What You Think We Do?

Everything has not gone wrong, but we have had quite a few delays, difficulties, dissapointments and just plain trouble during the past weeks as we try to complete the project here in Thailand. The workers have been putting in extra hours in the heat. The owner has had most of his facility cluttered with our crane parts for way too long. And the customer has been patiently waiting to see his vision come to fruition so he can start seeing the benefits of all the time and money spent on his project. But his patience is understandably wearing thin.

It is Saturday, we had a much-anticipated shipment of parts, the parts that are the key to completion of the project. The parts that are crucial to the function of these newly designed cranes. The parts we had ordered about 5 months ago. The photo above shows the crew getting the shipment and opening boxes. It was like Christmas, we were all so excited.

I started checking the parts. Some key parts were missing. Many of the parts were the wrong size and would absolutely not fit onto our assembly. One of the parts was the wrong model, and way too costly to ship back to the U.S. I gave everyone my assessment. "We are not going to be able to complete the project with these parts. We are going to be delayed for much longer than I can afford to stay here. The customer is not going to be happy."

The man who fills in while the owner is out of the office (the owner was out of the office) and who shuttles me between the hotel and office (sings like John Bon Jovi) asked me this question. "What you think we do?"

I had a simple, succinct answer. "We go ride elephants." And that is what we did.

Happy

This just reminds me of what is important. This is a photo of the lead actress (and good friend) in my latest movie with her kids in Arizona. I am guessing that the lead actor (John) is taking the photo.

Do You See What I See?

I tend to be too negative. I see the pitfalls, potential problems, future struggles, etc. in everything I look at. It is actually an asset when used to plan and execute projects and anything that requires long-term planning. But...when taken to far, or applied to life in general, its not so good. I need to see the good things that are right in front of me, and appreciate them more.

What do you see in the first photo above. A busy street with people and traffic and advertising and peddlers of cheap souveniers? That is what I typically see. Or do you see a cute little miracle of God? They are both right there in front of our eyes. Which do you think is best for me focus on?

I'm working on it. I'm starting to see things differently.

Desires of What Heart?

I have had some confusion over a particular topic. I have a little less now. It deals with answering of prayer and God’s wish to give us the desires of our heart. Some scripture references are:
 Psalm 37:4- “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. ”
 John 14:13-14-“"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do {it.} ”

Here is what I was hearing and reading from others. God wants to give you the desires of your heart-so claim that scripture and ask Him to honor it. God will do anything you ask, as long as you ask it in Jesus’ name-anything. If you are not getting the desires of your heart it is because:
1. You don’t have enough faith, or
2. you aren’t praying right (need to learn the secret formula), or
3. you haven’t given enough “seed money” to ministries, or
4. all the above.

I was not seeing these “Biblical truths” being worked out in real life. I can list any number of things that I asked God to do in Jesus’ name that He did not do. I can tell you that there are plenty of “things” which I desire but do not possess. I have seen evidence of answered prayers, and I have been blessed with much, but I didn’t see things happening the way that many claim they should. This confused me, made me think I was missing something. I did not see these “truths” being worked out in other people’s lives either, even the ones who had put extreme amounts of energy into the faith-prayer-seed money tactics. I have seen people get worked up into a “holy frenzy” as they testified how God was going to pour out upon them blessings of $2,500 watches, new cars, new homes, etc. God was going to do this because these people were His children and He wants them to have everything they want. These people were going to get these things not because they had studied well in school, worked hard to develop a good paying career, and were financially responsible enough to afford to buy these “desires of their heart.” They would receive because they asked, period. They knew how to win the spiritual lottery.

So what’s wrong with that? Isn’t that what the scriptures say? Doesn’t God want us to be happy?
Well, no, this thinking doesn’t square with scripture and the scriptures do not guarantee that God will keep me happy. My responsibility is to “delight in the Lord,” not petition Him for my desires. This is what the first half of the scripture states. As far as “desires of the heart” is the scripture talking about the heart described in Jeremiah 17:9 ?

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? ”

or in Matthew 15:9 ?

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

I don’t think that God would be responsible in the least if he gave us everything our deceitful, sick, evil, murderous heart wanted. I believe that God wants to give us what our real, un-corrupted heart desires. And He knows those desires better than we do, because He designed each of us, and knows what we would have been like had sin never entered the world. Only as our walk grows closer to Him does our heart better reflect what He designed into it. As time passes, as we mature, when the time is right, when it aligns with His will, the desires of our heart are fulfilled.

I am not quite so clear on the reason for the “ask anything” scripture, but one thing is clear; the point of His answering our prayer is so that God may be glorified in Jesus. That is what that scripture says. So, if our prayers are not going to glorify God through Jesus, they don’t really fit with the purpose mentioned here. This scripture is not about us manipulating God to do our will by using His son’s name as leverage. We are to conform to His will, not use the power of the Lord God almighty, creator of the universe and all things in it, to accomplish our will. When I put it that way, it seems completely absurd that I should treat prayer, building of my faith, and contributing money to ministries as a way to get what I want out of God. But I have to be honest, I have done that to some extent. I think I need to pray for forgiveness for some of my prayers.

The photo is a view of the lake in fall from my parent’s house on a lake in East Texas.

I’ll try to make the next post a funny one, at least that is what my heart desires :)

Its My Rife

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working with a great team of people here in Thailand. The photo is several of the people in the team, enjoying drinks and dinner on the beach after a long Saturday of work.

One of the men in the group has the job of shuttling me between the jobsite and the hotel. It is a 40 minute drive and he speaks English fairly well, so we have gotten to know each other a bit. One evening on the trip to the hotel I asked if he wanted to listen to some music I had recorded on to CD. It turns out that he really loves one of the songs on the CD, "It My Life" by Bon Jovi. He also likes to sing. If you are familiar with Asians, you know that they pronounce the letter "L" more like "R" and the letter "R" more like "L." They can pronounce both sounds, but they switch them. So, "Its My Life" comes out as "Its My Rife." On the next evening on the way to dinner, he popped in the cd and cranked up the song. Imagine an American "singing" well above his range and a Thai attempting to sound like Bon Jovi. Fortunately for others we had the windows rolled up.

One thing about my rife that I am very grateful for, it is not boring.

Thailand

I figure since I am in Thailand on my current project I should say a little about the trip and post a few photos. I have not had time to sight-see any, I have just been working full days. I may get a chance in the next day or so, I should have a few interesting photos then.

The trip began with my main suitcase being lost by the Airlines. After about an hour of discussion, we concluded that lost meant they really had no idea where the suitcase might be and if/when I might get it. Well, I did get the bag about a day and a half later, with only minor conveniences. People had to see me with about 3 days of beard growth ( a lot for me) and wearing the same jeans. I've endured worse hardships.

I am working with some very nice people and getting to eat some really great food. The variety here is better than my last location, Batam Island Indonesia. Seafood is plentiful, affordable, and wonderfully prepared. The hotel is located at the beach in Pattaya, so I get to go for an evening walk and eat dinner along the waterfront. That is a fanastic way to end the day.

As I said, the folks here are nice, but I am suffering a little from "ear strain." Most people are familiar with "eye strain." Ear strain is similar. Instead of struggling to read fine print or read in dim lighting, I am trying to understand people that barely speak english, and speak it with an unfamiliar accent, with extreme distortion of pronounciation. Now, these folks are doing better than I, because I only speak English, but it still causes strain. My last trip was worse because I was trying to understand a team of people with Indonesian, Malaysian, Spanish and Chinese accents.

More later.

This Faith Thing

I am a planner. I get a vision or some objective in my sights, and then I plan all the steps to get there, order them appropriately, and assign a schedule for each task to ensure that the vision/objective is achieved by the target date. That is a very useful skill in my profession, and it can be very useful in my pursuit of life goals. However, there is one small problem. At least one problem, actually, at least two.

First, my "schedule" has not typically included any flexibility to attend to unforeseen needs, such as the needs of others, or time to just enjoy my life.
Second, my actions are limited to those required to meet the vision or objective formed in my mind, rather than taking actions that may lead to a goal that only God understands. So, I may be limiting His use of me. His objectives could be much larger than I can comprehend. They may even occur years after I have left this earth.

Today’s devotional hit a chord with me.

From "My Utmost for His Highest," Oswald Chambers, March 19, 2008:
"Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world."

This clears things up for me. Sometimes I think faith is just doing stuff that makes no sense but I should probably do it because He probably wants me to and it shows I have faith in God – or something along those lines. Sometimes I think that I am showing a lack of faith when I work hard to accomplish tasks (because maybe I am relying on my own strength and don’t really think that God can do it without me-and so on). A book I am reading "10 Secrets for the Man in the Mirror" is opening my eyes a bit more. The author explains, with Biblical support, that we are to do our best, work hard, and improve our abilities to serve. It is not that we are working hard because we think we have to "pick up the slack" for God. We do our part (listen, learn, obey, work) and He does His part (ensure the outcome that He desires). We (I) get into trouble when I believe the outcome is entirely up to me.

So here is what I learned today. My faith is actually my belief that the one I’m following (God) is leading me through the best path, to accomplish His divine objectives. My job is to understand who God is so I will know when He is doing the leading, and then to make my best effort to do those tasks he sets before me. His job is to orchestrate the results.

Another sticky point is how to know His will. I can’t say I’ve got that completely tackled, but I am getting more comfortable with it. I get to know Him primarily by prayer and Bible study. I know that I am off track or running ahead when I don’t seem to have time for other people’s needs, and time to enjoy my own life, or when my activities or the fruits run counter to His nature.

I have a greater understanding of this now. Let’s see how I apply it.

Oh, the photo is of a dog named faith. You can click on the photo to go the site and read an interesting story.

I Want One

A man and a woman stand on the shoulder of a remote highway. They have just escaped from an underground city they have been living in since “birth.” They have never seen the real world. Someone buzzes by them on a high performance motorcycle. The woman says to the man “what was that thing?” He responds “I don’t know...” his face breaks into a broad smile, “...but I want one.”

That is one of my favorite lines in the move “The Island.” The man and woman were clones of people who lived in “the real world.” They did not know it, but they were genetically identical to people in a society that they didn’t even know existed. The man was a clone of a wildly successful designer and racer of sport bikes, high performance boats and sports cars. The clone had “built in” to his DNA a predisposition towards these passions and skills. He had actually had been having dreams about “Renovatti” a high performance sport boat the designer had created. This clone didn’t know why, but he was passionate about these things that were programmed into his DNA. In another scene, before escaping and learning of the outside world, he states "I wish there were something more."

I believe that God has built into us, into our “DNA” a set of unique skills and desires. Until we start pursuing them according to His plan, we feel that “something is missing,” we wish there was "something more." The most basic yearning we have is to have a relationship with Him. To get to know Him. He put knowledge of Him in everyone’s heart, Romans 1:19-20, Psalm 19:1-4.

I believe He also gave each of us something unique that “floats our boat.” I don’t know that many people figure out what that is. I believe the ones that do figure it out are much more satisfied and successful than the average individual.

I personally have always had a very strong drive to do “something,” to fulfill some “special purpose.” I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted one. I realize that we are all called to love God, love others, serve Him, grow as disciples, etc. What I am talking about is all that, plus performing the specific tasks that He has planned for me in advance, Ephesians 2:10.

He has built desires and skills into my “DNA.” I am aware of some of these, maybe not all. I am also aware that some of these “designed in” characteristics have been hi-jacked, or distorted, so they are not effective and maybe actually destructive to the purpose He has planned for me. I have always had a strong “drive” but quite honestly I am not always certain of what I am driving at.

Does this resonate with anyone else? Or do most people feel pretty satisfied just going about business as usual? I would like to know.

More on this later, in the posts “This Faith Thing” and “Desires of Which Heart?”

Dissolve

A dissolve is a type of scene transition used in movie editing to gradually shift the viewer's attention from one scene to another. This can be so gradual that the viewer doesn't really notice that they are having their attention shifted from one thing to another.

That effect is something that I have noticed as I go to and from these overseas projects. The photo above is the sunrise out the window of the plane as we arrived in Hong Kong this morning. Yep, I'm heading for another overseas project (not there yet, about 5 hours until I arrive in Thailand).
Before I even left I was getting homesick. I just recently got to see my son in his school play, he had the lead role. That is him in the blue shirt.

I saw my wife off to our lake house just before I left, and I dropped the kids and our dog off at my inlaws house just a few hours before heading to the airport.


As I sat there in the empty house all I could think about was how much I was going to miss my family, especially since this is spring break for our kids. I was thinking how much I enjoy the comfort of my home and my family. I was absorbed with all the home and family-related activities of my life. I didn't want to leave.

Now, as I sit in the Hong Kong airport, my attention is being shifted to the project in Thailand. I am already emailing my client and getting myself ready for the meeting we will have just after I step off the plane (after over 30 hours of travel). Soon I will be completely absorbed in all the issues at hand with this project. I will still miss my family and want to be there-but my attention will be focused here, rather than there. All the issues, deadlines, personal preferences related to this project will have my undivided attention. All these things will become the most important things in my life-or so it seems.

Once I board the plane to go home, all the crises and "world-changing" issues of the project here will quickly dissolve and become almost completely unimportant to me. I will then be refocused on home and family. The terribly critical project-related issues will just dissolve away as I get closer to home.

If my attention can dissolve so quickly, just simply based on where I happen to be sitting (or standing), then maybe these projects and their issues that cause me so much worry and stress should not be given such a high level of importance. What I mean is, although I give them their proper level of attention, I need to keep my whole world in perspective, rather than let my whole world shrink down to the size of the few square miles that I occupy while I complete a project. You see, there have been times when the pressure of a project gone awry have made me want to run and jump overboard, really. It was either that or break down and cry in front of a bunch of oilfield executives and workers. I'll take my chances jumping overboard given those two choices. I didn't actually do either, I pressed in and solved the problems-but, my perspective was wrong. At that time, these problems at hand meant EVERYTHING to me. They were the issues central to my entire world. That is not good. That is not good because I nearly bust a blood vessel from the stress. That would not be good.

Right now I am at the threshold of potential project-related problems that could send me into a stress frenzy-again. I am praying that the knowledge of the upcoming dissolve reminds me that this is just a short scene and in the end, everything is really going to be okay. My job is just to glorify God in my response to the problems that arise, and keep His perspective in mind. We'll see how that goes.