It Depends On Who You Talk To

My boss is sharp. Really, he knows what he's doing. For the first time in some years, I have felt for the past 24 months like I had a bit of a safety net if I made a mistake. He's an unashamed ladder-climber, but I can live with that. He's enrolled in some developmental program for potential directors or even executive officers, very prestigious. The program includes all sorts of personality profiling to determine an individual's strengths and weakness, as well as an awareness of the personality types of others they work with. The benefits of this sort of training for a reasonably young but skilled worker can be enormous.

There's one thing the program never does: talk to any of the people who work for the corporate shooting star. All the input that could be gained, valuable feedback over the real difficulties and frailties of the someday executive... nobody knows those warts better than the grunts who have to do the front line tasks. Sure, you have to watch out for disgruntled types who have an axe to grind, but isn't it possible that if you go back far enough you'd find that there is a reason for the axe grinding?

It Needed To Be Said

Let's give it up for Sub_Eng, May 28, 2009.

Memorial Two-fer

Has anybody else noticed that gasoline prices at the pump have increased by about 25% in less than a month? You would expect some sort of media attention to this, since it affects everybody. Anticipation of increased demand for Memorial Weekend would be a suspect, but this started a little too early. It could be that this is caused by the biannual re-tooling at refineries to shift some of their processing from heating oil (winter product) to more gasoline (more in demand during summer). I can't say for sure, though, because exactly zero journalists in the major media outlets have addressed this.

This brings me to my second topic: the word "biannual" means twice every year, as I just used it. EXCEPT when it doesn't, and instead means once every two years. Wait, you mean the same word, in the same context, can have a meaning that cannot necessarily be distinguished from the other meaning based strictly by the surrounding words? Exactly right. www.m-w.com and www.dictionary.com both allow this crap to propagate through our English language. I know it's cobbled together, and very difficult to learn, but it's the language that we've got, and is the language of business, engineering, and commerce! Who are the gatekeepers of dictionaries, and why can't the definition of biannual be changed to "BIANNUAL, adjective, declared obsolete in 2009. See instead biennial or semiannual"?

Young Turks

I recently filled in as a substitute pitcher for a softball team that a few of my co-workers put together (not the same ones who have the 4 miles/dozen doughnuts race from my previous post). We got a few lucky breaks and ended up doing really well. The team was basically me and 10 22-23 year old engineers. Afterwards, they went to the pizza joint that is sponsoring the team, while I hopped on my bicycle and pedaled the 2 miles home. One of the team, who I do not know well at all, asked Joe, who I'm pretty familiar with, where I was.
Joe: "Oh, he went home to see his wife"
Other Guy: "He's married?"
Joe: "Yeah. I mean, he's got 2 kids and is expecting a third."
Other Guy: "He's got kids? How old is that guy."
Joe: "Thirty."
Other Guy: "THIRTY!!!??? You've got to be kidding."
It could be a long season as Father Time on that team.

Coolest. Race. Ever

A few of my co-workers shared an absolutely inspired idea with me. A half-dozen or so of them are going to run a four mile race. This race will consist of two equal segments separated by a dozen doughnuts that must be consumed before running the second segment. What an ingenious idea! I don't even know if I can eat a dozen doughnuts. I think a competitor's best bet is to come as close as possible to sprinting the first two miles, eat the fat pills, then walk/jog the second segment of the race as best as possible. I'm not stupid enough to try my idea, I declined to participate. Maybe next year.

Read'em & Reap

I recently had to prepare this lesson outline for a class I am taking, thought I would post it, for what it's worth, hopefully the actual delivery was more insightful:





Project
5/2/09
Galatians 6:7-10
Who- Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia
What- The overall theme of the Book of Galatians is justification of a man by faith
Where- Central Asia Minor
When- 49 or 55 A.D.
Why- Some members of the early church falsely believed in merit/works-based salvation
How- To expound on the basic theme, Paul uses the audience’s experience (3:1-5), Abraham’s example (3:6-9), Christ vs. Law (3:10-4:11), his personal testimony (4:12-20), using Abraham illustratively (4:12-31), and Application of faith (5:1-6:10)



Context of Galatians 5:2-6:10
5:2-12 Liberation from the Law by Christ’s sacrifice
5:13-15 Loving others in freedom from the law
5:16-24 Freedom from fleshly weakness
5:25-6:5 Freedom from pride
6:6-6:10 Works from faith



READ Galatians 6:6-10



Key words identified
Flesh-as human nature, see Gal 5:19-21
Spirit-the Holy Spirit
Good- see Gal 5:22-23
Faith- (from earlier context)
Sow- to scatter seed. It is likely viewed by this audience as an ongoing, rather than discrete, event (see picture below)
Prov. 11:18, Hos 10:12, James 3:18
Reap- harvest what is sown
Jer 12:13, Hos 10:13


http://www.wcg.org/lit/law/festivals/harvest.htm


Literal interpretation
V7- God knows the balance of all men’s lives, and they will receive according to their behavior
V8- If we live for our own corrupt desires, our reward will be spiritual corruption, but living for closeness to the Holy Spirit will yield eternal rewards
V9-Our rewards will be eternal, but perhaps not immediate
V10- Let us live (as Jesus lived) driven by concern for others



Contextual interpretation

Gal 2:16- Faith, not works, justifies a man
Gal 5:4-6- Confirms Gal 2:16, plus v6 shows faith working through love
Gal 5:13-14- Freedom from the Law should not turn the flesh loose, but be an opportunity to serve each other



James 2:21-26
Correlates precisely to Galatians Ch 5 & 6
V26 reasserts faith as salvation and declares the necessity of a manifestation of faith



Acts Ch. 6 & 7 provide a clear illustration of the power of one who sows to the Spirit in Stephen, who in turn influenced the author of Galatians in a remarkable way. See also 1 Cor 3:6-9 for explanation.



The Book of Proverbs asserts in numerous locations that the good in heart and deed will reap rewards as called for by Gal 6:7-8, exemplified by Prov 10:22-25. But where are the eternal rewards of Gal 6:9-10 specified. 1 Cor 3:10-15 describes this at the Judgment Seat of Christ.




Application
The purpose of Paul’s letter to the Galatian church is to assert the supremacy of faith over legalism. However, chapter 6 clarifies that a life driven by faith will manifest itself in the fruit of the Spirit, which is described in Gal 5:22-23. This is the faith that is also described by James, one that justifies a man and glorifies God by his words and actions for all to see.
Just as Abraham was justified by faith, so can we be also. We can also observe the heart of the Law by loving our neighbor as an exercise or manifestation of that faith
Additional study needed: How does v6 fit in with the rest of the text?

Steely Skies

My engineering group has made our long-anticipated move across the shipyard to the nice, relatively new high rise that serves as a sort of headquarters for design work. The view of the river and seaside is quite serene, even from the lowly fourth floor (really ground floor, but we're on a hillside sloping down to the water) of ten. A few of our guys have been disappointed by the generally rainy/foggy weather since we arrived, and I can see their point, since the sunny days are as colorful and uplifting as can be, with the sweeping horizon and gem-like reflections off the choppy waves. However, I am partial to the steely grays of the overcast day, with the far more subtle shifts of shade and more immediate feel to everything you see. To each his own, but I see nothing inherently worse about a day more suited to contemplation and coolheaded thoughts than idyllic whimsy and soaring fancy.