Book Review – “To Be Perfectly Honest”
I’m a big fan of humor and have a broad taste, but “To Be Perfectly Honest” kind of drones on. The concept of the book is very good and potentially very funny. However it is written in a journal format and there is a lot of filler and mundane unnecessary facts.
I’m sure that this book will strike a cord with some people, but I suspect they will be mostly people that are very familiar with the author and his stand up. I enjoy his sense and type of humor – its just a shame that there wasn’t more of the funny and less of the mundane.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review
What’s next
Now that we have been here for a while things are getting pretty settled. Today lots of pictures when up and that’s a really good sign. The theater room is looking good – aside from the fact that the walls are white. I never really knew just how boring white walls could be, there are 14 quite colorful pictures in the room and the walls look bare, glad we are renting or there would definitely be painting in the immediate future. Tomorrow, hopefully, the rest of the rooms will be “decorated” as well.
I also found all the boxes with my car collection. With the amount of display space at the office the VDubs will stay in the theater room and the Porsches will go to the office. As silly as it may sound but I’ve been missing them in my work space. There are still 2 “holdouts” – the basement and the garage. The garage is just a 1 car with no work space, but it really needs cleaning and organizing. The basement still needs some organizing then I’ll feel ready to make it a real game room. I have several pictures to hang, the dart board is located and Forza is almost set up. Still haven’t set up the pool table, but that can happen soon. Then we can start having people over.
So far the neighborhood has been pretty quiet – there is one house with a bunch of people that like to sit on the porch or the cars and yell a lot, but its really just during the days so it hasn’t been too much of an issue. There is a row of townhouses, but most of the neighborhood are single family homes, the far side of the neighborhood has some very large homes. We like the area enough, and the drive into work is reasonable, that we may consider buying, but that can’t even be on the radar until the house sells and Carolyn gets a permanent job. Once she does we can determine a central location to move to that will give both of us a reasonable drive to work.
Speaking of work, things are going well. I’m learning a lot and getting acclimated to the environment and the network layout. The church environment is quite different than I’m used to but overall I really like it. There is a lot of balance between internal ministries, outreach and community service. We also have 3 remote campus’ with more to come I’m sure. There are several conferences every year so we host a lot of visitors.
June is here and a new life has begun.
Its official June is here my stint with HP/EDS has come to an end and yesterday was my first “day on the job.” Tomorrow I get my first introduction to Rez-online.
The new place is fully arranged and “livable” on the top floor – the kitchen and living room are almost there and the garage is almost what we want it to be. The basement, well . . . still a ton of boxes to sort and get put away, Forza is almost ready to play and we need to get someone to install the pool table. We’ve had to make some minor unexpected purchases – the kitchen is “apartment sized” and there just wasn’t enough pantry and storage space, so we bought some free standing cabinets and a place for the new microwave – there wasn’t one included, there are so many boxes to store in the basement we needed shelves to get them off the floor and reachable.
So far the area and townhouse has been very nice. There have been several small things at the house that needed taken care of and all of that has been handled quickly, with the exception of the drain plumbing in the basement that is still leaking – its looking like it will be pretty big job. Belton reminds me a lot of an area just north of Oklahoma City called Guthrie. It has a small town feel in areas and the old downtown area is old and quaint. Fortunately there is a lot of newer more developed areas and even though the population is only 23000 or so being close to another modest sized town other is a lot of common shopping available very nearby. The drive into the office is pretty quick – between the small town, country and city it feels longer than it actually is.
We still have a lot of things to get settled and arranged but we have all utilities, my drivers license, tags for the 911 and some other things. All in all we feel pretty good about where we are and are looking forward to a good year. The townhouse is temporary, but the move is permanent, so other will be one more move for us as we look for a home to purchase later.
Of course the elephant in the room is the house in Oklahoma City – we haven’t had an offer yet and would really like to see it sell quickly. The next prayer request is for Carolyn’s work. She has been working a temp job for a little over a week and is looking for a permanent position.
Where Heeere!!
It seems that we have been packing and loading and moving forever. On Saturday we loaded the truck, with much help from local movers and exhaustedly we hosted our last of the sessions foe Starting Point. We had a pot luck and really enjoyed the evening. On Sunday we finished packing all the “little stuff” and got the house in order – we were both so tired that we hired a cleaner and our neighbor (a professional carpet cleaner) is taking care of the carpets. So with all that out of the way we are really praying for a quick sale of the house. Its priced right in a good neighborhood so it should.
Upon arriving we were met by Cliff (my new boss), George and Brian (new coworkers) to begin the simple and quick process of unloading – OK so it was neither simple or quick. Without all the help – and near death experiences – we’d probably still be unloading, in fact we are still moving and unpacking boxes. And this after considerable downsizing. I seriously have a great debt of gratitude for all the help.
I’ll be posting some photos of some rooms after getting better settled.
Awesome Starting Point
Tonight was the second to last session of Starting Point.
It has been going very well and everyone is really growing, learning and enjoying the time and community. Tonight they all agreed to keep the group going as a lifegroup and one of them stepped up to lead.
One brought home made barbecue sandwiches and everyone suggested that we do a pot luck next week in celebration of the completion of the series. I’ll miss this group, but I’m so glad they will be continuing – I’m really looking forward to see what God is going to do through them.
Hectic
That’s the best word I can come up with for things right now. There has been so much to do I haven’t had a moment to write . . .
I’ve been blessed with a position with the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood Kansas – www.cor.org and we are getting everything ready for the move.
- The house is on the market – several showings so far.
- The house is mostly packet – finishing up next week.
- The truck is rented – for the 19th, heading out next weekend.
- The truck has been ordered to ship the cars.
- The Townhouse has been selected in our new digs.
- Carolyn needs to find a job.
- Whisper is about ready for all her toys to come back out of the boxes . . .
- Now to notify everyone of the new address, get services turned on at the new address, services turned off at the house, mail forwarded, find a bank, etc. etc. etc.
The plan is to pick up the truck on Saturday the 19th and head out Monday morning. Aggressive, but, with this schedule I will have a week of work in the new place, a week to relax before starting the new position and then we run again. I’m very excited to learn the new environment and all the new toys. It is certainly going to be an adventure, but God has created me for this and prepared me for this exact moment. God is Good – All the time.
In the mean time I am working with offsite staff to take over my responsibilities and we work, share, document until one or both of them scream “My head hurts.” There is just so much to learn, there are so many devices and so much unique to this network. The team with which I work is very professional and works well as a team so it will be difficult, but they will prevail.
Toto we’re not in Kansas – Yet!
Yup! We’re headed to Kansas. I’ve accepted a position with The Church of the Resurrection (www.cor.org), in Leawood, Kansas.
I had opportunity to visit with The Church of the Resurrection and the IT staff a few weeks ago and was thoroughly impressed. While the large, beautiful buildings catch your first impression its not long before you see their heart for God. The Church of the Resurrection hits on all cylinders – the messages are educational and evangelistic, there is community outreach galore, they reach for growth with classes and small groups, multiple campus and worship styles reach out to the masses. Pastor Adam is real, genuine, passionate and a great leader. The IT team is lead by the well known and respected Clif Guy. The team is composed of a great group of guys who are clearly passionate about their service to the Lord and IT – in that order.
So, now you have the praise report – on to the prayer request.
Our house is on the market with an aggressive Realtor, in one week she has already shown the house 4 times and had an open house.
We need to find a place to live in Kansas City .
Carolyn needs to find a position in Kansas City.
There is a ton more, but these are at the top of our minds. All this need to happen pretty quickly as I report duty in June.
PrayerDonor.org
What is PrayerDonor.org?
It’s a website, it’s a vision, it’s a collaborative effort. PrayerDonor.org is a great opportunity to pray for and with others around the world. It is a simple site, with apps for many different devices. Simply connect, create an account and visit the map. From there you can find people that have posted prayer needs around the world. You can post prayer requests of your own. Additionally you can connect with Twitter and Facebook.
When you post a prayer a symbol appears on the world map indicating you have a prayer request. When you click on another prayer request you will see the request and a button to press saying you will be joining the person in prayer. When you click that button a message is sent to the user, confirming your intention as well as a Twitter and Facebook post is generated reminding others that you are participating and thus encouraging others to join as well.
There are people all around the world currently using PrayerDonor.org and more coming everyday.
I encourage you to sign up, get involved and consider supporting PrayerDonor.org
Finally: the house is on the market!
After much reducing, cleaning, and painting the house is finally on the market. The realtor came by today to finish the paperwork, tomorrow is the pictures. Selling the house is another step in our downsizing and obedience to God’s leading. We’ve selected a realtor that has a reputation for moving houses pretty quickly and priced the house aggressively.
We are anxious about what God is doing and how He will lead in this. I know His will and timing is perfect, but we are still quite anxious. Our hope is for a position to open soon so that we can move on, but if not we’ll be looking to rent something smaller for a while. That whole “light to my path” would be a lot easier if He would provide a nice spotlight to see way down the road rather than a step at a time. But the other side of that is that we might not take the step at a time if we knew too far down the road. He knows and we are obediently following.
Man Alive – Chapter 8
We wrap up “Man Alive” today with the primal need: To make a contribution and leave the world a better place.
Every man wants to make a difference. We strive in so many ways, but we only begin to make our mark as we align ourselves with our purpose in God. This book has done a good job of reiterating the fact that twenty are here for Him. All that we do all that we are is for Him and His purposes.
I would highly recommend this book both for individual study and use in a group. In fact in a group setting I would argue that the community and accountability would enhance the learning and growing potential.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.