My Final Semester (kinda)

If you happen to be very bored...

The course descriptions for my final semester at WMU:

Voice Class

A study of the fundamental processes of breath control and tone production, providing some individual instruction in preparing and singing standard song literature. The course is designed to benefit students interested in solo and choral singing.

Project Management

Students acquire the knowledge, tools, and experience to work effectively as a member of a project team through a combination of lectures and experiential learning. In addition to acquiring specific project management skills and using computing applications for project management, the course advances students' understanding of the human dimensions of work processes.

Marketing Strategy

Students in this course apply a variety of analytical and theoretical marketing tools to gauge how consumer and organizational behavior, competitive dynamics, and market forces impact demand for a firm's products or services. Through decision-making exercises, case studies, computer simulations, and/or team projects, students develop competence in making target market and marketing mix decisions and developing strategic marketing plans.

Consumer Behavior

Investigate, analyze and interpret the extensive body of research information on consumer behavior considering both the theoretical and practical implications.

Internet Marketing

This course examines the strategic use of the Internet as an interactive marketing tool and medium. Students will analyze various models for increasing marketing effectiveness and efficiency, and will learn strategies for evaluating and planning web sites and Internet advertising to achieve positive customer relationships. Students will also critically assess the pros, cons, and future developments related to this evolving medium.

Strategic Business Solutions

In this course students identify strategic issues and opportunities facing organizations and develop effective solutions. Students consider and evaluate strategic business alternatives and their implications by focusing on the key business dimensions of information, operations, people, and technology. The successful strategist integrates these four dimensions, sees the organization as a whole, and works proactively to improve organizational performance. this course requires students to learn new concepts as well as integrate prior course work and professional experiences.

Books I want to read

I have been compiling a list of books I would like to buy and devour. I spend so much money on other things which could arguably be of little value, why not invest in some good books for once?

1. Boy Meets Girl - I read this a couple years ago, but it is time to own it and reread it.


2. Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health - This has been highly recommended to me by a few different people recently. And I heard the author speak at a conference in August.


3. Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart - I quoted this on a fb note recently, now I have to read it. Recommended by a pastor of mine...


4. The ESV Study Bible - My most anticipated book coming out this year! Edited by some great Christian men I know of and recommended by many guys I appreciate. I have never owned a study Bible and I am really excited to dig in.


4 new books from Amazon.com - Total Cost: $76.81 w/ free shipping

Maybe I should take a semester just to study these books. Sounds way more relevant and exciting than business school...

The end just means a beginning...

Now that school has officially started and summer is a distant memory, I have much to write about. I could give a recap of the entire summer or the past week, but both would take too much of everyone's time.... So instead, I will write about this day.

Today I had my first full day of classes as a senior in the Haworth College of Business.
I was astonished throughout the entire day with the fact that every single new instructor seems to be top notch and very good at what they do! To add to that, all of my classes this semester are either in my major (marketing) or closely related -- very exciting. I feel like I will actually want to study and learn about everything I will be taught this semester!

Tonight I have been doing the normal (but not done so on a normal basis) household chores. Now that I have the apartment to myself, if I don't load/unload the dishwasher or take out the trash or clean the mold from the bathroom sink, then no one will do it. And that's when I ran into the brownish, grossest, makes-you-gag liquid running from the much too full kitchen trash bag. My thanks to the folks who invented cheap, piece-of-crap garbage bags. But I really am thankful for Clorox Wipes and Tilex Mold and Mildew remover, both of which when used together create a formidable scent...
In any case, I am going to buy some heavy duty trash bags for the kitchen from now on.

Hump Week

This week marks the middle of the summer. In some ways that is cool - closer to less work, closer to getting through my second to the last semester in college, closer to a new place to live... But at the same time it is not so cool - work is fun and profitable, I like less stress with no homework and studying to do, and summer is the best season ever. Not a whole lot has drastically changed since my last post - but there have been some things going on. I was on the verge of packing my things and moving down to Three Rivers to help with a church plant down there this fall, commuting back to Western everyday. But then God showed me some things and I decided to stay in Kalamazoo for the time being. Through that whole thought/decision process, I have learned some things about myself and my beliefs. First - I tend to be more traditionally minded in the sense that sometimes things just don't need to be changed. Second - I have realized how much the Gospel has affected me and has become so important and foundational in my life. Third - I see how much more there is to know about God and His church and His Word. I don't know it all like I so often think I do. We are on a lifelong journey of discovering God and His will. In the meantime - it is my goal to find a local church here to connect with. Last year when I moved out here I thought I knew my options and pretty much assumed I would go with one of the three. Now I am not so sure of that. One cool thing that I have been doing is getting up at 6am before work every morning to get a good 30min with God -- the hardest but most rewarding part of my day! Check out this post: http://preacherthoughts.blogspot.com/2006/07/george-muller-quotes-4-on-why-getting.html Amazingly enough - all of that has been proven to be true! Here is another article that I strongly recommend reading: http://www.newattitude.org/articles/mark_dever_on_personal_bible_reading

Summer

I really can't believe the first month of summer is almost over, time flies like crazy when you work full-time and some. Why do the semesters have to drag on forever? Pretty much my weeks have looked like this: Get up every morning Mon - Fri at 6:30am for work until around 5pm, then on Tuesdays and Thursdays go straight to Office Depot after work to work yet another 4-5 hours until 9:30pm. I have been also working 8 hour days on Saturday and Sunday every other weekend. Plus some overtime at landscaping. 70 hour week = good money. Right now I have the best of both worlds - hard work outdoors with fun equipment and country music, and interacting/helping people with stuff I know about.





New Attitude Conference in Lousville, Kentucky is this weekend! I think Na has become my most anticipated time of the year -- better than Christmas, more fun than 4th of July, and lands on Memorial Day weekend (bonus). I have been thinking and reading about how to get the most out of the coming sessions and worship and fellowship. I have found that I can sit through a loaded teaching, take great notes, feel convicted and stand during awesome times of worship, my heart feeling very close to God, breaking me to tears of sorrow at my sin and joy in Christ - but then go home very much unchanged. Sounds like a waste of time and money to me, not to mention my life. So this year I know some things have to change in order to get more from the conference. I need to be preparing my heart. I need to set aside time during the conference to meet with God by myself. I need to create time/make an effort to talk with others about what we are learning over the weekend. Most of all, I need to realize that God is in control of my life, not me. I try so hard to change myself when what I should be doing it bringing things to God and laying it all down before Him.

Please be praying for the whole group of us from Sawyer this week. We will be learning, sharing, and experiencing some important stuff - pray that it will be a time of growth individually and as our church.

Melody Gardot

The free iTunes song of the week is amazing! I like jazz, but I have never exactly fallen in love with it. Until I met Miss Gardot. This girl is about my age and is simply a dream to listen to. Plus she is hot. In a classy sort of way...

Frowning?

Today my friend Shannin asked me to wrinkle my forehead, so I wrinkled my forehead. Then she asked me to frown, I did that too. She started laughing at me and I had no idea why! Turns out it was because I wrinkled my forehead and lowered my eyebrows to frown - not frowning in her book. Not frowning in her roommate's book either. Not frowning for my roommate either. They all said that frowning is a sad look or facial expression. I asked my friend Chad what :( means -- he said it means frowning. WHAT!?! Everyone was laughing not with me, but at me because I had been in the dark for almost 21 years about what frowning was/meant. I was staggered, shocked, incredulous. So then I did some research. According to Wikipedia, the most trusted source of information in the entire world....

A frown (also known as a scowl) is a facial expression used to indicate displeasure, or disapproval.

The appearance of a frown varies from culture to culture. Although most technical definitions define it as a wrinkling of the brow, in the USA it is primarily thought of as an expression of the mouth. In those cases when used iconically, as with an emoticon, it is entirely presented as a curve of the lips facing away from the eyes ('down').

It most commonly expresses sadness, dissatisfaction, anger, worry or pain.

OK then!! What I want to know is from what culture did I get this idea of lowering my eyebrows and wrinkling my forehead to frown? Obviously I cannot use this expression around my American friends... You never know when someone may ask you to frown!

So what do you think? Does frowning mean this: :-( or this >:-|

Heavy Load

Sometimes I think I am in over my head. It's probably my own stupid fault. I procrastinate on nearly everything I possibly could. I use stickies widgets as my organizer - not very efficient. I am not sure if I even have a job this summer besides part-time at Office Depot. I have not met with an adviser regarding summer or fall classes, much less actually registering for them. I blow countless hours on facebook, then blow some more on blogger (justifying it because it is not facebook). My co-worker's 19 year-old son just passed away in his sleep and I went to the visitation. Pretty sobering and saddening, I am unsure of where he was with God. Which makes it all even harder. Now that the weather seems to be taking a turn towards summer, I am starting to miss St. Joseph and the beach and good friends and Sawyer and sunsets. I hope to get back as much as I can when I can. But through it all, God is faithful - I just hope I can keep with it and finish this semester strong. I am looking forward to NA this memorial day weekend! I know God always has so much in store for us at that conference!

When the red flags go up

Have you ever done something that, after the fact, made you think about where you are at and where you are headed? This just happened to me. After completely (and illegally) abusing a particular drink with friends who I know are not walking with Christ, feeling absolutely terrible the next day and having to leave work because of it, I wonder what happened. How did I come to this? How can I claim to be a follower of my Savior, while going against His word in front of people who don't know Him?


Needless to say, some things need to change. I am desperately needing more time with Him and His word and less time spent with facebook, movies, crappy music, sleeping, etc... What really blows my mind is that I left my Bible in my friend's van over 3 weeks ago - and it is still there! What glaring evidence of my lack of seeking Him. Not to say the past few weeks have been completely dry - but they certainly demonstrated some serious downfalls on my part. I listened to a sermon from Josh Harris on the drive home last week. It was on this passage in Jeremiah 29:11-13:

10 "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

The biggest thing I got from his message on this passage was this: God's good plan starts right where we are. So many times I find myself thinking "oh, once I am settled with a family and a job and a house, that is when I can really serve God and others around me." Somehow I think that I need to be in a certain place with certain things around me to be effective and useful. But what about right now? God doesn't call us to wait around until things are "perfectly set in place" for us to serve. He doesn't need us to wait until we get to Africa or Mexico or Europe to witness, serve, build relationships, and see amazing things happen. All of that can and should be happening right here, right now, where I am. There are over 25,000 other people around my age in this area right now. Could you ask for a better set-up?! Why am I getting drunk with these people instead of reaching out to them? This is so convicting, but why is it so acceptable? There are too many Christians who, including myself, shrug off this behavior and make up lame justifications for it. My good friend Norm challenged me with this scripture today:

Romans 12:1-2 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I don't think that Paul was telling us to just go with the flow and blend in with everyone around us here. I think he was reminding us to be radical, or radically changed. This just scratches the surface of what is running through my head right now, there is so much more that God has convicted me about! I am incredibly thankful for people He has brought into my life to challenge me, inspire me, and encourage me.

The past 2 months

So much has happened in the past two months. Unexpected things. Good things. Bad things. The major standouts include breaking up with my amazing girlfriend, getting a job at the Office Depot, and slowly making new friends here. So the break-up thing caught me off guard - it still boggles my mind sometimes... I am now single and coping. There are times when I feel content and forward-looking, but many times when I feel unsure of myself, unsure of what happened, and pretty much depressed/lonely. Seriously the only thing to really get me through the past couple months is knowing that God is in control and no matter how bad things can hurt, He has things in store for me and reasons for everything. As for the job, I first got hired at Panera Bread, but only did a few hours of training before I quit and took a job at a brand-new Office Depot just down the road. I am now a Sales Associate and help customers with everything from paperclips to laptops. The people who work there are great and I enjoy the work, if you can even call it that. It is fun, but I can't wait to get back under the sun and do some real work and get dirty! I am planning on staying on part-time at the Depot over the summer and work full-time at DeVisser Landscape for my main job. I hope to be home for at least some Sundays for some good times on the beach and bonfires at night... School is almost over! Just three more weeks to go...