What did you like the least about this trip?
Probably the food. There are a lot of breads but much the same kind, like large pita breads. Lots of variety but my system was just not use to it all. My plate at home has 3-4 items on it. Maybe 5. But never 20+. I didn’t think that I’m that fussy of an eater in general, but over the past 4 months I’ve been working real hard to bring my weight down under control. So I’ve been doing it by not eating the thing I enjoy. Desserts and various breads, quite a few less potatoes, etc. So it’s been very challenging but very rewarding at the same time. I had dropped my weight by around 25 pounds leading up to the trip to Lebanon. So while in Lebanon, I found myself eating things I was not crazy about and gaining weight the whole time. Frustrating!!!
So I leave for home thinking I’ve gained 5-10 pounds. I get on the scale the first morning back and found that I had lost 4 pounds while I was gone. I laughed at myself. I suppose a different diet just made me feel differently.
I wonder how many times my perception is off and I just don’t have a scale nearby to bring me down to earth and show me the realities of the situation.
Lord, you be my scale. Show me the realities from your Word that I can stand on and know that all is okay.
What did you like the most about this trip?
I’ve got three things that I think Iiked the most.
1. The team I got to serve with. No exception, they were all great and I'm glad I got to do this with them. Check them out here.
2. Thr cedars on the second last day. You can read about it here if you have'nt yet.
3. The Chidren I got to speak with and laugh with. I wrote about it here.
jp
Showing posts with label Team. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Team. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Great people
I’m now at home on my couch typing this up. Seems like the past two weeks just flew by when I look at it from this side. I’ve got a few reflections that I am going to be working through over the next few days but first I want to tell you about these wonderful people that I was able serve with.
Albert: What a wonderful guy. Full of joy. Easy to make laugh, easy to be the cause of laughter. He worked real hard at a couple of key projects and did a wonderful job. But more than that, he made instant meaningful connections (relationships) with our host. He has this way about him that is both kind and gentle, yet he has the courage of a lion. Both Albert and Glen brought wisdom and insight to the men’s program.
Glen: I really like this guy. He is a steady rock. Deep thinker. Fun to hang out with. I know that he probably didn’t want to be painting for two weeks since that’s what he does at home, but he was the one key person that made our time productive on the painting front. Many worked hard, but he was most definitely our painting leader and our model. In a world where tools are scarce, he rose above all of them and showed us that we can do it, and do it well. Thanks Glen.
Rita: She is a such great person. She put the web site together for Bridges of Love and we hope to see it in production real soon. I saw the initial design and it looked great! It’s hard to say who was the hardest worker on the team. But wow, she worked hard. Every time I saw her she was carrying a broom, a paint brush, a paint roller, etc. Besides the work projects, she also helped Debra with the women’s program. I know she had an impact on the hearts of some of those women. She has a tender heart too like Albert. I like her.
Rebekka: So young and full of life! She was our youngest yet she fit in with the rest of us all very well. Picture with me a crazy mix of painting, cleaning, and women and men programs, with 15+ children running through everything all day long. Our first day was crazy until we asked Rebekka to invest some time with the children and keep them busy and out of our hair, but also build relationships with them. She did both very well. She was our blessing.
Debra: A woman of God. Wants to honor Him in all she does. And she did an amazing job with the women’s program. It takes a special kind of leader and facilitator to get people to share deeply. Someone who is able to help others feel save to share. That’s Debra. She also helped out in a lot painting. Always had paint on her! I got to paint a couple times with her and enjoyed our conversations.
Kurtis: A man who thinks deeply about the things of God. Kurtis was the brunt of a lot of kidding. He wears it well, but in reality, all of us greatly loved and respected this guy. I loved visiting with him, talking about life, parents, work, God, Bedouins, etc. He made me smile often. Not because of the kidding he took, but because whenever I thought of him, I was proud to be on a team with him. He’s a great person.
Kathleen: I might be a little bias on this one, so I’ll try and be fair. She is drop dead gorgeous! If I
can say that! I love her creativity. She did such a great job of putting the murals together. She had to juggle many women who wanted to partake in painting a part of the mural. So between teaching, directing, redirecting, and helping she never got to do much hands-on painting. Yet she produced something beautiful through so many hands. Good job! She also lead two major children programs with Kurtis and Rebekka and did a great job with all the children, who were totally nonstop hyper.
Anton: This guy held us all together. He knew when he needed to join with us in a task of painting a wall or cleaning. He authentically modeled the whole way through the two weeks what he expected of each of us. He was honest about his own thoughts during our debriefing times, he modeled for us the work ethics he asked of each of us, he prayed for us, he encouraged us when we needed encouraging. He was sensitive to our needs when we became stressed and responded with grace. He prepared us well for how flexible we needed to be throughout the two weeks. In a world where there were many expectations from many directions, that being our team, the school, the BOL Team and Matthieu, I felt as though he showed exceptional balance. Well done
Anton.
I know that I could never do all these wonderful people justice by writing this, so please take everything I wrote and know that I short changed them on their greatness and servant-hood. If you see them this Sunday at church, be sure to bless them with a smile and a hug.
jp
Albert: What a wonderful guy. Full of joy. Easy to make laugh, easy to be the cause of laughter. He worked real hard at a couple of key projects and did a wonderful job. But more than that, he made instant meaningful connections (relationships) with our host. He has this way about him that is both kind and gentle, yet he has the courage of a lion. Both Albert and Glen brought wisdom and insight to the men’s program.
Glen: I really like this guy. He is a steady rock. Deep thinker. Fun to hang out with. I know that he probably didn’t want to be painting for two weeks since that’s what he does at home, but he was the one key person that made our time productive on the painting front. Many worked hard, but he was most definitely our painting leader and our model. In a world where tools are scarce, he rose above all of them and showed us that we can do it, and do it well. Thanks Glen.
Rita: She is a such great person. She put the web site together for Bridges of Love and we hope to see it in production real soon. I saw the initial design and it looked great! It’s hard to say who was the hardest worker on the team. But wow, she worked hard. Every time I saw her she was carrying a broom, a paint brush, a paint roller, etc. Besides the work projects, she also helped Debra with the women’s program. I know she had an impact on the hearts of some of those women. She has a tender heart too like Albert. I like her.
Rebekka: So young and full of life! She was our youngest yet she fit in with the rest of us all very well. Picture with me a crazy mix of painting, cleaning, and women and men programs, with 15+ children running through everything all day long. Our first day was crazy until we asked Rebekka to invest some time with the children and keep them busy and out of our hair, but also build relationships with them. She did both very well. She was our blessing.
Debra: A woman of God. Wants to honor Him in all she does. And she did an amazing job with the women’s program. It takes a special kind of leader and facilitator to get people to share deeply. Someone who is able to help others feel save to share. That’s Debra. She also helped out in a lot painting. Always had paint on her! I got to paint a couple times with her and enjoyed our conversations.
Kurtis: A man who thinks deeply about the things of God. Kurtis was the brunt of a lot of kidding. He wears it well, but in reality, all of us greatly loved and respected this guy. I loved visiting with him, talking about life, parents, work, God, Bedouins, etc. He made me smile often. Not because of the kidding he took, but because whenever I thought of him, I was proud to be on a team with him. He’s a great person.
Kathleen: I might be a little bias on this one, so I’ll try and be fair. She is drop dead gorgeous! If I
can say that! I love her creativity. She did such a great job of putting the murals together. She had to juggle many women who wanted to partake in painting a part of the mural. So between teaching, directing, redirecting, and helping she never got to do much hands-on painting. Yet she produced something beautiful through so many hands. Good job! She also lead two major children programs with Kurtis and Rebekka and did a great job with all the children, who were totally nonstop hyper.
Anton: This guy held us all together. He knew when he needed to join with us in a task of painting a wall or cleaning. He authentically modeled the whole way through the two weeks what he expected of each of us. He was honest about his own thoughts during our debriefing times, he modeled for us the work ethics he asked of each of us, he prayed for us, he encouraged us when we needed encouraging. He was sensitive to our needs when we became stressed and responded with grace. He prepared us well for how flexible we needed to be throughout the two weeks. In a world where there were many expectations from many directions, that being our team, the school, the BOL Team and Matthieu, I felt as though he showed exceptional balance. Well done
Anton.
I know that I could never do all these wonderful people justice by writing this, so please take everything I wrote and know that I short changed them on their greatness and servant-hood. If you see them this Sunday at church, be sure to bless them with a smile and a hug.
jp
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Who Supports Me?
So I finished the book and wanted to bring forward for you one of the last chapters because it’s made me think a lot in the last three days. In chapter 24 Maxwell asked us to think about those that support us. I think you could do some translations from work to family to life in general, but I’ll talk here mostly from the context of my role and the staff that I lead at the church.
What kinds of support people do I have working for me? When I went through all of these questions I was able to plug a lot of my staff into them. So I’ll give you the questions and then talk a little at the end.
Who supports me at work?
Time Relievers – These are the people that save me time.
Gift Complementors – These are the people who do things I am not gifted to do and make up for those areas I am lacking. I need a lot of these kind of people!
Team Players – These are the people who add value to me and my team. They continue contribute and see themselves as part of something greater than just their own role.
Creative Thinkers – These are the people who solve problems and give me options. I can never get enough of these people and so I am always facilitating brainstorming sessions. I have my special people that I really love having at the table.
Door closers – These are the people who complete assignments with excellence. When I delegate something or create a project that get’s handed over, they bat it out of the park every time.
People developers – These are the people who develop and raise up other leaders and producers. Check out my other post here on Trading Up where I talk a bit about addition vs. multiplication.
Servant Leaders – These are people who lead with the right attitude. I’ve got a whole host of these kinds of people here.
Mind Stretchers – These are the people who expand my thinking and my spirit. Sometimes they create tension for me, but it’s always creative tension and never negative tension. I have come to really love these people in my life.
Relational Networkers – These are the people who bring other people into my life who add value to me. I’m really lacking people in my life that do this for me. This is the one area that I need to so some further thinking about to determine how I can acquire these kinds of people in my life.
Spiritual Mentors – These are the people who encourage me in my faith walk. I think I also need more of these kinds of people. They are hard to find in person. I have a few authors that give me substance, but not so much that one on one mentor.
Unconditional Lovers – These are the people who know my weaknesses, yet love me unconditionally. I need people in my life that I know are "for" me. I have a few of these. I’m thankful.
I am so grateful for my staff and from reading this chapter I realized even more all the wonderful people I get to work with. I’m not so good at letting them know how much I appreciate them, and with this list I’m actually able to put some verbiage around how they bless me.
I’ve gone through each of these types and wrote down the names of some of the people on my staff in those areas where they bless me. Over the next month I’m going to make sure they know what I think about them and how I appreciate them. Call me on it a month down the road and see how I did.
On to another book ...
jp
What kinds of support people do I have working for me? When I went through all of these questions I was able to plug a lot of my staff into them. So I’ll give you the questions and then talk a little at the end.
Who supports me at work?
Time Relievers – These are the people that save me time.
Gift Complementors – These are the people who do things I am not gifted to do and make up for those areas I am lacking. I need a lot of these kind of people!
Team Players – These are the people who add value to me and my team. They continue contribute and see themselves as part of something greater than just their own role.
Creative Thinkers – These are the people who solve problems and give me options. I can never get enough of these people and so I am always facilitating brainstorming sessions. I have my special people that I really love having at the table.
Door closers – These are the people who complete assignments with excellence. When I delegate something or create a project that get’s handed over, they bat it out of the park every time.
People developers – These are the people who develop and raise up other leaders and producers. Check out my other post here on Trading Up where I talk a bit about addition vs. multiplication.
Servant Leaders – These are people who lead with the right attitude. I’ve got a whole host of these kinds of people here.
Mind Stretchers – These are the people who expand my thinking and my spirit. Sometimes they create tension for me, but it’s always creative tension and never negative tension. I have come to really love these people in my life.
Relational Networkers – These are the people who bring other people into my life who add value to me. I’m really lacking people in my life that do this for me. This is the one area that I need to so some further thinking about to determine how I can acquire these kinds of people in my life.
Spiritual Mentors – These are the people who encourage me in my faith walk. I think I also need more of these kinds of people. They are hard to find in person. I have a few authors that give me substance, but not so much that one on one mentor.
Unconditional Lovers – These are the people who know my weaknesses, yet love me unconditionally. I need people in my life that I know are "for" me. I have a few of these. I’m thankful.
I am so grateful for my staff and from reading this chapter I realized even more all the wonderful people I get to work with. I’m not so good at letting them know how much I appreciate them, and with this list I’m actually able to put some verbiage around how they bless me.
I’ve gone through each of these types and wrote down the names of some of the people on my staff in those areas where they bless me. Over the next month I’m going to make sure they know what I think about them and how I appreciate them. Call me on it a month down the road and see how I did.
On to another book ...
jp
Monday, February 16, 2009
Three questions
I love my staff. They are a great bunch of people to work with who are committed to our vision and purposes. I watched a video a couple of days ago that nailed it for me. It was about vision and what the church needs to be about. This was both affirming for me in where we are heading as a church, but also challenging in the way that makes me wonder if we are taking enough risks these days. I’ve never been afraid of change, in fact, the team probably get tired of me preaching at them about the fact that change is necessary to get where we want to be. But with change, I’m also very methodical in how I implement things. I could take more risks and trust God more. Check out the video called “Three questions that need to be asked” from NewSpring Church.
Enjoy.
jp
Enjoy.
jp
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