One of our exercises during intern training was the Gallup Poll's Strengths Finder test (check out the book here), which appears to be growing in popularity. The test gives you your top 5 strengths out of 34 categories. Mine are:
1. Learner: I like to learn new things, and I like it when people teach me things. However, I have a hard time finishing or figuring out when to stop learning (ie, how much research do I really need to do for this talk or paper?)
2. Achiever: I work hard, and I like to see results. It also leaves me prone to perfectionism.
3. Deliberative: I'm thoughtful with my decisions, and even though I'm not good at coming up with ideas on my own, I'm good at finding holes in others' plans where they haven't thought through yet. Sometimes this means I'm slow to make decisions.
4. Relator: I prefer fewer close friends rather than many superficial friends, and I seek to deepen relationships. I used to be really frustrated when I felt like I was the only one initiating with friends until I learned that not everyone thinks like me.
5. Responsibility: I take ownership of what I say I'll do and I have high standards for myself. However, this also means that I can take on too much for myself, and that I have trouble delegating because I may not necessarily trust people to take care of things.
What are your strengths, and how do you do you seek to make them more effective?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
"Taken" and beauty of the God's character
**Warning: spoiler alert**
I saw Taken a few nights ago, and I was struck by how beautifully it portrays what Christ did for us. A bit of background -- in the movie, a teenage girl and her friend finally convince her father Bryan, an ex-secret agent, to let them go to Paris. Through a series of events demonstrating a serious lack of judgment (ie, sharing a cab with a stranger, accidentally mentioning that they'll be home alone, etc), they end up getting themselves kidnapped by a sex slavery ring as she is on the phone with her father. One of the kidnappers picks up the phone, and the father vows that if he will not release his daughter, he will come find him and kill him. The rest of the movie is her father's detective journey, following clues and taking out the enemy until he rescues her.
This dad is my hero, and I think his character is an amazing representation of God's character.
We can see clearly the her father is good and has her best interests at heart. Even though he is strict, he sets his rules in order to protect her. Like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, he watches and waits for word of her safety. He scolds her sternly when she breaks his rules, but when she is in danger, he speaks to her tenderly, lovingly, and wisely (albeit urgently). The consequences of her actions are very real and frightening, but if she will listen to what he tells her, then she will help him find her. The instructions are not for the sake of demanding obedience, but for love.
If we only looked at this aspect of his character, then it might be easy to conclude that he is only a distant protetctor from afar. However, as we observe the father, we see that is not the case -- he is actively involved with her story. He desires a relationship with her, leading him to retire from his service to the goverment that kept him away from his family. He delights in her and knows the desires of her heart to be a singer. He weeps when she was taken -- for his own pain, for hers, and for the injustice. He places himself in her shoes, re-enacting her abduction. And finally, not only does he desire for the injustice to be made right, but he goes out and rescues her, searching relentlessly, risking his life, and destroying the enemy along the way.
In the same way, we have a heavenly Father who has our best interests at heart and lays down rules for us to protect us. Like Kim, we have the option to obey these rules or not...but we find that there are consequences when we disobey. But most of all, he is a God that desires to be in relationship with us, who loves us in spite of our stupidity that gets us in trouble. He put himself in our place in the form of the man Jesus Christ and not only risked his life, but gave it up for us in order to destroy the Enemy and set us free from certain death -- all of which he did in his own initiative, completely unmerited.
Thank you, Jesus.
I saw Taken a few nights ago, and I was struck by how beautifully it portrays what Christ did for us. A bit of background -- in the movie, a teenage girl and her friend finally convince her father Bryan, an ex-secret agent, to let them go to Paris. Through a series of events demonstrating a serious lack of judgment (ie, sharing a cab with a stranger, accidentally mentioning that they'll be home alone, etc), they end up getting themselves kidnapped by a sex slavery ring as she is on the phone with her father. One of the kidnappers picks up the phone, and the father vows that if he will not release his daughter, he will come find him and kill him. The rest of the movie is her father's detective journey, following clues and taking out the enemy until he rescues her.
This dad is my hero, and I think his character is an amazing representation of God's character.
We can see clearly the her father is good and has her best interests at heart. Even though he is strict, he sets his rules in order to protect her. Like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, he watches and waits for word of her safety. He scolds her sternly when she breaks his rules, but when she is in danger, he speaks to her tenderly, lovingly, and wisely (albeit urgently). The consequences of her actions are very real and frightening, but if she will listen to what he tells her, then she will help him find her. The instructions are not for the sake of demanding obedience, but for love.
If we only looked at this aspect of his character, then it might be easy to conclude that he is only a distant protetctor from afar. However, as we observe the father, we see that is not the case -- he is actively involved with her story. He desires a relationship with her, leading him to retire from his service to the goverment that kept him away from his family. He delights in her and knows the desires of her heart to be a singer. He weeps when she was taken -- for his own pain, for hers, and for the injustice. He places himself in her shoes, re-enacting her abduction. And finally, not only does he desire for the injustice to be made right, but he goes out and rescues her, searching relentlessly, risking his life, and destroying the enemy along the way.
In the same way, we have a heavenly Father who has our best interests at heart and lays down rules for us to protect us. Like Kim, we have the option to obey these rules or not...but we find that there are consequences when we disobey. But most of all, he is a God that desires to be in relationship with us, who loves us in spite of our stupidity that gets us in trouble. He put himself in our place in the form of the man Jesus Christ and not only risked his life, but gave it up for us in order to destroy the Enemy and set us free from certain death -- all of which he did in his own initiative, completely unmerited.
Thank you, Jesus.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
On your mark, get set, go!
Heading out to New Hampshire for intern training this weekend, followed by 1 day home before going off to staff retreat, officially kicking off my intern year.
Monday, August 3, 2009
100% Sent!
Praise God! I reached 100% of my financial goal on Saturday!! Thank you all for being a part of making this happen, through your prayers and your gifts!! It was an incredible moment, seeing God's continual faithfulness and how he never leads anywhere without making provisions. Looking back, it seems so silly to have doubted that he would call me into ministry for the year but not provide for my needs. I'm currently reading Exodus, and some days, I feel like the Israelites after they left Egypt: They saw God perform sign after miraculous sign, plagues afflicting all of Egypt except his chosen people...and then they complain and doubt God's ability to save them from an army. To give them water. To feed them. To rule over them. And so they grumbled and complained, finally building themselves a new God when they were convinced that He had forgotten about them when Moses went up to see him.
Perhaps the reason that God instructed Israel on how to observe the Passover even before he poured out the last plague was because he knew that Israel would forget. He tells them, "This day shall be for you a memorial day, andyou shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast...And you shall observe the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:14, 17). Later on, as his prelude to the Ten Commandments, God says, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Exodus 20:2). How do you forget something as big as liberation from slavery by miracles? If Israel needed to be reminded about that little detail, then I pray that I will remember and look back at these times as reminders of God's faithfulness.
Perhaps the reason that God instructed Israel on how to observe the Passover even before he poured out the last plague was because he knew that Israel would forget. He tells them, "This day shall be for you a memorial day, andyou shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast...And you shall observe the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:14, 17). Later on, as his prelude to the Ten Commandments, God says, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Exodus 20:2). How do you forget something as big as liberation from slavery by miracles? If Israel needed to be reminded about that little detail, then I pray that I will remember and look back at these times as reminders of God's faithfulness.
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