At the end of every month I think...surely nothing can top last month's newsletter - that was a really good one! And then as I reflect on what's happened through the month, I think of so many things to write about I can't possibly fit them all into one short letter.
Ideally, I would be posting the overflow on this blog, but somehow it doesn't seem to happen. I guess I'm writing this post as a bit of a public (to the 3 of you that read this) promise that I will share more of the daily happenings.
But, I'll still probably save the real good ones for my newsletters, so be sure to keep reading those.
:)
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Top Five Tools for International Sending.
Below are the top 5 things that make me good at my job (besides D.I.C.E. and the Holy Spirit, of course) :) - these tools are super important in allowing me to send the large number of college students overseas from the Upper Midwest:
5. Google!
Not only do I get an instant answer to a question from this fabulous website (ie: what's the current exchange rate in Uruguay?), Google has a few other important platforms: Google Docs, (shared spreadsheets and surveys) Google Translator, (because I don't read Turkish), and Google Blogger, (which enables me to share my wonderful thoughts with you!)
4. A file-sharing system
Our office (and region) uses a file-sharing system called SugarSync, which allows me to set up folders for each of my 12 vision trips, 6 summer projects and 8 stint teams. I couldn't do my job without this. A file-sharing system greatly increases my capacity to keep track of so many files, and make sure that each trip leader has what they need at the right time.
Along with providing a way for dozens of people to access the same files all at once, file-sharing systems provide a place to hold important documents from year to year. With a few clicks, I can find documents regarding summer projects in 2007. We often joke about not "reinventing the wheel" - and file-sharing programs help us stick to that philosophy.
3. A reliable visa agency
A visa is a piece of paper from a foreign government giving you permission to enter a country. I obtain about 200 visas a year for our various international trips. There's no way I could get that many visas without having a trusted agency in Chicago that actually submits the paperwork to foreign consulates for me. The best feature of using this visa agency is their awesome website. I can type in a country, and the purpose of a trip, the resident country and state of the traveler, and immediately get instructions on the process for applying for the right visa. It's genius, and has made me look like a genius on many occasions.
2. A trusted travel agent (or 3)
I am lucky to have a trio of stellar travel agents to hook me up with good deals. Not only do they provide the basic booking of tickets, they have my back. They offer advice, catch my mistakes, and have taught me a ton about international group travel. They also help me look like a genius.
and finally...the number one tool for international sending...is...
1. Microsoft Excel!!
If you know me at all, you knew this would be number 1! I. Love. Excel. I have so much data I need to store: from tracking $500,000+ in donations each year, to ticket prices and locations for each of our 25+ trips, to passport names and birth dates for travelers.
When I see a jumbled mess of information, my brain automatically wants to categorize it into a spreadsheet that will make numbers and names make more sense. I have a very high value for easily accessible, very concise, and extremely reliable data.
I need to end this post with a shout-out to my boss, who is always very willing to figure out a way to get me the resources I need to do my job well. Sometimes I'm not even sure what that resource is, but with his vast knowledge and expertise in the field of Operations, my questions are never a problem!
5. Google!
Not only do I get an instant answer to a question from this fabulous website (ie: what's the current exchange rate in Uruguay?), Google has a few other important platforms: Google Docs, (shared spreadsheets and surveys) Google Translator, (because I don't read Turkish), and Google Blogger, (which enables me to share my wonderful thoughts with you!)
4. A file-sharing system
Our office (and region) uses a file-sharing system called SugarSync, which allows me to set up folders for each of my 12 vision trips, 6 summer projects and 8 stint teams. I couldn't do my job without this. A file-sharing system greatly increases my capacity to keep track of so many files, and make sure that each trip leader has what they need at the right time.
Along with providing a way for dozens of people to access the same files all at once, file-sharing systems provide a place to hold important documents from year to year. With a few clicks, I can find documents regarding summer projects in 2007. We often joke about not "reinventing the wheel" - and file-sharing programs help us stick to that philosophy.
3. A reliable visa agency
A visa is a piece of paper from a foreign government giving you permission to enter a country. I obtain about 200 visas a year for our various international trips. There's no way I could get that many visas without having a trusted agency in Chicago that actually submits the paperwork to foreign consulates for me. The best feature of using this visa agency is their awesome website. I can type in a country, and the purpose of a trip, the resident country and state of the traveler, and immediately get instructions on the process for applying for the right visa. It's genius, and has made me look like a genius on many occasions.
2. A trusted travel agent (or 3)
I am lucky to have a trio of stellar travel agents to hook me up with good deals. Not only do they provide the basic booking of tickets, they have my back. They offer advice, catch my mistakes, and have taught me a ton about international group travel. They also help me look like a genius.
and finally...the number one tool for international sending...is...
1. Microsoft Excel!!
If you know me at all, you knew this would be number 1! I. Love. Excel. I have so much data I need to store: from tracking $500,000+ in donations each year, to ticket prices and locations for each of our 25+ trips, to passport names and birth dates for travelers.
When I see a jumbled mess of information, my brain automatically wants to categorize it into a spreadsheet that will make numbers and names make more sense. I have a very high value for easily accessible, very concise, and extremely reliable data.
I need to end this post with a shout-out to my boss, who is always very willing to figure out a way to get me the resources I need to do my job well. Sometimes I'm not even sure what that resource is, but with his vast knowledge and expertise in the field of Operations, my questions are never a problem!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Spring Break Vision Trips
Last weekend, 45 staff and students are headed overseas for 7-10 day vision trips! I sent teams to 4 different countries and 5 cities; students from 6 universities, departing from 7 US airports.
I hope to post a few stories here when the trips return. For many of these students, this is their first time out of the country and their first time on any sort of mission trip!
Monday, March 05, 2012
Parking Meters, Coffee and Independence.
I just saw an interesting commercial that got me thinking. The 30-second spot was about a guy going around town plugging meters for people, because he saved so much money on car insurance (from Progressive, if you are wondering). That would be fun to do, don't you think?
The city of Minneapolis recently installed new parking meters, so you can pay for parking not only with cash, but also with a credit/debit card. A very cool system, I have to say. But part of me feels like advances in technology and processes like this make it a lot easier for me to watch out for myself, and rely on God, or other people, less. Not that I'm dependent on someone to randomly offer to pay my $2 to park downtown - but I think about having to ask someone to borrow quarters to pay for my parking, and how ridiculous it is that I think that I'm imposing on someone if I do that.
When I think about this example, I think of it in a grander scheme. I think of the mentality that I don't need people in my life to get by; I can provide for myself no matter what I might need- or want.
A few weeks ago, I was on my way to work and I really wanted to stop at Starbucks - but I decided not to. Soon after I arrived at work, a coworker stopped by my cubicle and asked if I had any coffee yet that day - she wanted to take me out as a thank you for helping her with something earlier in the month.
Her kind and unexpected offer, along with our chat on the way to and from the coffeeshop, was much sweeter than the actual coffee she bought me. And it was way more fun to drink coffee with someone else.
Whether it's a parking meter or a cup of coffee, an unexpected gift can really brighten someone's day. But, this isn't a post about doing random acts of kindness. It's moreso a reminder that being too concerned with meeting my own needs and fulfilling my wants leaves less room for personal interaction in my life. And more importantly, less room for God to show me how he does care about me and can meet my needs (and even how he meets my wants!).
The city of Minneapolis recently installed new parking meters, so you can pay for parking not only with cash, but also with a credit/debit card. A very cool system, I have to say. But part of me feels like advances in technology and processes like this make it a lot easier for me to watch out for myself, and rely on God, or other people, less. Not that I'm dependent on someone to randomly offer to pay my $2 to park downtown - but I think about having to ask someone to borrow quarters to pay for my parking, and how ridiculous it is that I think that I'm imposing on someone if I do that.
When I think about this example, I think of it in a grander scheme. I think of the mentality that I don't need people in my life to get by; I can provide for myself no matter what I might need- or want.
A few weeks ago, I was on my way to work and I really wanted to stop at Starbucks - but I decided not to. Soon after I arrived at work, a coworker stopped by my cubicle and asked if I had any coffee yet that day - she wanted to take me out as a thank you for helping her with something earlier in the month.
Her kind and unexpected offer, along with our chat on the way to and from the coffeeshop, was much sweeter than the actual coffee she bought me. And it was way more fun to drink coffee with someone else.
Whether it's a parking meter or a cup of coffee, an unexpected gift can really brighten someone's day. But, this isn't a post about doing random acts of kindness. It's moreso a reminder that being too concerned with meeting my own needs and fulfilling my wants leaves less room for personal interaction in my life. And more importantly, less room for God to show me how he does care about me and can meet my needs (and even how he meets my wants!).
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
When People Are Big and God is Small
Every time I hear someone talk about John 4, the story of the woman at the well, I chuckle. There was a week in my life a few years back when God was really trying to get my attention through the story of the woman at the well. It just kept coming up in a variety of ways, (my pal JB can attest to this), and it was hard to ignore.
If I were to look back over the last year of ministry, I can see a couple prevalent themes that stick out like a sore thumb (thumbs, I guess). Especially as of late, one of these themes is strong - And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2ish).
I have a natural tendency is to think about the ways I can be improving myself, and growing emotionally, mentally, spiritually, etc. It's a good thing, and something we should strive for as believers who want to continue to grow to be like Christ. But, there's something to be said about taking our eyes off ourselves and setting them on Jesus. When my eyes are constantly fixed on my flaws instead of the One who is the perfecter of my faith, my relationship with God becomes all about me.
This very topic is continually set before me this semester. My staff team is reading a book called "When People Are Big and God Is Small." I highly recommend it, even if you don't wrestle with people being bigger than God in your life. The author of this book points out that we can tend to make people bigger than they ought to be in our lives - for example, by fearing what they think of us, instead of what God thinks of us.
This has been an incredibly eye-opening book for me to read. It's my natural tendency when reading this book to make a list of all the ways I make people bigger than God in my life. But the author points out many times throughout the book that the way to alleviate this is to grow our view of God, and that will in turn diminish our inappropriately big view of people.
I love analogies, so let me explain with one relating this back to the woman at the well. My tendency when I hear that story is to make a list of my wells - all the places I go to satisfy my thirst that I shouldn't. There's the well of performance, knowledge, approval from others, etc. The point is not to focus on getting rid of these wells - the point is to continually draw from the well that offers living water. I will probably always be tempted by these other wells, but when I'm focused on the water Jesus offers, I will naturally continue to go to him instead of the other wells.
If I were to look back over the last year of ministry, I can see a couple prevalent themes that stick out like a sore thumb (thumbs, I guess). Especially as of late, one of these themes is strong - And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2ish).
I have a natural tendency is to think about the ways I can be improving myself, and growing emotionally, mentally, spiritually, etc. It's a good thing, and something we should strive for as believers who want to continue to grow to be like Christ. But, there's something to be said about taking our eyes off ourselves and setting them on Jesus. When my eyes are constantly fixed on my flaws instead of the One who is the perfecter of my faith, my relationship with God becomes all about me.
This very topic is continually set before me this semester. My staff team is reading a book called "When People Are Big and God Is Small." I highly recommend it, even if you don't wrestle with people being bigger than God in your life. The author of this book points out that we can tend to make people bigger than they ought to be in our lives - for example, by fearing what they think of us, instead of what God thinks of us.
This has been an incredibly eye-opening book for me to read. It's my natural tendency when reading this book to make a list of all the ways I make people bigger than God in my life. But the author points out many times throughout the book that the way to alleviate this is to grow our view of God, and that will in turn diminish our inappropriately big view of people.
I love analogies, so let me explain with one relating this back to the woman at the well. My tendency when I hear that story is to make a list of my wells - all the places I go to satisfy my thirst that I shouldn't. There's the well of performance, knowledge, approval from others, etc. The point is not to focus on getting rid of these wells - the point is to continually draw from the well that offers living water. I will probably always be tempted by these other wells, but when I'm focused on the water Jesus offers, I will naturally continue to go to him instead of the other wells.
Hopefully that makes some sense! Seriously, check out that book if it sounds even a little appealing to you at all. You won't regret it!
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Beginning Again.
I'm a runner.. sort-of. I'm working on accepting that statement. Once in awhile I check out the discussion boards on the website of Runner's World. They cover so many different topics in these boards, it's ridiculous. People ask questions and have discussions about things I would NEVER think about. Running is an interesting subculture, one that seems a little intimidating at first. Or continually, for us "sort-of" runners.
Tonight I found myself reading a discussion thread about knowing when you're no longer a beginning runner. There were a variety of answers, but one stood out to me. "It seems as though we can be forever beginners. Just when we think we have this running thing down, something happens and it's like we are starting all over again."
And so it is in the Christian life, wouldn't you agree? Just when we think we've overcome, or understood, or arrived at everything we needed to, we get knocked on our feet.
Hopefully we get knocked on our feet. After I ran my first 5k I got a terrible heel spur. After a few weeks of trying to suck it up and run through the pain, I finally went to the doctor. He noticed that I am a supinator. Which meant there was a problem with my running form.
The pain came from bad form that I needed to correct. By starting at the beginning again. (And just when I thought I had arrived, finishing my first 5k!)
When we get knocked down, perhaps it's because our form needs a bit of correction. And correcting it will hopefully result in less pain and more success. And success in the Christian life is being able to glorify God more and more with our lives. When the stakes are that high, a little bit of pain is worth it.
Tonight I found myself reading a discussion thread about knowing when you're no longer a beginning runner. There were a variety of answers, but one stood out to me. "It seems as though we can be forever beginners. Just when we think we have this running thing down, something happens and it's like we are starting all over again."
And so it is in the Christian life, wouldn't you agree? Just when we think we've overcome, or understood, or arrived at everything we needed to, we get knocked on our feet.
Hopefully we get knocked on our feet. After I ran my first 5k I got a terrible heel spur. After a few weeks of trying to suck it up and run through the pain, I finally went to the doctor. He noticed that I am a supinator. Which meant there was a problem with my running form.
The pain came from bad form that I needed to correct. By starting at the beginning again. (And just when I thought I had arrived, finishing my first 5k!)
When we get knocked down, perhaps it's because our form needs a bit of correction. And correcting it will hopefully result in less pain and more success. And success in the Christian life is being able to glorify God more and more with our lives. When the stakes are that high, a little bit of pain is worth it.
Monday, January 23, 2012
You Are Not Your Ministry.
One of the things I've wrestled with for as long as I can remember is an answer to the question, who am I?
I just caught the title of an article on churchleaders.com called "You Are Not Your Ministry." That single five word sentence is like the theme of 2011, and my first full year in ministry.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
I just caught the title of an article on churchleaders.com called "You Are Not Your Ministry." That single five word sentence is like the theme of 2011, and my first full year in ministry.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
I know some things about you:
I know that you are not your art.
I know that you are not your church.
You are not your technical expertise, or lack thereof.
You are not your voice, even though people love it when you’re on stage.
You are not what your authority figures believe about you.
You are not your blog posts, or your readers’ insane responses.
You are not your Twitter count, or your Facebook friend total.
You are not your impact.
You are not your successes, and you are not your failures.
You are not that thing in your life that didn’t work out.
You are not that thing in your life that worked perfectly.
But I also know this about you:
I know that in Christ, you are a child of God.
My friends, there will come a day when you no longer create art. There will come a day when the software you use is no longer in existence. There will come a day when you no longer serve in that church, in that ministry. There will come a day when he’s no longer your boss, and they’re no longer your Elder Board. There will come a day when you quit blogging, and when people put Twitter and eight-track tapes in the same category. There will even come a day when your impact wains.
But there will never, ever come a day when you stop being a child of God.
Read the full article here.