Well, my job has officially begun. This week has been orientation week where we did all the benefits information, got training about the company and the campus, and learned more about the healthcare industry and IT industry. It's definitely been a busy week, and I'm sure it's just going to get busier.
There are 141 new staff this month. I have been able to meet a good amount of people from the new staff class, and it's fun cause I'm starting to schedule things to hang out with people outside of work. This weekend, I'm gonna head downtown on Saturday with a coworker to check out the farmers market and art show going on. Then on Sunday, I'll be going to church with another co-worker. The next weekend, we have our accounting baseball game on Friday night, our company's picnic on Saturday (with steak and lobster), and then I'm doing a golf tournament with a bunch of the new staff on Sunday. So, it's neat to be able to meet people outside of work.
I will be working in the accounting department mostly with the license fee team. I will be working on the license fees of all of our customers between K-Z in the alphabet. This will be tracking when customers go live with our products and billing them accordingly. I will be reading contracts and making sure everything is being done correctly there. I will also be working some with hourly billing as well. So it will be neat to see what all that entails.
Hmm, I guess that is all for now. Hope people are doing well back in MI!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Pictures From Apartment
Read previous post. These are solely the pictures that I promised in that post.
The first picture here is the view of my living room from my balcony/bedroom.
Here we have my bedroom as soon as you walk up the stairs. The balcony is on the right that overseas the rest of the apartment.
Here we have my kitchen and breakfast bar (with the sweet stools). The dining room has a table and such that is just right of this picture.
The first picture here is the view of my living room from my balcony/bedroom.
Here we have my bedroom as soon as you walk up the stairs. The balcony is on the right that overseas the rest of the apartment.
Here we have my kitchen and breakfast bar (with the sweet stools). The dining room has a table and such that is just right of this picture.
Madison, WI
Hey all,
It's been a while, but it's been a crazy past week or two. Let me explain. There's not gonna be any deep spiritual revealings in this post, but it is exciting to see how God is working lately and what he's kinda putting in place for me as I begin a new adventure in Wisconsin.
First, I had the privilege of having an amazing last weekend in Michigan. After my last day of work at Sun Chemical (Where they bought me lunch on the last day, that was sweet), I headed down to Detroit for my first (and probably only) Tigers game of the year. Jocelyn's dad had tickets for clients that weren't being used, so we had the opportunity to use those. I met up with Jocelyn in Howell and then we drove on over to Detroit. For a record, there is tons of construction around Detroit, and that makes for an entertaining ride when you aren't even that familiar with Detroit to begin with. We had seats right behind 1st base about 14 rows up. We could not have asked for better seats, except that there was this tall guy who sat in front of us so I couldn't see first base without moving my head and Jocelyn couldn't see home plate without ducking around the guy. But it was a great 7-1 win. Then on Saturday, I drove on over to Grand Rapids and got to hang out with a bunch of the guys and Candell and Melissa. We got to chill at Dan's cottage, and see a Whitecaps game at night. Finally, on Sunday, I got to be in a suite at a Whitecaps game for Dan's dad's Fathers day gift. We won in the 13th inning on a Kody Kaiser game winning single. Overall, what an amazing weekend.
After the great weekend, I got ready for the move to Madison. Monday was dedicated strictly to packing, which took forever. Then, Tuesday morning around 4am, we left for Madison. We had my car and my dads truck. My mom and sister came along to help move because my dad couldn't make it. It's the busy time of the year and my uncle can't do farmwork for 6-10 weeks probably because of health problems with his leg. We got to Madison and signed a lease with an apartment I found on Craigslist.
After two days of moving stuff in, shopping for furniture, and getting stuff settled, the apartment is finally looking set to go. I have a 2nd floor sweet loft apartment, so we had to carry everything a long ways to get it into the apartment. This was an adventure with me, mom, and Stephanie, but I give them credit for their willingness to help. We looked everywhere for furniture and eventually found some good stuff at Sam's Club, and we had to haul that to my apartment. It didn't fit into the back of the truck well, that's for sure. For the mattress, we had to lift it and tie it to the top of the truck to make it work. We were dead and tired, but I must say that we did a great job.
The apartment is sweet. You walk in and its the dining room area with a table/chairs/etc. You look to your left and theres a kitchen with a breakfast bar (with 3 stools). Then straight ahead, you have my living room with a couch and a couple chairs and the tv with the normal living room feel. Straight behind the living room is a porch which is neat to be able to relax outside if you get sick of being inside. Then you go around and theres stairs to go up where the bedroom and bathroom is. The bathroom is right when you get to the top, and if you go to the right you will find my bedroom. Its weird cause my bedroom isn't really a room, it's just the top of the balcony. It really gives a neat feel. It's hard to explain it all in words, but hopefully I can post pictures later.
It's a really nice area and I'm 1-2 miles from everything. I'm really enjoying it so far. If you could pray for me to continue to feel comfortable, for work starting up on Monday, and for me to make friends and find a good church, that would be great!
It's been a while, but it's been a crazy past week or two. Let me explain. There's not gonna be any deep spiritual revealings in this post, but it is exciting to see how God is working lately and what he's kinda putting in place for me as I begin a new adventure in Wisconsin.
First, I had the privilege of having an amazing last weekend in Michigan. After my last day of work at Sun Chemical (Where they bought me lunch on the last day, that was sweet), I headed down to Detroit for my first (and probably only) Tigers game of the year. Jocelyn's dad had tickets for clients that weren't being used, so we had the opportunity to use those. I met up with Jocelyn in Howell and then we drove on over to Detroit. For a record, there is tons of construction around Detroit, and that makes for an entertaining ride when you aren't even that familiar with Detroit to begin with. We had seats right behind 1st base about 14 rows up. We could not have asked for better seats, except that there was this tall guy who sat in front of us so I couldn't see first base without moving my head and Jocelyn couldn't see home plate without ducking around the guy. But it was a great 7-1 win. Then on Saturday, I drove on over to Grand Rapids and got to hang out with a bunch of the guys and Candell and Melissa. We got to chill at Dan's cottage, and see a Whitecaps game at night. Finally, on Sunday, I got to be in a suite at a Whitecaps game for Dan's dad's Fathers day gift. We won in the 13th inning on a Kody Kaiser game winning single. Overall, what an amazing weekend.
After the great weekend, I got ready for the move to Madison. Monday was dedicated strictly to packing, which took forever. Then, Tuesday morning around 4am, we left for Madison. We had my car and my dads truck. My mom and sister came along to help move because my dad couldn't make it. It's the busy time of the year and my uncle can't do farmwork for 6-10 weeks probably because of health problems with his leg. We got to Madison and signed a lease with an apartment I found on Craigslist.
After two days of moving stuff in, shopping for furniture, and getting stuff settled, the apartment is finally looking set to go. I have a 2nd floor sweet loft apartment, so we had to carry everything a long ways to get it into the apartment. This was an adventure with me, mom, and Stephanie, but I give them credit for their willingness to help. We looked everywhere for furniture and eventually found some good stuff at Sam's Club, and we had to haul that to my apartment. It didn't fit into the back of the truck well, that's for sure. For the mattress, we had to lift it and tie it to the top of the truck to make it work. We were dead and tired, but I must say that we did a great job.
The apartment is sweet. You walk in and its the dining room area with a table/chairs/etc. You look to your left and theres a kitchen with a breakfast bar (with 3 stools). Then straight ahead, you have my living room with a couch and a couple chairs and the tv with the normal living room feel. Straight behind the living room is a porch which is neat to be able to relax outside if you get sick of being inside. Then you go around and theres stairs to go up where the bedroom and bathroom is. The bathroom is right when you get to the top, and if you go to the right you will find my bedroom. Its weird cause my bedroom isn't really a room, it's just the top of the balcony. It really gives a neat feel. It's hard to explain it all in words, but hopefully I can post pictures later.
It's a really nice area and I'm 1-2 miles from everything. I'm really enjoying it so far. If you could pray for me to continue to feel comfortable, for work starting up on Monday, and for me to make friends and find a good church, that would be great!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
God is faithful, and funny
So I found out some big news on Monday: I've been offered a position at Epic Systems in Madison, WI. I will be a staff accountant for them, most likely working in their GL department (which focuses on the general accounting functions such as reporting, working with their fixed assets, exploring how their international expansion affects their company, etc).
Let me give you the background of this and just how God works in crazy ways. So as most of you probably know, I felt called to leave staff with Crusade a couple of months ago. Obviously, that was a hard decision but I just felt confident that the Lord had something else in store. So...I left with the ambition to have an impact in the accounting field. Speaking with several staff during the leaving process, they had some concerns since this obviously isn't exactly easy to do. But, I did feel like this is where God had me.
I began the job search, and I really had no "luck". I applied for many, many, many jobs and never heard back from any of them. A bit into the process, I had a company (Epic) find my resume and send me and e-mail saying that I should apply. I never had any intentions to leave the state, so I applied just for the fact to just not shut any doors. At this point, I really had no interest in the position, but I did note to myself that they found me and God could be using this opportunity.
It was a 2 month process to finally get the job offer. Through that time, I ended up getting more and more excited about this opportunity. There are 3,200 employees, and they are just currently building even more to their huge campus (It looks like a University if you didn't know any better). To make things even better: They hire many recent college grads. How cool is God to be able to provide an environment that seems like a college atmosphere but yet still be able to have an impact in the accounting field. Plus, the offer was very nice...so I can become a sender of various missionaries as I can help support them financially.
So God is faithful to provide through crazy things when you follow where he has you. Sometimes, he does it in funny ways that you don't expect.
Let me give you the background of this and just how God works in crazy ways. So as most of you probably know, I felt called to leave staff with Crusade a couple of months ago. Obviously, that was a hard decision but I just felt confident that the Lord had something else in store. So...I left with the ambition to have an impact in the accounting field. Speaking with several staff during the leaving process, they had some concerns since this obviously isn't exactly easy to do. But, I did feel like this is where God had me.
I began the job search, and I really had no "luck". I applied for many, many, many jobs and never heard back from any of them. A bit into the process, I had a company (Epic) find my resume and send me and e-mail saying that I should apply. I never had any intentions to leave the state, so I applied just for the fact to just not shut any doors. At this point, I really had no interest in the position, but I did note to myself that they found me and God could be using this opportunity.
It was a 2 month process to finally get the job offer. Through that time, I ended up getting more and more excited about this opportunity. There are 3,200 employees, and they are just currently building even more to their huge campus (It looks like a University if you didn't know any better). To make things even better: They hire many recent college grads. How cool is God to be able to provide an environment that seems like a college atmosphere but yet still be able to have an impact in the accounting field. Plus, the offer was very nice...so I can become a sender of various missionaries as I can help support them financially.
So God is faithful to provide through crazy things when you follow where he has you. Sometimes, he does it in funny ways that you don't expect.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The Ragamuffin Gospel: Grace
On Sunday, my church had its annual recognition of graduates. Of course, my nice parents signed me up for it, even though I graduated 6 months ago. So, there we sat: 7 high school graduates and 7 college graduates (4 of whom were in the same grade and grew up in the church together). They had us go and get recognized, and they gave us a gift: The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning.
It is unfortunate that we grow up in a society that makes it difficult to truly love and embrace the gift of grace. We are taught from a young age that we have to fight to earn everything. We are taught that we should never take free gifts from people and how we need to learn to support ourselves as soon as possible. I'll give a brief example. As I did support raising this past semester, a hard thing for me was to accept the gifts of different people that I met with. My natural thought was "I don't deserve this, and they are just giving money because they feel like they have to." I had to kick myself and turn this around because God works in people's lives and they want to financially support the mission of Christ, otherwise they wouldn't agree to supporting financially at all. In other words, it's easy for me to look at things and say I don't deserve it because I haven't earned it, and it is hard to take the free gift.
The term "Grace" is used in many contexts these days. Michael Jordan was graceful as he drove to the basket. The son was a disgrace because he didn't get A's on his report card. We use this term as us doing something. In a similar way, we relate our Spiritual walks into what we do. We talk about how we have to work to earn a closer relationship with the Lord, through spiritual disciplines. Our idea of "worship" is singing songs and what we do in that. These are great things, but so often we make all this stuff about ourselves and what we are doing to try to reach the Lord. The beauty of grace, and the Gospel message, is that this means nothing. We don't have to be the "All-Star" Christian that we all try to pursue being.
Let's take a look in Luke. In vs 15-17, people are bringing their children to Jesus and Jesus replies "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." In vs 18-30, a rich ruler comes to Jesus and asks him "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Note: Notice its all about what the man needs to do, which again shows how so often we make things about how we can earn it). He mentions how he has kept the commandments and Jesus tells him that he needs to sell all his possessions. Later, the crowd asks Jesus who can be saved, and he replies "What is impossible with men is possible with God." (Note: See Jesus switching it up and making it about the Lord rather than us)
I think theres a reason that Luke includes these stories back to back. The little children are embraced, while the rich man is told to fix some things. Children have no way of doing anything to earn the embrace. Luke, I believe, is really showing that Jesus wanted us to see that we can't earn anything, but God's work is all we need. We need to be like children where we aren't trying and working to earn anything, but we are just embracing the free gifts given to us. Children love when they are fed and cared to by others, why can't we love when a free gift, like God's grace, is given to us?
It is unfortunate that we grow up in a society that makes it difficult to truly love and embrace the gift of grace. We are taught from a young age that we have to fight to earn everything. We are taught that we should never take free gifts from people and how we need to learn to support ourselves as soon as possible. I'll give a brief example. As I did support raising this past semester, a hard thing for me was to accept the gifts of different people that I met with. My natural thought was "I don't deserve this, and they are just giving money because they feel like they have to." I had to kick myself and turn this around because God works in people's lives and they want to financially support the mission of Christ, otherwise they wouldn't agree to supporting financially at all. In other words, it's easy for me to look at things and say I don't deserve it because I haven't earned it, and it is hard to take the free gift.
The term "Grace" is used in many contexts these days. Michael Jordan was graceful as he drove to the basket. The son was a disgrace because he didn't get A's on his report card. We use this term as us doing something. In a similar way, we relate our Spiritual walks into what we do. We talk about how we have to work to earn a closer relationship with the Lord, through spiritual disciplines. Our idea of "worship" is singing songs and what we do in that. These are great things, but so often we make all this stuff about ourselves and what we are doing to try to reach the Lord. The beauty of grace, and the Gospel message, is that this means nothing. We don't have to be the "All-Star" Christian that we all try to pursue being.
Let's take a look in Luke. In vs 15-17, people are bringing their children to Jesus and Jesus replies "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." In vs 18-30, a rich ruler comes to Jesus and asks him "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Note: Notice its all about what the man needs to do, which again shows how so often we make things about how we can earn it). He mentions how he has kept the commandments and Jesus tells him that he needs to sell all his possessions. Later, the crowd asks Jesus who can be saved, and he replies "What is impossible with men is possible with God." (Note: See Jesus switching it up and making it about the Lord rather than us)
I think theres a reason that Luke includes these stories back to back. The little children are embraced, while the rich man is told to fix some things. Children have no way of doing anything to earn the embrace. Luke, I believe, is really showing that Jesus wanted us to see that we can't earn anything, but God's work is all we need. We need to be like children where we aren't trying and working to earn anything, but we are just embracing the free gifts given to us. Children love when they are fed and cared to by others, why can't we love when a free gift, like God's grace, is given to us?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Electricity/Light
As most of you probably know, electricity/light is very important to me. I would say that I am addicted to electricity/light, like most people are. Yesterday, I got home from work and we lost electricity from roughly 5:30-9:00. This was especially tough because the Pistons/Wings/Tigers all played and I couldn't watch there. So, I took a nice long nap that was definitely much needed.
This got me thinking about the analogy of "Living in the Light". I definitely think this is a good analogy, but it is used a lot, which is warranted considering it is found often in the Scriptures. One of my favorite classic songs came from this analogy: "In the Light" by DC Talk (the perfect "man" song, in my opinion. Part of the lyrics: "I'm a man of excuses, I've got one for every selfish thing I do").
My first time every doing an inductive Bible Study, I dissected the passage from 1 John 1:5-10.
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
This struck a chord to me. As I have transitioned back home and will soon be transition to potentially a far away land, I will be away from the fellowship that I have been surrounded by so often at CMU. Have you ever had a time where you haven't had great fellowship? It sucks and it drags on you. Well, as I'm transitioning, I know I want that fellowship, but the only way I can truly do this and truly embrace the community that I need is living and walking in the light. In other words, we need to have fellowship with the Lord before we can truly get fellowship with others around us.
I want to be as addicted to the true light as I am to artificial light/electricity.
This got me thinking about the analogy of "Living in the Light". I definitely think this is a good analogy, but it is used a lot, which is warranted considering it is found often in the Scriptures. One of my favorite classic songs came from this analogy: "In the Light" by DC Talk (the perfect "man" song, in my opinion. Part of the lyrics: "I'm a man of excuses, I've got one for every selfish thing I do").
My first time every doing an inductive Bible Study, I dissected the passage from 1 John 1:5-10.
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
I think the number one thing that sticks out in this passage to me is verse 7. I like to take it in a chronological approach where John is saying that if we walk in the light first, we will have fellowship with one another. When we walk in the light, we seek out a Christ-centered fellowship with others. We can't have the complete view of fellowship unless we are walking in this light that is walking in the true light-God.This struck a chord to me. As I have transitioned back home and will soon be transition to potentially a far away land, I will be away from the fellowship that I have been surrounded by so often at CMU. Have you ever had a time where you haven't had great fellowship? It sucks and it drags on you. Well, as I'm transitioning, I know I want that fellowship, but the only way I can truly do this and truly embrace the community that I need is living and walking in the light. In other words, we need to have fellowship with the Lord before we can truly get fellowship with others around us.
I want to be as addicted to the true light as I am to artificial light/electricity.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Mighty to Save
I'm a sucker for a good worship song. Too often, I get wrapped up in the thoughts of "Hey, this is a sweet tune" or "The lyrics are kinda cool." Well, I want to go deeper than that. I'm gonna take a look at the song "Mighty To Save" by Hillsong (who never ceases to amaze me with their stuff). Some of the things I want to look at: Where are the lyrics coming from? What can I learn from this song? Where does this fit in Biblically? Etc.
Here are the lyrics:
Everyone needs compassion
A love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
A kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations
Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen King
Obviously, "Mighty to Save" is the key phrase in this song. I did a word search for that, and found two references with this phrase. The first one is in Isaiah 63:1 where the Lord says "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." This is a sweet reference, as it is the Lord really showing his power and perfectness. However, I'm not gonna dive into this as much as the other reference. There's more I could get into there, but we'll see if I lose my train of thought and head back that way.
The other reference is Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Now, I love Old Testament prophets just because I think they contain so many sweet nuggets that are easy to not notice. So, that being said, I wanted to take a look at Zephaniah as a whole to see if this relates to the whole song. Indeed, it did.
Zephaniah's book had the purpose to show God's judgment that was going to come. Specifically, the book mentions how God will punish the nations. The first two chapters of the book discuss God's judgment for the nations. Even though this is in place, Zephaniah shows how God is going to be merciful to His people. I see this as a book of hope for the people, much like this song by Hillsong.
Take a look at the first verse of this song. Everyone is need of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and kindness of a Savior. Why? Look back at Zephaniah: We deserve wrath. Vs 1:14-15: "The great day of the Lord is near-near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry of the day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath...." We are in trouble. That isn't exactly the best news ever. The end of the verse: A hope of nations. We need some hope, we need something to help us overcome this because things don't exactly look good.
Answer: The verse of the song. This references back to vs 3:17 that I mentioned early. God is mighty to save and is the hope we need/have. We can be saved from the wrath because Jesus has not only died, but rose as well. Solid huh?
So there is a brief look into a song that I greatly enjoy. Often, we don't think that songs have a clear gospel message in them, which probably is true. But dissect a song like this, and you might be surprised at how much good stuff they contain. The gospel message in a brief verse and chorus...brilliant!
Here are the lyrics:
Everyone needs compassion
A love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
A kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations
Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen King
Obviously, "Mighty to Save" is the key phrase in this song. I did a word search for that, and found two references with this phrase. The first one is in Isaiah 63:1 where the Lord says "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." This is a sweet reference, as it is the Lord really showing his power and perfectness. However, I'm not gonna dive into this as much as the other reference. There's more I could get into there, but we'll see if I lose my train of thought and head back that way.
The other reference is Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Now, I love Old Testament prophets just because I think they contain so many sweet nuggets that are easy to not notice. So, that being said, I wanted to take a look at Zephaniah as a whole to see if this relates to the whole song. Indeed, it did.
Zephaniah's book had the purpose to show God's judgment that was going to come. Specifically, the book mentions how God will punish the nations. The first two chapters of the book discuss God's judgment for the nations. Even though this is in place, Zephaniah shows how God is going to be merciful to His people. I see this as a book of hope for the people, much like this song by Hillsong.
Take a look at the first verse of this song. Everyone is need of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and kindness of a Savior. Why? Look back at Zephaniah: We deserve wrath. Vs 1:14-15: "The great day of the Lord is near-near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry of the day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath...." We are in trouble. That isn't exactly the best news ever. The end of the verse: A hope of nations. We need some hope, we need something to help us overcome this because things don't exactly look good.
Answer: The verse of the song. This references back to vs 3:17 that I mentioned early. God is mighty to save and is the hope we need/have. We can be saved from the wrath because Jesus has not only died, but rose as well. Solid huh?
So there is a brief look into a song that I greatly enjoy. Often, we don't think that songs have a clear gospel message in them, which probably is true. But dissect a song like this, and you might be surprised at how much good stuff they contain. The gospel message in a brief verse and chorus...brilliant!
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