Crossroads

Which way do I go? It's like an X or T in my path but which way is the right way to go? Someone says left, another says right but I thought I should go straight. I have found myself in this position quite a few times in my life. But right now, this time, it is different.

I have God in my life and He is directing my path. You will see that I did not say it was easier but that it is different. I do not have a crystal ball that shows me the correct path. But I can take comfort in knowing that the God of the universe will make good out of every situation His children are in.

Over the past 2 years of my Christian life I have learned a lot. One of the valuable things I have learned is that God has placed several people in my life of whom are great spiritual leaders, in my life and others. Those that I share life with daily and those that are only a phone call away. I have learned that not only is it okay to ask for help but it is a necessity. I cannot go through this life on my own. Only God can enable me to do so and God has many hands and feet on this earth He created. (1 Corinthians 12:27) I have prayed many prayers of "Lord, help me through this situation" but only to keep my eyes and ears closed to those He sent to help me.

My situation reminded me if a story I once heard. A man is drowning and calling out to God for help. A boat comes to the man and the sailor offers help but the man refuses saying God will help him. This happens several times. God then cries out "I am helping you! Didn't you see the boats come to your aid?". It reminds me to listen and look for God because He always answers our prayers, though sometimes it is not in the way we wanted. I have to continually remind myself that God's plan is much better than anything I can dream up.

Three Sundays ago I attended Grace church in McKean, PA. Pastor Derek was starting a new sermon series titled "Finding Forward" (sermon link at the bottom). This was one of those moments where God was speaking to me through His children on earth.

Derek talked about having to listen for God's direction. In order to do that we have to pray waiting prayers. Like the apostles we need to devote ourselves to prayer (Acts 1:14) and listen for God. This is really hard for me because I am so used to the instaneousness of our culture where everything is just a mouse click or card ride away. 

Lord I will wait for your guidance for You are good and all knowing. I will listen for Your direction! I will pray bold prayers for You are The Almighty God! You will direct me at the crossroads!

Sermon link:

http://whoisgrace.com/resources/sermons/finding-forward-listen-for-gods-direction/

Homemade PSL

Fall is my favorite season by far. Are there any other fellow pumpkin enthusiasts out there? Pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin soup, and the list goes on until you reach … the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Shout out to Starbucks for making this drink a cultural phenomenon in our society. The amazing little drink that costs a whopping $4-5 but oh it tastes delicious but I want to save money! What do I do? Make it at home!

There are various recipes out there if you ask the Google. But here is what I recently tried this week after having some leftover homemade whipped cream in the fridge from our 2nd Annual Thanksgiving-in-October party … and now I think it will become a regular in this house!

Ingredients:

Homemade whipped cream (recipe below)

1 1/2 cups coffee (brewed however you like it)

1-2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup milk (I use 1 or 2%)

Pumpkin pie spice (or a combo of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and if you have it add cloves and allspice)

Making the whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

If you have an electric mixer this is super easy, if not you get a free workout! Place bowl (glass or metal bowl works best) and whisk of electric mixer in freeze for 10 minutes. Once the bowl and whisk are chilled add all the ingredients together in the bowl and whisk away! Come back in a few minutes and check the texture. You want it to form soft to firm peaks. Don't know what those are? Check this great visual resource.

Making the latte:

When your coffee is done brewing, spoon out a heaping spoon of whipped cream into your to-go mug. Add some pumpkin spice in and pour your coffee over top. Sweeten the coffee to your liking (I normally put about 1-2 teaspoons of sugar in mine). Stir the mixture quickly to dissolve the sugar. Then pour in the milk to fill the large cup. Place in microwave for 1 minute. Remove the cup and give it a good stir and top with a sprinkle of pumpkin spice and you are good to go! The combination of the whipped cream and milk makes the drink frothy and delicious!

Craving more pumpkin flavor? Add 1-2 teaspoons of pumpkin puree when you add the sugar. 

Enjoy the fabulous foods of Fall!

UPDATE: Pumpkin Whipped Cream!!
Wow! Adding pumpkin to the whipped cream is fabulous! You must try! Follow the whipped cream recipe and mix in 1/3-1/2 cup of pumpkin puree once the cream is finished. Then add a big scoop to your coffee! Enjoy!!

Riddle me this

Read and answer these four questions.

1. How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?

2. How you put an elephant in a refrigerator?
3. The Lion King is hosting a conference. All of the local animals are in attendance but one. Who is not present?
4. You are slated to be the final speaker at the conference. Unfortunately, to get there you have to swim a river inhabited by crocodiles. What do you do?

Scroll down for the answers.

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Answers:

1. Open the door and put him in.

2. Take out the giraffe and put in the elephant.

3. The elephant, he is still in the refrigerator.

4. You swim; all of the crocodiles are all ready at the conference.

Explanation: Look for the simplest solution (#1).  Keep things simple (#2). Recall facts (the elephant is still in the refrigerator and thus can’t go to the conference-#3). And, use deductive skills in problem solving (the crocodiles are at the conference- #4).  Side note: Most four year olds score 100% on this.

How did you do? Do you over think things? Constantly analyzing a situation? Replaying that conversation over in your head imagining it going every which way? Well you aren't alone! I stumbled upon this riddle while looking for ice breakers for a group of coworkers and I really enjoyed the lesson it taught.

You might be asking, "How does this relate to my life in Christ?" Well God tells us not to worry. When I'm analyzing a situation wondering whether or not I have enough money to buy this or that, or stressing over a dress that doesn't fit right, I'm worrying (See Matt6:25-33). I'm worrying that God isn't enough. That His sacrifice of His only Son wasn't enough. When I remember that, I realize my worries are so trivial in the scope of eternity. God has a plan far greater than anything I could imagine. Jesus has taken my burdensome worries and given me freedom!

Matthew 6:25-33

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Are you a Multiplier or Diminisher?

This week I had the opportunity to tune into a live stream training session with Liz Wiseman on her book The Multiplier Effect. She provided great insight into how best to manage people. Here's a recap!

What is a Multiplier? A person that uses their intelligence, skills, etc. to amplify the intelligence of people around them which in turn makes team members provide their best work. The opposite is a Diminisher. Multipliers create pressure while Diminishers create stress. What is the difference between pressure and stress?

• Example: William Tell had to shoot an apple off his sons head to save his life.
• William feels pressure - He is in control
• Son feels stress - He is not in control

• What do you do with the control you have as a leader?

Based on Liz and her team's research of 150+ managers across multiple cultures, countries, continents, and industries, the follow statistics arose.

Diminshers only get 50% of people's capability. They have the view that people won't figure the problem out without their help. Diminishers are:

• Empire builders, talent hoarders

• Know it all, tell people what to do
• Decision makers: decide then debate, big decisions made behind closed doors

• Micromanagers

Multipliers get 90-100% of people's capability. They have the view that people are smart and will figure out the problem on their own. Multipliers are:

• Talent Magnet: attract and optimize talent

• Liberator: create space for best thinking
• Challenger: extend stretch challenges
• Debate Maker: debate then decide (Don’t spend their time getting buy in, spend it debating, people then feel apart of the decision)

• Investor: instill ownership & accountability (Boss just gives you 51% of vote, boss backs you up, you have all the accountability)

Sometimes we can be a Diminisher and not realize it. Liz calls this the Accidental Diminisher.

What is an Accidental Diminisher? The good manager who wants to be good leader but is having a diminishing impact. Usually the greatest diminishing impact will occur while holding greatest intentions. Below are 6 ways we can be Accidental Diminishers and how to mitigate these situations.

Idea guy:

• Thinks: "My ideas spark creativity in others!" In reality, it shuts out other people's ideas.

• Mitigate: Ask only questions to get ideas from others. Liz gave the example of putting her kids to bed. It was always a struggle of her giving orders. Instead she only asked questions (What time is it? What comes first? Who needs help with PJs? Who will brush their teeth first?) and it worked! The kids had ideas and knew what to do.

Always-on:

• Thinks:" My energy is contagious!" In reality, people are just waiting for him/her to be quiet or just avoid/tune out the person. People feel like they take all the space and shut down other people.

• Mitigate: Play your chips. Dispense opinions in small doses. Like 5 chips in a meeting.

Rescuer:

• Thinks: "I must ensure people are successful!" In reality, too much help can hurt. Employees can then rely too much or get frustrated with all the help.
• Mitigate: Give it back. Help the person but make sure to give them the control/baton back.

Pace setter:

• Thinks: "If I set the standard, others will follow!" In reality, what happens when the leader gets a car length ahead? People slow down, not speed up.

• Mitigate: Supersize a role, 1 size bigger. (Example: toddlers shoes, you buy them 1 size bigger)

Rapid Responder:

• Thinks: "My fast decisions will keep us moving quickly" In reality, employees may feel they have to respond just as quickly which may not be realistic for them.
• Mitigate: Make a debate/conversation, stop on the vital issues don't just breeze by them.

Optimist:

• Thinks: "With the right attitude we can do this!" In reality, sometimes it is an unrealistic expectation and makes employees feel undervalued. (Example: Manager - "How hard can it be?" Employee - "Well, actually it really is hard.")

• Mitigate: Create mistake space, risk and iterate space. Encourage people when they have completed the challenging problem.

Are people smart around you? What does your intelligence do to those around you? Make a simple shift. We know how to lead like multipliers, but we sit comfortably in our ways. If we shift our weight who else will?

Where do you think you fall on the spectrum? Take the Multiplier Effect Quiz!

There is no secular world for God's people

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to see Nancy Martin give several presentations. Nancy is the leader of GE's Edison Engineering Development Program and Lead instructor for technical training across the company. During her presentation one of the topics she covered was effective presentation skills. I enjoy presenting but I do find myself nervous at times. Her tips seem very applicable so I wanted to share!

I also see this directly relating to sharing the gospel with non-Christians! I find it exciting when I see God weaving my IT job into the plan for His Kingdom because there is no "secular part" of a Christian's life. It is about bringing God glory in all parts of our life!

There are three areas to focus on:

1. Content

• The first minute of the presentation is crucial, especially when presenting over the phone. We need to engage our audience, make them understand why they should listen to us!
• Don't start with a joke (and only in some cases should you start with a question). Your audience may be unsure how to react and it could make you start out on the wrong path.
• We should plan our presentations to focus on what our audience wants to hear and determine the point of our story. How much detail do we really need to share? I know the exact number is 11.983945 but maybe I should round it up to 12.

2. Body Language

• When standing in front of a room, the most powerful body language tool is moving forward.
• When sitting in a chair, the most powerful body language tools are leaning forward slightly and sitting on the edge of your chair.
• Both of these techniques give the audience the feeling that the presenter is confident in what they are talking about. This directly translates into the audience believing your message, whether it is for funding for a project, hiring additional resources, or learning about Jesus!

3. Fears

• We can be forgetful which leads us to be fearful and nervous. A practical solution is to write down some notes. Sometimes just the act of writing down what we will say is enough. Other times we can bring those notes with us.
• If we our hearts start pounding and we are sweating … breathe! Try breathing in 1-2-3 through your nose, hold your breath 1-2-3 and blow out through your mouth 1-2-3. Repeat this 2-3 times.

When we have Christ as our Lord and Savior, we know God's Holy Spirit is within us. If we seek God in all our daily actions, He will guide us.

James 1:5-6

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

God's loud voice

Sometimes God answers our prayers in a small still voice (1 Kings 19:12) but sometimes He can be very loud (Psalm 104:7). For me, this happened while I was in Shanghai, China.

When I was preparing to leave for China my constant prayer was, "Lord provide me with fellowship in China so that I may be built up in Your Name to serve You while abroad." Last summer I had been severely discouraged by not having fellowship with other believers during a month long business trip. So now I was fearful that it would be even worse in a foreign country that was a 12 hour time difference to my friends and family in the US. 

But this wasn't a problem for God. 

A friend of mine in Erie, Cindy, told me she knew someone who knew a young Christian woman that lives in Shanghai. One thing led to another and soon I was exchanging emails with Blanche. 

I landed in Shanghai on a Saturday and by Monday Blanche had invited me to tea Saturday afternoon and church Saturday night! I was excited to join my fellow brothers and sisters and worship our King all the way on the other side of the world!! But God's plans were even bigger than I imagined. 

On Tuesday I found out that a night of partying was planned for Saturday. I was excited that God had provided me with an alternate plan for that night. I was eating dinner Tuesday night with my new friend Hannah and I asked her if she was going to the party Saturday and she said no. So I asked her if she wanted to join me for church. Her face lit up and said yes! We instantly smiled and hugged. Over the next 15 minutes it was as if our surroundings had disappeared and we shared how we each came to know Jesus. It was a wonderful start to an eternal friendship. 

That Saturday the three of us, Hannah, Blanche and I, planned to meet for church. Blanche and I hit traffic and were late to church. I was nervous I wouldn't meet up with Hannah because I wasn't able to use my phone to text her. Blanche and I got to church and the service had started. It was packed! We ended up finding two seats in the very back. When I sat down I looked next to me and there was Hannah! Thank you God!

After church, Blanche introduced us to her friends and we went out for dinner. It was so wonderful to have the instant connection with fellow believers. It truly was like having a home away from home. We also had the blessing of attending our new friends Bible study later that week.

God is great all the time. His plans are so far greater than anything I could imagine or plan myself.

1 Kings 19:12

And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

Psalm 104:7

At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.

You want me to sing? .... what?

On Sunday July 21, 2013 I had the opportunity to share how I experienced God's work in Cap Haitien, Haiti with the Millcreek Community Church Haiti missions team. Below is the written transcript of what I shared. You can also listen to it, and stories from the rest of the group, from the MCC website. Here is the direct link to the sermon.

When I began to reflect on this experience, I realized again and again, our God is all powerful. Similar to others in our group, I was nervous going to a fourth world country for the first time but there was another paralyzingly fear that I hadn't realized. I was tasked with teaching songs to the children during our VBS with Ryan... But I was terrified of singing in front of people.

Saturday night, our second night in Haiti, I was sitting in my room praying. I was so overwhelmed already and anxious for Monday's VBS. The rest of the group was playing cards in the living room but I was too upset to come out. I asked God to empower me to overcome this gripping fear. Not a minute later did Amy come knocking on my door and give me a big hug.

On Sunday I spent some time talking with Katie about my fear. I realized several things... that my heart was full of pride, I didn't want people to think I sounded bad, and Satan was using this fear to pull me away from God. God wanted me to minister to these 250 children through song, and it was Satan holding me back. The theme verse for our missions team was, Luke 18:27 But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." It was impossible for me to overcome this fear of singing on my own, but it was possible with God.

Later that Sunday night we had a meeting to finalize everything for VBS and at the end, Jess looked at me and asked me to teach the memory verse song to the group. I looked at Katie, later she said the look on my face was hilarious but that she immediately started praying for me. I took a breath asked God to give me the courage. I sang the three lines and for the next ten minutes I practiced with the group! Afterwards I was elated and Katie encouraged me with a big hug.

Then throughout the week I was brought to tears multiple times as the children enjoyed the voices of Ryan, Seville who translated for us, and I. By the end of VBS the children knew the memory verse, Psalm 16:11, and could sing it strongly! Together we praised our Lord in English and Creole. Cultural barriers were broken down through song and the children learned about God's love and our Savior Jesus Christ.  

I learned that a fear can start small but grow to have a huge impact on our lives and hinder our service to our Lord. 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I learned I need to continually give myself over to God, and not be fearful in my weaknesses but joyful in that God's power is made perfect in those weaknesses!

An App for That ... Organizing my Life

As I get ready to start my 3rd ITLP rotation at GE Transportation I decided to take a step back and see how I could organize myself better. Some of my friends may laugh and say that I am already organized. I agree but I just love organizing things so why not try and do it better?

I got out my technology which consist of an iPad2, iPhone5 (iOS) and Google Nexus (Andriod OS) tablet. I use each for various tasks but I want them to work seemlessly together. The Apple products naturally work together but the question holds ... how do I integrate Apple and Android?

After some intense market research and user analysis I have come upon a great list of productivity apps that work great across operating systems including Apple iOS, Android, and web browsers (i.e. Chrome and FireFox).

1. Pocket: Surfing the web and find a bunch of great articles or your friend emails you an article but you don't have time to read it? No problem ... put it in your "Pocket"! This app stores the articles offline so you can read them at your leisure. It also boasts a great user interface.
2. Currents: A product of Google that takes news feeds and brings them together so you can surf around different news channels getting the up to date events.
3. Wunderlist: Got a long to do list? Writing it on paper? What happens when you loose the paper? Uh oh! Well now your To-Do list is synced everywhere! Great functionality to have multiple lists and check boxes to have the satisfaction of checking something off your list!
4. Bloglovin': So many blogs so little time! I previously had all the blogs I followed in a single folder in my bookmarks but it was a pain to check when there were new posts. Now this app does it all ... pulls the new posts together for you to read. You can filter on different blogs as well.
5. OneNote: Awesome app to take detailed notes (not to-do lists like Wunderlist) such as planning a party or travel somewhere. You can share the notebook with friends to collaborate. The sections of notebooks allow for a lot of organization.
6. Evernote: I use this for recipe collections and Bible study notes. It's a great way to store more detailed notes (not to-do lists like in Wunderlist) that don't need a certain order like in OneNote. Great tagging, search and sharing capabilities.
7. Duolingo: Want to learn a new language? This is the app for you! It's like playing a fun game! You can challenge your friends, even if they are learning a different language. Trust me just check it out ... Italian, German, French, Spanish and more!
8. Spotify: Best app to stream music via radio stations based on artists or genres.
9. Mint: THE BEST personal finance app out there. Brings in information from your bank accounts, loans, and investments to give you a great overall picture of your financial status. You can create budgets, goals and more!

Let me know what you think! What other productivity apps do you use?

Happy organization and planning!

So what did you build in Haiti?

While our team was in Haiti we stayed at the One Mission Society (OMS) compound in Cap Haitien, Haiti. OMS is a Christian organization that serves in over 70 countries world wide. In Cap Haitien they have a 20+ acre compound that serves many purposes. Over our six day stay we were able to see much that OMS does for the community. Their compound has a hospital, school, church, carpentry shop, cooperative farming and several house buildings. It was great to see local Haitian men and women working in each of the ministry areas OMS provides. There are over ten full time missionaries that live here but we only met a few as most were visiting family during the summer months.  

One of the things I learned while staying at OMS was that while it is great to give someone medical care or provide a carpentry job for them, it is far greater to use that as an opportunity to make the gospel known! 

When I returned to the States, so many people asked me, "So what did you build in Haiti?". At first I wasn't sure how to answer that question. I realized that many people living in the world just assume I went down to Haiti, built some houses, gave some money and left. Then it dawned on me that this in of itself is a way to make Christ known. I relied on God to boldly share that I was in Haiti spreading the gospel. Making Him known was my main mission, while there are many avenues to do so, such as helping at an orphanage or hosting a VBS. 

A few days ago my friend Anthony provided a great answer to the question, "So what did you build?"  That answer is, "We are building relationships on Jesus Christ!!" Amen!!

God calls us to spread His Word. If I go to a fourth world country and build a house or hug a child and think, oh I am a good person now, I've got it all wrong. I must go with a heart to serve the Lord. I have learned that If I can't use actual words, my actions can show Christ's love as long as I remember I am there to serve Him not myself. 

The world is lost and needs to know of the Savior Jesus Christ!

Romans 3:11

"No one understands; no one seeks for God."

If no one is seeking God then we must bring them His Word!

This is a photo of the entrance to the OMS compound. As with all large parcels of land in Haiti, it is surrounded by large concrete walls to prevent squatters from living on the land. 

This is a photo of inside the OMS compound. This is the house that I stayed at with 5 other people from our group.

And I thought finals were overwhelming ...

Saturday was our first full day in Haiti. Throughout the day we were preparing our supplies for the Vacation Bible School (VBS) we would be doing Monday - Wednesday. The day went in a bit of a haze. I was still struggling with feeling overwhelmed.

That night our whole group was hanging out but I just felt like I was going to burst into tears, so I retreated to my room. I began to write my prayers to God. I talked to God through the words I was writing on the pages of my journal. I was struggling with what I had witnessed so far in the Dominican and Haiti. I couldn't believe I was seeing such poverty in person. I felt like I couldn't make a difference. As I was praying I wrote, "I feel alone. I want someone to notice I'm not out there with the group." Not a second later did Amy walk into my room, ask me to play cards, and give me a hug! God doesn't always answer us immediately like this but after two days of this completely overwhelming sensation, it was the encouragement I desperately needed.

Satan was polluting my mind with the thoughts that Haiti was unreachable and that I was unqualified to spread God's Word. God reminded me through Amy's hug and His Word, that it is not me that brings people to Christ but the Holy Spirit working through me. God can do the impossible.

Luke 18:27

But he said, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."

Leaving my comfort zone - Entering Haiti

When we arrived in Santiago, Dominican Republic (DR) I thought to myself, "Oh this isn't too bad, it kind of feels like Florida." There were palm trees, it was warm but not too bad and people were speaking Spanish. Then as we drove around to get to our hotel I noticed the city felt more run down and less and less like Florida. I was coming to realize I was beginning to leave my comfort zone.

Fast forward 24 hours to the border crossing.

It felt surreal when we approached the border. There were thousands of people, Haiti and Dominican, all around. People were purchasing goods and bringing them back across the border. On the Dominican side we had to wait on the bus outside the immigration office while the bus attendant took our passports inside to get stamped. I was definitely trusting in the Lord when I had to hand over my passport at the beginning of the trip - but I did get it back! Our skilled bus driver then maneuvered the large bus across the border. In the picture below, the DR is on the left and Haiti is on the right. Also in the photo is one of the many armed UN officials at the border and throughout Haiti.

Once we got to the Haitian side, we had to get off the bus and go into the immigration office to get our passports stamped and get our green cards. We had eaten lunch while on the bus but many of us had not finished our rice. We saved the food and as we got off the bus we planned to give it to the children. I was in shock as I got to the door of the bus. The children were almost climbing inside shouting in Creole. I handed over my food and quickly followed the group inside. I had never seen a person so desperately excited to get food. It broke my heart and I realized I was completely outside my comfort zone. 

That evening when we arrived at our home for the week in Haiti, I was completely overwhelmed. Our team gathered together after dinner to talk about our experiences thus far. I didn't say anything at first but I finally admitted I was so overwhelmed. Pastor Rob smiled and said that was good. He reminded me that God is in control and He is all powerful. Afterwards Melissa (Pastor Rob's wife) came and gave me a big reassuring hug. I was still feeling overwhelmed and nervous. I wasn't exactly sure my purpose was on the trip. I prayed that night that God would empower me to overcome the nervousness and fears, that I may serve Him and bring Him glory. I was confident God would prevail. 

Proverbs 19:21

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

The Great Commission - Haiti

God has commanded all His followers to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the nations. This includes your local neighborhood but also going outside your comfort zone - which may include traveling abroad.

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

God blessed me with the opportunity to make Him known in Cap Haitien, Haiti. I joined 12 of my Millcreek Community Church brothers and sisters to be God's hands and feet, making disciples in Haiti. Our 48 hours of travel began Thursday June 27, 2013 at 4am when we met at the church to board a bus to the Buffalo airport. From there, we flew to JFK in NY then off to Santiago, Dominican Republic. We spent the night in Santiago and Friday we took a bus to Cap Haitien.

Over the next few weeks I plan on writing several blog posts describing the great works of God that happened during our trip. A friend of mine told me before I left, that it isn't a missions trip until you break down and cry - giving it all up to the Lord, for nothing is impossible for Him.

The mission team's verse for the week:

Luke 18:27

But he said, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."

View of the mountains around Cap Haitien, Haiti

No Passport? Not a problem for God

It was Sunday night June 16, around 6pm, as I was pulling into my garage when I came to the realization that I did not have my passport for Millcreek Community Church's missions trip to Cap Haitien, Haiti - and we are leaving next week. I had mailed my passport out to process my work visa for China. I will be in China all of August this summer. I mistakenly told the visa processing company that I did not need my passport back until the end of July before I headed off to China, completely forgetting I needed it for Haiti June 27 - July 6. I was a crying mess as I quickly grabbed my stuff from my car and ran inside my apartment. 

With tears streaming down my face I fumbled with my cellphone to text Pastor Brad the news. Brad said he and Jill would pray. I then navigated to the visa company's website only to find out their offices do not open until Monday morning at 8:30am. What was I to do?!? My anxiety was sky rocketing, thinking of the worst case scenarios. I called Katie, a wonderful woman of godly encouragement in my life, who is also going on the trip to Haiti. She answered and I told her the news. She assured me God's hand was on the situation and reminded me He is in control. She prayed for me over the phone and I could feel the tears slowing down. I also called Maggie, a dear sister in Christ whom I miss terribly, and she too assured me that nothing is out of God's control. I am so thankful the Lord has placed such strong Christian women in my life. 

After talking to Katie and Maggie, I laid on the floor of my living room, in complete submission to Christ. I knew there was nothing I could do between Sunday night and Monday morning - except rely on Christ. He will provide. The Lord has a plan and whatever is in His plan cannot be stopped (Job 42:2). I prayed fervently that God would relieve me of the anxieties of not having my passport for Haiti and that I would be able to sleep soundly, that I may bring Him glory on Monday. As I prayed I felt the Lord's presence as my tears stopped completely and my breathing slowed. I reached out to many of my friends and asked for their prayers as well. I was able to sleep soundly and I awoke refreshed Monday morning. 

I called the visa processing company and Monday morning they had just received my passport and visa from the Chinese embassy!! Hallelujah!! They said they could rush ship my passport back and I would have it by Wednesday this week. For the rest of the day I kept refreshing the UPS tracking site, waiting to see an update on when the package would ship. Late Monday night the information was updated and it showed that my passport would arrive Tuesday morning!! I worked from home this morning so that I could be here to sign for the package. At 10:30am our prayers were answered again, my passport was in my hands! The Lord is always at work in my life but sometimes I forget and He needs to remind me to continually rely on Him.

Job 42:2

"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."

Friendship, love and discipleship

Eight months ago, I didn't think I was ready to lead others along their journey toward Christ, yet God presented me with the opportunity to disciple two young woman. I was excited yet nervous. The two girls knew each other and went to the same school but were not close friends. I saw this as an opportunity for the 3 of us to grow closer to Christ together and in turn develop a close friendship. 

During our first few months of meeting, I opened and closed us in prayer at our local meeting spot of Panera Bread. I would lead us in a discussion on the Bible study, Multiply. But as the months passed, I saw each of them growing in their love of Christ and in turn The Lord was empowering and equipping each of them. Soon they would take turns closing us in prayer and engage in great discussions on our lessons. They had become great friends, meeting up outside of our scheduled Bible studies too. One night we swapped places and the girls taught me what they learned at the Secret Church event at MCC! 

Titus 3:2-5 (ESV)

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

God has placed several mature Christian women in my life who have guided me and continue to provide wisdom, guidance and love. I now see that God has given me a new life that I may share it with others.

Now, 8 months later I cannot imagine my life on this earth without Narissa and Charissa. I do not know if they will ever realize how much their friendship, love, and time spent together has impacted my life. Narissa is going to be a senior. Charissa is going off to college. Though her college is here in town, I know from experience she will be very busy. While I may meet with the girls one on one as our schedules conflict, I know God has blessed us with a friendship that will last for eternity. We are sisters in Christ. We will forever be united when we meet our Father in Heaven. 

Photo: Birthday dinner. The presents were copies of Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love, a Christian novel based on the book of Hosea. This summer we are studying Hosea then reading Francine's book!

Life lessons from burnt sauce and learning to listen to The still small voice

This past Sunday seemed like a normal weekend afternoon, one full of cooking. I had a lot on my mind, with things going on in my life but I thought some cooking would lighten my mood. Though this time I decided I was going to make homemade granola, roasted almond, cocoa roasted almonds, more sugar syrup, and a huge pot of marinara sauce (heavy on the garlic). I know that I can multitask, but I must say that was quite the undertaking. As I'm wizzing around the kitchen stirring this and chopping that, I'm not thinking about much really. My thoughts were centered around "I must get all this cooking done now!". 

I successfully made some delicious maple, raisin, walnut granola and some sweet and salty roasted almonds. A few hours into cooking my sauce I realized something smelled awful. I tentatively walked closer to the stove and almost shouted with frustration. I had burned an entire large pot of sauce! I thought, "How did that happen!? I never burn anything!". I guess there's always a first time for everything. The entire bottom of the pot had charred which made the burn taste permeate the entire sauce. I couldn't save any of it, it tasted so bad. 

After cleaning up the mess and accepting defeat in the kitchen, I retired to comfy chair. I began to think - something I had been suppressing the whole afternoon. I began to talk to God and realized that instead of dealing with the problems on my heart, I pushed them down by being busy. That is something I struggle with, being busy. I am constantly on the go. It's how I'm wired and also because I love doing so many things; cooking, reading, meeting with friends, cooking, baking, searching for recipes ... you get the idea. While talking with God, I realized that there is a difference between have a busy day and making myself busy. 

Busyness has become and idol in my life at times. 

God opened my eyes on Sunday evening. I need to listen to His "still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12) and come to Him with my problems, not drown myself in busyness. It was after the incident of burning my sauce that I heard God's voice. 

Today I am thankful that I burned my sauce, for it was after that "fire" that I heard what God was trying to tell me.

1 Kings 19:12 (NKJV)

"and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice."

Encouragement at Panera

Every Monday night I meet with two high school girls, Charissa and Narissa. We have been meeting since last Fall and our Bible study is focused around Francis Chan and David Platt's book titled Multiply. Learning how being a disciple of God means we are to make disciples.

When we were first getting ready to meet I wasn't sure where I wanted to get together with the girls. I had never held a Bible study in a public setting before. Even in college we tended to have a room to meet in or even went to someone's apartment. But I talked with the girls and we decided to meet at Panera Bread. It was a courageous step for all of us, taken in faith, to show those around us that we are not ashamed to proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior in public.

Each time we meet, I open our study in prayer asking God to bless our time together. I know that our bowed heads, closed eyes and me praying out loud may draw attention, but I continued to ask God to use our Bible studies at Panera as a witness to those around us.

A few months ago, a group of women was sitting next to us. After one of the girls closed our study in prayer, one of the women turned to us and asked what we were studying. I excitedly shared Multiply and the Bible. They attended another church nearby. We chatted for a bit before they left. It was great encouragement to meet others interested in learning more about Jesus Christ!

But where God is building His people up, the Devil is ready to strike. Not shortly after that night of encouragement did we have a night of discouragement. A neighboring table over heard our talk of Jesus and began to say some mocking words. I instantly heard them though the girls didn't notice until after a few minutes. I smiled at the girls and we continued on with the Holy Spirit guiding us through Scripture. It was hard for me to refocus because I felt discouraged. I was being tempted to doubt my Bible study in a public setting.

What should I do in a situation like this? Pray! God reminded me that we WILL be persecuted for following Him but we will also have eternity in Heaven with Him! We continued to have our Bible studies at Panera.

Tonight we were discussing how we can trust that God is always working in our lives. We trust in Him with our faith. When we come to Him in prayer, He always answers, though we may not always see His answer right away. I remembered that I must surrender my live to Christ, asking for His will to be done, not mine (Mark 14:36). I have been praying that God would continue to use our Bible study to encourage those around us.

Tonight God boldly answered my prayers! Not once, but TWICE, two women stopped by our table to say we were such an encouragement. Each woman had a huge smile on their face. We exchanged a few words before they moved on. God worked through those two women to show me that yes, He is listening to prayers and He getting the glory!

We are called to live in Community

I have come to realize over the past few months that God can use every situation to bring Him glory. I knew that but God has a way of reminding you when you need Him most. When my best friend, housemate and sister in Christ, Maggie was moving away for six months for work, I was excited and happy for her, but I was sad too. I had just gotten comfortable in our routine of always seeing each other, hanging out together with our friends, cooking together, going to church together. So I looked at the six months that lay ahead as a road of loneliness. I had fought with loneliness before I met Jesus, so I knew that road. I didn't want to take it.

But as January rolled around that's what I did. I ended up traveling so much for work in February and March that I rarely was in town to attend church and fellowship with my Millcreek Community Church (MCC) family. But I was definitely enjoying myself on my work adventures! I went to Chicago, New York, Georgia and Ohio. It was a blast traveling with co-workers, expanding my business acumen in training events, and meeting new people in the company. Though in March I began to feel a bit drained. I realized I had my priorities in the wrong order. I was putting my career in front of God. No wonder I felt so lonely amongst a group of people!  I was filing the emptiness of missing Maggie with the busyness of life.

God used and is using my time apart from Maggie to teach me to find my security and significance in Him. I can enjoy the quiet times in my apartment and listen to Him but that I also have a lovely family at MCC through which God is constantly working. A fellowship of believers that is there to support, encourage, and challenge me.

At MCC's Young Adult ministry in April Pastor Todd Cyphers spoke about the necessity of community with a group of believers. In John 3:12-15 (written below) Jesus gave us the perfect example of what it means to live in community. We are called to server our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, as Jesus shows in the example of washing the feet of His disciples. This also means that we are to accept when our brothers and sisters serve us. For me that meant, it was okay to reach out to my sisters and ask to spend an afternoon together. We are to live life together, the good times and the bad. As I mentioned in my previous post, prayer is a powerful tool and combine that with community and wow. It is a wonderful experience to ask a fellow believer to pray for you - and see the fruit of God.

John 3:12-15 (HCSB)

12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His robe, He reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. 16 “I assure you: A slave is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

A dismal situation turns Glorious!

This afternoon I found myself being pulled downward. I was a bit stressed throughout the day and hit lots of traffic while driving across town causing me to miss my dentist appointment. Usually something like this would not bother me but all of a sudden I felt overcome with frustration. I had left work to try and make this appointment and now I would have to miss work again to make the rescheduled appointment. I had a pile of work to do when I got home along with assigned homework for the course I am taking. My mind started going in every direction and before I knew it I was crying. I had to pull over. 

But here is where the story turns Glorious. 

God has taught me to turn to Him in times of frustration and grief. As I sat in a store parking lot on 38th Street I began to pray. Psalm 4 came to mind. As I prayed to God I asked him to "give me relief from my distress". From His Word, I knew He was listening to my prayer. I sat in my car and was silent listening to the Lord. And all the glory to Him, my anxiety subsided. Peace came over me. 

I am always amazed at how the Lord can utilize a seemingly dismal situation to bring glory to Him. God reminded me that He should be the focus of my life, not the things of this world. I live for Christ and Christ alone. He is the Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the Almighty God! Amen!

Psalm 4 

1 Answer me when I call to you,
my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods

3 Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.

4 Tremble and do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.

5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the Lord.

6 Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?”
Let the light of your face shine on us.

7 Fill my heart with joy
when their grain and new wine abound.

8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.

Cooking adventures: Homemade sauce and Pizza!

I love to cook. If you a close friend of mine you sure know that by now. I try to feed everyone. It's how I show I care for you. One of my most recent adventures has been making homemade marinara sauce! 

I will never go back to jarred pasta sauce again!

Making the sauce was relatively easy. I have done it twice so far. The first time the sauce came out great, though it had a kick to it - it was high in acidity. For the second go around I added a few chopped carrots to the sauce and voilà, the high acidity was nixed!

Cilantro, Red onion, garlic, tomatoes

I will forever have homemade sauce stocked in my fridge and freezer. It came in handy this weekend when my friends and I decided to make pizza! We used some premade crusts as we were short on time (that will have to be another cooking adventure soon though!). Smoothed on some sauce - though not too much cause then the pizza would get soggy. I would say it was less than a 1/4 cup of sauce. Then the cheese of course, about 1 cup. For toppings we had two pizzas. One had red onions, cilantro, garlic and tomatoes. The second had roasted red and green bell peppers and garlic. Both were fantastic but the pepper pizza was out of this world! I think it was the fact the peppers were roasted the day prior and sat in the fridge to develop more flavor.

Cooking is always an adventure! To my friends, you are always welcome in my kitchen. Let's cook a meal together!

The learnings of a 1st Rotation ITLP

At the conclusion of each of our rotations we, the ITLPs as well as all the other Leadership Program members, must go through our end of rotation review with our Assignment Leader (AL, manager for that rotation). My AL was the Operations Leader for Transportation, Tony Ferretti. Tony is a great leader. I have learned the difference between a manager and a leader. A manager plans, organizes, and communicates. A leader inspires and motivates. A leader must also have the skills of a manager but a manager may not have the skills of a leader. Tony always pushed me to go outside my comfort zone and take risks. He led me to be a leader - inspiring and motivating my colleagues.

Throughout our final review session, we discussed how we can have continued success in the workplace.

• We need to be able to identify key market areas or stakeholders with gaps and challenges - and determine how IT can improve or fix the issues.
• Senior leadership mentoring is a vital way to learn leadership skills. Take the risk and engage with a senior leader and boldly ask if they will mentor you.
• For future rotations - take the big, scary rotations that go deep into pillar applications so you can really learn about the business.
• Learn from leaders and make notes about what you like and what you don't like. We need to develop our own leadership styles and just like when we were children, we imitate. But at this age we can do so with more choice and poise. We can select the traits of leaders we see that we like and add it to our repertoire.

It is with many thanks to Tony and the entire CTO team and my ITLP program manager Nate Arnold, that I had all these learnings and I can say my first rotation was such an amazing experience.

"Networking is like speed dating, awkward" ... some final thoughts on FOL

Looking back on my Foundations of Leadership (FOL) training experience, I must say that it is one that I will carry with me for the rest of my career and life. As the title suggests, speed networking is in fact, awkward. Throughout the training we were forced to go around the room and talk to people we had not met yet. It was awkward in the moment but looking back, it was well worth it. I now know people in every GE business! Here are some of my final thoughts on FOL, based off of the great quotes I remembered from our various instructors and leaders.

"Beware of CAVE people." CAVE = Citizen's Against Virtually Everything. You cannot please everyone.

"Statisticians have their head in the oven and their feet in their freezer and say on average they feel okay", said our instructor of business acumen and finances on Day 1. It reminds me to do to the obvious, be wary of averages when looking at numbers.

"Sitting is the 21st century smoking". Remember to keep yourself healthy when you are working hard!

"Non words, um uh, are like fat calories". So true! When speaking in public we revert to non words when we are nervous or need to fill a void, as some people (as in me) crave sweets.

"Most of the time we don't communicate. We just take turns talking." We need to remember to truly listen. A characteristic of a successful leader is one who listens to those around them.

Thank you to all that stayed tuned in for my FOL reviews. Next up are some learnings from my 1st ITLP rotation!

FOL Day 5: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Do you know the answer to that question? What do you want to be when you grow up? Well that is what we discussed on Friday, the last day of Foundations of Leadership training at Crotonville - GE's corporate university training center.

Richard Simpson led a discussion about shaping our careers. He said you should try and describe your leadership style in 3 words. His words were demanding, focused, and energetic. After some thought ...

My leadership style is: passionate, organized, and results-driven.

Next Richard discussed values. We had already discussed the GE Growth Values, so now we were discussing our personal values. I was very surprised when Richard explained that his number one value was his faith!! I was so excited. He is a superbly successful GE executive and he said his values were faith, family, and work, in that order. It was refreshing to hear that because there are many people in this world that put work first in their life and can make it an idol as they pursue success in a worldly sense.

Continuing with the theme of values for the rest of the day, we did an exercise to visualize our personal values. We were given a deck of cards that had values written on them. Through a process of making piles, ranking, dropping and combining we identified our top 5 values. Mine were:

1. Faith
2. Family
3. Health
4. Service
5. Friends

Our instructor then asked for volunteers to share their top value. It was interesting to hear the variety of responses. I boldly raised my hand and shared that faith was number one value. Others that shared did not list faith as their number one but voiced answers such as family, challenge, health, loyalty, and achievement, to name a few.

Team bonding...

Throughout FOL we had many fun games. On this last day we were challenge to create a chair that would hold the tallest person on our team ... out of balloons and masking tape! Then the teams competed to see which team's chair lasted at least 10 seconds without popping any balloons. We successfully lasted the full 10 seconds! Here are two photos; lowering our teammate onto the balloons and then tensely holding our breath during the 10 seconds!

FOL Day 4: Team Challenge of Epic Proportions

Our 4th day at Foundations of Leadership training at the GE Crotonville learning center, was all about team development. Most of us had learned about the Stages of Team Development; Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Concluding & Renewing, so the lesson was a refresher from when we last reviewed it in our college courses. We were then tasked with identifying where our team fell in the categories and why. My team decided we were in the Performing stage because we were team centered, we had fierce team loyalty (as evident in our cheering each other on during the team challenges), and we encouraged each other.

Jeff Burns is the director at the GE Crotonville training center. Jeff came to talk to us about developing our careers. Some words of advice that stuck with me were that we should aim towards being that "exceeds expectations" employee. He also proposed an interesting view of a successful career. When you to combine building your abilities, capturing what you want to learn, and meeting  the organizational needs, you will grow yourself as a leader.

The EPIC Challenge:

After lunch the teams were given a packet - and challenged with completing the tasks within the concealed packet in 3 hours. Ready, set, GO! The expressive side of all my team members came out and we ran to the break out room to start working immediately. As we are running I am opening the packet and listing off the things we had to complete:

"Ah-ha" moments of the week for all team members, networking worksheets for all team members, poster that represented our team, social styles map of our team, logo and advertisement for FOL, GRPI analysis of our team, an egg drop and commercial to sell the egg drop, poem about FOL, debrief worksheets of this exercise

Boy oh boy does time fly, but our team flowed through the activities smoothly. We each gravitated towards activities where we could utilize our skillsets and help the team. Our team was only 1 of a few teams that completed all the activities. One team in particular that did not finish all the activities explained how they really wanted to work together as a team on everything. It was interesting to see how different team view the tasks. Below, for your amusement, is the poem about FOL that I wrote:

Growing in GE
Here at Crotonville beginning our journeys
Who knew we would enter in so many tourneys
External focus we expand each day
Using knowledge of market industry along the way
Clear thinking we grow individually
Communicating complex information effectively
Imagination and Courage we embrace all the time
Advocating for change even if we mime
Inclusiveness we exude as a team
Proactively helping others with out a scream
Expertise we deepen throughout our jobs
Seeking opportunities to impact without being snobs
Foundations of Leadership a time we will miss
Most importantly Jim Swims was pure bliss

I hope you have been enjoying the updates about FOL. The final installment, FOL Day 5 will be posted soon! Stay tuned!