Know your source

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Not to be a doomsayer, but in the current age of "fake news," distrust of the media (rightly so in many cases), and overall disillusionment with social media, it dawned on me that a simple but obscure scripture I'd been praying for months held the key to cutting through the cacophony of voices in our modern media saturated age.  The key?  Know your source.

In 2 Timothy 3, Paul says "...evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." That sounds like the media circus we're experiencing right now.  So what does Paul say to deal with this? "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it..." In other words, know your source, know the people you trust, and listen to them.  Seek out people of character, who show that character by what they do and what they say. Take advice from those who are genuine and have depth.  Seek wisdom that's been proven over time.  Ignore the shallow, ignore the talking heads and shouting voices, ignore the fickle ideologies of the age.  Stop. Listen to those who make sense.

In Timothy's case, there's a specific thing he learned from his Grandma: "... from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. " And if you get this, then you'll start to realize that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Like I said, know your source.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

God's thoughts...

Most mornings I use Psalm 139 as part of my quiet time with God.  It's one of David's best psalms and packed full of heartfelt intensity and transparency before God ("Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." for example!)

Tucked in the middle of the Psalm in verse 17 is this line:

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!

 It's a verse that you can easily just step through and not think about too much. Maybe David just needed a nice line to bridge between talking about how God sees our unformed bodies before we're born and a call for Him to help against those who hate God? But I don't think so. The Bible says that God considered David "a man after his own heart" and so there's more to it for sure.  This guy sought after God's heart.

So what are God's thoughts?  That's what has been on my mind this past week.  Elsewhere in the Bible God says "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” and "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." My thoughts range all over the place from "I wonder what's for dinner?" and "I need coffee" to "I wonder if that pain in my back is cancer?" and "what picture should I use in slide 14 of my presentation next week"!! I'm sure others have their own random thoughts and threads.

But God's thoughts aren't the same as ours.  His thoughts are higher.  His thoughts are precious to David. So what are they?

In wanting to know God's thoughts, there's a new level of intimacy. We see people's actions and hear their words, but for those we love most we often wonder what they're thinking. "A penny for your thoughts" as the saying goes. Perhaps it's the same with God. We hear what he says in reading His Word and written on the tapestry of creation. We see what He did through what is written in scripture - particularly when Jesus walked the Earth - and for many we see His hand working in our lives. But what are His thoughts?

Should we ask?

Happy Fathers' Day

I was reflecting on Fathers' Day and looking at various messages online, scriptures of encouragement and the like - all good - and it hit me that a lot of the things out there are very different from Mothers' Day messages.
On Mums' Day almost everyone says "we love you Mum" and appreciate all you do. Period. On Dads' Day there's a mix of "you're a great Dad" and a whole bunch of advice on how to be a better Dad!!! Eh? I remember one year, many moons ago, on Fathers' Day our church played "cat's in the cradle"! Deanna was ticked-off about that! So the overall story from the mix of messages on Fathers' Day is "You're a great dad, but can you do better, please? We'd appreciate it."
The other thing I saw was where there was heartfelt thanks for Dads, 9 times out of 10 it was daughters expressing their love and appreciation for their Dads, not sons.  I guess us men aren't so great at expressing our feelings (wait, I think that was in the "advice for Dads on Fathers' Day - express your feelings more ya big dolt!").
So here goes for this son expressing his appreciation for his Dad (now 89!) without offering any advice!

Letter to Dad

Dad,
I love you and I appreciate you. For all the encouraging words, for all the pats on the back, for all the times you've been there for me through good times and tough times: thank you. You mean the world to me.
Your loving son,
Andrew

Eternal Focus in the 21st Century

"Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal..."

...where the check engine light comes on, where your dishwasher won't drain, where the wifi keeps dropping and your cell-phone bill keeps going up...

"Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."

"Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?"

"So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?" 

...what shall I drive? What phone shall I choose? What house shall I buy?

"These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

Matthew 6:19-34

People-Projects-Profits

A couple of months back I was pondering our company's goal to grow and be more profitable. This is the goal of pretty much every business, I guess, and there's nothing wrong with it. And yet I wonder if we're missing something by focusing primarily on the money. During my pondering I penciled down an idea that motivates me and wonder if it would motivate others. It's simply:

 "People before projects before profits"

People

OK, so my main thought is that we should focus on people first.  There are two motivations for doing this with very different perspectives and so I think it covers a broad spectrum of experience:

1. People are the ones driving the projects to ultimately generate the profits.
2. People and human interactions are intrinsically more important than profits.

Item 1, is the business case for putting your employees, clients etc. as a primary focus so that you can drive up profits.  Southwest Airlines is the poster child for this.  Focusing on their employees, and encouraging them to be customer focused ultimately drives up profits in part because of their motivated workforce and generally happy customers.  I'm OK with this motivation, but it's not one I own, because it's really not focused on people for their intrinsic worth, but as a means to an end.  It feels like you're just using them to get what you really want aka increased profits.

So, to item 2.  Without getting to moralistic or "high and mighty" let's think about  our  daily life in general.  The majority of the working population spends 8+ hours a day working and interacting with people.  We can see this as drudgery and a means to an end to make money, pay bills, survive to the weekend etc.  OR we can see this as a significant portion of our life, where we can engage with people, enjoy the interactions, solve problems, have fun, have a positive impact on others, etc.  Now I'm blessed with have a job I enjoy, working with awesome people whereas others are not so fortunate and have to endure a job and coworkers they really don't like.  But isn't that the point of shifting our focus?  I'd hazard a guess that many of the people who're not happy in their jobs have missed the point that people are more important than just making a dollar.  A couple of years ago I was a little disheartened to chat with a coworker who'd decided to retire early.  When I asked him why he said "it's not fun any more." That's sad. I hope I never get there.

OK, so shifting back to the positive, who are the "People" within whom we interact and how could a shift in perspective energize our businesses? In a business setting, we usually think of employees and clients or customers which covers the bulk of the people with whom we interact. For sure, we should focus on having good, positive and affirming relationships with coworkers and clients.  But we should also widen the envelope to include vendors, partners, people we know through professional organizations and... dare I say it... competitors. Gasp! "Be nice to the enemy?" If the end goal is just profits, then we don't need this wider view perhaps, but looking at how we live our lives and aim to enjoy work, then we shift to civility toward everyone, including our competitors ("friendly rivalry" anyone?). 

Projects

As an engineering firm we have a strong focus on projects. Doing them well, doing them on time, doing them to a high standard. This is all good, and it's very rewarding to execute a good project.  But with this, I think we still need to keep in mind the human side of work. I have heard the expression "best for the project" used to create some really dysfunctional work/life imbalance. Doing something "for the project" misses the point if we don't keep in mind that the project is ultimately to benefit someone. It's not a thing with it's own worth or a god to which you should sacrifice your health, your relationships and your family.

Profits 

OK, I'm not naive enough to think that we can all just be nice, have fun, sing kumbaya together and all will be fine.  We do need good business sense, plans, and financial goals. But I would like to think we can decrease our emphasis on profits, profits, profits, and take time to consider people, work/life balance and the more important things in life.  Ironically, focusing on your people, should improve your projects and profits (back to the Southwest example above). In other words:

"Valued people doing projects bring profits"

And the motivation becomes a little ambiguous!

So, what motivates you?

Reading. Writing. Praying

As the year comes to a close it's the time to think about New Year resolutions.  There are three things I'm going to focus on for 2017: more reading, more writing and more prayer.

More Reading

"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."

I enjoy reading but I'm very sporadic. Sometimes I read through a book in a few days and other times I go for months stuck on the same chapter without reading anything.  Anyone who's following me on Goodreads will note I started reading "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in early November, having read an excellent and inspiring book on his life called "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas.  But I'm still stuck on chapter 1, having not read it since I first started.  I could blame work, but it's more that I've been playing with my iPad too much during my downtime!  CSR2 is particularly addictive.

I also have some technical books I'd like to read, but haven't got to yet (see photo!).  In 2017 I want to soak up more spiritual, technical and fun stuff!

More Writing

"Of making many books there is no end..."

Through my career I've helped with several technical books including a fun collaboration for the called the Guidelines for Using Activated Sludge Models where I made some lifelong international friends in the Good Modelling Task Group. I also helped on several special publications and "manuals of practice" (MOPs) for the Water Environment Foundation (WEF) including their modeling publication: Wastewater Treatment Process Modeling. OK, enough for my shameless plugs for books I've worked on (I get no royalties so it's kinda pointless anyway).  I have also authored or co-authored technical papers, and, of course, blogs!
International Water Association (IWA)

So, do I need to write more?  I was reflecting on this a bit and it dawned on me that of all the things I do, writing is probably the most impactful for future generations. Not that I'm a particularly great writer, but my small impact on the world is most noticeable in whatever I leave behind in written form - in electronic written form of course! So in 2017 I want to be a little more active in blog writing and I'm even toying with a couple of ideas for fiction... yup a poop engineer thinking about writing a novel, and no, the title won't include any mention of fecal material!

More Prayer

"Pray continually..."
In recent years I've learned that my walk with God is strengthened by me spending more time with Him. The old theological term is "progressive sanctification." (And I'm no theologian so forgive me if I've misunderstood the terminology... you get my gist though). But knowing about it and doing it are totally different. It makes sense that if we want to honor God, grow in Him and follow his lead, then we need to spend time with Him in His presence.  One of the best ways to do that is to pray.  The method, the timing and the substance of the prayer may vary, but the ultimate thing is that I need to pray with "all kinds of prayers."  So in 2017, in addition to reading more, maybe writing more, I want to be praying more.  That way I'll be more in tune with Jesus and what He wants me to be focused on.

How about you? What are you going to do more in 2017?

Top 5 Coffee Shops in the World (According to Andy Shaw!)

I'm not the world's greatest traveller by any measure, but I was fortunate to live in Western Australia for a little while where I discovered that espresso coffee drinks can be way better (and less bitter) than the average Starbucks in the US. Now, my blog is not to slam Starbuck's but to commend to everyone my top 5 favorite coffee shops! (By the way, I often go to Starbuck's when there's no better choice, but usually go for a dirty Chai rather than a straight espresso drink like an Americano or cappucino). Here they are in particular order...

1. Brew Ha (Subiaco, WA) - this is where it all began. I actually remember the food was awesome too, but this is where I first started to appreciate decent espresso coffee
2. Bloc Coffee (Cincinnati, OH) thank Siri for this one! I was visiting a wastewater treatment plant in Cincy and wanted a decent coffee. My smartphone took me to a neighborhood you wouldn't expect to see a coffee shop and there it was! This place is a gem.
3. Latte Land Kaldis (Prairie Village, KS) - My local and an awesome coffee. This is where I ruined my colleague by introducing him to good espresso (usually an Americano). Before that he was quite happy with his McDonalds or QT drip coffee. He's not been the same since (nor has his wallet!).
4. Dimbulah (Singapore) - whilst looking for a decent coffee shop in Singapore I stumbled on this place thinking it was a chain shipped over from Oz (there are several and all pretty darn good). It turns out that this small coffee shop chain is only in Singapore and they ship their beans from Dimbulah in Queensland. This is probably the best coffee I've ever had. My wife and niece were also spoiled by the delights of this coffee when we lived in Singapore for a few months. I think it was the coffee, or maybe the charming staff!
5. Caribou (US Midwest) - now if I have to drink at a chain coffee shop, this is my favourite. Not sure if its the coffee or the white chocolate rasberry scones, but I was very happy when one opened near our house. Now it's just a negotiation with my wife if we go to the Starbucks which is closer or the Caribou which is better (in my mind)! Wow, these 1st world problems eh?

Enjoy the brew wherever you go! What's your fave?

 

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