Listening Before Speaking

Those of you who know me know that I am in the middle of a job search in the middle of "the worst economy since the Great Depression". Of course, I am in the hardest demographic to employ, the "over 50 white guy". I don't get any credit for being a female or a minority and even though I would love to talk about taking less money than I was making 5 1/2 months ago, I have not been given the pleasure as of yet. Anyway, you would think that someone who is unemployed would have so much time on their hands that he would keep up with his blog. But NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! (apologies to Steve Martin). It is actually more than a full time job looking for work, so I am a bit behind in my update schedule.

I took a test today online for a federal government job that I had applied for. The job market of course has changed quite a bit since the last time I was very seriously looking for a new position. This test took almost 2 1/2 hours and was set up in the craziest way. The first part was about 40 questions, multiple choice, with questions dealing with situations that could possibly arise in the potential job. Now if you are familiar with the federal job application process, just getting to this point to be able to take a test like this is a major accomplishment. For me to be able to even take this test means I have jumped over some MAJOR hurdles. I had to pass this part of the test to be able to go on to the second part.

The second part of the test was the weirdest part. It was a simulation of what a typical day at this job would be. I was given my calendar, with preloaded appointments and mandatory meetings. I was given a list of clients I would be working with. And I was given an online "pamphlet" of rules and procedures I would have to use in dealing with my clients. I had to go through 4 scenarios of dealing with these customers, applying the procedures I was given, and scheduling any follow-up appointments, keeping in mind to avoid conflicts and not schedule myself for overtime. The part of this exercise I found intriguing was that the simulation was sound driven. My "person" would introduce themselves, and then there was a "conversation" between me and my client. After an exchange, I would be given four possible responses to what my client had said. I had to take what they said and apply the procedure or policy I was given and then choose the proper response. If a follow-up appointment had to be made, I had to check my calendar to make sure I avoided any conflicts.

The part that really caught my attention was the "Listen" button. Before I had to make a choice as to my response, I could press a button that said "Listen". I could hear what I was about to say (virtually) before I actually said it. If I thought an answer was right, I could press that button first to see if it sounded right. I could hear that my words were not only correct but they were said in a way that would aid in achieving the purpose of saying them in the first place.

It occurred to me that the Scriptures tell over and over to think about what we say. To not just mouth off about something. That words have power to hurt and to heal, to build up and tear down, to give birth to or to kill. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a "Listen" button built in to our conversations so that we could "hear" what we are REALLY going to say? Yes, if you are a believer, you already have that built in. The Word says in Luke 12:12 that Holy Spirit will teach you what to say. Listen to Him! Let Him be your "Listen" button and help you say the right thing. Be blessed!

Work Ready Tests

As many of you know, I am currently unemployed and have been for over 3.5 months. For whatever reason, I was selected to go through a bunch of training on how to find a job, since I have not been officially on the market for 15 years. I guess it would be like finding a new partner after being married for over 30 years. Someone wants to make sure you don't make a fool of yourself in a bar somewhere. As part of this process, Georgia has instituted that they call the Work Ready test. The idea is to have you take a test of basic workplace skills so an employer can tell that you can add two plus two. At least that was my initial thought. I was told that many employers are requiring this test for ALL new employees, no matter what your education level. The incentive to take this test for someone unemployed is that you will receive a $100 Visa gift card to offset expenses that one might incur in the job hunting process. They tell you that the test will take about 4 hours. I'm a pretty intelligent guy, and I have always been a pretty good test taker, so I figure that maybe 2 hours and I'll be out of there.

I am here to say that this is the most useful test for documenting job skills that I have seen used on such a large scale. It takes basic math and reading skills and applies them to day to day job situations. The first part is applied math. A typical question was: "A pipe full of oil is leaking. It must be drained before it can be repaired. The pipe is 400 feet long and 6 inches in diameter. How many 55 gallon drums do you need to drain the pipe?" I haven't needed to do this before, but I can see where there are jobs that would require you to know how to figure this out. The reading section would give you, for example, a section out of an employee manual that tells you who is eligible for certain benefits, and you have to make the determination based on the regulation. The last section concentrated on retrieving information from 2 or 3 related charts and graphs in order to figure out what needed to be done. For example, a new copper alloy is in development and its properties are being compared to the old alloy. Based on test data, compare the electrical and heat conductivity between the old and new alloys based on copper composition.

Now, I did very well on the test. But it took me over 3 hours, and I almost ran out of time on the locating info portion. Here is why I am impressed with this test. The entire exam took basic skills and applied them to the workplace. I was a retail store manager for over 15 years. Imagine how useful it would be to have something in hand a a job interview that indicated if your prospective employee knew how to figure out a discount, or could determine how much runtime a particular battery would give you based on a simple formula, or could read and apply information that came with a certain product.

I know that they are giving this test to graduating seniors in Georgia now. I am going to suggest that this same exact test be given to 8th graders also. You may wonder "Why give a test designed to show your readiness for the workplace to kids that are at least 3 years away from even a McDonalds job?" One of the biggest complaints kids have about school is, "Why do I have to learn that? I'm never going to use it. This is just wasting my time." Yet, every question on this test took knowledge that should have been learned at least by the junior year of high school if not much sooner and translated it to the job market. I am not saying that teachers should be penalized if kids don't do well. We have too much "teaching to the test" education going on. It will, however, let these almighty 8th graders know before they get to high school that what they are going to be learning in the next four years is very important, and that this "junk" they are studying does in fact have a purpose.

Thanks again for your prayers and support as I continue my job search. God bless you!

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Don't you just love email forwards?  I know web sites like truthorfiction.com and snopes.com do.  They make their living running down internet rumors and innuendo that spread rampant through email mailing lists and Facebook status updates.  These typically take one of two forms nowadays.  The first is the joke/funny picture variety.  Someone sees something funny on a web site.  The particular joke/picture has been floating around cyberspace for over a decade now, yet there is always a person or persons who haven't seen it before.  Next thing you know, you get an email (sent to a person's entire contact list) with said decade old joke/picture in the body of the email.  BTW, if you want to send something to a lot of people at a time, use the BCC (blind carbon copy) option.  That doesn't expose your email list to spammers.
The other type is the political type.  You recognize it.  Someone has done something and the American people need to KNOW!  It is full of "facts" and collaboration, so you just KNOW it's true AND YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!  My wife just received the following from a person I am not going to name.  I changed the formatting, because it was in the typical 24 point multi-colored font with a ton of spaces in between points. In case you didn't notice, this is the actual email.


How does this grab you???
HB 1388 PASSED
You just spent $20,000,000 to move members/supporters of Hamas, a terrorist organization, to the United States ; housing, food, the whole enchilada.
HB 1388 PASSED
Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U.S. needs to know....
Something happened... H.R. 1388 was passed, behind our backs.
You may want to read about it... It wasn ' t mentioned on the news... just went
by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.
Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn't make the headlines...
By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and "conflict victims"
in Gaza .
The "presidential determination," which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States , was signed and appears in the Federal Register.
Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.
Now we learn that he is allowing thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to,
and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.
These important, and insightful, issues are being "lost" in the blinding bail-outs
and "stimulation" packages.
Doubtful? To verify this for yourself:
www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488
PLEASE PASS THIS ON... AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW
WE are losing this country at a rapid pace.

If you support Israel, or if you think we have a terrorist threat to our country, or you have a problem with illegal immigration, or if you don't like President Obama, you are now stirred up!  HE'S GOING TO DO WHAT!!!!?!?!?!?!?   Libby just received this email last week, after there was a big stir in the Gaza strip over Israel enforcing its blockade and stopping some "humanitarian" ships from entering the area.  Here is the problem with the email.  First, the House bill referenced has nothing to do with immigration.  It passed the G.I.V.E. legislation which essentially tweaked the already-existing Americorps programs.  There was a fuss about this bill because it says that anyone in this program cannot evangelize for their religious faith in the performance of their government duties, which we understand to be the case.  You cannot as a federal employee set up a church as a part of your official duties.
Second, the executive order referenced was issued January 27th, 2009.  It does not allow or permit ANY Palestinians to relocate to the US, much less at taxpayer expense.  It provides for $20 million of humanitarian aid to be released to the Palestinians in Gaza.  That was the point that made me stop and think.  If "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinian refugees were going to be relocated here, it would take a lot more that $20 million.  Without spending a couple of hundred thousands on a study, I'm pretty sure it would cost more like 20 BILLION dollars to relocate "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinians.
Here's my point.  Don't react, but respond!  Pay attention!  Flailing out with a knee-jerk reaction makes whichever side is doing it look, well, reactionary.  The difference is that a response requires thought and consideration.  If you just react, then you set yourself up for the worst kind of ridicule.  But if you thoughtfully respond, and are known for that, even your enemies should respect your opinion.  They may not agree, but the seed is planted for understanding.

How to Listen to a Sermon

Just came across this on Facebook as posted by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill. We want to get tickled and affirmed in our own beliefs and if the preacher DARES to challenge us to Biblical truth we get upset and want to run off and find someone who agrees with us instead of us listening to what the Word of God has to say to our situation. Funny thing is, this popped up on my news feed right before a note from a former pastor in which the majority response was that "I don't go to church." The Scripture says, "Do not forsake the assembly of yourselves together." I NEED YOUR GIFTS!!! MY CHILDREN NEED YOUR GIFTS!!! MY FRIENDS NEED YOUR GIFTS!!! These people will wholly accept the parts of 1 Corinthians that talk about the gifts of the Spirit yet reject the parts that talk about the Body of Christ being made up of various parts that are of EQUAL importance.  Anyway, preaching mode off.  Following is the excerpt, How to Listen to a Sermon by George Whitefield, one of the greatest evangelists in American History.
How to Listen to a Sermon
by George Whitefield

Keys for getting the most out of what the preacher says

Jesus said, 'Therefore consider carefully how you listen' (Luke 8:18). Here are some cautions and directions, in order to help you hear sermons with profit and advantage.

1. Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty. To enter His house merely to have our ears entertained, and not our hearts reformed, must certainly be highly displeasing to the Most High God, as well as unprofitable to ourselves.

2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God. If an earthly king were to issue a royal proclamation, and the life or death of his subjects entirely depended on performing or not performing its conditions, how eager would they be to hear what those conditions were! And shall we not pay the same respect to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and lend an attentive ear to His ministers, when they are declaring, in His name, how our pardon, peace, and happiness may be secured?

3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister. That was the reason Jesus Christ Himself could not do many mighty works, nor preach to any great effect among those of His own country; for they were offended at Him. Take heed therefore, and beware of entertaining any dislike against those whom the Holy Ghost has made overseers over you.

Consider that the clergy are men of like passions with yourselves. And though we should even hear a person teaching others to do what he has not learned himself, yet that is no reason for rejecting his doctrine. For ministers speak not in their own, but in Christ’s name. And we know who commanded the people to do whatever the scribes and Pharisees should say unto them, even though they did not do themselves what they said (see Matt. 23:1-3).

4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think. Preferring one teacher over another has often been of ill consequence to the church of God. It was a fault which the great Apostle of the Gentiles condemned in the Corinthians: 'For whereas one said, I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos: are you not carnal, says he? For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but instruments in God’s hands by whom you believed?' (1 Cor. 1:12; 2:3-5).

Are not all ministers sent forth to be ministering ambassadors to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And are they not all therefore greatly to be esteemed for their work’s sake?

5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that is delivered. When our Savior was discoursing at the last supper with His beloved disciples and foretold that one of them should betray Him, each of them immediately applied it to his own heart and said, 'Lord, is it I?' (Matt. 26:22).

Oh, that persons, in like manner, when preachers are dissuading from any sin or persuading to any duty, instead of crying, 'This was intended for such and such a one!' instead would turn their thoughts inwardly, and say, 'Lord, is it I?' How far more beneficial should we find discourses to be than now they generally are!

6. Pray to the Lord, before, during, and after every sermon, to endue the minister with power to speak, and to grant you a will and ability to put into practice what he shall show from the Book of God to be your duty.

No doubt it was this consideration that made St. Paul so earnestly entreat his beloved Ephesians to intercede with God for him: 'Praying always, with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and for me also, that I may open my mouth with boldness, to make known the mysteries of the gospel' (Eph. 6:19-20). And if so great an apostle as St. Paul needed the prayers of his people, much more do those ministers who have only the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit.

If only all who hear me this day would seriously apply their hearts to practice what has now been told them! How ministers would see Satan, like lightning, fall from heaven, and people find the Word preached sharper than a two-edged sword and mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the devil’s strongholds!

This excerpt is adapted from Sermon 28 from The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield. Published by E. and C. Dilly, 1771-1772, London. George Whitefield (1714-1770) was a British Methodist evangelist whose powerful sermons fanned the flames of the First Great Awakening in the American colonies.

I Caught a Fish!!! Sort of...

This past weekend our Men of Honor group from church went on an overnight camping trip to Holbrook Pond at Ft Stewart and brought along several of the boys and young men (AKA teenagers).  We have a lot of single moms, due to a variety of reasons.  Some are divorced, some are just unmarried, and many are separated due to military deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and the uttermost parts of the earth.  It is good to have these guys along so they get the chance to spend time with godly men.  I was very excited about going on this trip.  I got out our tent, an old Coleman 6-man two room cabin tent that you can actually stand up in.  Got a lot of comments about that tent.  Well, I hadn't used it in years so I made sure it wasn't moldy or ripped up or dry rotted.  Lo and behold, it was in pretty good shape.  Ended up with 3 young men without any camping experience sharing the tent with me.  They were a big help getting it up.  Thought for sure we would be nice and dry, even if we had one of those typical Georgia summer storms.  Sure enough, one blew through about 10 p.m.  Unfortunately, I forgot I had left the side panels open until it had been raining pretty hard for 10 minutes, so our stuff got a little damp, but not too bad so I was able to get some sleep.

Now the biggest reason I was excited about going on this little trip was that I was GOING FISHING!  I am not a huge fisherman.  In fact, I hadn't been fishing in almost 10 years.  The last time I went, I bought a few rod and reel combos and one of those preloaded tackle boxes and took my sons down to the Ogeechee River in Savannah.  Didn't catch anything that day.  No wonder none of them get excited about going fishing even now.  I grew up fishing with my family at least 4-6 times a year.  We would water down the yard the night before and pull up the nightcrawlers that appeared and put them in a coffee can that we then filled with dirt and put the lid punched with holes on top.  Before dawn the next morning the crew was loaded up and off we went to one of the many lakes within a two hour drive. There we would spend most of the day.  At the time I didn't have a lot of patience for fishing.  I got bored with it pretty quickly, but I would usually have a book to read and once it got to the afternoon I would listen to the Reds game on the transistor radio.  If everything went well, we could look forward to some fried catfish or blue gill or occasionally a bass.

As I've gotten older, I see fishing as a chance to get out into the fresh air.  I never got too hung up on it if I didn't catch anything.  After all, relaxation was the purpose of the exercise.  Back to my story.  Our tents were only about 150 yards away so I gathered up my gear and walked down to the pier.  A couple of the little guys wanted to join me and one of them had his own pole, a Batman rod that was about a foot and a half long.  I set one of my poles up with a bobber and had the other boy watch my pole.  The first boy got his gear set up and did a good job casting out.  Of course, being 5 years old, they grew tired of this very quickly.  One of the other men took charge of them and I continued on my mission.  I really wanted to catch something.  Anything.  At least anything alive.  I tried spincasting for a bit with one pole and kept the other out with a piece of fake lizard that was supposed to be as good as live bait.  Wasn't getting anything with the spincast so I went ahead and tried the bottom with some dough bait I had picked up at Wally World.  Sat their for a while watching the bobber with one eye and the tip of the other pole with the other eye.  Wait a minute!  Did that pole twitch?  It sure looked like it moved.  I slowly picked it up and held it.  Nothing more during the next few minutes so I went ahead and reeled it in.  Hook was bare.  Try it again.  Wondering did something strip the hook or did the bait just come off?  Cast out to the same area.  Minute later, there's that twitch again.  Slowly grabbed the pole right away this time, gave it a small turn on the reel, then THERE IT WAS!  I gave a pull to the right then started reeling.  There was something on there.  The line starts moving back and forth as I continue to reel.  Closer and closer it comes until it is right by the pier.  I go to pull it out of the water and my pole goes doubled over as that catfish comes out of the water.  3 pounds?  I don't know.  I just know my pole is bent all the way over with this thing and I'm afraid it's going to wiggle off before I get it up the 6 feet I've got to come up from the  water to over the edge of the pier.  Holding the pole now halfway down, I start to pull the end toward me so I can grab the line when, KERPLOP!  and there I am looking at the end of my line.  Once I get to the end of it I can see that the knot I used on the hook had come loose at the wrong time.  At least I had a witness that I had a fish hooked, but my ultimate prize was gone.

So what does that mean to you and me?  Things like that happen in life.  An opportunity comes up, you race to take advantage of it.  You get the proper equipment and paperwork and put yourself in the right place and its the right time and everything is looking great and KERPLOP!  Something unforseen comes up.  You make a small mistake.  Doesn't matter.  You still don't have fish for dinner.  What to do?

• Don't quit!  You will never "catch your fish" if you don't put the line back out there.  The only sure failure is the one who gives up.  As long as you are in the game you have the opportunity to win.
• Figure out what went wrong and fix it.  In my case it was a simple case of not double knotting the line.  As a store manager, I would tell my people "Don't be afraid of making a mistake.  Just don't make the same one over and over!"  Use them as stepping stones to reach your goals.
• Put it behind you.  Dwelling on what "might have been" saps your energy, discourages your will, and confuses your mind.  The Bible tells us to forget those things which lie in the past and press on!  It is not just referring to sin.  It is referring to our very lives.  Keep going, keep going, keep going!

This is the day!

Just ran across this quote from a very unlikely source and wanted to share it.

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: “I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today, I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today and I’m going to be happy in it.

~ Groucho Marx

Of course, Groucho Marx was a famous comedian in the mid 1900's. Although he came across as a smart-alec womanizer, he was actually a very thoughtful philosopher. He makes a great point here and references Isaiah 25:9 which states "And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this [is] our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this [is] the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation." We sing the chorus, "This is the day that the Lord has made; we shall rejoice and be glad in it". We really want to fight against living in today. Either we want to dwell on the hurts and pains and rejections (or live in the glory of past victories and triumphs and successes) or we want to fret and worry (or sugar-coat our prospects and indulge in wishful thinking) about the future. Jesus had a lot to say about past, present, and future and I want to take a deeper look at each of these. The bottom line is to get free of the past mistakes and to not fret about the future, but to take each day as a gift from the Lord and to be glad in it. Keep a lookout and I will talk to you soon.

Elder Ed

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

We all remember the "Wizard of Oz". Dorothy is transported by a whirlwind to a wonderful, colorful land, slays a wicked witch, inherits a magical pair of shoes, and finds out she go to the Emerald City to meet the marvelous wizard in order to get back to her roots. She acquires several off-the-wall characters on the road who also need the wonderful gifts the wizard can bestow. After many adventures, they meet the wizard via a loud magnified screen, pouring forth smoke, who lays an almost impossible task before them. When they succeed in meeting the stringent requirement, the wizard tries to send them away as being unworthy of receiving his vast knowledge and power. As they are leaving, the discerning pet Toto sniffs out the subterfuge, pulls back the curtain, and reveals a mere man hiding in a room with a lot of controls making noise and smoke and mirrors. As he was exposed, the wizard tried one last appeal. "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN. THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ HAS SPOKEN" Of course, we know that the facade was exposed for what it was. Today, Senator Barack Obama has deemed this people he would lead unworthy and cried out, "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN"! And today, he has been exposed for what he is: a politician who has to do and say whatever he needs to in order to protect his position.

All this stems from the senator's relationship with his longtime pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. There have been murmurings amongst the conservative talking heads for many weeks about their relationship. Rev. Wright is known as a fiery leader of an African-American congregation, the type that permeates much of black American Christiandom. Videos have emerged that have him on record as saying things such as "G__D___ America" over and over, blaming the US for inventing AIDS and contriving the 9/11 attacks, and many other hate inspiring comments. This has caused a problem with Sen. Obama's campaign. After all, the junior senator from Illinois has been all about unity and change. Having his pastor of 20 years speaking of the United K.K.K. of America and calling on the Most High God to damn the country of his birth has made Sen. Obama a little uncomfortable. So much so that the senator did what he does best. He made a speech. "I didn't realize the extent of his rhetoric", Barack says. "I didn't agree with him", sayeth the senator. "I denounce what he has said" Mr. Obama elucidates in such an eloquent way. At the same time, though, he refuses to denounce the right Reverend himself. "We all have ministers and priests and rabbis that we don't agree with."

What to make of this. On the surface, it sounds so smooth and easy. This isn't the issue some are making it out to be. We have to break the loop of hate. All that is well and good. Yes, we have to break racism wherever it rears its head. Bulletin to Black America. Things HAVE changed in the last 50 years. The world is so competitive that no one in their right mind would hold back a person of color who can get the job done. Are there still incidents of racism. Yes. Just like there are sins such as gossip and slander and lying and stealing and every other vice known to man. But to bring it back to our current circumstance, it is contingent on all to not stoke these old embers. And this is where the problem lies.

Senator Obama claims to have not known the extent of his pastor's venom. However, how does someone who says he is a very involved member of this church NOT KNOW what his pastor is teaching after TWENTY YEARS! My current pastor has been in position for a little over 3 years and I can tell you with great precision where he comes down on various issues. The same with his father, who pastored here for over a decade before. Either the senator is not the member of this congregation that he has claimed to be, or he is showing the typical political expediency that he claims to be running against. Or even worse, Senator Obama possibly doesn't have the ability to stand up for what he actually believes in, which doesn't lend itself to successful interaction on the world stage. Or even most worse, he actually does believe and agree with what Rev. Wright preaches and all his talk of unity and change is just a convenient turn of language rivaled only by the convoluted talk of "what the meaning of is is". Pretty speeches can get you so far, but at the end of the day it is your integrity and character that has to carry the day. Where is yours, Senator?