How’s your job going?

None of the material that follows is mine but I can identify with much of what is written.

The Career Manifesto

1. Unless you’re working in a coal mine, an emergency ward, or their equivalent, spare us the sad stories about your tough job. The biggest risk most of us face in the course of a day is a paper cut.

3. You are paid to take meaningful actions, not superficial ones. Don’t brag about that memo you sent out or how hard you work. Tell us what you achieved.

4. Although your title may be the same, the job that you were hired to do three years ago is probably not the job you have now. When you are just coasting and not thinking several steps ahead of your responsibilities, you are in dinosaur territory and a meteor is coming.

5. If you suspect that you’re working in a madhouse, you probably are. Even sociopaths have jobs. Don’t delude yourself by thinking you’ll change what the organization regards as a turkey farm. Flee.

6. Your technical skills may impress the other geeks, but if you can’t get along with your co-workers, you’re a litigation breeder. Don’t be surprised if management regards you as an expensive risk.

7. If you have a problem with co-workers, have the guts to tell them, preferably in words of one syllable.

8. Don’t believe what the organization says it does. Its practices are its real policies. Study what is rewarded and what is punished and you’ll have a better clue as to what’s going on.

9. Don’t expect to be perfect. Focus on doing right instead of being right. It will simplify the world enormously.

10.If you plan on showing them what you’re capable of only after you get promoted, you need to reverse your thinking.

There is so much truth in what is written here. It’s obviously a tongue in cheek but with a enough truth to make me think about the way that I work.

What makes guacamole, guacomole

The ingredients of Kraft Guacomole.

WATER, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COCONUT AND SOYBEAN OIL, CORN SYRUP, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE (FROM MILK), FOOD STARCH MODIFIED, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF POTATOES, SALT, AVOCADO, DEFATTED SOY FLOUR, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, TOMATOES, SODIUM CASEINATE, VINEGAR, LACTIC ACID, ONIONS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, GELATIN, XANTHAN GUM, CAROB BEAN GUM, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SPICE, WITH SODIUM BENZOATE AND POTASSIUM SORBATE AS PRESERVATIVES, GARLIC, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CITRIC ACID, YELLOW 6, YELLOW 5, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, BLUE 1, ARTIFICIAL COLOR.

How do we ever find the real thing?

Money isn’t everything

We all know that is true. But we were given a couple of passes for us to go to a children’s expo in our city. It was supposed to have lots of fun things for kids to do.

We decided that we would go. We didn’t want to explain to the person that it would be difficult for us to afford the extra money to pay for the kids (the passes were only for the adults) so we decided for once that we would put it on credit (we never do this normally).

When we get there we find that we have to pay $5 cash for parking. This is not normally charged. Luckily we did have this on us.

But, we find at the ticket boot with it’s mile long line that they were only taking cash. This too was unusual. This precluded us from going in. We felt a bit disappointed plus we wasted $5 on parking for about 10 mins time.

We decided that we would take the kids to a park. We had a packed lunch already for the day at the Convention centre so we made the day into a picnic. Then we played in the playground and went for a walk. This also meant a lot of playing around together.

Even though we felt disappointed I don’t think the kids felt the slightest bit neglected. In fact they had a great time.

April and I talked on the way home and reflected on this. We are not poor, but we don’t have lots of spare cash. Like most families we need to watch how we spend our money. We tend to live simply. Ultimately it comes down to priorities. For us it is ensuring the kids can go to a good school and that we can spend time with them. This means that I make sacrifices in my career and that April doesn’t work.

When I think about the relationship that I have with my kids it is more than worth it.

What happens when things go wrong

You have to say sorry. Thank goodness we are seeing the other side of what happens when things go wrong as well. When our leading lights stuff it up. From Mel Gibson, to Kramer to back home in Australia people are making mistakes.

• Watch the Glenn Milne video here
  
• Then Kramer on David Letterman

Then unless we have forgotten just recently Mel Gibson’s meltdown and his need for a huge public apology. I am not sure if Glenn Milne has yet reached the level of humility displayed by Mel. Really self justification as this article sounds like suggests that the lesson has not really be learned properly yet. None of us needs to flog ourselves for the rest of our life for a mistake but all of us need to go beyond dealing with the surface issues.

Glen blaming mixing alcohol with medication may be partly the cause of his actions. But really what we saw was the action of a very angry man. None of that anger is properly faced it is simply justified. Sure he may have been upset by the way that he has been treated but how many careers and lives have been ruined because of inaccurate reporting by the Australian media.

What is the way forward in such a situation? Forgiveness. We all have to let it go and get on with life. I felt sorry for Glenn Milne. His antics on the stage were not acts of greatness. But they did make him vulnerable and where that vulnerability goes will be the measure of his future greatness.

The same is true for any Hollywood star or even a mere mortal such as myself.

Five tips on how to write a great blog

1. Inspire – People like to be inspired and touched on an emotional level. Those who are able to overcome difficulties and encourage others to do the same are the bloggers that we will return to again and again.
2. Use Humor – It continues to be one of the main traits that will attract women and it works for bloggers too. Sometimes it’s links that go for the funny bone that are also popular. Keep seeing the funny side of life and the whole world will laugh with you.
3. Use lists. People tend to scan on the web. Lists enable people to decide if they want to read more. Its even better if you number your list it establishes priorities
4. Tell a story. My kids love me reading them a story. We never really grow out of this. However they need to be relatively brief when compared to traditional writing. Remember that a lot of people are scanning first so formatting is important.
5. Write a how to.

Sometimes I break all these rules simply because I can or I feel like it. Don’t worry if you aren’t always funny or always have an inspiring story to tell. Your story is important and your blog will be the unfolding of that story. Most important is to keep blogging. We need to hear your story.

Church Almagamation – Year Two

We spent 9 years of our life in a small country town in North Queensland called Charters Towers. These are my memories of the people and events that were a part of our life during that time.

What we are also hearing is that today is also a day of post denominationalism. That is more and more people are choosing a church because of the way that it meets their needs rather than the particular brand that it carries. Within denominations we are seeing a broader spectrum of worship styles, etc that are a reflection of the local community and not the church label.

This post denominationalism is also far more difficult to see in a rural community. In these communities family connections that may extend back generations tie many of the members of churches to their denomination. Others may come and go but these people are often very hard to shift. There is not the same range of choices that is available in city areas. Most people are Pentecostal, Conservative or Orthodox and in most country towns there is only one each of these.

In fact when living in Charters Towers in 1990 while a part of a mission team I was a member of the Baptist Church and April a member of the Church of Christ. Prior to coming to Charters Towers we were members of the Anglican Church in Emerald. It was only when I began as the Church of Christ pastor that my membership was transferred to the Church of Christ.

Once more we began to here talk of joining the Baptists. It required a lot of discussion and the forming of a new committee. (The foundation of church existence) I often found the issues that were raised nit picking and of little relevance to the Kingdom of God. I also realised that this was a necessary part of bringing people along for the journey rather than forcing a conclusion on them.

Sorting through the details was a slow tedious process. What we did discover was that there was very little that separated us. Most of the traditional differences in the denominations were no longer relevant. One of our biggest hurdles was getting any sort of real interest from our governing bodies. It seemed there were always more pressing issues that had to be dealt with.

We decided that beginning in the new year we would trial an amalgamation of the two churches. Services would be alternated between our two buildings. My support changed again. During the year the Baptists agreed to support me as the full time minister. The cost of my wages was shared between the two churches. This meant a reshuffling of my schedule. What really happened was that I kept most of the things I previously was doing and added the full time load of ministry on top of that.