20080222 Application for Sup

Application for Sup

Friday Feb 22, 2008
07:46

Add this as an attached letter to my application:

Over fourteen months ago now I came to Telperformance because I believed it was “where I was supposed to be”. I’ve used that phrase quite a few times because we live in a culture that often treats, with a certain uneasiness, clear explanations of what God’s will is. And yes I know starting off like this (in an application for a position) is not something that many people might consider normal, or generally acceptable. However I hope whoever is reading this is different.

What I believe God wants me to do with my life is the most important part of each day; unless of course I am distracted by something (I am human of course). That belief is what carried me here to Teleperformance in the first place, over fourteen months ago, and what I believe makes me an excellent choice for a position as a supervisor. God’s will is why I chose the path that I chose, from Tier1 to Tier2, and from COT to Quality Assurance Specialist. Now I don’t hear voices so sometimes this idea of what I should do next isn’t as clear as it is with others. I find that is the case with my move to supervisor. Perhaps the reason for that lack of clarity has to do with some decisions that need to be made by other people, we all have free will of course.

If I am chosen for a position as supervisor I know I will do good job, I always do. In regard to my performance what can be said about me carries more weight than what I can say about myself. I believe the primary reason why I am a good choice for supervisor is that I genuinely care about the people that are around me, not just the people that I can benefit from, but everyone. As a QA I have spent time with the stronger members of my two teams to show how much I appreciate them, and I have spent time with the weaker members of the teams to show them that I believed in them. My caring however does not make me blind, I recognize team members (without regard for their stats) that are not a benefit to the team as a whole. There are reasons why certain individuals should not be here at Teleperformance, some performance based, some personal; there is another plan and another place for them.

I do everything I can to help those around me, I work hard to provide the tools and resources that my teams need to excel, I hope I encourage people to do their best; I believe I do but you would have to ask them. And on the note of encouragement I would like to extend my appreciation for the way I’ve seen things change over these fourteen months. When I first arrived at Teleperformance Columbia it didn’t take longer than a few weeks for me to realize that negative reinforcement and fear based management were primary bases for the work culture that I had just entered into. Experience has taught me that these don’t work very well if your goal is to have a thriving work environment and I have been happy to see this gradually change for the better over these many months. It is that change in environment that has led me to reconsider my initial decision of becoming a supervisor here.

Now as for my accomplishments, I find these more difficult to list because I haven’t kept track of them as well as I should have. I’ll try to remember a few here. What stands out in my mind first is the recognition that received as a COT agent. I had to worke hard in that position and after a few weeks my team mates, then my supervisor began to see how hard I worked to resolve the issues, and the level of ownership that I brought to every issue. Now that ownership sometimes led me to biting off more than I could chew. I still took on the challenges however and everything else took care of itself. That hard work was seen by others as well and I began having BellSouth Division managers call me specifically to assist in resolving issues and our BellSouth Partner Manager began using me on more challenging issues as well.

As a QA I am grateful that I was able to play an part in the successful turn around of Team Sysiphus. That team began as one of the lowest in the call center and I was specifically requested to be the QA for that team. I brought the “Just love’m” factor to add to Shaun’s “they just need to relax” ideal to create a winning combination of that has led that team to now consistently be one of the top performers in the call center every month.

Grace and Babbling

Grace and Babbling
Friday Dec 14, 2007 // 0628amI stopped writing over a month ago, for the most part. I stopped writing because of my own arrogance. I started, a few months ago, changing from a purer motivation for writing, to a corrupt motivation for writing. I started writing with the idea of convincing other men or women (in my mind) to think as I would want them to. There is much more to say about that but I don’t seem to be able to find the words to express what I am wanting to say. All I know is that I have a desire in my heart that I want to scribe, but I can’t seem to get out the exact words.

Which brings me to my second point. Because I have stopped writing over a month ago, maybe two months, I have found it increasingly more difficult to express myself with words. I “feel like” I am speaking another language as I am trying to speak english. And what has come out of my mouth so often has been something that I just attempted to ‘push’ out of my mouth because I did not want to appear stupid or otherwise incapable of saying something of intellect. Now, what has come out of my mouth;I don’t know because I’m not the one that is listening to me, has probably been a mixture of stupidity or what has sounded like much babbling. But then perhaps that would only be if someone were actually listening to me and thought enough to actually consider what I was saying. Because I know that,so many people in general, have the habit of overlooking what someone says and simply moving on about there day.

I’m writing all of these things because my inability to express myself, I believe, has also bled over into my inability to express myself to God. And also my inability to express myself to people that I want to share my faith with. So, I believe I have been more and more inept at praying and sharing my faith. I want to be better able at both, however I don’t want to be motivated to do either just for the sake of being able to do them better, or for the sake of feeling better about myself. But rather I want to look to the cross, to understand the love that the Christ demonstrated every day as he walked among us in human form, ‘and’ to most of all remember the unearnable grace that was given to me. … If I was to bumble around and never do anything right again for the rest of my life, I would still recieve the grace that God has given me. The fact that I do everything I can motivated by the gift that was given to me, is in fact a sign that that grace has been truly given to me. Because, if on the contrary I had no desire to do better for the sake of Christ (not doing my dead level best), then I could be assured that I truly had ‘not’ received the grace that Christ gave. There can be no salvation without works though contrarily salvation is impossible to achieve by works.

God’s Movement

Culture and Contrast, Faith, My Story, Spiritual Milk, Travel,

God’s Movement
20071018 6:56am

I believe that God has, for the most part, moved away from the movement that started out with His leading. It was a movement of God before they took on a name other than what Jesus had in mind. But eventually, instead of believing that Jesus was the only name that they should carry (name as in “I come in the name of King Arthur”), they began to believe that ‘they’ were the true church and they took on a couple of different names for “their movement” and right now are often referred to as the Internationally churches of Christ. I believe that God started out with them (as just another chosen instrument) in this age but they quickly became arrogant and believed that they had “the way” and “the message” and started to teach something that did not come ‘from’ Him but instead ‘claimed Him.

Now, in this day and time I believe, though the Lord has many chosen instruments, that the Lord has in a large way moved on to a group of people that you can find at a place called North Point Community church. Here is one of many sermons who can find online which may help you to see the message that God has for believers. There are other message you can find which would be for nonbelievers, but this one is a message for the body of believers that already realize Jesus has given his whole self over so that you might have life. I personally went there for nearly two years but at the moment I am in Columbia SC and then I plan on moving to Manila or Marikina in the Philippines.

And before you a reader jumps to the conclusion that I am arrogant enough to think I am able to choose who is and who is not a part of God’s believers, I would like to emphasize that I don’t believe the North Point Community church is ‘the’ way but rather it is ‘a part’ of ‘the’ way. And if you are a follower of Jesus Christ (because you have been touched by the Grace that comes from His death, burial, and resurrection, then you will find encouragement and many challenges in the Word of God that is being spoken at this place and many other places that the Lord has set up across the globe.

Eternity

I am sitting here stewing over “what I haven’t received”. I’m sitting here thinking about what I haven’t gotten, what I have recieved which was entitled to me, and how I work for a company that isn’t going to give me what their policies dictate unless I spend a great deal of time (off the clock) proving to them that it is owed to me. And then I am sure, based on what I’ve had to do in the past here and what I have also seen other people have to face, that I will be “in for a fight”.

Not that I will have to really fight that is, or even yell or get angry. What I mean by that is that I will simply have to keep on and keep on and not forget and keep reminding myself to remind them, and prove by shear tenacity that this is something that’s important to me, and then, only then will I be finally given that thing which they’ve promised to me that I should get. Is it really worth it?

I don’t think that it is. And I don’t want to go through that much trouble to get something that I was told was supposed to be given to me based on a job well done. There is very little that this company ‘gives’ in the way of incentives. A company full of empty promises.

Is this really what I am supposed to be living for? Is this what my hopes and dreams are supposed to be built on. I know it’s not. But I ask myself that question because I know that anything which disapoints me is something that I have put my hope in. The greater the disapointment, the greater the hope that I have put in that thing, that ideal, or that person. And, if I am smart I’ll put my hope in something long term. Eternity.

Waiting

You have ungodly intent when you ask the questions that you ask. You ask your questions based on worldly desires of relationship and family. You justify your worldly intent by saying it is God’s will that you or someone else should have a husband or a family or a wife and a family. You quote scripture after scripture showing examples of men and women who were devoted to each other and with self-righteous indignation say “here, here is the proof that shows there is nothing wrong with my desiring a husband, a wife, or a family.” Instead you should not look for what God permits, but instead you should look for what God desires.

A man or a woman of God who looks to please God, who understands what was done on the cross, instead of looking for what they want they have come to understand the love that has been given to them and look no longer to their own wants but instead to the wants of the one who gave His life for us. And therefore they have been taught “to die” to themselves and the wants of the world, yes even the want of a wife, a husband or a family. “God do you desire that I should be married or should I be single?” This is a question that will begin from a man or woman that has been given to God in a holy matrimony to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. “Should I ever marry, I will wait on you Lord!” This is where we should begin, we who have been ‘bought’ with the blood of the Lamb.

Instead you have asked “Where is the one you said was coming back to you?” you ask with ill intent. You don’t look to a hope that has been given by God but instead you look for a hope that is given in this world. God is Spirit! To the contrary your happiness for someone else is based on whether they will acquire their heart’s desire in this world. And when they do not acquire a worldly promise you have in mind then your questions encourage them to be unhappy in that worldly promise not being fulfilled.

Instead, if ‘your’ mind is on heavenly things, you should be asking them questions that will assist their mind and heart in keeping with God’s eternal promises and not on worldly promises. By the questions that you ask you prove that you have little to no concern regarding the eternal promises that have been given by God through the Christ, the Son of God.

Has God provided you with a new job, a livelihood for your family? Is your family well? Is your son well? How is your father? How is your mother? Has the Lord blessed you with a new home, a new car? … These are all questions that are based in worldly concerns. You can find stories in the Old Testament you can compare with regarding physical prosperity but not so much  in the New Testament. You may find promises of lands flowing in milk and honey and camels on a thousand hills in the Old Testament but not the New Testament.

The New testament brought a greater truth, a greater treasure. Now the focus is no longer in a worldly treasure. No more talk about camels on a thousand hills, no longer any talk of physical prosperity, but now all the promises are about a heavenly dwelling. This is really hard for someone who can focus on nothing other than what their hourly wage is, the size of their weekly paycheck, or whether their car will make it to work. However God has taught us not to focus on the physical any more. But those that want to keep worrying about the physical ‘and’ keep their faith in God, well that group mentally run around trying to focus on all the old promises of the old testament. Then they justify their focus on these old promises by saying God does not change. Truly God does not change, He has always been Spirit with the goal always being heavenly (not temporal). It’s ‘we’ that were not yet ready for that spiritual message. Now, as the scripture says, God has revealed a fuller measure of the promise to us. The patriarchs were looking forward to this time in history. And ‘we’ are living in it !

A wicked and perverse generation ‘expects’ even their basic needs to be fulfilled by God. Understand the context of this statement, this is not contrary to the simple meaning in the Lord’s Prayer “give us each day our daily bread”, this is ‘not’ the sentiment I refer to when saying looks for “ even their basic needs”. Notice the true followers in the first century, as you can read about in the New Testament were not concerned with these things. They simply concerned themselves with living in the hope of Christ they were given and they knew all of their other needs would be provided for. They were not excited about God’s physical provision. To the contrary what they were ‘excited’ about was the promise in their heavenly dwelling, they were ‘excited’ that their name was written ‘is’ written in the book of life.

Jesus came to show us this better promise and fulfillment of a spiritual truth and in a spiritual home where physical provision was of little concern. We of faith who follow Christ will draw near to Him and ask questions of our brothers and sisters to keep their/our hearts and minds focused on Him and we already know that those of us who do that will suffer trial’s of many kinds, we might not even have “a place to lay our head” just as our Lord did not have a place to lay his head, but food and clothing we will have enough of. God takes full responsibility for the life that has fully submitted itself to Him. If we have the bare necessities of just food and clothing the cry out “God is Good!”, if God has given more to us ’so’ we can help provide for the needs of others then another opportunity to give God the credit. But don’t mistake physical gifts as being something that is meant for our comfort and pleasure. We are in fact warned regarding how easy it is for us to be distracted by worldly comforts and pleasures.

This is a hard teaching; the mothers and the fathers cry, “You can never understand, I must provide for my family!” This teaching is not new; it is the same teaching that was passed on from Jesus Christ himself. Understand it wasn’t primarily to the wealthy or to the singles that Jesus Christ was saying, “Do not worry about what you will eat or drink or what you should wear.” Jesus was saying this to a large society based on a family culture, to fathers and mothers who have often worried about the hungry mouths to feed. I have written all of these things to remind you to focus on spiritual matters.

So in regard to the question I started this article with, if you ask “When is this man coming back?” are you asking because you have a hope that he will come back or has God spoken to you too and told you that he is coming back? Are you looking for the fulfillment of a promise of God or are you a simple lot of busybodies (2 Thes 3:11) who have no greater concern than to know whether or not some man, some simple human being is going to do as he said he was going to and return to the Philippines because he said he would. Was it a promise that originated from himself? Was it by his own will and desire that he said he would return to the Philippines?

Do you remember that this simple human being always said that he was going to return according to God’s will, and it wasn’t his own desire that he was basing his return on but rather the desire and the plan of an eternal God who has given us a hope in a house not built with human hands. Remember God’s promise was and is not that I should return this month, or next month, or even in one year or the next. His word was simply that He would send me back. And that promise is not for my happiness but rather for his purpose and His happiness. My happiness nor the happiness of any true believer should ever be one founded in whether God is going to fulfill his promise of a worldly objective. Instead rejoice that your name is written in the book of life! (Luk 10:19-21). I am given courage to keep my hope in Him as I write these words. I pray you too will be given courage to keep your hope in Him and not in the day and the time of my return.

How many scriptures come to mind when you think of God’s timing? How many times is God’s timing measure in days? how often is it measured in weeks, how often is it measured in years? How often is God’s timing subject to our desires or what we do to “make it happen” and who are we to question his timing. Remember the words of the song “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness.”

Perhaps Hell Ain’t So Bad

I had a good conversation with a couple of friends recently which led to my expressing some of the ideas I have on a topic that I don’t think about very often and express my opinion about it to others even less. For the most part, I don’t express my opinions on this topic because, number one I don’t think it is as important as several more positive things I can think of, and number two I think that there are already too many people expressing too many “worse than true” things about it already.

Here are a couple of links  that I think useful for you to get while I am not ready to swallow that old “everyone is going to burn in hell and die” doctrine. I’m actually more on the side of believing that everyone who lives for the reason that they were created, God’s will, will go onto eternal life. And that otherwise you’ll just simply go on into oblivion. The latter which is no better or no worse than the average agnostic or atheistic belief that you simply become worm food :-)

I don’t follow all of the following two link’s ideas hook line and sinker either. But at least these articles bring up some of the things that I think have been overlooked while that old doctrinal junk is still circulated throughout many cultures, especially the good ol’south. My final opinions on hell?; well I don’t think that I’ve really come to a conclusion which I am ready to stand on. And I don’t think that it’s necessary for me to come to one for me to focus my life on doing what I think God wants of me.

http://www.matthewmcgee.org/helwords.html
http://www.wrestedscriptures.com/b03hell/mark9v43-48.html

A Little Benjamin Franklin Reading

Did a little reading on Benjamin Franklin this morning. I was particularly looking for a quote that a friend gave me a few years ago. This friend wrote it down for me carefully on a piece of paper and it was valuable enough for me to buy a frame for it and post it in my office. I found it again at the website http://www.sfheart.com/FranklinsVirtues.html .

“In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.” Benjamin Franklin 1741.

Anyhow, in addition to the quote I found a great number of other great things that Benjamin Franklin thought. When I say “great things” I am actually referring to God things (many which are found in the hebrew and greek scriptures). Though this may not be a popular thought in American culture, I find it impossible that anyone can have any greatness without God. And to say “that goes without saying” is to take acknowlegement away from God that should not be taken away.

It Only Cost me a Dollar

** 20070322, Thursday 9:31am **

Well, just for the sake of remembering something I considered important, I wanted to write down what happened to me about an hour ago. I had this idea to get a taste of coffee before I went into the public library about an hour ago. So I first went inside the library and asked if they allowed spill proof cups. Well the woman at the front desk said no food or drink. However I still had the desire to go over to the gas station and refill my coffee mug.

On my way there (just 1/2 a block), there was a guy on the other side of the moderately busy four lane road. He looked my way as I looked his way, so I said “Good morning, how are you?”. He responded that he was fine but paused for a second after he had said so to add “I could use eighty cents.”. I thought about it for a moment, just long enough for me to remember the scripture that spoke of providing for those that would ask.

In the past I would have paused even longer, and struggled with the thought that most people asking for money are only going to use it to get something for themselves that they don’t need to be having. But I was determined to fight that part of me that would be so quick to hold back and so quick to make that judgement. And as I sorted through my waist bag looking for what change I had, I saw that I only had quarters and so I had to make the decision to give him seventy five cents or to give him a dollar.

Again I was tempted with that old line of thought of how most people asking for money are just going to use it to get something that they shouldn’t be getting any how. But instead I decided to hold on to the thought that Jesus would want me to give to those that ask of me. “You can’t just give to people that ask from you, especially people on the streets.” I hear the judgemental voices of others say. “It’s not being judgemental.” I hear “It’s simply being wise.” I hear the old voices say. I’ve heard the voice of the Lord (what Jesus taught) enough times now to know that the latter voices are definetely ‘not’ according to how Jesus lived and taught by example. And the voice of the Lord would have me ‘give’ according to the Spirit. To ‘obey’ and leave the consequences to HIM. So I obeyed, and though I was tempted also to only give seventy five cents, I decided to give the full dollar to the guy.

Although my normal way of going about this would have been to ask him what he was going to use the money for ‘before’ I handed it to him, I decided that I would lean on the side of trusting God and give that subtle little extra effort of trust which had me hand the dollar over to the man and then ask him only with casual interest “So what are you going to use it for?”.”I need it to buy some cigarettes.” The man replied. And I started to walk off in an effort to stay away from the temptation to second guess my decision to freely give to the man. “My mother always told me a child of God doesn’t have to say anythng.” He said. “Well I hope so.” I replied, still walking away from him. Though I stopped walking away from him as he repeated himself to give emphasis to what he said. “My mother always told me that you could see it on a child of God and a child of God never had to say anything.”. “Well I wish that were always true.” I said. “I think that it’s sometimes true but not always.”.

During the next few minutes I was grateful for the opportunity I had been given to share a few things that God had done in my life. I started off somewhat reluctantly because I know that I’ve been a little over zealous over the last few months for the opportunity to share what I think God has done with me. Somehow thinking that the act itself of sharing my faith would “make me holy”. So I’ve been trying to keep my mouth shut a little more often these days. I want God to do something in me instead of me trying to do something in myself.

I found out the man’s name was Larry. He was very down about the way that life was going for him and didn’t think that I would be able to relate. I told him how I wished that I could snap my fingers and give everybody an understanding that the Lord had given me of how life wasn’t so bad, and how actually life was good. He said “Oh,” with an expression and a certain way which you knew he thought he was getting ready to say something I wouldn’t be able to dispute.And he continued “well what do you think about someone who is sleeping in their car?”.

He didn’t expect my response. “I’ve done that..” I said. “And I’ve done it more than once; even recently.”. I could tell by his expression that he wasn’t expecting the words that were coming from me. And so he knew that I wasn’t just saying something contrary to him I went into detail about how I had slept outside a little when I was seventeen years old (maybe eighteen) and I was homeless for about a month. And how I had laid my head down in a college library during the day time and stayed awake at night. And how even recently, a few months ago, I had had to sleep inside the car because of a situation I had been in. I didn’t have the chance, because of the way the conversation went, to share with him how I had to do this because the situation had to do with my mother and something I had to do to help my mother get out of a difficult situation that she (in many ways) had put herself into. And, in some ways I didn’t want to share that detail with him because I wanted him to know that I ‘could’ relate even though my details were a little bit different. However in regard to doing this for my mother I suppose she would never see things that way, but that’s another story.

I was very grateful for this opportunity the Lord gave me to know that He is there and He is always watching. Sure, I could look with blind eyes and say that any number of people could have said what this guy said without being prompted. Or I could try to explain away Larry’s observation that I was a “child of God” some other way. But I believe that it was from God and for God and all about God, and I really appreciated it. And Larry appreciated it alot as well. He said so as we had a few last words and then hugged each other in parting. I think that this interaction did a little more for me than it did for Larry, though I might be biased. It did both of us a lot of Good. And this whole encounter only cost me a dollar.

Scientology

I’m sure that the first century followers of Christ all looked as wierd to most of those around them as Scientology looks to most of us. After my having looked at a lot of different faiths and beliefs in this world I’ve done my best to get away from whether something is ‘weird’ or not and just look to see whether it is ‘true’ or not.

After hundreds of hours of study (or some multiple of that, I never counted) of many different faiths and beliefs, the conclusion that I came to is that only the prophecies regarding Christ ever really held up. In juxtipose of this I encourage you to make the pursuit of your purpose in this world to be the most important pursuit of your life. Go at it with courage, and let everything else be secondary. ‘If’ you keep the course and do not give up I believe that you’ll come to the same conclusion I have.

However I happily give you the freedom to not come to that conclusion. That is one of many of the freedoms that you have been given. Now, pursue it! .. Henry David Thoreau wrote “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. “. … Do not go gentle into that good night!

Godly Ambitions

Taken from the Sunday, July 9, 2006 devotion at http://daybyday.org/

Today’s Devotional Reading
Godly Ambitions

“Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Ps.37:4).

The greatest rewards are those that are often overlooked–and almost always unexpected. Psalms 37:4, at first look, might seem like a statement of cause and effect. A person may read the verse by itself and quickly deduce that if he was to “delight” in God, then he could have what he wants. The problem is that the focus often shifts from the first part of the verse to the second. And so the verse is understood to tell a person that if he wants to get what he wants out of life, then all he need do is delight himself in the Lord. The result is that the person attempts to live a lifestyle that he believes will please God, so that he can have what he wants from this life.

An example might be a person who, knowing that God rewards giving, decides to give twenty percent of his income to the church, feeling certain that God will give more to him than what he had to begin with. The problem with this line of thinking is when the motivation is more focused upon getting a desired reward rather than being a delight to God. But as a person’s focus is directed toward the first part of Psalms 34:7 (”Delight thyeself in the Lord”), then the rest of the verse falls into place. For as we draw near to God and delight to do His will, the desires of our heart are steadily transformed. Our ambitions, goals and aspirations begin to change–in perspective at least, if not also in direction. For what we desire moves away from selfish desire and moves toward godly ambition. We move away from pouring ourselves into doing what will bring us pleasure and seek how we might please God instead. And as we do, God grants us the desires of our heart because our desires have become a smaller reflection of His greater glory.

Jesus told us that “whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for [Jesus'] sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). Our greatest rewards will come when we do not seek them. As we seek to “lose” our lives, we open ourselves up to be the instruments of God’s purpose, to accomplish His will on earth. Living this way will bring us great rewards, and that is because we do not seek rewards. We do not seek to store up treasures in heaven and we do not do our righteous acts so that God will reward us–we simply do them because–and we require nothing in return. If our only reason to live the Christian life is to gain better reward then we have missed the point. Following Christ means sacrifice of our wants and giving up of personal desires so that God’s greater good will prevail.