Monthly Archives: March 2010

I am catching up on health care stuff since I have been away. The FT of London seems to think that it passes because the president got to work and finally started guiding it instead of depending on the congress to figure it out. Committees.  I am also hearing that the nation is divided right down the middle on health care. No surprise there. The nation seems to be divided right down the middle on most every issue. Divided. So the health care plan has passed and there will be a period of time where people figure out how it affects them. Then, there will be adaptation. I was asked what I thought about the requirement to have health insurance. My response? They make you buy car insurance, don’t they? Isn’t is irresponsible to be an uninsured driver? Why isn’t it irresponsible to refuse to buy health insurance? As self-employed people, we chose a high deductible plan to keep the monthly premium down, its a viable option. There are possibilities out there. But when people refuse to be responsible and their irresponsibility costs the rest of us (through their getting treatment at tax payer expense because they have no insurance), then the government should take action. They have. Will it help? We’ll see.

Kind of related, while on my recent trip, I was amazed and not a little ticked of at times by Christians ASSUMING that I was against health care and against the president. Whatever I think about health care and the president is NOT decided because “Christian” spokesmen like TV preachers say x, y and z about the issue or the man. I read and think for myself, I do not follow the pundents, I certainly do not follow the radio hosts who hold conferences to sell tickets to hear themselves say the same stuff they say on their shows. Wanna think about it? Listen to “New Law” by Derek Webb, click here.

I was listening to the BBC this morning and there was this commentary by a reporter who talked about losing memory, multi-tasking and make lists. I couldn’t get the reporters name as I was busy shaving and had no way to write down any info. But the point was simple: making a simple list of things to do and finishing one thing before moving on to the next is more efficient than multi-taking. She even talked about the time wasted, as she said, “checking email sixteen times a minute.” I was stuck at a desk for several hours today and discovered that if I sign out of communication applications while try to work on the list of things to do, I was, or at least seemed to be, more productive. Are you thinking about your lack of productivity? Maybe you need to turn off the communications applications and focus for a while and then set a couple of times a day to check the email, read the latest Tweets and see who has posted what on your Facebook. (related stuff here and here)

(Fb? go to original post) Going from one end of town to the other last evening, I had an interesting experience on the public transit.

On the M3, I sat across from a Roma family all the way from Arpad Hid to when I got off at Hatar u. station. When I got on, I noticed that the man of the family was having a – shall we say – animated – conversation with another man across the car from him. Two stops later, this other man gets off and I noticed that the woman of this family begins speaking with her man. Around them are two teen aged girls, one of whom is holding a baby and the other trying to sleep, and a boy of about 8. The woman becomes more agitated and I surmised from the gestures that she made that she was referring to the earlier conversation and as she spoke, tears began to fall down her cheeks. The man seemed to reply to her in a soft manner. The tears continued to fall. My stop came up, I got off.

I walked to the 50 tram and found a seat. It was one of those three seat sections near the door, I was next to a small quiet man. In front of him was a trolley like folks use for their marketing. On the platform outside was a woman smoking a cigarette waiting for the buzzer that indicated that the doors were about to close. In the doorway stood a woman on her phone. The buzzer sounded, the smoker got on the tram and sat down next to the shopping trolley. In a moment the talking woman came over and grabbed the trolley. Smoking woman got up and phoning woman sat down very triumphantly. Then she began to try to sms (text) and tried to make a call or two. She was clearly frustrated about something. She put her glasses and phone away, gave a heaving sigh and wiped a tear from her eye. She got off at the next stop.

Replacing her and the small man was a family. The man of this family sat down alone across the aisle and his small wife and teen aged son stood for a brief moment and then without communication she moved to the seat next to me and her son across from her. I watched their interaction. The son was agitated, as sons get when they fear for their mother’s well being. I could sense their tension. I could see that she was trying to assure her boy that “it was okay.” The man got up abruptly and got off, they followed silently.

I was struck by these encounters. I saw their need. The need of common people. The need of the oppressed, especially women. They need Grace, they need Peace. That which comes through the Gospel.

what does this term mean today? when someone says that is or they are apostolic, what do they mean?

what do YOU mean?

(Fb reader? click see original post) Sweet Anna is on the plane… they do ask a ton of questions when you fly straight to the U.S. It sure was good to have her here for the CEOOGPFME and to hang out with in Vac and Budapest for a few days. We even babysat the Nemeth girls last night. I was sad to see her go this morning.

This has been a really busy trip. Here are some ramblings.

When I was in Ukraine back in February, it was 12 degrees at night and 25 in the day and the snow and ice were the things to walk on. Bosnia was not much different, the snowscape from Sarajevo to Srebrenica were amazing. It stayed cold for a long time it seemed. Then last week when Sweet Anna arrived, it was like she brought the spring with her! Laci thinks it was his summer tires, I credit her highness. I look around and the coats are less and less visible and when you see them they are usually on someones arm not being worn. Spring began officially last Sat (?) and it sure is a beautiful day today.

I have seen a lot of cool stuff, have had a lot of great conversations with people. In those conversations, I have seen new ideas developed and vision for serving clarified. There is one main thing that is becoming clearer to me. The mission of CEO is getting bigger than these getting older bones can handle alone. This is clear because there is too much to do on this side of the Atlantic and there remains a lot to do on the other side of the Atlantic. A year ago, a wise mentor told me I need a USA partner. I fought the idea for a while. I slowly came to accept it. Now, with what I see needing to be tended over here, I know that is true.

Its not that I’m getting too old for this, that’s not so much the issue. its that I need some back-up in the US when I’m away and some help in the US when I’m there. Indeed, it is becoming really clear to me that if i wanted to stay over here, there would be way more networking and connecting for the sake of the mission than I could keep up with. But I am aware enough that I must keep working in both places. So, it seems the next big prayer for me is to ask God for that first officer for this ship I travelling on.

Another cool thing that I saw while I was here was the way the CEO network of partners and friends is working together in global ways to connect and develop alliances and partnerships for the sake of the Kingdom. People putting aside personal agenda for bigger things that are about the Kingdom not about ambition. That is an awesome thing to see.

I only have a few days left and have accomplished most f what I set out to do on this trip. I have a couple of more conversations that need to be had but they will happen naturally when I get a couple of more contacts. Mainly, I need to just dot some ‘i’s and cross some ‘t’s. I’m keeping Saturday quiet intentionally and am gonna hang out with an old friend in Munich for a few hours on the way home Sunday.

From the alarmist emails I am getting from the USA about health care, it seems I have been missing a renewed fight. So, I would guess my growing views about that are going to get expressed herein sooner than later…

I’m way overdue a post as I have been reminded by a few readers who are wondering. (If you’re a Fb reader, you have to click see original post or something.)

The rest of this trip has been and will remain in the greater Budapest area. For the next few days, I’ll be in a Panzio in Vac, which is a beautiful Baroque city on the Danube. This weekend friends and partners in following and serving Jesus will gather for mutual encouragement.

Sweet Anna arrives today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, the remainder of my trip will be invested in catching up with my sweetie, enjoying mutual encouragement with friends, and connecting with schools. One of my biggest objectives on this trip is to visit and establish relationships with schools in Budapest who depend on folks who speak English as their first language. I am depending on Him working through a network of friends here to connect me to these schools.

To keep up with some details, read my Tweets (on the right) which get updated WAY more than I have time to write a blog post.

Peace from Grace from McD in Obuda (McD free wifi is a blessing from God Himself!)