Halfway Mark of 2007

What a week! It's hard to believe it's already July 1st of 2007. This past week was a doosey. I was running pretty low on energy and had to do the main push of the project I've been working on here at Acme, Inc. :) I finished the week with a Leadership Conference for my team, all day on Friday. I think the team leaders got a lot out of it. We had a vendor (DDI), which I know from my 3 year Acme hiatus at Cernith, do the facilitation for us. Loads of positive feedback from the team members.

Friday night, Davis, MA, Swedish Lisa and I all went to dinner in a very metropolitan place in Foldertown. We went through 3 bottles of wine and laughed our tooshies off. It was a well-needed time to blow off some steam. Swedish Lisa is our newest expat here in Foldertown. She'll be here for approx. 4 months. Her blond coiffure and nordic accent land her a lot of attention here in Foldertown. Between my large size and her blond hair, we can't go anywhere without drawing a LOT of attention. The Folder-ites here were never EVER taught that it's not polite to stare or point or laugh when you walk by. It really wears on my nerves at times, and other times, I can forget about it. It just depends on my mood and how much sleep I've gotten.

I leave for Tokyo a week from today to teach a course at one of our Acme offices there. I am hoping that I can overcome the language barrier, and that the courses go smoothly. My good friend, K-dog, from Tahoe, will be there, and then she'll head back to Foldertown with me, so we can teach the same course 2x back in Foldertown.

Yesterday, I called about finding a "boxing gym", and lo and behold, there's one across the street from my bunkhouse. It's called "Red Corner", and I went with a friend, and I got to box! It was pretty cool. Certainly a hard work-out. I look forward to going back.

Today's sermon was on the Holy Spirit guiding us into Truth and Glory. Truth has two meanings: 1. Greek - (alithea, i think)... intellectual, something "known" not trusted. and 2. Hebrew - (emit, i think)... which means relational, trusting something because of familiarity. Glory means to give something weight or prominence. John was a Hebrew, but knew he was writing for both Jews and Greeks. The Holy Spirit will lead us into BOTH head knowledge, AND relational knowledge of Jesus - and by focusing on the Spirit's presence in our life, we will find ourselves giving more weight or prominence to God's influence. He is WITH us - always. He doesn't walk out ahead of us and show us the way, he rides in the car with us and holds our hand.

Sometimes it is so so hard to feel that way. Sometimes, I really feel like God is walking behind me, letting me lead the way - and then shaking his head at me when I make a stupid mistake - or when I continually let him down. I feel the weight of so much guilt - the gap between what my head knows to be true and right and what my body decides to do, seems to be a spacious canyon with no rope-bridge from one side to the other. I need to decide if I'm going to make decisions about eating, or sleeping, or exercising that aren't what "God would want me to do" - then, I need to make the decision and do it guilt-free. OR don't make the decision in the first place.

6 months into the year, and I'm taking stock of where I am with my New Years Resolutions. argh. Not good. I have a few options to check out here in Foldertown. The resolution about having a greater focus on my health has not progressed at all, and I'm thinking about seeing a counselor - or a doctor. I miss seeing Dr. Bhanu in bangalarooo, he was/is soooo warm, patient and knowing. I just need to dedicate the time to exploring these options. More on that later...

May God Bless your Week - Love, Lisa