Yawn - I'm Here - Yawn
I’m back in Doha with the worst case of Jet Lag that I have ever experienced. It was the normal trip that I usually take except for the extra leg through Orlando. I didn’t sleep much on the way to London or between London and Doha. I thought cool, I’m really tired but this is a good way to whip me back into my sleep schedule. Well unfortunately I didn’t set an alarm on Saturday because I figured I would wake up when I need to. Well that ended up being 4:00 PM my time and 8:00 AM Texas time. This was depressing because I just lost all the anti-jet lag sleep I had on the plane and I was back to Texas time. Kara and I got up and got about 4 hours of sleep last night. I’m now doing my best to stay awake for a little longer so that I can wake up at a normal hour tomorrow.
We have two individuals in from College Station for the next two weeks. I have been videoconferencing with them ever since I’ve been working here and today was the first time to actually meet them face to face. One of them told me I was taller then they had thought I was. I guess a 13” monitor doesn’t really give you anything to reference a person’s height by. Especially when they are sitting down. I was some what worried about how I would be with them here since I was so jet lagged but they are hurting as bad as I am so no big deal. They coded this HR Database system that I have been in charge of from the Qatar end. It was a lot bigger of a responsibility than I expected when I started. Luckily the people in College Station were experienced enough to fill any holes I might have had in my experience.
Not to have some corny segue but the whole responsibility thing reminded me of something one of the elders in my church told me at dinner. I was talking about wanting to work with the church more but not knowing where I should be. I’ve always secretly been annoyed by those seemingly melodramatic types who would wine about God not telling them anything and they were not sure what they wanted to do. To me it always seemed like a convenient excuse to not have a job and still act like you are in college without any real responsibilities. I actually heard this same comment while hanging out with Kara and her sister’s friends. One girl was there talking to this guy and said those exact same words “I don’t know where God wants me” And I thought to myself, I wonder how many times she has even left The Woodlands. Well I later found out when she asked me how much Arabic that she had spent time as a nurse in the Sudan and I believe Afghanistan and has seen most of the Middle East countries. Lets just say I felt about 6”s tall then. Nothing like a good piece of humble pie to put you in your place. Luckily I had kept all of my cynical comments to myself or I would have been walking to the airport to catch my flight to Orlando. Lesson learned here, get off your I have world experience high horse and realize that people don’t have to live in the sand just to live life. It reminded me of the time I used to think the only way that I could serve God was by going to the most oppressed and poverty stricken countries in the world. If I didn’t go who would and what was my excuse. Anybody who stuck around in the states was just taking the easy way out. Learning their theology in their seminaries but not know what ministry was really about. Although I know there are still some of those over scholastic Christians this point of view, I’m happy to say, has been changed.
Well back to the talk with my elder. I wanted to know how I could work into having a role with more responsibility. He flat out told me start coming to the prayer meetings on Tuesday night and you will know where the needs are. I have learned over the years not to make a knee jerk reaction to taking on responsibility. In the past I would say yes to 10 different things and in the end I would be stressed out with a 2.0 GPR and nothing done right. So I have done my best not to promise anything I can’t deliver, unfortunately I have not always held true to that, but I that is how life goes. He also told me to keep on doing the small things. I’ve been working with Power Point to keep the words on the screen during worship and now he says I need to look for a few more people to do my job so I will be free to take on different responsibilities. It sounds a lot like Amway with building a down line but it makes sense. He also asked if I would work on the soundboard and I told him I would give it my best shot. I’m tone deaf so I’m going to ask Kara to be there with me at first to help with the mic checks. Right now when I hear them do it, I really can’t tell the difference between what sounds good and what doesn’t. Once that is good to go, my job will be mainly a technical one.
The elder told me something that totally made sense. He said that if I ever plan on planting a church I’m going to need to be able to do all of these small things and teach others how to do them as well. I don’t know if Kara and I will ever be planting a church but it does make sense to me. Learn the guys’ job above of you and teach yours to the one below you. I’m not sure why God put me here, but I’m pretty sure it was for more then writing code and going to church on Friday morning. There are so many needs here that are so evident. It is my responsibility to do my best to meet these needs. I just can’t be a bull in china shop when I’m doing it.
We have two individuals in from College Station for the next two weeks. I have been videoconferencing with them ever since I’ve been working here and today was the first time to actually meet them face to face. One of them told me I was taller then they had thought I was. I guess a 13” monitor doesn’t really give you anything to reference a person’s height by. Especially when they are sitting down. I was some what worried about how I would be with them here since I was so jet lagged but they are hurting as bad as I am so no big deal. They coded this HR Database system that I have been in charge of from the Qatar end. It was a lot bigger of a responsibility than I expected when I started. Luckily the people in College Station were experienced enough to fill any holes I might have had in my experience.
Not to have some corny segue but the whole responsibility thing reminded me of something one of the elders in my church told me at dinner. I was talking about wanting to work with the church more but not knowing where I should be. I’ve always secretly been annoyed by those seemingly melodramatic types who would wine about God not telling them anything and they were not sure what they wanted to do. To me it always seemed like a convenient excuse to not have a job and still act like you are in college without any real responsibilities. I actually heard this same comment while hanging out with Kara and her sister’s friends. One girl was there talking to this guy and said those exact same words “I don’t know where God wants me” And I thought to myself, I wonder how many times she has even left The Woodlands. Well I later found out when she asked me how much Arabic that she had spent time as a nurse in the Sudan and I believe Afghanistan and has seen most of the Middle East countries. Lets just say I felt about 6”s tall then. Nothing like a good piece of humble pie to put you in your place. Luckily I had kept all of my cynical comments to myself or I would have been walking to the airport to catch my flight to Orlando. Lesson learned here, get off your I have world experience high horse and realize that people don’t have to live in the sand just to live life. It reminded me of the time I used to think the only way that I could serve God was by going to the most oppressed and poverty stricken countries in the world. If I didn’t go who would and what was my excuse. Anybody who stuck around in the states was just taking the easy way out. Learning their theology in their seminaries but not know what ministry was really about. Although I know there are still some of those over scholastic Christians this point of view, I’m happy to say, has been changed.
Well back to the talk with my elder. I wanted to know how I could work into having a role with more responsibility. He flat out told me start coming to the prayer meetings on Tuesday night and you will know where the needs are. I have learned over the years not to make a knee jerk reaction to taking on responsibility. In the past I would say yes to 10 different things and in the end I would be stressed out with a 2.0 GPR and nothing done right. So I have done my best not to promise anything I can’t deliver, unfortunately I have not always held true to that, but I that is how life goes. He also told me to keep on doing the small things. I’ve been working with Power Point to keep the words on the screen during worship and now he says I need to look for a few more people to do my job so I will be free to take on different responsibilities. It sounds a lot like Amway with building a down line but it makes sense. He also asked if I would work on the soundboard and I told him I would give it my best shot. I’m tone deaf so I’m going to ask Kara to be there with me at first to help with the mic checks. Right now when I hear them do it, I really can’t tell the difference between what sounds good and what doesn’t. Once that is good to go, my job will be mainly a technical one.
The elder told me something that totally made sense. He said that if I ever plan on planting a church I’m going to need to be able to do all of these small things and teach others how to do them as well. I don’t know if Kara and I will ever be planting a church but it does make sense to me. Learn the guys’ job above of you and teach yours to the one below you. I’m not sure why God put me here, but I’m pretty sure it was for more then writing code and going to church on Friday morning. There are so many needs here that are so evident. It is my responsibility to do my best to meet these needs. I just can’t be a bull in china shop when I’m doing it.
posted by Russell at
9:03 PM
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