Leaf me alone

Every time Fall rolls around it reminds me that of all the lots in our subdivision that were open to build on 10 years ago I had to have the one with the trees on it. Our yard was virtually covered in leaves as of Monday this week.






You really couldn't even see much of the grass in the back and side yards.





The weather hadn't been exactly been accomodating for clean up either. Rain and cold seem to be plaguing us day after day the previous week.

Knowing that our schedules weren't going to allow us to even think about raking until near the end of this week I decided to call in the reinforcements. Dan did our lawn for a summer a couple of years ago for a entire summer and he'd also cleaned up our leaves. I've used him a few times here and there for the lawn when we're out of town so I thought perhaps I could get him to do the leaves. So I called him. I wasn't too excited about the cost I was quoted for the job but I guess you pay a price for convenience.

Dan said that he'd be happy to clean up our leaves but the weather had put him behind as well (he owns his own lawn mowing company) and he probably wouldn't be able to get here until Friday. I thought about it and said that we'd try to get them done ourselves before then but if we didn't I'd call him Friday morning and give him a satus. I figured Lori and I could work on the leaves Wednesday and Thursday night. I didn't really want to miss our Journey class at GCC on Wednesday but I wasn't relishing the thought of paying a handsome amount to have them done by someone else either.

As I drove into our subdivision Wednesday evening, even though our house is a ways down the street it looked like there were no leaves in the front yard. As I got closer it became apparent that the leaves had all been cleaned up and the lawn mowed. I scratched my head. How did I miscommunicate my intentions? I have to admit the lawn looked great and I was selfishly glad that I would get to attend my Journey class.

When I got in the house and sat my cell phone down I realized that I'd never turned it on all day. When I powered it I saw I had three voice mails. I called my voice mail and my first message was from Dan. He said that his schedule had changed and that he was going to be availalbe to do our lawn on Wednesday. He said he was sure I'd probably still want it done but if I didn't to give him a call before noon. Well, yah can't really call someone back when you don't know they called!

I think God must have really wanted me to attend my Journey class!

Go Team!

Ok, let's face it. I don't know everything. Sometimes situations arise in which I'm not well versed but need to make a decision and/or take action upon. I have two choices: I can rely totally upon only what I know or I can seek the wisdom and counsel of others to better equip me for the response.

This "team" concept is so evident in my work place at Granger Community Church. It is modeled from our Senior Management Team all the way to the volunteers that serve.

My supervisor, Dave, has been instrumental in helping me grow in this team approach to challenges. I've learned that I don't have to have the answer to everything. Dave is always open to a question (no matter how dumb I think it may be) and I'm become very comfortable in bouncing ideas off of him.

Just yesterday I had one those "issues" arise. I knew what route I thought was correct, but wasn't sure if I'd considered all of the ramifications. I ran it by Dave and we discussed it. I then ran it by a couple other staff and even more helpful information and process evolved. Team effort pays.

From his book, “The Richest Man Who Ever Lived” , Steven Scott discusses our naivete to success in his chapter on “Disarming the booby traps to success. Scott says “More often than not, our vision is far too limited to make the best decision based only on our own knowledge and experience. Solomon cautions in Proverbs 15:22, “Without counsel plans are frustrated, but, with many counselors they succeed.” To make important decisions without the aid of outside counsel is not only naïve, it’s foolish. By bringing in the expert opinion of others, we radically expand our field of vision and become far more qualified to make a wise decision.”

Sure there are day to day things that we should all be able to make good decisions about and follow through on, but there are also many things that have a much better outcome with the counsel of others. Team out performs an individual every time.

creatures of habit

Creature of habit. Probably should be incorporated into my name. And it only became more apparent to me this morning, here's why.......

There is a group of us that are at Panera nearly every morning between 6 and 7. We always sit in the same places EVERY DAY. A few in our little group arrive when the store opens at 6 and the rest of us trickle in by 6:30. But we always sit in the same seats.

Unless. Unless an intruder invades the space. Such as happened today. I arrived at 6:20 and there, sitting in MY CHAIR was a stranger. A stranger in my chair. It can totally mess you up. My eyes met with the group of regulars who were sitting in their same seats. They knew my look and the all burst out laughing. Reluctantly I sat down at a table outside of the comfortable sphere of our group. And pouted! Not really but I wanted too!

As I sat with my laptop open at the table in the foreign, uncharted and untamed area of Panera, I'd look up every now and then and see my friends, who were sitting in the safe confines of our common space, grinning at me. I'd stick my tongue out at them and return my look to my computer. Of course, that caused uproarious laughter explode from them.

Well it wasn't long before one of our veterans got up to leave for the day. I jumped on the opportunity to slide back over to the 'homeland'. The universe had once again been righted. Well for the most part. The stranger still occupied my chair which was causing a slight imbalance. If he's there tomorrow I guess we'll have to give him the 'membership package' and the assigned seating arrangments!

Funny how our little group ALWAYS sits in the same places, but we don't protect the space each of us occupy??

Autumnal Equinox

Cold weather is not for me. But when you live in northern Indiana it's pretty much a fact of life. I decided to let my dislikes for the upcoming inclimate weather aside and surround myself in the uncomparable colors that only God could create........












And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September


And sending us inside
Still I notice You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and was to come
You are autumn
......Nicole Nordeman

Maze, the other corn

Each month I'm part of a meeting called "Check Point" composed of staff from operations and finance. It's a time for us to talk about leadership in our specific areas and seeking God's wisdom for that area of our lives. Each month one of us has the opportunity to take the reigns and lead the group in a study or activity.

Tom was in the 'hot seat' as the lead person for the October meeting. On Monday I realized that we'd never rec'd an assignment for this months meeting and wondered what we would be studying. But at 2:41 in the afternoon my question was answered....well sorta?

Subject: Check Point
As I have been preparing for weeks on our topic for tomorrow, I have decided we will need more then 1-1/2 hours to cover in full, this in depth study I have prepared. Plan on blocking out the rest of the day for our time together. I need for each of you to bring 4 different translations of the Bible, 3 sets of cards, 2 metal pots and a partridge in a pair tree!!!!!

But then again, most of you may know me and know me to well to know that I am a procrastinator and have waited until the last minute to prepare. I can say that I have at least been thinking about our time together. So scrap all the above that you were suppose to bring, but make sure you do bring clothes for some outdoor activity. You may want to wear your outdoor clothes in and then change when we return, (Rain or shine for I have no backup plan) . Yes we will be meeting offsite. Directions will follow in the morning.

Quite honestly I was a little aprehensive. The 'rain or shine' thing really put me on edge. I don't like to be cold and wet and have to spend the rest of the day like that. Jokingly (maybe) I did a reply all and responded to Tom that I didn't have an outside clothes. Tom emailed back and told me to wear some of my wifes out door clothes...I replied and said they were too small...my wise cracking wife repsonded that I wore them at home all the time...and it just went down hill from there. We bantered back and forth for awhile until it just became outrageously funny. Just the same I still wasn't too excited about the potential of an outdoor activity in the rain.

So I get up yesterday morning and its cloudy but relatively warm. Of course, the first thing on my mind was this outdoor activity today, but it seemed like the weather was going to cooperate. I did my gym thing and went for my usual morning coffe/reflection time at Panera. It was time to head to work and I walked out the door from Panera and it was raining. No only was it raining, it was pouring and the wind was blowing furiously. Wonderful, NOT!

Eleven am rolled around Tuesday morning and it was time to go to leave for the undivulged location. Fortunately the rain had stopped, but it had cooled off considerably. Tom had given Dave an envelope with directions earlier in the morning, so the two Lori's, Mel and I all piled in to Daves SUV and headed out. Tom was meeting us there.

Tom's directions were very creative. He used a combination of landmarks and street names to guide us to the final destination, but we quickly figured out that it was the corn maze on Douglas road.

The corn maze had twelve clue stops already set up with questions about, go figure, corn! With permission from the farm, Tom went to all the clue stops and posted his own questions about the 12 disciples of Jesus with multiple choice answers. He gave us maps and told us to head out. When we all returned we'd tally up the points to see who answered the most correctly.

Mel headed out on her own and the rest of us kind of moved together in a group. I couldn't make heads nor tails out of the map and had I not followed our little group I'd probably still be wandering around that corn field! All in all it only took us a little more than 30 minutes to complete the maze. We had a blast. Each time we found a clue/question someone would read it outload along with the choice of responses. One of us, (mostly Dave) would respond with an incorrect response trying to throw us all off. We laughed and had a great time.

Yesterday was probably one of the most creative Check Point meetings I've attended since I started working at GCC a year and 1/2 ago. Thanks for your amazing creativity Tom! It was an incredible way incorporate scripture with leadership.

My aprehension and reluctance were totally unfounded.

Gum Girl

We started our second round of Journey classes at Granger Community Church (GCC) last night. We enrolled in Dr Bob's "Spiritual Practices: Prayer" class. The center auditorium was filled to the brim with people eager to absorb all that Dr Bob had to say about prayer.

In his unique, from the heart, amazing way, he captivated us with how we can learn to pray like Jesus and listen for his response. Despite how captured I was with all that Dr Bob had to say I was somewhat distracted at the same time.

Sitting in the row directly in front of us was a family that included a probably junior high age girl. A girl with gum. She also had a pen with a removable cap. The gum and pen became quite the focus of entertainment for her throughout the entire time Dr Bob spoke.



I first noticed the antics about 10 minutes into the session. She had removed the gum from her mouth and was wrapping it around the cap of the pen. The more she stretched the gum the more she was able to wrap around the cap of the pen. She finished the 'wrapping job' and the cap of the pen went into her mouth and back out. Minus the gum.

A few minutes later the gum was back out of mouth and she was rolling it between her fingers until it had be come like a short piece of thick string. Then she pushed it up into the cap of the pen, pulled it back out and popped it back into her mouth.

I don't know if it was her older sister sitting next to her or her mother, whichever, she did nothing. I saw this older person look over at here during the antics a couple of times and just laugh.

I, in the meanhwhile, I'm desperately trying to reel myself in and concentrate on what Dr Bob has to say but perpetually distracted by the "gum olympics" that were going on in front of me. Focus. Focus.

It wasn't long until the gum was out for another rousing round of 'twist around the outside of the cap' However, as instead of the cap being reinserted into her mouth, she meticulously rolled it off the end of the cap and popped the wad back into her mouth.

I managed to take my focus of the girl with the gum and returned my full attention to Dr Bob. I was feverishly taking notes when gum girl caught my attention again.

Apparently the gum was beginning to not come off the end of the cap to the pen so easily now. I notices that her index finger and thumb were now sticking together. Furthermore, she seemed to have this annoyed look on her face. She began to pick off the stick bits of gum from her fingers. I kept seeing her hand move towards her lap. I was mortified. Surely she isn't wiping her fingers on the chair! She repeated this process over and over.
I couldn't watch any more.

Dr Bob wrapped began to wrap things up and showed us some extend research we could to in our handout in regard to prayer through out the rest of the week. When we stood up to leave I couldn't help but to look at the chair in the row in front of me to see if it was covered in gum. It wasn't! God hears our prayers.

Where's the beef.....or pork?

.....apparently in the $700 billion dollar bail out bill! Isn't the problem a little more serious than that. IT'S A $700 BILLION DOLLAR PROBLEM for cryin' outloud!

Perhaps those that voted 'no' the first time have a conscious. Perhaps that those who voted 'no' the first time are really interested in what their constituents have to say. Perhaps those that voted 'no' the first time really want a sound resolultion and not a quick fix.

I dont think I'm among a minority of people who think that adding things like....

•Bicycle commuters. Provides employees who commute by bicycle limited benefits to offset commuting costs. Estimated cost: $10 million over 10 years.

•Children's wooden practice arrows. Exempts wooden practice arrows from excise tax, currently 39 cents. Estimated cost: $2 million over 10 years.

•Film and television productions. Allows more film and television show production companies to use the domestic production deduction. Estimated cost: $397 million over 10 years.

•Commercial fishermen. Allows commercial fishermen and others affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill to average any settlement or judgment-related income over three years. Estimated cost: $49 million over 10 years.

•Motorsports complexes. Extends seven-year cost-recovery period to the end of 2009 for land improvement and support facilities placed in service after Dec. 31, 2007. Estimated cost: $100 million over 10 years.

...to this bill just to get it to pass is the right thing to do. It just sounds like manipulation to me!

Romans 7:8 (The Message)
8-12 Don't you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of "forbidden fruit" out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me.

Is adding 'pork' to the bail out bill intended to seduce lawmakers to be blinded to things within the bill that won't benefit the purpose of the bill.

I've been watching the websites of several people I trust to have sound informaton and feedback on this topic. Among those is Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com). Dave has laid out 3 steps to change the future of this nation. His first step is -

Pray for them to resist a spirit of FEAR and to embrace WISDOM. Even if you don't like them or agree with them, pray for them and tell them you are praying for them. There is a spirit over this problem that must be broken. Also, most of the media personalities are afraid as well and that is affecting their reporting. Pray for fear to be removed from them; they are making this worse.

Dave's FIRST STEP put's God first. Is this nation putting God first or finding solution in a quick fix without him?

1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Message)
13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.

I'm not saying the bail out bill is a bad thing. The 'pork' has added another $110 billion dollars to an already uncomprehendable $700 billion. Yes, I think we need a solution quickly. But we need a solution. A solution requires evaluation of not only the problem, but a careful and wisdom filled analysis of the best way to fix it. Adding little teasers to sway a 'yea' vote isn't the means to a sound resolution.

Autumn

Well...it'official, Fall has arrived. How do I know? I couldn't bring myself to wear flip flops and had to wear actual shoes. Cold weather stinks!