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Posted in Cascade Mountains, Fall Colors, Fall Season, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, Uncategorized, Washington State, Washington State Photography, tagged Autumn, Autumn Colors, Autumn Leaf, Autumn leaf color, Autumn Leaf Colors, Autumn Leaf Photography, Autumn Leaf Pictures, Autumn Leaves, Autumn Photography, Autumn Pictures, Cascade Mountains, Cascade Mountains Photography, Color, Ecotourism, Fall Color Photography, Fall Colors, Fall Colors Photography, Fall Colors Pictures, Fall Foliage, Fall In Washington State, Fall Leaf, Fall Leaf Colors, Fall Leaf Photography, Fall Leaf Pictures, Fall Leaves, Fall Pictures, Fall Season, Fall Season Photography, Fall Season Pictures, Nature, Nature Photography, Nature Pictures, Photography, Recreation, Washington, Washington State, Washington State Photography on October 30, 2010| 2 Comments »
Posted in American Culture, American Life, humanity, Humor, Life, Politics, Uncategorized, tagged acronym, Acronym and initialism, Acronyms, Acronyms Humor, Alcohol Research, American Culture, American Life, Business Cards, Business Cards Humor, California, Comedy, Company Meetings, Company Meetings Humor, Conferences, Conferences Humor, English language, Fort Hood, Funny Signs, Government, Government Humor, humanity, Humor, Humorous Signs, Lake Tahoe, Life, Meeting Attendance, Meetings, Meetings Humor, Politics, U.S Government, United States, United States armed forces on October 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
You know you work for the government when:
The process becomes more important than the product.
You don’t see anything wrong with attending a meeting on a subject you know nothing about.
You feel you contributed to the meeting just by being there.
You stop raising issues/problems because you know you will be the one answering them.
You fly first class across the country to attend a conference with 100+ people to discuss the fact that the project does not have enough money.
You work for an acronym, on an acronym, and your job title is an acronym.
You understand the rationalization of an acronym composed of acronyms.
You know that the location of a meeting is directly related to its importance.
(1) A meeting at Fort Hood requires a subordinate or a contractor
(2) The same meeting at Lake Tahoe requires your personal attention
You’ve sat at the same desk for 3 years, done the same thing for 3 years, but have had 3 different business cards.
[author unknown]
Posted in American Culture, American Life, Photography, Seattle, Washington State, Washington State Photography, tagged Alki Point, Alki Point WA, American Culture, American Life, Downtown Seattle, Elliot Bay, Elliot Bay Photography, Elliot Bay Pictures, Farmer's Markets, Ferries, Metro Areas, Photography, Pike Place Market, Pike Place Market Photography, Pike Place Market Pictures, Public Markets, Puget Sound, Seattle, Seattle Ferries, Seattle Ferries Photography, Seattle Ferries Pictures, Seattle Photography, Seattle Pictures, Seattle Pike Place Market, Seattle WA, Seattle Waterfront, Seattle Waterfront Photography, Seattle Waterfront Pictures, Seattle-Tacoma Metro, United States, Washington, Washington State, Washington State Photography, Washington State Pictures on October 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Evening At Pike Place Market Overlooking Alki Point and a Seattle Ferry, Seattle, Washington, July 2010 ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)
Posted in American Culture, American Life, humanity, Humor, Life, tagged American Culture, American Humor, American Life, Business, Business and Economy, Business Humor, Christian, Christianity, Comedy, Communication, Communication Humor, Complaint Departments, Customer Service, Customer Service Humor, Duct Tape, Flypaper, Funny Signs, God, humanity, Humor, Job Humor, jobs, Karma, Karma Humor, Life, Misconceptions, Phrase, Satan, Sign Humor, Work, Work Humor, Work Phrases on October 23, 2010| 2 Comments »
1. Thank you. We’re all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.
2. The fact that no one understands you doesn’t mean you’re an artist.
3. I don’t know what your problem is, but I’ll bet it’s hard to pronounce.
4. Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
5. I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don’t care.
6. I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid.
7. What am I? Flypaper for freaks!?
8. I’m not being rude. You’re just insignificant.
9. I’m already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.
10. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
11. It’s a thankless job, but I’ve got a lot of Karma to burn off.
12. Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
13. No, my powers can only be used for good.
14. How about never? Is never good for you?
15. I’m really easy to get along with once you people learn to worship me.
16. You sound reasonable…Time to up my medication.
17. I’ll try being nicer if you’ll try being smarter.
18. I’m out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message…
19. I don’t work here. I’m a consultant.
20. Who me? I just wander from room to room.
21. My toys! My toys! I can’t do this job without my toys!
22. It might look like I’m doing nothing, but at the cellular level I’m really quite busy.
23. At least I have a positive attitude about my destructive habits.
24. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
25. I see you’ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.
26. Someday, we’ll look back on this, laugh nervously and change the subject.
[author unknown]
Posted in Cascade Mountains, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, Uncategorized, Washington State, Washington State Photography, tagged Alpine Lake Photographs, Alpine Lake Pictures, Alpine Lakes, Cascade Mountain Pictures, Cascade Mountains, Lake Photography, Lake Pictures, Lakes, Lower Robin Lake, Mount Rainier, Mount Rainier National Park, Mount Rainier Photography, Mount Rainier Pictures, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, Robin Lake Photography, Robin Lake Pictures, Robin Lakes, United States, Washington, Washington State, Washington State Photography, Washington State Pictures, Wenatchee National Forest on October 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Christianity, Discipleship, Evangelical Christians, Evangelicals, Faith, God, Jesus, Life, Religion, Scripture, Spirituality, Theology, Uncategorized, Worship, tagged Answers to Prayer, Bible, Bible College, Bible Study, Christianity, Discipleship, Evangelical Christians, Evangelicals, Exxon, Exxon Gas Station, Faith, Fall, Fall Colors, Fall Colors Photography, Fall Colors Pictures, Fall Photography, God, God's Provision, Jesus, Kirkland WA, Life, Northwest University, Northwest University Kirkland WA, Personal Revelation, Prayer, Prayer Chapel, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Roslyn, Roslyn WA, Scriptural Revelation, Scripture, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Journey, Spirituality, Theology, Totem Lake WA, Worship on October 17, 2010| 1 Comment »
Some lessons in life can only be learned by personal experience. Others can tell you about them, teach you them, help you study to be prepared for them and even explain them. However, the only way for a person to learn to ride a bike is to one day get on it and try to ride it. The only way a person is going to learn to drive a car is actually get behind the wheel of one and take it around town. Nothing prepares one for these lessons but personal experience.
Sometimes it is that way with our spiritual journeys too. There are some things about our relationship with the Creator that can only be learned by personal engagement and interaction. We will never learn them vicariously through someone else’s experiences. No Bible study or theological lesson can fully prepare us or help us appreciate certain aspects of the journey unless we experience them for ourselves.
One of the benefits of certain renewal movements within the Church has been an emphasis upon personal experience. While it should never trump Scriptural revelation, there is something certainly powerful about personal revelation into the nature and character of God. After all, someone can go on all they want about the power and beauty of standing on a mountain peak. But personally standing there and experiencing the exhilaration is something quite different all together.
Some of us have to trust the pictures, stories, and experiences shared by others. On the other hand, some of us get to experience it for ourselves. We become a part of sharing the story.
I grew up with a Christian religious background that cherished personal experiences with God. It was one thing to have personal knowledge of God. Our sect took, and continues to take in most circles, great pride in personal experiences. So, it has been no surprise to me when God in certain seasons of my life has “showed up” in ways that surprised and delighted me.
In my early spiritual formation, I attended a Bible College in Kirkland, Washington, now called Northwest University, after High School. There I shaped and honed spiritual disciplines that still guide me today. Aside from the general education courses and Bible or theology courses, the opportunity to discover my own spiritual stride for my journey greatly informed my future.
The Winter quarter of my freshman year, I learned from the College’s financial aide office that I would not be allowed to return for the Spring quarter because of my outstanding bills. I owed more than $1,200. I would need to pay that balance before I could continue to attend.
At the time, I was working at an Exxon gas station in Totem Lake, Washington. The owners were two brothers who were really nice. They were not Christians but nevertheless hired guys from the Bible College because we all were honest and had a good work ethic. I appreciated the job, but it just was not enough to keep ahead of my school bills. I was going to have to inform them that I would have to quit my job as well as school and return home to where my parents lived near Sea-Tac.
The school had given me notice at mid-quarter, so I figured I had a couple of weeks ‘to see what would happen.’ I am not sure what I was expecting would happen, but I have always tried to keep an optimistic outlook. So, I continued classes determined that I would at least finish that quarter. If worse came to worse, then I would find work from home and possibly come back for the Fall quarter.
In the mean time, I had started the practice of scheduling one of my class-time slots on my schedule for a time of prayer and reflection in the Men’s Dorm Prayer Chapel. I found it helped me keep a regular schedule for prayer. I also found the quiet time in the Chapel refreshing. So, during this time, I added my dilemma about school, paying my school bill and what to do about my job to my list of prayer needs.
As the quarter wound down, my prayer times grew a little more desperate. I may have been the uncertainty of my future, but I found myself praying more intense and intentional prayers. After all, I needed direction. I needed answers. I needed help!
Fall Colors in the Mountains, Roslyn, Washington, September 2010 ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)
It finally came to the point where I needed to do the right thing by my employers and give them my “two weeks notice.” This is a kindness of employees to employers that allows them time to find another employee to replace them and so not disrupt the work place. I planned on giving notice on a Friday. At the beginning of the week, on a Monday morning in the Men’s Dormitory Prayer Chapel, I offered God another chance to throw out a rope and rescue me. Otherwise, I was determined to see it as a closed door. I was even strongly considering not coming back to college. I was second guessing everything.
I was perhaps exhausted from struggling with the whole situation in my mind. The stress of the unknown and uncertain weighed heavily down upon me like a 110 lb. sack of sand. It was in this state that I dumped everything upon the prayer bench in the prayer chapel. I had no answers, no direction, and seemingly no help.
After expending all my words and thoughts, I fell silent. The room echoed my silence back to me. My head rested on the prayer bench as I sat upon the floor with my eyes closed tight.
There was nothing. Nothing came to mind. No brilliant idea. No flash of inspiration.
Suddenly, I heard a voice speak audibly, “You’ll be here next quarter.”
I opened my eyes started and looked around because I thought that I was alone. There was no one in the room with me. Yet, the voice was clear and unmistakable. I blinked in the dimly lit room.
The words bounced around in my head: “You’ll be here next quarter.” With those words, an unexplained settledness sent upon me. A certainty about my future filled my heart. Someway, somehow, I knew without a shadow of any doubt that I would most definitely be at school next quarter. I took the words only I heard and the feeling only I felt as a gift from God.
I got up and went to get ready for my next class. I had to go to my room to gather a couple of books. When I entered my room, my roommate was there. Do I tell him what I just experienced?
As if on cue he asked, “Hey, have you figured out what you’re going to do for next quarter?”
Shaken, I replied, “I’m not sure yet. Why?”
He looked a little anxious, “Well, I may have another roommate lined up. That’s all. If you’re not going to be here that is.”
With as determined a look as I could give him I said emphatically, “I will be here next quarter. You can count on it.”
“You are?” he looked surprised. “How do you know?”
“God told me,” I said and turned and left the room. I didn’t want to chance seeing him laugh at me. We were at a Bible College to learn about God, after all, not actually believe God.
As the week continued, I held on to that experience in the Men’s Dorm Chapel. It became an anchor. However, the question of what to do with my job at the Exxon station came to a conclusion that Friday. Friday came and I still had no way to pay for school. The settled assurance that I was still going to be in school next quarter had not left me. I came to my own conclusion that however God provided for me to be there it was not going to be through the brothers who owned the Exxon gas station.
As soon as I got to the station that Friday afternoon, I called one of the brothers aside and explained my problem. I told him that I really appreciated the job and really like working there. However, since I was not going to be able to continue at school, I was going to have to move back home with my parents. Therefore, I would have to quit my job. He still had two weeks before finals and I would have to move out.
Working with college students, I am certain that both of those brothers had heard the same story over and over before. He thanked me for letting him know. He said he liked my work and was going to miss me.
He shook my hand and said, “I’ll let my brother know. If you know anyone who wants a job, let them know to come and talk to us.” And with that, we went our separate ways doing our own jobs at the station.
Later that day, he and his brother announced that they were going to catch dinner and would be back. They had a back-log of cars to work on and wanted to use part of the evening to catch up. I busied myself with pumping gas for customers and repairing tires. Soon they returned.
As I was walking through one of the bays, the brother I approached earlier in the day came up to me and handed out an envelope.
“My brother and I were talking over dinner and decided we wanted to help you pay for college. We’ve never done this,” he explained. “But he and I just felt we needed to do this for you.”
I was dumbfounded. “You guys don’t have to do that. If I can’t pay back college, how am I going to pay you guys back?”
“You don’t worry about that,” he said. “Whatever you are able to pay, you pay back. We’ll take care of the rest.”
I was humbled by their generosity. “Thank you so much,” I offered.
“Well,” he muttered half to himself as much as to me, “we do expect you to stick around and work with us. And don’t tell the other guys. We don’t want anyone to start thinking that we are a charity or college loan fund.” He smiled and winked at me.
“I understand,” I said. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Thanks.”
When I got back to my dormitory room late that night, I took the envelope out and opened it. The check that was written out to me was enough to settle my past school bill as well as get me well on the way paying for the next quarter’s tuition and books. It dawned upon me that I never told them how much I owed on my bill.
I sat on the side of my bed amazed that God would not only personally give me reassurance about where my future lie, but that he would also use to non-Christian employers to help meet the need. It all defies explanation. Coincidence? Perhaps. But most certainly divinely ordered ones. I still think of those two brothers often and pray for them.
Now, I could have studied many Scriptures on God’s provision; even memorized many of them. I could also have read many personal experiences of others about how God provided for them. None of that could or would have the impact upon my life in the same way as God surprising me by speaking to me in a chapel, reassuring me in my heart and then working out the details in the most surprising way. It has helped to keep my eyes open to other ways God wants to surprise me.
©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)