The Drama “When the Thrill is Gone” has been one of the best outreach production I have ever seen live on stage. I must admit that from beginning to end the production was eccentric! From the leading role (Joey Alanis) to the extras (local church) was outstanding!

This production attracted and captivated all ages and all walks of life.  Thousands gathered in attendance that night and hundreds were saved!

The story line is as relevant as society could be today; from homosexuality to broken households, from gang affiliation to crystal meth. A brother and sister is raised in a family where the father would beat their mother. The brother is forced to run away from home after nearly murdering his father. He is compelled to take his younger sister with him and falls deeper and deeper in the club scene and the life of crystal meth. They have no option but to survive by living on the streets from house to house until finally they have no place to go. The brother finds out his best friend rapes his younger sister and attempts to kill him, however, the plan goes bad and …. (You got to book this drama to find out the rest).

The week of the drama we had over 245 return to our church services as a result of “When the Thrill is Gone” production.  The cast were very disciplined and professional as well as the production crew.

Today, we still have much fruit that has remained in the congregation from Ex-gang members, fashion models, and an OBGYN doctor. I highly recommend “When The Thrill Is Gone” to every leader who is trying to make a difference in their community!

Recently God has allowed me to see Him restoring the years the locus ate in my life and as I have looked I have seen an amazing thing.

I have always grieved the loss of my first friend I ever had, in kindergarten, named Karen. That friendship was short lived because she lived on the other side of the viaduct and her mom wouldn’t allow me to play at her house after school nor she at mine, so the friendship ended.

In middle school I got the courage to make another good friend named Sue. She and grew apart as she moved away and we went to different high schools. We still keep in touch at holidays on and off, but I have always grieved the loss of these two close friendships.

Then sitting with me in a prayer meeting, were two good friends named Karen! I sat in awe of how God was restoring the years the locus ate 100 fold in a very real and physical sense, for now I have two good friends named Karen. They both share my passions for God, people and for prayer.

These days, I also have a really good friend named Sue, she is my best bud right now, and we live really close to each other, going to the same church.  We also encourage each other by going to the local fitness center together several times a week.  

Coming to know these women and part of their purpose in my life, I am in awe of my God who loves me so much and is willing to give me literally a mountain top experience, as one of my friend’s named Karen and I got to know each other on the top of Mount Sinai in 1998.  

I may never know what happen to my first childhood friend named Karen, but I pray for her often these days and wish her all the best.

I am praying for you as I finish this blog, that God himself would restore 100 fold the years the locus have eaten; in your life, in your church, and for those who are married, in your marriage.

Blessings and Complete Joy,

Mildred          

Intercessors Heart; find helpful prayer tips and current prayer opportunities and post your prayer requests to be shared with my intercession team.

This blog is part of the ministry of Complete Joy and is published each Tuesday and Saturday, usually by noon Pacific Time.

I have always wondered if reading more makes you less inclined towards being surprised.

The more an individual delves into fiction and its allies – comprising of thrillers and mysteries to drama and socio-political sagas, the more one becomes attuned to the various tones an author is likely to adapt to as he moves with his story.

More often, the language usage too becmes predictable and in time it becomes difficult to segregate authors with style and well, most authors. I often read in many blogs and articles that provide tips for wannabe authors and writers – “The purpose of writing is not to create something new (which is very rare). It is in fact, taking in all you knwo into a mixer grinder and preparing the best possible coriander chutney that has all possible flavours and spices known to you.”

The idea is to create an amalgamation of the best you know (from borrowed sources of course – whether consciously or unconsciously) and create a supposedly ‘new’ style.

But is it possible to isolate oneself and create an entirely different and rare piece that is not an ensemble or a major chunk of which is on one’s own intellect?

Because we spend our learning years delving into classics and allowing them to influence us (and that is the only way of growing, learning and amassing knowledge – which in many ways moulds our personality, our ideoloiges, our tastes and our notions), it is often possible that what you create on your own is a concoction of all those ingredients that you already digested as a child or a voracious reader.

Another argument can be framed thus: All that is to be done has already be done by most masters. From Shakespeare to Grisham – best sellers and classics are full of all plots and situations that can ever be framed by the human mind. Right?

Wrong.

It is this gridlock that gives one a chance to go beyond the obvious by looking at what already has been done, use one’s brain to find out li’l nuances from within the lines, be conscious of what you are reading and analyzing it.

Jhumpa Lahiri never fails to give me goosebumps – no matter how many times I have already read her stories and novel. Her stories take from the mundane existence of most human beings and paint the canvas to unfold an extraordinary Sistine Chapel. Its her eye for looking beyond the ‘mundane’ that makes life and its description in words a celebration.

Nicholas Sparks, inspite of sticking to the miniscule genre of love and relationships (is it? Becuase to the tired human brain all possible plots have been conjured up) has been successful in churning out 14+ best sellers (4 of which have made box office cash registers ringing in and two more are already being filmed).

There are a lot many authors that inspite of sticking to the same genre weave magic and never fail to surprise us.

Look for surprise and depth when you read for growth and upliftment! And you will be adding mounds of expertise and detail to your own eyes – that appreciate words and whatever lies between the lines.

Of course, when you are tired and just need a quick fix – the time tested thrillers and erotic storylines will always be there.

Siddhartha

There is so much I want to do that sometimes I get completely overwhelmed and I don’t know where to start. It’s like I might explode with the yearning to learn so much yet I know I can do it all. At least not right now. I have so many things going on financially that I am rather limited right now in what I can actually do with my time – I can’t afford school, or most classes that come up in my area. This greatly cuts down on what I can explore with a teacher or mentor.

There are a few reasons this lack of resources is good for me. It makes sure I don’t put too much on my plate. I can’t just keep joining and joining groups and classes because I want to learn all of it now.

It also ensures that I take what I really want to take. Before I enroll in something I really think about it. Do I really want to learn this now? Is there another class that would be more important to me to take right now? Do I think this will be worth the resources I invest in this activity?

Now, to my exciting news!

I finally took a step in my personal growth that I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but I felt it wasn’t the right time, or I was lacking the resources to do so, or there was just too much going on in my life. I took away all those excuses and came upon a really good deal sent to me by a blog that I regularly read. I am now enrolled in Naomi Dunford’s Online Business School, and I am very excited about this opportunity!

My goal is to work on it for about an hour each night, during the next week, more if I have time, which I probably will have in the next few days.

Because I am a cheapie right now, I am doing things the cheapest way possible. I found a place where one can get free Reiki attunements to Gold, Tachyon, and Kundalini Reikis, and also Ethereal Crystals. Go here for those.

I also found out, in a place I can no longer recall on the web, that one can give yourself attunements. All you have to do is ask. I tested this last week, with Ethereal Crystals. It very much so worked, and I am now attuned to the level one. I will be attuning myself to the next level sometime this weekend. Remember, if you do decide to try attuning yourself, to drink a lot of water before and after the attunement. It will help a lot, as the water helps your physical body get rid of the gunk while you have new energies getting rid of the gunk in your energy bodies.

Since I’ve been studying gemstones, I’ve wanted to figure out a good way to remember the properties of each gemstone. One of my friends, whom I introduced to gemstones and gemstone therapy, suggested that we each get a notebook, and write down the descriptions of the gemstones we use or are attracted to intuitively. This way we could carry the book with us and read the descriptions over whenever we want, and we would’ve gotten practice by writing them down. I thought this was a great idea, so I’ve been working on it for the past few weeks. I’m going to try to finish it this weekend. I’m in the C’s.

Anyways, good luck! Take care!

I will be posting my situation update soon !

-Love!

So, while cleaning the stairs leading up to the St. Joseph statue, I had a wonderful reflection moment.

While looking at the stairs, filled with pine needles, and the immense height, which seemed never ending, I was wondering if I had gotten myself into something bigger than I could take on.  The first 5 or so stairs weren’t so bad, but as I ascended the stairs, they each had more and more pine needles.  The drizzle began to come down a little harder, and the cool wind picked up.  Once I reached about midway, I realized that there was a step that was made of three planks of wood.  I turned back, to look downward and realize the long way that I had come, and the progress I had made in the short time.  It made me remember the past couple of years and all the time that I had spent in ministry with the Hispanic Young adults, and all of the challenges and difficulties, all of joys and wonderful times.  It reminded me of my vocational journey and all of the work God has done in me so far, to clean me, and prepare my own path. 

I turned back to the rest of the stairs, which stilled seemed like such a long way up.  I thought of heaven and my journey, and found a connection between the stairs and myself.

In working my way up the stairs, taking patient care of each step and the way in which I cleaned it, I thought of how God has put in so much care and patience, and love into molding and cleaning and preparing me for this journey.

As I got higher and higher up, the steps were harder and harder to clean.  I figure, God is giving me a heads up on what I can expect in my journey.  But also received great consolation in the fact that, all of the steps, which I cleaned in the beginning strengthened and prepared me to clean the steps on the top.  So, in all of this time, I learned some truly valuable insights into myself. 

There are a few things I must always do:  learn and grow as I go along, taking with me the fond memories of joy and gladness and strenghthening myself by the grace of the Holy Spirit with the moments that challenge me;  look back and always remember the road I have already walked, to give me strength and guidance for the road ahead; NEVER forget to turn around, and not dwell on the past but hope with faith, in the future; and always pray for the grace of perseverence so that while looking ahead I do not become overwhelmed or afraid of what might come, but go forward with the faith and hope that God has prepared me and will continue to prepare me until I reach Heaven. 

We must keep our focus, I must keep mine, and you must keep yours, set our sights on Heaven and learn from every experience we have, that God is ALWAYS preparing and teaching us in ways unexpected.

I would have never guessed that a simple act of cleaning stairs would have turned into a meditation and personal encounter with God.

Wow. This whole section in Katie’s book, I Need Your Love – Is That True?, is about how our lives are governed by our search for approval from almost everyone we know – and even the strangers we don’t know.

One by one, Katie asks us to question our own thoughts and find out what we really believe about these aspects of seeking approval:

• Making an impression
• Pretending to be interested
• Making yourself more likeable
• Minding your manners
• Tact

I love this:

If you haven’t questioned the belief that it’s possible to win people over, and your manipulative charm doesn’t seem to be working, you’ll think there’s something wrong either with you or with your technique (or both). You may buy one of hundreds of self-help books that teach you how to market yourself – for instance, the multimillion-copy best-selling classic How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. The author’s main suggestion is to make yourself interested in people because, he says, that’s guaranteed to win them over. If you find it difficult to do that, he has an alternative recommendation: Pretend to be interested. How is that done? Smile, remember the names of their children and dogs, write down their birthdays in your organizer so you can send everyone cards, and also pretned to agree with what they say. It’s all about impression management.

Carnegie didn’t stop to ask whether fake interest can win real friendship, because his objective was different: He was teaching a sales technique. And it caught on. You meet the results everywhere. People give you big business-smiles, and you wonder what they want….When someone pretends to be interested in you, do you smile back and pretend to be flattered? Most people cheerily carry on with the playacting, and there’s no problem unless you begin to think there’s any real approval in this behavior. This isn’t friendship – it mimics friendship to get people to do what someone wants. That kind of deception may sell insurance, but what happens when it enters the realms of friendship and your love life?

When you say or do anything to please, get, keep, influence, or control anyone or anything, fear is the cause and pain is the result. Manipulation is separation, and separation is painful. Another person can love you totally in that moment, and you’d have no way of realizing it.

How would I move, act, speak, and decide if I had less concern about what others will think? I see now that I’ve spent all my life in impression management. The gift of my life is that I never really got validated for it. I never had the popular personality, the blond hair, the long legs, the athletic skills, or the plain vanilla inoffensiveness that it required to “win people over”. I had a smile. I discovered this while on an airplane in 1988, headed to Washington DC to perform at the Kennedy Center. A stewardess said to me, “What a BEAUTIFUL smile you have!” It was the first time anyone said it to me. Coming from a total stranger, I trusted it since she couldn’t possibly want anything from me by giving me her compliment. In all the years before that, I had never been complimented for the way I looked. Instead, it had always – since first grade when I was taunted for having the slanty eyes of a Chinese person – been the source of separation and some level of shame that I could never hide, because it was the face I was born with.

I am thankful today for the fact that I could never believe the thought that I needed to make a certain impression. The reason I couldn’t believe the thought is that I could never make the “right” impression. I was too different from too many of the people who surrounded me on a daily basis. Wherever I went, it was obvious that I was not going to fit in with this crowd. It continued after I left Libertyville, Illinois. It continued at Harvard. It continued in medical school. It continued in the business world. And it continues to this very moment. This tells me that this is my reality, my truth, my love. The fact that I never got validated completely is a gift because it means that I have had to keep searching for a better way to live. I could never just settle into the comfortable delusion of thinking that everything was perfect just because I had the approval of people who would pay me money, smile back at me, invite me to join their club, like me for wearing the same clothes, lean on me because I condoned their behaviors.

It has led me to the search for beauty in my own reality. Yesterday, on Thanksgiving Day, I had lunch at a retirement convent for Jesuit nuns. All were over the age of 75. Most were in their 80s and 90s. There were two ladies who were to turn 100 in the next few months. The overarching feeling in this community was joy. There nothing but smiles and clear eye contact and love among these sisters. And yet there were nothing but “problems” if you looked at it from an outsider’s perspective. They were dealing with health problems, pain, decreasing mobility. All were highly educated in their lives, having served as professors at universities, or teachers. Most still stayed active with tutoring, reading, and learning. My favorite room is their art studio, where they paint watercolors for each season of the year and make notecards to sell as fundraisers. After lunch I was told by the nun who invited me there, “Let’s go to the art room. You’re not in any hurry to leave, are you?” Well, it’s true I wasn’t really in a hurry, although I did want to catch the sunset at Half Moon Bay. I ended up going on a walk to see a beautiful gingko tree that was bright lemon yellow, about to shed its leaves. And I thought California had no fall colors! This is the first year I am noticing all the vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows that fill our tree-lined streets right now. Why hadn’t I ever seen them before? I was stuck in the belief that “We don’t have fall colors in California.” So of course I never bothered to look.

I sat for about half an hour tying ribbons around the packages of notecards that would be going on sale next week at the school’s holiday gift bazaar. If a 93-year-old nun and her siblings – both in their 80s – could tie ribbons, so could I. On the way out, we met several other nuns who stopped to chat with us. No one ever just walks by another person without looking at them or saying hello. And actually hello is not usually enough either. People stop, introduce themselves, shake hands, and learn something about each other. I became “the talented violin lady” and everyone instantly recognized who I was. The one with the children. The one who’s coming back next week to give the most anticipated event of their year. One of the nuns was an artist, and wanted to show me her paintings. A true artist, when I asked her about her approach and what she was thinking about when she did each one, she’d just say, “Oh, I wanted to just play.” And that’s how it really happens. She showed me the desk where she works, sitting in front of a large picture window facing the courtyard and a beautiful tree. She lived in a single room, very spacious with her own bathroom. Yes, she was blessed. It was just thanksgiving day, like every day at the convent.

I finally left at around 3:30. There was still plenty of light, and I felt light from having been surrounded by such joy. And then I set off for Half Moon Bay, with Mary, my artist/writer/photographer friend who is leaving the country in just about ten days. We stopped at the beach before heading to the Ritz-Carlton. I thought the hotel would either be empty or packed. Turned out it was packed. Lots of families with miserable children dressed in suits and ties and being forced to eat in a hotel ballroom packed with round tables, cheap chairs, and “autumn” decorations like hay bales, baskets of apples, and ears of Indian corn. In the center, a cheesy live music trio doot-doot-dooted away to keep the atmosphere from being as deadly as it all looked.

We found a nook in one of the side rooms of the lobby which has been converted into a wine-tasting area since I last visited. Technically there was no table service where we were (according to the hostess lady). So I went up to the bar and asked if they make hot chocolate. And I pointed out to the bartender where we were sitting. “I’ll bring it up to you,” he said. Wow! I thought. We really can be served! This was perfect. When he brought out our drinks, we went ahead and ordered French fries. They were fine, but we didn’t know what good could be until our bartender brought out an entire other order of fries for us, saying, “Well, we just had some more.” How sweet he was! He probably saw two lovely ladies drinking non-alcoholic beverages on a Thanksgiving night and said, “That’s sweet.” He actually said, “Is this your Thanksgiving dinner, then? Hot chocolate and French fries?” We laughed, saying yes it was. And we loved it!

We sat there for hours, doing The Work, telling stories of how we had shifted situations in our lives by starting to do The Work, and then just stories in general. About life transitions. Moving on. Accepting reality as it is. Learning. Creating. Telling stories. People. Ultimately we were thankful for exactly where we are, because of exactly what we had been through.

I am thankful because now I can end each day by thinking of the gifts each day brought me. I can find those gifts in my life. I can see them in seemingly small moments that may not have made an impression on anyone but me. They are gifts I receive from my own perceptions. They are the gifts that are slowly freeing me to be what I have always been.

Here are just a few of the gifts of my Thanksgiving Day:

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-9434439-new-life.phprefnum=delihayat

hand holding a fresh young plant, symbol of new life and environmental conservation

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-9434439-new-life.phprefnum=delihayat

hands, concepts, human, care, hand, planting, unrecognizable person, growth, keeping, carrying, outdoors, conceptual symbol, new life, rural scene, humus soil, symbol, environmental conservation, giving, plant, dirt, palm, small, holding, leaf, green, finger, beginnings, gardening, protection, fragility, environment, agriculture, conservation, organic, environmental, hands, concepts, human, care, hand, planting, unrecognizable person, growth, keeping, carrying, outdoors, conceptual symbol, new life, rural scene, humus soil, symbol, environmental conservation, giving, plant, dirt, palm, small, holding, leaf, green, finger, beginnings, gardening, protection, fragility, environment, agriculture, conservation, organic, environmental

The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

~ Charles Du Bos

I love this quote.  We get so hung up on our precious little definition of ourselves – even if that definition is something we profess not to like.  “I’m depressed”, “I’m shy”, “I’m just not that kind of person”, “I would never bungee jump”, “I always procrastinate”… etcetera.  We create these labels for ourselves and then identify with them, and woe betide anyone or any experience that tries to take them away from us.

These labels come from all sorts of things – parents, teachers, past experiences, etc.  But one thing is for sure – they come from the past.  They come from who you have been or used to be or have at some point decided to be.  They are only true in the now because you keep clinging to them and using them to define yourself.  They will only be true in the future if you continue to choose them to be.

Or… you could let them go and allow yourself to grow into the person you might become.

I love this quote because to me it says: to move and grow, you have to be prepared to let go of all the labels you have clung to, all the little definitions you have for yourself.  Only then, in the space that you have created, may the person you could become have a chance to move in.

At any moment – in THIS moment – we must be willing to sacrifice the ways we have decided to identify ourselves… and see what steps in to take their place.  This is growth.

This is a really cool online clock that includes all manner of statistics: diseases, food production, population, etc. You can watch as they grow from the beginning of this year, week, day, or starting….now.

Worldclock

[Thanks, Dad!]

(Afternoon sunlight hitting the wall.)

The time is ripe for looking back over the day, the week, the year, and trying to figure out where we have come from and where we are going to, for sifting through the things we have done and the things we have left undone for a clue to who we are and who, for better or worse, we are becoming.  But again and again we avoid the long thoughts.  We cling to the present out of wariness of the past.  And why not, after all?  We get confused.  We need such escape as we can find.  But there is a deeper need yet, I think, and that is the need — not all the time, surely, but from time to time — to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as part of the present, where the dead are alive again, where we are the most alive ourselves to turnings and to where our journeys have brought us.  The name of the room is Remember — the room where with patience, with charity, with quietness of heart, we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived.

~ Frederick Buechner

All the hardships that come to you in life, all the tribulations and nightmares, all the things you see as punishments from above are really like gifts. They are an opportunity to grow, which is the sole purpose in life.

Do you agree?

Maira Kalman wonders about the patterns of food consumption in the United States. Stop what you’re doing and read this. (Please.)

Back to the Land [And the Pursuit of Happiness Blog]

Make my life a prayer.
I can talk the talk
But can I walk the walk.

I can say I believe
But can I act on that?
Do I step in the direction of the prayers that I desire?

Or do I pray and contradict those prayers in my actions.

God, the universe, hears every prayer.
And consequently immediately begins to call all those things to reality. However, we now know that we are surrounded by a truth we can not see. That our mind literally limits our experience to our beliefs. So how can we experience the results of a prayer we don’t believe enough to act on? It’s okay if this describes you. It has desrcibed me for all my life. But it doesn’t have to anymore. I can strengthen my faith and change my thought paterns and experience the results of the things I pray for in my life and the world around me. It is not magic. It is only the rememberance of the truth that surrounds us all. And as we remember we all awaken to that truth.

The World Economic Forum is sponsoring the most extensive study to date on entrepreneurial growth-oriented companies. The study will provide insight into the different factors that drive company growth, especially in the first decade of operations. The target set of companies should have at least 3 to 4 years of revenues. For some companies, this will coincide with the first 3 to 4 years of the companies’ existence. For other companies, there could be a longer time period since incorporation (such as in many life-science companies). A growth company is one in which there is a serious aspiration of growth (at least 20% to 30% or more) in revenues or profits each year over an extended period. In the early days, there may be much higher % growth rates with the ramp up period and because very high growth rates can occur when the “base” is low.

The study will focus on the global aspects of entrepreneurship in multiple ways:

1. Entrepreneurial companies from different regions will be examined. Companies from Asia, Europe, North and South America, Middle East, Africa, and Oceania will be included in the study.
2. The different growth strategies of entrepreneurial companies to expand beyond their initial “home base” will be analyzed. Consider the customer focus. Many early-stage growth companies adopt an early global customer focus due to the limited size of their domestic market (such as many growth companies in Ireland and Israel). Where there is a large domestic market, companies can differ at the timing at which they seek markets beyond that global market. The study will document and examine the consequences of early vs. delayed entry into global markets of entrepreneurial companies.
3. Companies around the globe are being impacted differently by the current economic difficulties. We will examine different strategies of growth-oriented companies to reduce the impact of the downturn.

Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in participating in the study.

How can you grow with something if you don’t understand it?

There is something so very gratifying about a day well spent.  Hours spent at peace among a few whose lives are forever entwined with ours has the power to recharge the spirit’s dead battery.  Sure, the good food, good conversation, and the good weather contributes as well, but there is just something so special about our lives simply flowing and floating along side by side for a day.  There was just a few of us, not nearly as big as some of the crowds that gathered elsewhere today, but all who came contributed something to the gathering.  The meal was too good, too filling, and over too soon, but was also just right.  The football was on, the laughter was easy, the little boy in the house completely focused on playing with those who came to play, and all was right in the world just for today.  Now, when the day is done, the leftovers divided, the belts loosened, the boy tucked in, and the dishes that are left reveal a few whipped cream fingerprints, now there is time to reflect on just what today meant.  Today was a marker– a Kodak moment– that is now a part of five people’s memories that will be carried along with other memories of times spent together.  We’ve all aged some, we’ve all learned something, and we’ve all survived somewhat this past year.  I say survived somewhat because, all of us have also lost something, or let something go as well.  And that is ok.  Some things needed to be let go of, and some things were lost whether we were ready to let them go or not.  Still, that is ok.  I wonder what will have to be released between today and this day next year?  Should I try somehow to stay ahead of the curve, to outrun the Taker?  I suppose that some people try to do that- I suppose that I have tried to do that, but no, not anymore.  It is too important now to stay focused on those things that are still ahead, still coming, still unknown.  There is no time to waste worrying about what MIGHT happen, COULD happen, even SHOULD happen.  There is only time to squeeze the juice out of every moment that God gives us to live and letting Him worry about the seeds, the rind, and the pith.  God plants the seeds to grow something new for us for tomorrow, He makes candy out of the rind to sweeten the future, and the pith will dry and blow away in the wind of His breath.  All we have to do is let the nourishment of today help us grow a little, just for today.  Hello and Goodnight World!

The National Instruction Board for Information Technology convened a meeting November 25 in Hanoi to discuss developing Vietnam’s information technology. Human resources in the sector should be prioritized, experts agreed.

Professor Vu Minh Giang from Hanoi said it was critical for the government to develop personnel resources to strengthen the field. The president of the National Instruction Board for Information Technology, Prof. Do Trung Ta from Hanoi, agreed, saying that it was even more important than developing IT infrastructure in the country.

Information technology students study at FPT University in Hanoi. The government needs to focus on training more quality IT personnel, a recent meeting heard.

Participants said it was wise for the government to focus on the burgeoning IT sector and that Vietnam had received recognition for its strength in the field.

However, there is much room for improvement, the meeting heard, and the IT sector must be analyzed in terms of strategic socioeconomic growth to 2020.

Discussing a project to fortify the country’s IT, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan said the allocation of funds for the project was unreasonable.

Total funding for the project is estimated at VND144 trillion (US$7, 8 billion), of which VND131 trillion (US$7 billion) (91 percent), is allocated for implementing broadband infrastructure. The remaining VND210 billion is slated for developing human resources.

The divisions should receive equal funding, he said. IT experts at the meeting agreed, saying the actual cost of developing a strong human resources sector to 2020 is closer to US$1-2 billion.

Following the meeting, a proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Information and Communications, and policymakers, outlining the strategy and projected costs of the project.

In addition, Prof. Ta said the project should focus on training and foreign language skills rather than simply churning out large numbers of IT graduates. Furthermore, the government should concentrate on integrating IT into other fields like security and national defense, rather than treating it as an exclusive sector.

If the project is successful, it will be a boost to the country’s socioeconomic development to 2020, said Prof. Ta. Moreover, the implementation of the project must have the participation of ministries like Science and Technology, Education and Training, Planning and Investment, and Finance in addition to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Bookmark & Share

A performance appraisal is one of the best and most important ways to recognize a person. When you recognize people in this way you accomplish two objectives. You let the person know how you feel about him and you provide a permanent documentation of the recognition. The documentation will be important to the person’s future growth and advancement within the company.

When you recognize a person through the performance appraisal, make sure you provide as complete a list as possible of his major accomplishments. As you note the accomplishments, be specific. A person who is unfamiliar with the work of the area should be able to read the appraisal and get a fairly complete picture of the person’s accomplishments.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

So I’ve been thinking a fair bit about possibly the central thing we do as pastors – at least in terms of time spent on any single thing (research, preparation and delivery). We would take a half-day as a preaching team to work through a message, then I would take a day to write it and then about another half day spent marinating on it before delivery. So all up we’re looking at about fifteen hours of preparation and delivery for one message. Which I think is probably about average.

Recently I read Pagan Christianity by Viola and Barna, which was a really good read and instrumental in helping the church move beyond its institutionalization. They claim that preaching was never central to the church until a couple hundred years after Christ and really came into primacy with Luther who claimed it was the central part of the sunday service. He changed the term “priest” to “preacher”. Understandably preaching the word for Luther, who was putting reformed theology into the hands of hungry hordes of protesting catholics departing the catholic church in utter ignorance, was of utmost importance.

Viola claims that preaching in the NT was only done by apostles – church planters/workers in the process of establishing churches and on special occasions (Solomon’s temple etc.). They also claim that the office of Pastor is not an office, but a function and pastors didn’t preach.

I kinda disagree. I think pastors did preach because I believe Timothy was a pastor (Viola suggests he was “apostolic” because he obviously wasn’t an apostle, but his theory about pastors would fall over) and Timothy was urged by Paul to preach. Furthermore in Acts where it says the early disciples met from house to house and in the temple, would suggest it was a weekly occurrence.

Here’s where I get really creative now. Try and keep up.

Public teaching was done in the synagogue for centuries, so was embedded in Jewish culture. Furthermore, rhetoric was one of the most popular of entertainment of the day among the Greeks. Rhetoricians were public speakers who became famous and well paid for speaking eloquently (subject matter was inconsequential). So culturally in Judea, public speaking was the best form of communication and entertainment – infotainment would be a good word to describe it in today’s parlance. So it seems Jesus and his followers were using the best and most modern forms of communication that was most effective for their culture and the people of the day – preaching and teaching.

Translate that into today’s culture which is neither Greek nor Jewish. Preaching like we live in 100 A.D. in Judea simply isn’t cutting it. I even had trouble remembering what I preached the week before let alone thinking anyone else remembered (and I’m a good preacher). Which is why I resorted to The Big Idea which is simply one singular idea that I wanted people to leave the building with (there were other reasons to adopt it, primarily to use a preaching team and being able to keep a multi-site church moving in the same direction). I mean, how many sermons have you heard and actually implemented? It’s a completely modernist idea to think that simply giving people information will change their lives. We all know it doesn’t work like that, yet we continue doing it because it’s part of the consumer contract we have with our congregants (search this blog for consumerism).

Researchers on adult eduction have found that while teaching children “by rote” – in other words, I tell-you listen-you learn works, it doesn’t work with adults. And because preachers have all been to school and know nothing about educating adults, we use the only model we’ve known. Adult education doesn’t work like that. In fact when it comes down to it, experts concede that adult educators can only “facilitate” another adults learning. I won’t go into all the reasons for that. But bottom line, you can’t teach someone anything until they are ready to learn it. Kinda sounds like that old chinese saying “when the student is ready, the master will appear” – except we’re not masters… but you get the point.

The other thing that complicates the issue is that we live in the information age. No-one knows how vast the internet is. It’s not measurable. That’s how much information is out there. I can download the best preachers in the world hours after they deliver the sermon. And they’re way better communicators that you or I. I can download theology, christian books, magazines and blogs. I can even check the lexicons and commentaries while you’re preaching to see if your exegesis and hermeneutics are up to scratch. So that’s what we’re up against. So if we’re going to trade in information, I guarantee you, your congregation can get better information any day of the week.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us reaching for the best communication forms available to us for today’s culture and not simply dishing out information because adults don’t learn like that (and neither do you by the way so don’t be surprised that no-one else does either), but rather facilitating an experience. How’s that for radical? I’ll let you think about that for a bit, and I’ll unpack my conclusions later.

Market Perception Today

I had a recent email from a client, noting how she was unsure where the market was now or where it was heading. She commented that prices seem to be going up, and contemplated whether she should she hold off buying until the First Home Owner’s Grant (FHOG) reduces further and/or see if there is an impact of expected interest rate hikes?

I can only make comment of what I have seen in my patch of the woods, the East side of Brisbane. So let’s look at her first query – have Sellers increased their asking prices? Well, yes and no.

Up front it should be said if a property is priced to meet the market, it will sell. I have seen, even as of today, new properties listed at an attractive (or sensible) price, which I know will be snapped up quick.

I feel the problem with some new listings, is some Sellers have started to get a little greedy. That’s fine, I too would want to sell my house for as much as I could get, but if I wish to sell my house, I still have to meet the market. This principle will always remain no matter what the state of the market.

There has been recent press saying how the housing sector has bounced back extraordinarily well from the doldrums created by the GFC. I listed an article dated October 20 on this blog noting this very thing. Unsurprisingly, when a Seller sees this type of press, their eyes light up.

But first we need to look at where the press obtain their figures of growth? If it is via Government Departments (this is where database s such as PDS Live, RP Data gain much of their information) there will be a lag time. If a house sells in August, with processing time, the information may not reach a database until September to October. Keep this lag time in mind for the moment.

Personally I believe the turning point in the market was around July/August this year. Homes valued below $430,000 started to get picked up, and momentum increased. As properties in these lower brackets began depleting and confidence grew, Buyers started looking a little further up the price range and a ‘trickle up’ effect could be seen. However I haven’t seen this trickle up effect go much past the $550,000 bracket just yet.

Hence if the market was heating up in August, we hear about it in October (due to the lag time). Sellers start thinking it’s a Seller’s market and start upping listing prices.

Another interesting point I have noticed, is during this initial surge, the majority of interest was from Investors, not particularly first home buyers. They were certainly present, but the Investors seem to be the most active.

There will always be people who need to buy and sell property no matter what the market, due to external factors (say moving interstate for work) but Investors have the luxury of picking their mark. When they feel the market has bottomed out, they jump, as they of course wish to purchase at the lowest point to maximise their growth.

But have Investors interested in purchasing property already done so by now, and left the market, thereby reducing the Buyer pool for the Sellers just as they thought things were kicking along? I don’t think so.  I still have quite a number of Buyers on my Database looking for investment properties, but they are specific and know what the right price should be. If you are a Seller and list too high, you may get good numbers enquiring as there is still much interest out there, but there will be no offers, and your property will sit.

There is also the theory by some the FHOG has artificially increased the costs of lower price bracket property. Having had few come across my path, I can’t see Sellers asking that much more because of a perceived flood of easy cash in the system. It’s just not happening.

If there are several interest rate hikes, the market may slow, possibly for a short period, but I feel most people are sensible enough to acknowledge interest rates are incredibly low, and there will be expected movement up. This is of course assuming the RBA and Lenders don’t get silly.

I was speaking with the local Loan Market Mortgage Broker, Simon Winters, who said his market felt the likelihood of interest rate increase in December was 50%, where everyone was saying 75% just a few weeks earlier.

Sellers pricing sensibly are selling quick as there is still much interest in the market. But list high and you will struggle for an offer. There are still plenty of keen Buyers out there, Investors and some new home buyers getting in before the FHOG reduces. Interest rates don’t appear to be making any dent. Similarly for Buyers, there are still many properties correctly priced in a market which appears to have recovered from the GFC. I don’t see a return to the 2007 times (which is a good thing) so all in all, at present, it is probably a reasonably equitable market.

Please feel free to leave a comment. Perception, by its nature, is an individual thing, so I am always interested in other people’s thoughts.

beautiful autum leaves against blue sky

beautiful autum leaves against blue sky blue,red,leave,sky,fall,leafstalk,color,decoration,environment,floral,growth,leaf,leaves,organic,plants

woman holds in her hand a tuft grass, she takes care of environment

woman holds in her hand a tuft grass, she takes care of environment

grass,holding,hand,concept,environmental,green,protect,protection,environmental conservation,one person,adult,young,female,woman,young adult,young woman,horizontal,casual clothing,growth,hair