After the historical end of the Reformation with the 1648 signing of the Peace of Westphalia, political turmoil still brewed in England. Civil war between the Royalists (Cavaliers), supporters of King Charles I, and Parliamentarians (Roundheads), under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, began in …
Vocation versus Scientific Efficiency
I lean towards efficiency, which is both a blessing and a curse. My engineering studies only made me even more efficient and at times, unbalanced. I like speakers who get to the point and do not waste my time in verbosities. I jog the most efficient routes and often miss the beauty of off-beaten …
At-Home Work
I grew up in a family of six. My mother gave birth to four children before she turned 30. Growing up in a large family seemed normal until I fathered my two children. I then fully understood the sacrifice it takes to raise children. My mother was a stay-at-home mom until I was in the third grade. …
New Chief Executive
Last week, I was in LinkedIn and I saw a post from Bernard Looney, the soon-to-be Chief Executive of British Petroleum (BP). Mr. Looney is pictured sitting casually with an open-collared shirt. In his post, he states his interest in using LinkedIn as a platform “to listen and understand your …
Waiting
In the early 1990’s, I was working as an Asian Products Trader for Shell Oil Company. Our trading office was in downtown Houston. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) was just starting to open their country to foreign trade, and I received a phone call from a Beijing trader asking if Shell could …
Four Meanings of Work
How do you respond to the question: where do you work? I would state that I worked for Shell in their trading department. Because Shell was a large international corporation with recognizable service stations over much of the developed world, people would quickly grasp both my company and the type …
Ministry Redefined
I worked on an energy trading floor for over twenty years during my professional career. It was a center of financial operations with employees sitting at trading desks lined up in paired rows so that traders, operators and analysts could quickly communicate with each other. Each desk had up to six …
Roots
I was fortunate to work with many highly competent people during my career: graduates from acclaimed universities, PhD’s, patent holders, and managers of Fortune 500 companies. These people were at the top of their respective vocations and I was blessed to work with them. But one doesn’t need these …
Work and Vocation
In the fall of 2014, I started a Master of Theology degree program at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I retired a few months earlier after 34 years working in energy. When people learned that I was in seminary, I was often asked about why I felt called to be a minister. When I replied that …
Vocations during the Reformation – II
The Reformation (1517–1648) that Luther started spread into the surrounding European countries and manifested itself in various ways. Scriptural interpretation was hotly debated, thousands were martyred for their beliefs, and hundreds of thousands died from wars, diseases, or hunger. Theology was …