Who Needs Fire?

Today was the last day of the Global Leadership Summit. The speakers that presented today were absolutely incredible. They shared so much practical information about how to be a leader within organizations, and they also challenged me in a way that will continue to motivate me for a long time. First, this conference has reaffirmed for me that I want to get back into school and complete my master’s degree. I will be searching out a school to find out where, how, and when, etc. Second, it motivated me to increase my emphasis on service when I teach. The brothers and sisters in my congregation need to understand how important service is for our world and for them. Next, we all have a part to play in this Grand Tapestry that God has created, and we all need to be faithful in doing so. God prepared good works for us, and if we don’t complete those tasks, what will the Tapestry look like? What would be missing from the world if we don’t do what we are called to do? I feel compel...

Katie and I have also been thinking a lot about leadership over the past several months. Over the last year, we have felt called to be leaders in certain places. It has also led us to focus on further cultivating our leadership abilities. Leadership is something that I have always viewed with a great deal of fear and humility. Many people in the world like to think they are leaders, but they have no idea what it means. Today, Katie and I were able to attend the Global Leadership Summit held by Willowcreek Community Church.  We heard a lot of different speakers today – pastors, CEO’s of fortune 50 companies, business consultants, etc. At first, I was a little irritated at how they seem to integrate church and business. I was hoping that the focus would be on church leadership. Most of it was, but there were also speakers who focused on business leadership. I listened and did my best to learn all that I could from each speaker. By the end of the day, an interest...

It has been such an amazing summer so far. This past May, I made the difficult decision to leave the study abroad program where I was teaching. This of course, meant that Katie and I would have a longer time in the USA. Every summer for the past five years, I’ve had only 4-5 weeks each summer. This year, we had ten weeks. To say that it has been great is an understatement. We have been able to spend some great time with the family and recharge our batteries before we go back. We have had a blast talking to friends. One thing that really replenishes my soul is being able to spend time in nature. We were able to spend quite a bit of time in parks and forest preserves. We were able to see some amazing creatures. We did some hiking, and saw some beautiful plants. We also spent time sitting near the water taking in the grandeur of what many people so often take for granted. Living in a large urban area, we really appreciate the pleasure of natural environments. It’s been ...

The past few days have kind of been a bit tough. On Monday, Katie and I decided to head into Shanghai to spend the day together. We had also planned to go to the Thailand Consulate so that Katie could get her visa for our Thailand trip that we are going to be taking in a few weeks. We went to the office and found that they were closed. Even though there website indicated that they were open, there was a notice posted on the door that said they were closed for three days. So, we decided to make the most of being in Shanghai. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and did some shopping. Throughout the day, I was sending messages to some friends that I had not seen in a long time. They are musicians from the Philippines that have been working in China for several years. They started telling me about how their manager had really taken advantage of them. He takes part of their pay in exchange for setting up gigs and taking care of their visas and other paperwork. How...

Wow! It is so crazy to think that it is Christmas already! This year seems to be flying by! This holiday season has been marked by a myriad of events and emotions. As I sit here writing this, it is Christmas Day at about 1pm. It does not look like the Christmases that I am used to. For one, this is my seventh Christmas away from home. I really miss the pageantry of Christmas in the USA and the intimate gatherings with friends and family. However, this is the first Christmas of my married life. God has truly blessed me with the most amazing wife in the world, and I am so thankful for her! We have both decided to put off celebrating Christmas for three weeks, at which point my sister will be visiting us. We will exchange gifts and have Christmas dinner then. I am really looking forward to it! We have done some celebrating already though. This past Saturday, we had our annual Christmas Party at our apartment. We spent a week preparing cookies. We made gingerbread cookies...

This morning started just like any other day. I went to the office and gathered my lesson plans and prepared for class at 7:35am. As I was getting ready, one of the office girls came up to me and asked if I could help her investigate something. She showed me that one of the doors to our office had been broken, and it was clear that someone had broken in. We never use this door, and there is a huge cabinet in front of it. It seemed that someone broke the knob and pushed the door open (moving the filing cabinet at the same time). We did have a problem with a student going into the office a few weeks ago. He walked in and stole answers to an exam. My first thought was that he might have done it. I told the worker that there was no way to be sure who it was, short of taking fingerprints. I then went to class, and as I was teaching, I was looking at the students trying to figure out who would be capable of doing it, who would be brazen enough to do it, who would be disre...

Hello! Sorry to all of you who were following my blog! I lost access to it for a while after Google took over everything, but now I am back online with it. So, there will be more posting on here. I’ll start by sharing a story. A few days ago, Katie and I went to the market to buy vegetables and meat. It is much cheaper than going to the grocery store. The produce is also a lot fresher. While we were buying meat, Katie noticed a hedgehog in a net lying in a small plastic basin. He seemed aggravated and scared. We have both been going to this market for years, but we have never seen a hedgehog there. As it turns out, hedgehogs are used in Chinese traditional medicine. Katie just couldn’t leave. She bought the hedgehog for about three dollars, and we brought it back to my house. We put it in a large cardboard box, and put some leaves and branches in the box too. We also provided it with several types of food – apple and potato chunks, pork, etc. He did a lot...