I'm Just Thinkin' | Strengthen Me, Oh Lord, to Always Love Others in the Way You Love Me

Keep On Keeping On

April 25, 2011 in Soul Food with 4 Comments

My first job out of college was with an international engineering firm, Law Engineering, Inc. Law was as old as dirt – they had several sages within the company that were seasoned professionals and pioneers in geotechnical engineering. Based in Atlanta, the firm specialized in geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, and added to it “environmental” as this niche became fashionable due to the rise of Environmental Due Diligence, and in the wake of Love Canal and other massive environmental problems discovered during the 1970′s and 80′s. The company was an excellent place to learn the business. I worked a lot and advanced from a Staff Geologist to the Jacksonville Environmental Services Department Manager in 3 short years. My brief stint as a big-company guy was fun; visits to the corporate office on Abernathy Road, staging a well-attended leadership roundtable in Jacksonville with Jim Kammert of Barnett Banks and Andrew Young, a Law company spokesman after he left the Atlanta Mayor’s Office, and leading the clean up of the former “Gator Bowl” area under the direction of Sam Mousa, then the City’s Public Works Director.

With all that going on, our Environmental Services Department (Dept #444) was pretty high-profile…

but we were NOT it.

Department 442, the Geotechnical Department, was by far the shining star in our branch.

Dept. 442 and its geotechnical engineers were the masters at “Keep On Keeping On.” They consistently and steadily turned in profitable numbers in Law Engineering’s profit-center accounting system.

So on the Happy Monday following Easter I decided to write today about how He continues to “Keep On Keeping On”…

how I need to remember what Jesus did…

not just at Easter…

but every day throughout the year…

and year after year…

Jesus came here to earth and walked in the flesh…

He was the only one to ever live a sinless life…

and then He died at the cross…

He died so that we could have forgiveness for our sins…

and eternal life…

I need to remember what Jesus did…

because He did it all for each and every one of us…

and for that I’m humbly grateful.

The Most Important Stretch

April 23, 2011 in Breathing Deep with 0 Comments

Our high school cross-country coach used to make us stretch before and after running. Thinking we were invincible at the time, we would do it, sometimes more to appease him than wholeheartedly. He told us to stretch on our day off from running every week, and to stretch before and after our run. We would include stretching as a part of our routine whenever we trained together, and ideally when we trained on our own as well.

We imagined that we would be so stretched out we would one day end up looking like Gumby. That would be quite a stretch of the imagination though…

The finish line, whether after a training run or a race, is the starting point of recovery for your body. And the stretching and cool down from exercise is considered the most important one. Active.com lists these 5 stretches for runners:

Book Review: Living By The Book, by Dr. Howard G. and William D. Hendricks

April 21, 2011 in Odds & Ends with 0 Comments

Click image to purchase this title

Have you ever read the Bible and really didn’t get it? When I first started reading the Bible it was like a foreign language… difficult to understand and interpret (and I’m not even referring to Jesus’ parables!). As I started to read more and more some of it started to make sense… or so I thought at the time. My first big boy Bible, given to me by Grammy Ann, was the New International Version (NIV). The NIV is sort of the modern-day speakeasy version of the big book. I now have 3 Bibles, adding to the NIV an Amplified Bible and the New King James Version, which is now my favorite.

My mom gave me “Living By The Book” not long ago. It’s like a college text for theologians (which I’m not… I’m just an average Joe who happens to love our Lord and Savior). Written by Dr. Howard G. Hendricks and his son, William. Dr. Hendricks was a distinguished professor and lecturer at Dallas Theological Seminary. This book is basically Dr. Hendricks “how to study the Bible 101 course.” I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn more of The Word. Through it, as Charles Swindoll says, “the Bible became user friendly.” I agree with Swindoll. This book opened up my mind to parts of Bible verses and passages like never before. This takes work and practice… and Dr. Hendricks book is instrumental in learning how, focusing on Observation, strategies for reading, keys to Interpretation and, of course, Application. I learned how to read a verse in its proper context, feeling the power of the individual words, along with getting the big picture of each of the books within the Bible. “Living By The Book” is a powerful tool to learning more from the Bible.

Are there any books you could recommend that help one absorb more from the Bible?

The Burgess Shale

April 20, 2011 in Geology with 2 Comments

Burgess Shale Trilobite

This stratigraphic unit found within the Stephen Formation is loaded with fossils, and is one of the most significant and famous fossil beds in the world. Named by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1911, The Burgess Shale is typically black in color and contains fossilized impressions that include soft body parts, a feature rarely found in the fossil record and attributed to the environment of deposition. The type location is named for Burgess Pass, and is found near the town of Field in the Yoho National Park, within the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia.

Stepping away from the Bible for a moment and reflecting on the science within these rocks…

The Burgess Shale is given a geological age of 505 million years and is a part of The Cambrian Explosion. The impressions left by this explosion represent a mysterious, rapid expansion or diversification of life here on earth over a relatively short period of time.

Going Places: What’s There To Like About Jacksonville, Florida?

April 19, 2011 in Breathing Deep with 0 Comments

hmmm, well I have quite a list of what I LOVE about Jax:

I love our beaches, they are flat and wide (during low tide). The sand is soft. They allow dogs (sometimes). We may not have mountains in Jacksonville, but I really dig our beach!
The St. Johns River and its numerous tributaries, estuaries and associated wildlife add an incredible diversity to our ecosystem. These are a part of our outdoor lifestyle here in Jacksonville.
The small community feel of many areas of town. I’ve spent most of the time living here in the community of Neptune Beach. My office was in Riverside for 4 years so I got to spend quite a bit of time there (though I’ve never lived in this area of town, I still enjoy going out with friends for dinner or meeting for coffee there). I also love San Marco and the Town Center area.
Our climate is temperate, we have some seasonality and can light a fire in the fireplace in the winter. I’m not a real fan of the heat so the summer can be a bit much.
I love the people here. It has been home to me for almost 20 years now and through time I’ve been able to make a lot of connections within the community.
Of course, I love my church and my friends there. I’ll leave it at that (as y’all know, I could write about God, Church and Love all day long – and some days I do!)
My family is here, and growing! I recently moved my mom to town from Pennsylvania, and have two daughters plus one grandson here, and a baby granddaughter on the way! Also, Grammy Ann, my first wife’s mom, is here, she’s one of my very closest friends and someone who I think of whenever I mention family. I spend most of my time with them!

How does this all fit into Going Places? Well, I have felt particularly moved over the past two months to start finding new ways to give back to our community, and have been doing a lot of searching through our local government and associations to find this special place where I can do more… not sure where this will take me, but I know that God will be leading me, in His way and time. One place I know that He is leading me is to connect with more and more people outside of my Church, and believe this is a healthy thing for any growing Christian and follower of Jesus.

Please share with us what you love about where you live!

Going Places is the blog series focusing on where God is leading us. It may include travel destinations, but doesn’t have to. This series is open to guest bloggers. If you would like to submit a guest post please contact me.

A Quite Different Happy Monday

April 18, 2011 in Soul Food with 2 Comments

Happy Monday to everyone! I’m less enthused today than most of the time as I had a very busy weekend and find myself today whooped. Usually when Happy Monday rolls around I’m ready to go and fired up to get a good start on the week. I guess now I can better appreciate how Monday must feel to those who are not morning people.

So now what?

I’m starting my day off the same as every other one, reading my daily devotional, quiet time and prayer, and fresh coffee…

and, of course, a favorite Bible verse:

“But those who wait for the Lord shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” Isaiah 40:31

Perfect for me for this Happy Monday!!

How is this Monday going for everyone else?

Why don’t you feed Twitters to your Facebook account?

April 16, 2011 in Soul Food with 2 Comments

Please click here to connect with me on Twitter

I’m thinkin’ the recommended dose of Twitters/day (between 5 and 12, depending on the source) is Too Much Information for Facebook… if I actually twittered that much, as many days I struggle to, would my Facebook friends find it annoying? Quite possibly. Plus, I want to connect in a different way through Facebook and Twitter (i.e., they’re not actually one in the same to me).

Last year I wrote about Twitter, how I was going to use it to help me repost some of my archive material from I’m Just Thinkin’ to the blog’s audience. Since that time I’ve also been experimenting with and learning about Twitter and how to use it to help me expand my network as well as the audience.

Some random thoughts on Twitterin’…

As someone who can be a tad bit verbose at times, Twitter forces me to be concise as I have to pack my thoughts into 140 characters (I hear this can actually improve my writing). It also helps me build and focus in on my brand.
While I can’t possibly read the plethora of Twitter feeds from everyone that I follow… if I want to catch up a little with someone who has an account I can do so by pulling it up (or by jingling their digits – if we’re tight!).
It’s fun! I recently Twittered brief interviews with each of my daughters… they got a real kick out of that