow-up article is worth reading, too). BTW, I briefly mentioned this phrase and the article it comes from in a post … Read more
As of January 1, 2009, our conference has a new health insurance plan (HealthFlex) through the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits (of the United Methodist Church). The plan offers a new incentives program, Virgin HealthMiles, designed to get participants active and fit. Participants who sign up for the program can earn HealthMiles (i.e. … Read more
We had the opportunity to spend Thursday and Friday in Pittsburgh to celebrate Gotcha Day. We got together with my best friend and roomie from college, Trish. We hadn’t seen each other in a number of years, so we stayed up late catching up and reminiscing and, of course, laughing hysterically at times (even after … Read more
There are special days in our lives, given to us to remember forever. This is one of those days. One year ago today, Ethan was placed in our arms. Already birthed in our hearts the first time we saw his picture in September (It’s a Boy!), on February 12, 2008 we were united physically. Randy … Read more
One year ago today, we met Ethan for the first time in his foster family’s home where we spent an hour together, getting acquainted — well, technically it was February 11, 2008 (10:00 am) in Seoul, Korea, but it was February 10, 2008 (8:00 pm) in the Eastern Time Zone, which is the time zone … Read more
One of the books I read for two of my D.Min. classes was Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute. It’s a must-read for leaders. In the preface, the authors assert that while “leadership is about making matters better,” “self-deception” is “central to leadership” because it tends to “make matters worse” (viii). The authors use … Read more
One year ago today, we embarked on a memorable 30-hour adventure (from State College, PA to Seoul, Korea) to welcome Ethan into our lives (a few days later). When we finally arrived in our room at the guest house we blogged the experience in a post called 30 Hours. We invite you to relive the … Read more