Ready for Takeoff

Ladies and gentelmen, we are now ready for takeoff. Please ensure your seat belts are securely fastened, and your seat backs and tray tables are in the upright and locked position...

On Thursday 21st June I accepted a job offer from Willamette Valley Hospice in Salem, Oregon. 27th August 2007 will be my first day of work there as an RN Case Manager.

My last day of work as a Nurse Coordinator for Stanford will be 1st August, and we'll drive up to Salem from Redwood City on Friday 3rd August. Our last day at our sending church will be 29th July.

It's all happening so quickly, these things I've chosen to not share publicly until now.

In an earlier post, I likened our process to a crockpot. The light has now come on! It is time to dish things up and start eating!

In another word picture which feels more applicable at the moment, it feels like we've been sitting in the airport since 2004 because our flight was delayed. Then we were able to board the plane last summer, but there were more delays.

Now the jet is roaring down the runway and our heads are blissfully, if terrifyingly, pressed against the back of the seat.

What a rush!

~ Keith

Changing Roles

I've read The Lord of the Rings many times, and watched the movies a few times as well. There is a part in the movie that always makes me cry.It is late in their journey together when Sam & Frodo are talking. They are road-weary but still feeling a strong sense of call. Sam wonders aloud whether the two of them will ever be in stories and songs like the heroes of old, and imagines what it would be like for a son to ask his dad: "Tell us again about Frodo & the ring!" Frodo stops, and turns to look at Sam, telling him he's forgetting a character: "Samwise the Brave". Sam gets bashful and chides his master for making fun. Frodo says "I am being serious Sam. Without you I never would have made it this far."

In the past the reason this has always made me cry is because I've felt God's affirming/confirming love and approval as a "right-hand man". Never feeling a need for the limelight, I've been fully satisfied being a mainly background/support character.

Recently, I was watching the movies again. At that same scene, I cried again -- this time a bit harder, and for a completely different reason. As I watched, I felt God's love and approval on me for who He is calling me to be, and the thought struck me:

I'm Frodo now.
I used to be Sam, but now?

I'm Frodo*

Scary but exciting -- I think the word they use to describe that combination is: "exhilerating".

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

~ Keith

*And immediately I also got the sense that it is not me as Frodo and Cathy as Sam -- it is us as Frodo.

Rave: CCSF Transcripts Department

A critical part of the process in obtaining my Oregon RN license is getting my college transcripts into the hands of the Oregon State Board of Nursing (OSBN).

On 6th June I mailed City College of San Francisco (CCSF) five things:

1. The CCSF transcript request form
2. My check for $10.00 (rush processing: 3-5 business days)
3. The OSBN transcript request form
4. A post-it note on the first form, asking them to please include the second form when mailing the transcript
5. A post-it note on the second form pointing out the address and re-stating the request that the OSBN form be included when mailing the transcript

Imagine my delight when I called the CCSF Transcript Department to check on things and spoke with Ms. Anne Lee. She said my transcript had been printed yesterday and would be mailed today! Hurray!

but then...

Anne called me on my cell phone to inform me she read the post-it note on the CCSF form, referring to the OSBN form...which she could not find! I asked her if I could fax it to her ASAP and she said I could. She kindly gave me her direct number so I could let her know (without wading through a phone menu) when I had faxed the new form.

I downloaded the form from the OSBN website, and faxed it to her right away. She answered on one ring, and confirmed receipt of my fax.

but then...

I noticed at the bottom of the OSBN form the ominous message in bold font:

Sorry, No Faxes

Oh No!

While on the phone with Anne I pointed this out. She said the original form I included with my request might be lying around in the transcript office somewhere, but finding it would be like the proverbial needle in a haystack. I said I guess I'll just have to pray! Anne didn't disagree with me on that idea, but she added an idea of her own: she offered to call the OSBN and check with them! Not only that, she offered to call me back once she'd spoken to them.

Less than five minutes later, my cell phone rang. It was Anne. She had a smile in her voice when she said she'd been able to speak to a live person at the OSBN, named Midge. Per Anne, Midge said "Oh yeah, a fax is fine. In fact, if that form is not included it is no big deal at all. It is just faxed transcripts that we can't accept!"

Before I hung up, I made sure to thank Anne profusely for her kindness and extra work on my behalf.

Phew!

Now to type this up in the form of a thank you letter to the CCSF Registrar's office so her boss knows what a valuable employee Anne is!

~ Keith

Another Road Trip

I went for a ride early Sunday morning, and shot these pics.
for bigger images, with captions, you can view the album here:

Another Road Trip

~ Keith

Anticipation

All the ingredients are now in the crockpot.
The temperature is set.
The smell is getting more and more enticing.
But the light has not yet come on.

It isn't done yet.

I guess there still needs to be
More cooking and
More blending of
Ingredients and flavors.

The hungrier I am when I eat,
The better the food tastes anyway.

I thought I was hungry before,
but
now I'm getting pretty hungry
and
I think I'll be hungrier still
by the time we actually get to eat.

Yum!

This is gonna taste really good!
~ Keith

Security, Identity, & Worth

Recently I had a public speaking engagement with a group of around 150+ people. As an application point, I shared some personal information which is rather important to me, and will have a long-term impact on those in the audience. As I shared the information, I was not necessarily expecting applause, nor was I expecting a flood of tears -- and that is fine because I got neither...

...but neither was I expecting what I did get:

an awkward pause and the sound of crickets.

At the moment, I chose not to let it distract me from my speaking engagement; chose to just let it go. Later that morning, after talking it through with a few key people in my life, I came to the conclusion there was a very good reason for the non-reaction. The audience was roughly divided into 4 groups of people:

1. people who I told beforehand -- so they were not surprised.
2. people who sort of expected it before I said it -- so they were not surprised either.
3. people who need some time to respond -- so even if they were surprised, they did not react immediately.
and
4. people who don't really know me -- so they had no vested interest in the information.

This neatly explains the sound-of-crickets moment, but does not deal with my insecurity.

In the past, I might have used this (albeit well-rationalized) non-response as an excuse for having a pity-party and get all bummed out and self-focused thinking people don't care for me. In this case that didn't happen. I guess that means God has been answering my prayer that I would find my identity and security only in what He thinks of me.

So...yea!

And...why am I sharing this? Because it is cool, but also because it led me to some belly-deep laughter this afternoon as I reflected on it. And that is my main reason for this post! A friend & coach gave me this quote which started my laughter:

"We're always wondering
what people are thinking of us.

The truth is
they aren't."

Then I got to thinking how that quote would make a great poster for Despair.com, under the heading: INSECURITY. If you are not familiar with their products, &/or just need a good laugh, I suggest you follow the link in the image below and take a few minutes to look through their posters.~ Keith

People Kill People

Again we reel from yet another outpouring of rage & violence in our society. The recent shootings at Virginia Tech are awful. Some people say Cho Seung-Hui was the problem. Some people say the easy access to the guns were the problem. I say it was both -- and neither.

My internal struggle is this: behind the arrogance & narrow-mindedness; despite the misgivings I have with each one, I can still read a couple glimmers of truth between-the-lines of these editorials by Tom Pate & Ted Nugent.

Ted Nugent and the NRA say "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."
Tom Pate & others say "People with guns kill people."

I believe we should have gun restrictions which are much more strict than they currently are, but it also makes sense to me this alone is insufficient to solve the problem.

I say, simply but sadly, "People kill people." All the way back to Cain & Abel. In a very real sense, I suppose, Eve & Adam killed us all.Martin Luther King, Jr. said it better than I could, when he addressed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on 16th August 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia:

I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.

And I say to you, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems. And I'm going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn't popular to talk about it in some circles today. And I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too much hate.

Dr. King believed and lived this way because he learned it in his head and in his heart from The Master, Jesus. I see a progression in Jesus' teachings.

In John 8:12 Jesus said "I am the Light of the world"

In John 9:5 Jesus said "As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World."

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus said to His followers (and therefore, by extension, to us today):

You are the light of the world.
Now go live like that
so people will know God is love.
(paraphrase mine)

I'm not sure how it will look but I, for one, would like to quit cursing the darkness, and instead seek Jesus' heart for how I can be a better and brighter candle.

~ Keith