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Name: Mark
Country: United States
State: North Carolina
Metro: Asheville
Gender: Male
Interests: Reading
Sports
Audio Video Stuff
Occupation: Administrative
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message me
Member Since:
8/16/2005
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| Okay so, we have enjoyed the one fruit that grows in abundance here on the schools property this summer. While the boys will eagerly go to pick the berries, neither one is interested in eating either pie or cobbler. It must certainly brings back memories of my youth in Seattle. During the summer blackberry picking was something we did almost everyday while @ Grams house. Between us five kids, we needed to pick 8 cups to have enough berries for everyone to get a good portion of cobbler. Honestly, I have never really enjoyed the cobbler part, as the berries tend to be a bit tart to my taste buds, so I can understand why my kids don't enjoy the cobbler. However... The fun for me has always been in the going out to pick the berries. Being outside, with family, a common goal, and the joy of having a "dessert" that not only grew in the back yard (Free!), but provided opportunity for the family to be together for both picking and eating.. Yet this year, I have sat and eaten the cobblers and pie, and savored them like never before. I'm pretty sure that my taste buds have not changed. I think it is the memories. Being able to be chewing on a bite and then being transported to a different dinner table 25years ago when life was different, and enjoying conversation. to be able to see those meals through a different lens, one that as I eat cobbler with my kids, lets me see a slice of what my parents and those around me might have been feeling, thinking. Or pulling down a branch for my little one to pick berries from, and seeing my grandfather doing the same for me... A simple blackberry cobbler. Some berries, flour, baking powder, sugar, milk, and salt... and my mind is flooded with past happy times, and the opportunity to pass those on to my children, who hopefully can pass the same principles of time together on to theirs... | | |
| Well, once I hit the send button, I know that at least 4 people will read this. I just got back from Seattle (Shoreline actually) where I stuck my toes in the sand and sat and pondered for about 45 minutes... But it does not really matter. The big point of my blog here is how we value people. How we see them, and want them to see us... Several times recently I have heard and seen things that piqued my thinking. While moving my grandmother into the nursing home where she is likely to finish living her life well lived, she turned with tear filled eyes and said, "Dave (her husband who died 24 years ago) and I never envisioned our retirement including this. I do not want to be remembered this way." Those who know her cannot remember her that way. There are too many memories. Too many stories. While my dad was here this summer, he had his debit card number stolen (and used for a great time in vegas!!). I remember my stepmother with tears in her eyes, saying, "Why us? What did we do that caused them to want to hurt us?" The fraud department was alerted, the money put back, and all the overdraft charges canceled. A pain, but no permanent damage. A student at the school where I work, while working a detention (this student has served more than a couple), responded to my question of, "Why do yo have one reputation with the teachers, staff and your parents, and yet when you are working/serving your detention with/for me, that attitude does not exist?" With this quick dart. "Because you treat me with respect, like a human being." I was having the student pick up food litter in our picnic area, and reset chairs in the auditorium. Those are just a couple of the 10 or so examples running through my mind... While I tire easily of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" happy ending stories, I wonder if we Christians could be viewed a whole lot better by simply being human. I get tired of hearing about the details of how we should live, and the walls we put into place to raise our families in a "safe" environment, when we are all born with the sin nature already there. We fail to invite the public along for the ride, for fear of not knowing an answer, or not agreeing with a lifestyle. I'm not saying to give in to sin, but people are messy. They make choices. They don't always look how we want them to look, or do things we agree with. Rather than seeing the potential underneath the skin, we are disappointed to see a daughter instead of the wanted a son. We see a drug and bug infested meth head instead of somebody's little boy or girl. We see a scruffy non- conformist instead of an incredible administrator who fully understands their subject matter. We see the sin, and miss the beautiful sinner... So we become laborers for Christ who won't work because we see all the weeds in the wheat field... And we need to keep our wheat clean... I know that I can be found guilty, and that is unacceptable... | | |
| Okay so, yesterday was a really tough day. The rest of this is a bit jumbled, but several of you have asked about my status on my facebook page. Three months after the decision was made, I fired a friend. Actually four of them. And the stupid thing is, it was not their fault. Like a slow killing disease, the process has been a gradual playing out of a decision made months ago. Sometimes the insanity of life helps me to realize that my logic is not anywhere near God's, but the last few days have not helped with this...
Our school contracts with an outside company for our Janitorial needs. In August,we hired a company to come in and assume all the responsibilities that come with cleaning a school. Our statement and scope was laid out and in the contract. The new company struggled to get a solid crew (3 full time people, 1 part time), but finally moved a part time Chilean up to full time and gave him the on site supervisory role, but little (very little) else. Juan worked very hard, did a great job (exceeded what he was paid for), and was never told what was expected of him or his assembled crew (other than to make sure that the school was clean??? and that people either showed up or new people hired to work... no mention of the specifics details of the contract) by his boss. I struggled to make contact with his boss, and could never get them to fulfill their end on various parts of the contract. Juan would do whatever was asked, and would do very well with it, but it took time and energy that we were paying someone else to take care of (the company), and my boss got tired of seeing my time eaten up in the area of janitorial. At a meeting in early January with some of our board members, I was asked if I thought there was any hope of the management of this other company improving, and I with four months frustration with their management, had to say no. That was the beginning of the end...
The teachers bake brownies for Juan and his crew. They invite them to partake in the food brought in for various functions. My kids run up to them, call them by their names and do their best to converse in spanish. The cleaning crew are almost employees, but because of the hired companies management not doing their job, my cleaning crew lost theirs, and I am responsible. Four people who have eaten in my house, exchanged Christmas gifts with me, became my friends.
They are still my friends I'm sure. They know why we are making the change, but it cannot be easy to accept when you have worked so hard. Three of us (one had already started a new job) had lunch together the last two days, One started a new job today. We are working on getting a car & job for one of the crew, making plans to have dinner with Juan and his family. They bought gifts (real walkie-talkies) for the boys, and they know that I was the one who cast the deciding vote...
AndI know that I could have pushed harder, and perhaps even persuaded the other company to terminate the contract, probably could have brought the cleaning crew under our schools direct employment. But I did not, and for not doing it I am responsible...
Four hard working friends lost their jobs. They knew it was coming. We had talked about it for the last couple months. In fact, they finished well, and ended with heads held high, having run this portion of the race as excellently as they could, and even though I would hire them in an instant if I had a position, I feel like I could and should walk under the nearest pebble...
For those of who who have inquired, I hope this answers some of your questions...
I will be okay, but right now I am not.
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| Okay so, you do the best you can with what you've got. You wonder if you make a difference, and everything you hear says you do, and yet there is a doubt... Why?
The other day I got a new CD and as par for me, I opened it to read through the lyrics. When I got to the Thank Yous (always interesting to see who and what is mentioned), i saw the unexpected. My name appeared there... I know the person who put it there, and there are many people you cross their path, and have opportunity to influence way more than I do, but my name was there. It was really humbling. Life has been kind of that way for a while now. Simply humbling. It is as if God is saying, "Mark, I love you and know that you've been thinking about giving up the race and dropping into the crowd. But as you are a runner of the race, let me, let me show you a piece of what your race looks like from someone else's point of view."
I don't have the elegance of words like a Danny Oaks, or the ability to tell the story like Stu, or to even communicate clearly and concisely like Dan Vance. I find myself continuously surrounded by people who have amazing gifts to communicate, relate, and from my point of view, reflect Christ better than I - even from the quiet Andy Ramsey (9 straight state volleyball titles, licensed commercial electrician, proud grandpa, and follower of Christ) who works with me, or Juan - one of the cleaning crew at the school who always "takes care" of the details to even the loud and boisterous three year old son of mine... Who asks if God permitted the lightening to strike and damage the equipment at the school...
But there it was in small print, like the whisper in the ear, a voice of encouragement to a weary runner with no finish line in sight, looking for a reason to keep running a seemingly unending race.
A small smile from God.
SIDE NOTE: I still think coffee tastes best when enjoyed with friends...
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| Okay so I'm like many people who think that if you know me, a gift card is an unlikely gift. But I stopped to look at a collection of them that the wife and I have a few days ago, and I have to say that gift cards my not only be very practical, but a great way to give a specific anonymous gift - no strings attached.
A couple examples. After being blown away by the complexity of the gift that my dad mailed (and cost!!) for Christmas this year, he mentioned that next year he would likely go back to the gift card, simply because his money could go further towards better gifts, rather than the cost of mailing them. He like many of us feels like it is such an impersonal way to give. But with all the options out there... For example, I shall not soon forget the gift card from my in-laws three Christmas's ago. A $50 Starbucks card. Such a perfect gift...
On the other side, a while back I blogged about the time a year ago (just over) when we were blessed by gift cards coming in various forms and fashions, a $250 walmart card, two sets of 4 $50 Bi-Lo (grocery) cards, that literally kept food in our mouths and with several other gifts, allowed us to make ends meet during a couple rough months.
So what I am chasing here is simply to say that while I get tired of seeing lots of little pieces of plastic discarded at gas stations, and mountains of them at every store, they have been and probably will continue to be huge blessings in my life, whether at Christmas, birthday, or to the person who I see and and know has a need that a card from (pick a store) can fill... The gift of the gift card...
SIDE NOTE: Wolfgang Puck has a pretty good newer line of coffee out... I buy that (French Roast), and some of the Sam's Club brand (Marquis De Pavalli Breakfast blend), and blend them...
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