1. Financial -- OOPS!!! We knew that we would not be staying under our weekly budget this week. We had made motel reservations that were in excess of the total weekly budget. Our daughter's best friend (and our "adopted" daughter) got married out of town last weekend, and we decided that it would be easiest for us to stay two nights at a motel. Eliminating the extra expenses from the wedding (motel, meals, and extra gas), the rest of our purchases were within the weekly budget.
2. Spiritual -- I was back in the Word, working through Ephesians 5. This chapter is the classic passage regarding husbands and wives. Studying the passage this week, though, I realized that Paul's emphasis wasn't on marriage. It was on the church being one with Christ. It was a different focus for me to ponder, and I found it extremely refreshing to find new truth (new to me) in a very familiar passage.
Last summer, at our family's vacation, we each shared some prayer requests -- things we wanted our family to pray about with us. I shared that my ministry at church was changing. I was going to move from a very visual leadership ministry to more of a "behind the scenes" ministry, focusing on technology. I asked prayer for direction of my new focus of ministry. At the time, I had no idea how much this ministry would expand.
As you may remember, I'm redoing our church website. Thanks to my oldest daughter, who is graciously tutoring me, I'm learning Wordpress and gradually developing the website into a useful tool of ministry. At the same time that I'm working through the technical challenge of the website, other challenges with technology are looming.
Our church purchased a new projector for the Worship Center. It also purchased a new switch box which I will be using to manage a variety of inputs -- laptops for guest speakers, TVs displaying announcements & showing the services remotely throughout the church, a new TV to take the place of the old missionary board. Each of these new tools require learning by me as well as adapting of existing content and creating of new content.
In addition, the church's current Interim Director of Student Ministries is leaving the church in three weeks. A major part of his job responsibilities is dealing with technology. He is the "go to" guy with hardware, networking, software, etc. questions and problems. The Technology Committee had a meeting with him last weekend to review the things he does with technology at church. The challenge is to divide his job duties among us -- I expect that I will inherit the responsibility for updating the church's electronic sign, and of duplicating CDs and DVDs as requested by members of the congregation.
3. Personal -- while all these technology challenges going on, I am about to start two online classes: Computer Information Systems and Advanced Computer Information Systems. Course descriptions are as follows:
Computer Information Systems: Introduction to computer information systems. Literacy, hardware and software concepts, history, social and ethical issues, elementary systems software and applications software such as word processor, spreadsheet, database, communications and graphics packages.
Advanced Computer Information Systems: Students will gain an advanced level of competency in computer hardware, operating systems, and applications software such as word processor, spreadsheet, database, HTML, and presentation
programs; it is designed to progress advanced students towards completion of Microsoft Office Applications Certification (MOS). Users will become familiar with all components of the Microsoft Office Suite.
Because these two classes are Summer classes, they are supposed be accelerated -- each designed to be finished in six weeks. Unfortunately, I am registered for both of them during the first six week Summer session....that would mean that I would have to finish the first class in three weeks so that I have three weeks to finish the second class. Thankfully, I've already gotten permission from the professor to take an Incomplete, if needed, on the second class. He would allow me to finish the second class during the second Summer session.
And, of course, during all of this, I'm trying to find time and opportunities to write on this blog, knowing that the accountability the blog provides me is a key in achieving my goals for 2012.
Next Post: First Annual Lady Comet Football Classic
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