Tuesday, 24. March 2009, 05:42:39
anniversary, life, work, Galcom
Many will not remember this post from a year ago. There are a few Opera friends who have partnered with me in prayer until that day happened. Monday March 24, 2008 I received a phone call in the morning from our Associate Director asking, "When can you come in to start work?"
"About 45 minutes ago," I replied.
He laughed on the other end and said, "Tomorrow morning is fine." Thus a "tree of life" was born. I don't believe it was a coincidence it was the Easter Monday that year.
I'm bringing in a cake to celebrate with my co-workers. They have been a pleasure to work with and made this first year go by so fast.
Friday, 6. March 2009, 01:25:26
soup, humour, work, volunteer
...
A week ago yesterday we had some pleasant news at work: a volunteer couple, Chuck and Marilyn, were going to be bringing a soup lunch for everyone. Marilyn is a terrific cook. She makes yummy home-made treats for us at work every week. But this was special.
Michelle's boyfriend heard about this and sent a notice to be posted to promote the upcoming day (his said, “Why sit at your desk and stew when you can come out for a soup-er luncheon?”). Well Michelle then got the idea to put a sheet up so others could add their promotional sayings too. The list was posted on the door and here are what people wrote (I take bragging rights for putting the most up there; they're the ones in poor printing):
- Come out for the fellowship and we'll soup-ly the food.
- Stir something up on soup-er Wednesday!
- For a souperlative lunch, come on over to Galcom next Wednesday.
- Want a fast lunch? Soup-it-up next Wednesday.
- Mr. Wang say, “No mystery: come for a soup-lise lunch next Wednesday.”
- CSI soup at Galcom: the broth thickens...
- No soup for you! (from Seinfeld's 'Soup Nazi' episode)
- So...this soup was walking into a bar, I mean church...
- It's a bird...it's a plane...it's Souperman!
- Hey! This Wednesday should be souper-dooper!
- Yer lunch is being souplanted today.
- Soupercalifragilisticexpialidelicious!
The soups
were absolutely delicious! The one on the left is 'Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder' and the one on the right is 'Cheeseburger'. The lunch also came with beautifully soft bun rolls and for dessert there was a 'Strawberry Cream Pie' on a home-made crust. We went about 10 minutes over on our lunch time. When I get the recipes, they will be added to this post.
Additional recipes are here.
Saturday, 28. June 2008, 03:47:33
probation, full time work, Galcom
Well, it's finally happened: today I was offically accepted as a full-time employee at my work. The probationary period ended Wednesday, but today was the 3 month review and handshake and handing over of the company benefits handbook. There may even be an opportunity for the company to pay for the last courses of my schooling to get my diploma as a Mechanical Engineering Technologist - it's been over 8 years in the works.
Hurray for me and thank you Lord!
Incidentally, today's scripture reading at work was from Ecclesiastes 5:18-20:
"Then I realized that it is good proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart." (NIV)
Wednesday, 26. March 2008, 03:33:31
missions, Galcom, hope, work
...
As a few Opera friends have known, I've been looking for full-time work for 2 years now. Today was the day I began a full-time job with a missions organization that builds fixed-tune radios.
Let's back up a bit...
Eight years ago I went back to college to begin what I believed was God's direction to integrate my hands-on work with a formal education in manufacturing and engineering. It was very hard work; the program at the time was one of the hardest in the province. I believed it also provided the best value for my educational dollar and provide better job opportunities when finished.
In April 2005 I finished full-time studies. I was also 2 courses short of my diploma. Guess how many jobs I could have done that
required a diploma? Lots. I tried falling back on what I had done before going back to school: working as a service technician for home health care companies; fixing wheelchairs, walkers and other durable medical equipment. My finances were in bad shape and by September 2005 I declared personal bankruptcy. How much worse could it get?
A company who wanted to strong-arm me into doing additional work for far less than minimum wage and outside of our original work contract let me go in March 2006. Until last week, I've been working temp jobs with a local agency. They have been a blessing in providing work when needed to help pay the bills. If additional things were needed, God somehow provided extra work or food or whatever to keep just ahead of my commitments. It has been a time of proving the line in the Lord's Prayer, “give us this day our daily bread”.
Coming to today...
Believe me, I had given up hope that what God spoke to my heart 8 years ago would ever come to pass – until two weeks ago. My hairdresser had also known I was looking for full-time work and the missions emphasis on my education. She called me at home on a Sunday afternoon to let me know there was an opening for an assembly worker at
Galcom International. They had actually put a notice in their church bulletin. I called first thing the next morning to a fellow there I had teamed up with to do a volunteer project earlier and he let me know who to forward a resume to. They liked the resume and an interview was scheduled for the week prior to the Easter Weekend. The interview went well, they checked my references (the people told me the company had called), but it was the waiting throughout the Easter Weekend that was the hardest.
Yesterday morning at 10:30 was the call of acceptance and to come in for this morning. There was about 20 minutes of shock and then a period of crying with thankfulness beside my bed. It was not only over, but it included a missions element as well. Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
Today I learned various aspects of tuning and building the radios pictured above. Now each one of these radios is the vocal agent for a person called of God to transmit the Gospel to a region or peoples that is being neglected by large-scale missions operations. Some of these regions are so remote, they are actually dropped by plane with little hand-made parachutes! So even though I personally don't go, what I build does, and is the representative for a person who brings teaching and music to the person holding these little radios.
So today, I became a missionary.
WIDGETIZE