A new article on Michael Hyatt's "Intentional Leadership" blog titled 5 Reasons You Should Commit Your Goals in Writing reminded me to check in on my annual goals and see how I'm doing in accomplishing the goals I believed God had me set forth for this year.
In the vocational area, one goal was to update this blog with a leadership article each month. I don't know if I've done that every month, but at least I'm doing it now... for June! A second goal in this area to make a presentation at a conference and my proposal for a workshop at the upcoming ACSI Teacher's Conference in Alberta was recently accepted so that will take place in October. Although it was listed in the area I call "Global Mission of the Church," my next goal, relating to my position as Christian Education Co-ordinator at Prairie Christian Academy, was to participate with the Junior High missions trip to Blue Bronna Wilderness Camp which happened a couple weekends ago.
My spiritual growth and interpersonal relationshup goals are on track and in the stewardship area, the Lord has recently graced us with the privilege of purchasing a home (a goal that we've been saving towards and praying about for about a year).
So I would agree that it is important to write down your goals and it is vital to track their progress to thank the Lord for His gracious blessings! (and sometimes to give yourself a kick-in-the-butt to attend to other matters)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Book Review: Pujols - More than a Game
Having checked in on Tim Ellsworth's blog semi-regularly over the past year and with spring arriving, I felt a biography on a baseball player would be a good change of pace to my usual academic and church leadership book reviews. Though I had given up hope the book would arrive, it did eventually come. Unfortunately, I cannot say it was worth the wait.
By all accounts, Albert Pujols is not only an exceptional baseball player, he is a God-honouring man, father, baseball player, and philanthropist. His faith in Christ and clarity about his Christianity - in an age where everyone "thanks God" for their success - is refreshing. Likewise, there are many aspects of his life story/journey which are inspiring, encouraging, and laudable. Where skepticism (legitimately) abounds about any high-profile person and their faith and others-focused lifestyle, Pujols is above reproach and exemplary.
Pujols - More than a Game, gets the above message across very clearly and thus is commendable. However, as a biography, this reader found it lacking in story-telling, personal anecdotes, and general flow. Frankly, each chapter seemed like a "summary article" of the previous season, baseball achievements as well as charitable activities. Yet it didn't really flow and tell a story or give Pujols (or anyone else's) "stories." There were enough quotes intermingled that it seemed like the authors had access to various people who may have been able to fill in the story, yet it was absent. The final chapter was perhaps the best expression of this flaw as it reviewed the 2010 season and then in the final page (literally) indicated that we'll see what 2011 holds and after that Pujols is a free agent so many things could happen. No epilogue. No summary about a relationship with St Louis Cardinals fans and what this could mean come free agency. It just ended.
Furthermore, the authors seemed to go awkwardly out of their way to intermittently "proselytize," making sure that a reader knew specifically the "salvation message" of Pujols' Christian faith and "preaching" at the reader in a clarifying, almost patronizing way.
Overall a disappointing biography of a truly amazing baseball player and a fine Christian role model.
This book was provided free for review by ThomasNelson Publishers through the "BookSneeze" review program.
By all accounts, Albert Pujols is not only an exceptional baseball player, he is a God-honouring man, father, baseball player, and philanthropist. His faith in Christ and clarity about his Christianity - in an age where everyone "thanks God" for their success - is refreshing. Likewise, there are many aspects of his life story/journey which are inspiring, encouraging, and laudable. Where skepticism (legitimately) abounds about any high-profile person and their faith and others-focused lifestyle, Pujols is above reproach and exemplary.
Pujols - More than a Game, gets the above message across very clearly and thus is commendable. However, as a biography, this reader found it lacking in story-telling, personal anecdotes, and general flow. Frankly, each chapter seemed like a "summary article" of the previous season, baseball achievements as well as charitable activities. Yet it didn't really flow and tell a story or give Pujols (or anyone else's) "stories." There were enough quotes intermingled that it seemed like the authors had access to various people who may have been able to fill in the story, yet it was absent. The final chapter was perhaps the best expression of this flaw as it reviewed the 2010 season and then in the final page (literally) indicated that we'll see what 2011 holds and after that Pujols is a free agent so many things could happen. No epilogue. No summary about a relationship with St Louis Cardinals fans and what this could mean come free agency. It just ended.
Furthermore, the authors seemed to go awkwardly out of their way to intermittently "proselytize," making sure that a reader knew specifically the "salvation message" of Pujols' Christian faith and "preaching" at the reader in a clarifying, almost patronizing way.
Overall a disappointing biography of a truly amazing baseball player and a fine Christian role model.
This book was provided free for review by ThomasNelson Publishers through the "BookSneeze" review program.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A store worth mentioning
I don't know if you have ever had one of those shopping experiences where you just wanted to find the store manager or company owner and hug them, but Sarah and I had such an experience last week and so I sent an email to the Customer Service department today. I encourage you to visit a Please Mum store (or online)!
Dear Please Mum office,
My wife and I were walking through CrossIron Mills mall (Balzac, AB) and stopped by the Please Mum store. My wife remembered a young baby had recently been born in our church and wanted to find an outfit for a baby shower. She found a very cute outfit that was a bit more than we wanted to spend, yet we knew people had been generous with us when our little one(s) were born, so we figured we'd just bite the bullet. As the sales lady was preparing to ring the bill through she drew our attention to a special Mother's Day promotion: get 50% of your bill if you are a mom (or grandmother) with a picture of your children. We knew we did not have any "paper" pictures on hand and yet I suddenly remembered to check my cell phone to see if I had not-deleted some recent pictures of our kids. Thankfully, there were a couple and as we showed them to the sales lady, she kindly commented and rang through the discount. A most pleasurable experience and we were tempted to shop some more to take advantage of this special sale, but decided not to.
More than a pleasurable surprise and nice shopping experience, I want to commend Please Mum for two things. First, the promotion itself is so good and kind in the values it promotes and affirms - that being a mom is a worthwhile calling/vocation and should be honoured and celebrated. In our world today, anything a company can do to encourage this is appreciated. Secondly, the sales lady was so kind and gracious - to mention the sale in the first place, to not have any kind of "prove that's your kid" (not someone else's kid in the picture) attitude. We were taken as being truthful and the sales lady was kind in her comments and accepting of our cell phone pictures as really our children.
I fear that your customer service department likely hears only the complaints of customers. The service we received and the values conveyed by the promotion were so excellent, I wanted to take a moment and email you our appreciation. Your store may have slightly higher prices than other stores, and yet with this kind of customer service and these kind of values, we will be glad to continue giving our business to Please Mum.
With sincere appreciation,
Steven & Sarah Ibbotson
Dear Please Mum office,
My wife and I were walking through CrossIron Mills mall (Balzac, AB) and stopped by the Please Mum store. My wife remembered a young baby had recently been born in our church and wanted to find an outfit for a baby shower. She found a very cute outfit that was a bit more than we wanted to spend, yet we knew people had been generous with us when our little one(s) were born, so we figured we'd just bite the bullet. As the sales lady was preparing to ring the bill through she drew our attention to a special Mother's Day promotion: get 50% of your bill if you are a mom (or grandmother) with a picture of your children. We knew we did not have any "paper" pictures on hand and yet I suddenly remembered to check my cell phone to see if I had not-deleted some recent pictures of our kids. Thankfully, there were a couple and as we showed them to the sales lady, she kindly commented and rang through the discount. A most pleasurable experience and we were tempted to shop some more to take advantage of this special sale, but decided not to.
More than a pleasurable surprise and nice shopping experience, I want to commend Please Mum for two things. First, the promotion itself is so good and kind in the values it promotes and affirms - that being a mom is a worthwhile calling/vocation and should be honoured and celebrated. In our world today, anything a company can do to encourage this is appreciated. Secondly, the sales lady was so kind and gracious - to mention the sale in the first place, to not have any kind of "prove that's your kid" (not someone else's kid in the picture) attitude. We were taken as being truthful and the sales lady was kind in her comments and accepting of our cell phone pictures as really our children.
I fear that your customer service department likely hears only the complaints of customers. The service we received and the values conveyed by the promotion were so excellent, I wanted to take a moment and email you our appreciation. Your store may have slightly higher prices than other stores, and yet with this kind of customer service and these kind of values, we will be glad to continue giving our business to Please Mum.
With sincere appreciation,
Steven & Sarah Ibbotson
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