In 2006, I moved back to Houston after a two-year ex-pat assignment in The Hague (NL). In my new Houston assignment, I managed the North Region gas trading and marketing department. One of the roles I had within Shell was to work with the Broadwater Energy project team. Broadwater was an LNG …
Moving
November was a month of change for my family. My daughter, son-in-law, and their three children moved from Austin to the northeast. It was sad to say goodbye, but their future is bright. My son-in-law defended his dissertation and completed his Ph.D. in engineering after more than five years of …
A Different Kind of Church
I have not been to church since March. Well, what I mean is that I have not been inside my church building since the pandemic shutdown last March. The church building still resides along Exposition Road with its steeple and red brick exterior. The lawn still gets mowed and the air conditioning …
Dichotomy
I enjoy things that work properly. If a clock doesn’t work right, I try my best to fix it. Do the batteries need replacing? Is it programmed correctly? Even though there are plenty of clocks around the house, I want all to be working as they were designed. When the time changes twice each year, I …
Senior Moment
Tomorrow is Election Day, November 3rd, and it is a long-awaited day after several years of seemingly perpetual campaigning. My TV and mailbox are full of campaign ads, many filled with negative messages. Yard signs are displayed around my neighborhood along-side scary Halloween decorations which …
Frederick Buechner
Have you ever stumbled on an old book and delighted in your discovery? During my research on vocations, I found a quote from Frederick Buechner (born 1926) that appeared in many books: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” These few …
Joy During 2020
This year has been one of those years that we will want to put behind us: COVID-19 pandemic, violent protests, economic downturn, divisive elections, travel restrictions, and many other sufferings. Just watching a football game without stadium fans cheering can leave viewers without any passion for …
Decisions
I have been researching vocations for the past year. This is a wide-ranging topic with many differing opinions. I am interested in the intersection of Christianity and vocations. Personally, for most of my life, there were few intersections. I first studied vocations during eighth-grade English …
Search for Meaning
For the past several weeks, I have been plagued by a glute and hamstring injury. It happened after a ten-mile run that left my right upper leg area tight and sore. I tried to run but it was too painful, so I only walked for several days. I then ran a mile and walked the remainder of my normal …
Christianity and Civilization (Lecture X (1947): Creativity)
Dr. Heinrich Emil Brunner (1889-1966), a Swiss Reformed theologian, published his Gifford Lectures in Christianity and Civilisation (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, NY, 1948 & 1949). Chapter X in Brunner’s first lecture series (The Foundations) is titled: The Problem of Creativity. Our modern …
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