A Volume Ends A New One Begins

To you who are reading this blog, whether for the first time or for the umpteenth time, I appreciate your interest in my writing and for the comments you've shared whether on a post or in person over the years. I started Administering Grace on August 18, 2005 as a backdoor look into who I am, the thoughts I was contemplating and the reasons behind some of the policies of Grace Church. That was three years, close to 500 posts and over 16,000 unique visitors ago.

Your appreciation for my style and wit has paralleled the joy I've discovered in writing. Both are noteworthy for though English was my first language, I learned Tagalog at the age of four. And while that paid dividends during High School language courses, it messed me up grammatically and phonetically. I was in remedial English and grammar classes into High School. English composition, grammar and spelling were never my strong suit. But through Administering Grace, I've found a previously undiscovered joy in expressing thought in writing and based on your comments a style that has some appeal. I have no idea where this may lead in the future, but as time allows and thoughts worth sharing come to mind, I hope to continue.

While Administering Grace has been my personal blog, it's inception and the underlying focus has been on my administrative duties at Grace Church. As such, it seems only appropriate that with the cessation of my employment at Grace Church, that this volume should come to a close as well. As this volume ends a new one begins.

Thank You

Dear Grace Church,

I believe God has great things in store for Grace and will continue to further His Kingdom in the greater-Lititz area through the fellowship.

I cherish the opportunities and experiences that God has given me through serving the fellowship at Grace Church over the past ten years. I was honored to serve Pastor Young and Pastor Distler and to contribute in discussions and meetings that far exceeded the rudimentary elements of my job description. The indirect opportunities to care for the fellowship, which I did not anticipate initially, became a great source of personal fulfillment and joy. I hope I leave Grace Church in better standing than when I found it and likewise, that I leave a more devoted follower of Christ than when Grace Church found me.

Thank you for trusting me with the administration of Grace, for your encouragement and for showing up at each year's business meeting.

Forever committed to His service,

Andy

Behind-the-scenes: Sarah Palin on SNL

Links for 2008-10-21 [del.icio.us] Posted: 22 Oct 2008 12:00 AM CDT Lorne Michaels talks Sarah Palin - EW.com How Saturday Night Live got Sarah Palin to appear on their show and how they now handle most candidates.

Going 1 and 9 against Michigan doesn't warrant a t-shirt!

I'm thrilled that Penn State finally beat Michigan.

I'm ecstatic that they not only beat them, but pummelled them.

But producing a t-shirt of the winning score, when it was the first win in ten tries, seems a little presumptuous.

Let's save the t-shirts for a Big10 Championship or better yet, a National Championship.

That said, my 66-10 Coastal Carolina t-shirt is nicely framed and hanging on the wall in the family room... tongue in cheek.

College schedules affect rankings

Penn State's ranked third in the first release of the BCS standings, due in large part to their soft "pre-season" schedule. I know Joe and the AD have the challenge of balancing a challenging schedule with one that allows the team to build confidence, but they appear to have erred a little too much on the soft side in recent years. Granted, the overall weakness of the Big 10 conference hasn't helped. That said, you'd think they could raise the bar. College football is a different matter, but when faced with similar choices when I was in college, I aimed high.

When faced with selecting courses and professors, I purposely sought the toughest profs sacrificing a cakewalk 'A' with a soft prof in exchange for sitting under the best and busting my tail for a 'C'. I figured it was a better investment of my tuition dollars. The challenge of surviving, Ryrie-roulette (which, BTW, I did not) or doing more than "nodding-your-head-yes" for Cawood and publishing top-notch 10-pagers for Master, only enhanced my Bible education. They were men who were so notorious they're reputations, consistently applied over years, decades and generations, had become legendary. Like alligators, defending the Faith, they could sniff errant theology down the hall and each of them could shrink an off-base student in a matter of sentences. In a sick way, it was entertaining to see them chewed to pieces. And even in one case, once aware of another prof who was off base... the prof was gone mid-year. These men were tough and they were good. Everyone knew it and in some cases, their legend had been passed down from earlier generations.

Without regard for the transcript, I subjected myself to the highest standard and though my BCS rank suffered my overall education was enhanced. I'd hate for Penn State to be the only undefeated team in the nation, but still be ranked 3rd in the BCS.

2008 Campaign Airplanes

Links for 2008-10-18 [del.icio.us] Posted: 19 Oct 2008 12:00 AM CDT 2008 Campaign Airplanes Gov Palin's 2008 Campaign Charter Tucson-based company delivers campaign jet to Palin Sarah Palin’s Private Campaign Plane

Links for 2008-10-14 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2008-10-14 [del.icio.us] Posted: 15 Oct 2008 12:00 AM CDT The Best Time to Buy Everything at SmartMoney.com Obama Hasn't Closed the Sale: Both candidates continue to tinker with their strategies

Count Your Blessings...

• I've been able to see Dad when it suited his schedule best and adjust my schedule as needed
• Since the nursing home has cable (we dropped it back in late July) and Dad's become an avid Phillies fan, he and I are able to enjoy Phillies games together... so long as he stays awake
  
• We now have the opportunity to care for the other parents in a different context; when their need surfaced in the past week or two we were able to respond without hesitation
  
• I've been able to help a close relative process their job loss
• I've been able to help others search for God's next assignment for them
• I've been able to power up my network to 100% and they've been encouraging and helpful
• I've been able to pursue searching for FT care options for Dad in case he's unable to return home
  
• I've lost weight, not that I needed to, but having not played soccer this summer...
• I've been able to experience the C3N ministry of LCBC
• I learned about the book, The Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards
• I've reconnected with old friends and contacts
• I've never experienced my awareness of God's leading, and confidence in His living up to the Jehovah Jireh that He is, to be as strong as it's been
• Though it's not definitive and I remain open to whatever He wants, the exit polls could be interpreted to foreshadow that His next assignment for me may not involve church ministry and that's okay
• I'm still in the analyzing phase of the decision making process, but I may get a new suit. That would be the first one since 1993 - a teal, double-breasted wonder
• I have a greater appreciation for what it's like to have a loved one go through surgery
• I've had an opportunity to be introduced to many nurses in Lancaster County as "my eldest son"
• I get to see God's fine-tuned orchestrations in every conversation, wrinkle and development

Count your many blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings see what God has done (is doing)!

Assignment Searching - C3N

I learned that one of the larger of the local churches in our area, LCBC, has a ministry for the un-employed, the under-employed or the mis-employed called C3N for Christ Centered Career Network. A group gathers every Monday night at 7pm to work through the 6-stage process of figuring out what you want to do, how to go about finding those types of jobs and assessing which is the right job. Each week's session is a facilitated discussion where you can absorb a lot of information yet contribute your own knowledge base from past and present experiences.

The ministry is part of the Crossroads Career Network, which is a national organization that's produced the Crossroads Career Explorer Training Guide to help individuals to trust in the Lord for direction and guidance in their job search. The weekly get togethers supplement the Crossroads training information with the professional guidance and experience available from our Leadership team which includes local HR professionals and career consultants.

I can't say enough about this ministry if you sense God may be leading you to something new, as He has with me. And my network, who referred me to C3N, couldn't say enough about it either.

Checkout the LCBC - C3N website

Assignment Searching - Ministry

While there's always Monster, CareerBuilder and others for all kinds of jobs, I discovered several handfuls of sites devoted specifically to church ministry or Christian organization postings:

Church Staffing.com

Willow Creek Association Job Exchange

Simply Hired Ministry Positions

Staff Your Church

Pastor Search Network

Ministry Search.com

Ministry Jobs

Christian Jobs - MinistryEmployment.com

Kingdom Careers

Intercristo

MinistryList.com

Christian Career Center

Christianet.com

ChristianJobs.com

Christianity Today

Christian Employment Resource

Bethel Seminary

Manhattan Christian College

Christian Leadership Alliance

Gallons and Liters

The Coke Zero bottle caught my attention over lunch today. It was a 2-liter bottle.

I've seen 3-liter bottles of soda on the grocery store shelves, but never 4. Are we too wimpy a people group to be able to carry 4-liters? Why don't you see gargantuan sized soda bottles in the bulk section of the store? There's huge cans of pudding, why not soda?

The sizing in general is noteworthy when compared with the soda bottle sizes I grew up with. In the Philippines, at least in the 1980's, the largest soda bottle available on the market was a 1-liter. We'd buy a case of 12 at a time. The standard size was 350ml, (that's milliliters for you non-Canadians) and it was a big deal, a huge marketing bonanza when the bottle makers introduced the 500ml. The standard aluminum can of soda is around 350ml I believe, but I don't think I've seen anything that gets to the 500ml size, 20oz maybe. Those were all glass bottles by the way. And the thrifty stores, to recoup the refund for returning the empty glass soda bottles, would give you your soda in a cellophane bag instead of giving you the bottle.

Speaking of all this, has anyone ever seen USA milk packaged in metric containers? Why is milk always in quarts, pints and gallons? How would it sound to yell up the stairs, "I'm heading down to Weiser's to get a liter of milk"? Or to ask the dairy stock person for a 3-liter bottle of milk?

It must be because the US cows can't squirt in metric.

Who is the wealthiest person you know?

Who is the wealthiest person you know?

While reading Internet coverage of the financial woes of our nation, the graphic on one of the articles was a TV screenshot of a financial expert who attends the church I served in back in Princeton. Having always respected the individual, I Google-ed to see what information I might find about their take on the current financial environment. One of the links was a Forbes.com page that reported, assuming I read it correctly, that this person earned $23M in 2007. Maybe it was just a good year, but that's got to be one of the wealthiest people I know, at least when it comes to financial wealth.

As I thought more about it, I know a lot of wealthy people when the definition of wealth is broadened. I know a lot of people who are wealthy by way of their family. God has blessed them with generation after generation that share a deep love for God and are serving Him faithfully in ministry and non-ministry positions alike. I know a lot of people who are spiritually wealthy, men and women, who through time in His Word and prayer investments have gained a love and relationship with their Saviour that forms a solid, unmovable foundation. God can bestow wealth on us on many different ways and I hope I don't miss out on it because I'm only looking at it through a human perspective.

So who is the wealthiest person you know and based on what definition of wealth?

Beyond the wealth, I've been negligent in playing my part during the current stresses. I need to be praying for our government and financial leaders alike. Like the individual I've referenced here, God has His agents strategically placed throughout our country and the globe to do His bidding. As in the past, He gives them the wisdom they need to make the decisions before them. I could be doing a better job supporting their efforts and asking God to protect their families through prayer.

Dinner with Oma: Opa's cars

My grandfather, Opa, as he's affectionately referred to, had a sweet spot for cars. While talking with Oma the other night, she got to reminiscing about all of the different cars in the family. And while others will likely be able to give a more accurate encyclopedia of the family vehicles - I after all was on the other side of the Pacific - I thought a car tribute would be in order.

The 1967 Chrysler Imperial was Opa's toy. From what Oma shared, Opa dreamed of a convertible, but practicalities must've reigned the day. Fortunately, the '67 Imperial didn't have a side door post between the front seat and rear seat windows which meant that with all the windows down there was maximum airflow as if it was a convertible. Chance would have it that I went with Opa when he picked up his new-used toy. Power everything, V-8 Chrysler power plant. It was a ride and one that Opa enjoyed every moment he was in it.

A 1966 Chrysler New Yorker was the family auto for a decade or more and was passed around to various aunts and uncles depending on the needs. In the late '80's my family had use of the beast of a thing. That was unfortunate for the two college students on an all-night road trip back to college in their little Mazda. The New Yorker had a dent in the bumper. The Mazda was totalled. And I had breakfast with two college-aged strangers the next morning.

This was Oma's car. It was a white, mini limousine, electric everything with plush leather and wood interior. Even as a middle school-er, it was regal to ride in that car. Oma added some perspective however, being a diesel engine, she was often stuck having to fill up at truck stops since they were the only service stations to carry diesel.  She also shared about a time when Opa had Oma take him to the City Line station only to announce as he exited the car to catch his train, "Oh, you're out of gas" and only for Oma to run out as she was crossing the bridge.

Dinner with Oma

At 86, get-togethers with my Oma are more and more precious. After living for so many years thousands of miles from grandparents, I've been fortunate to be within 25 miles of Oma for the past 10 years. And while I haven't leveraged it to its maximum potential, we have shared some special times together. My greatest joy with Oma is listening more than talking, especially when she gets going on stories from the old days like she did Saturday night.

Most of Saturday night's stories centered around trains...

There was the time when one of my uncles, as a young lad, became sick to his stomach while on a train trip. While feeling bad and hopeless for her sick son, Oma shared that she was glad there was a Pennsylvania Railroad porter who took care of cleaning up the train car.

Or when she noted that the Lancaster stock yards, which according to her, were once the largest stock yards east of Chicago or the Mississippi, would be torn down, Oma recalled passing them on western-headed train trips. "We would usually be enjoying dinner in the dining car by the time we reached Lancaster."

She also complained about having to share the upper birth with her youngest daughter, who would sleep soundly on the trip while Oma slept but a few winks.

Oh, to live during the glamorous days of railroading! And to see my aunts and uncles in their childhood days :)

Maybe it's because so much of my immediate ancestry revolves around railroading, a particular interest of mine. Maybe it's because so many of my childhood years were spent separated from family. Maybe it's both of those things combined with an appreciation and respect for the earlier generations, for the examples they've led, the foundations they've laid and the wisdom that is packed within their minds just waiting to be tapped. Whatever it is, I relish the opportunities to listen to the stories of yesteryear.

Links for 2008-09-23 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2008-09-23 [del.icio.us] Posted: 24 Sep 2008 12:00 AM CDT The Associated Press: Design changes unveiled for Lincoln penny So long as this proposal won't cause any delays in the Fed printing more money, I guess I'm okay with it. While fun to collect, I wonder how much it costs to do special commemoratives like this.

Overheard in the dinner line at a retirement community...

One retiree, waiting in line said to another, "Did you get your t-shirt?"

Instantaneously, I knew the topic of the question.

I'd considered heading out in time for the 9am opening, but decided a laid-back Saturday morning was more valuable than a free t-shirt. And as the men would confirm for me as we awaited our seats for dinner, the t-shirt was indeed devalued for the gentleman arrived at 9:45 only to find them plum out of t-shirts.

They of course, had trekked out to Park City for the opening of the new Apple Store this past Saturday. I was intrigued that a new Apple Store caught the interest of a 30-something year old and 70-something year-olds alike. I seize such opportunities to share conversation with strangers and when I asked for his assessment of the new store... "It's like a can of sardines, there's no room to move around!" I anticipate my next trip to Park City to check it out for myself.

Here Am I, Send Me in map form

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My Strenghts: Connectedness

Tom Rath describes the Connectedness theme in Strengths Finder 2.0, p. 73 in the following manner...

"Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. Yes, we are individuals, responsible for our own judgments and in possession of our own free will, but nonetheless we are part of something larger. Some may call it the collective unconscious. Others may label it spirit or life force. But whatever your word of choice, you gain confidence from knowing that we are not isolated from one another or from the earth and the life on it. This feeling of Connectedness implies certain responsibilities. If we are all part of a larger picture, then we must not harm others because we will be harming ourselves. We must not exploit because we will be exploiting ourselves. Your awareness of these responsibilities creates your value system. You are considerate, caring, and accepting. Certain of the unity of humankind, you are a bridge builder for people of different cultures. Sensitive to the invisible hand, you can give others comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives. The exact articles of your faith will depend on your upbringing and your culture, but your faith is strong. It sustains you and your close friends in the face of life's mysteries."

My Strengths: Belief

The Belief theme, as defined by Tom Rath, p. 57 of Strengths Finder 2.0...

"If you possess a strong Belief theme, you have certain core values that are enduring. These values vary from one person to another, but ordinarily your Belief theme causes you to be family-oriented, altruistic, even spiritual, and to value responsibility and high ethics -- both in yourself and others. These core values affect your behavior in many ways. They give your life meaning and satisfaction; in your view, success is more than money and prestige. They provide you with direction, guiding you through the temptations and distractions of life toward a consistent set of priorities. This consistency is the foundation for all your relationships. Your friends call you dependable. "I know where you stand," they say. Your Belief makes you easy to trust. It also demands that you find work that meshes with your values. Your work must be meaningful; it must matter to you. And guided by your Belief theme it will matter only if it gives you a chance to live our your values."

My Strenghts: Learner

More from Tom Rath's Strengths Finder 2.0, p. 133...

"You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The thrill of the first few facts, the early efforts to recite or practice what you have learned, the growing confidence of a skill mastered -- this is the process that entices you. Your excitement leads you to engage in adult learning experiences -- yoga or piano lessons or graduate classes. It enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments whre you are asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one. This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you seek to become the subject matter expert, or that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the "getting there."

While this description, as with most of the others, appear to fit me well, I'm not planning to start taking yoga classes anytime soon.