YOU ARE OUR JOY AND OUR CROWN

Affectionate friendships are a recurring theme in the New Testament. Perhaps I'm reading too much into the subject; after all, half of the book is personal letters from one or more people to a group of people. Or perhaps it is the intention of the Almighty for His Word to be communicated largely through the lens of friends writing to friends.

At any rate, I feel increasingly thankful that I too have been blessed with meaningful relationships in my life. Why, just this week alone, it seems every stage of my life will be represented in the form of some precious contact with a friend. The last two nights, I've been blessed with the chance to catch up with my former associate pastor, who counseled Amy and I three years ago and performed our marriage ceremony, and his wife; followed by a dinner downtown with two of my closest friends from work, one of whom leaves Philadelphia for grad school next month. Today, I got a letter in the mail from an old high school buddy of mine that was filled with Christian love and tenderness. Tomorrow, a friend of mine from college arrives in town to attend a wedding; he's staying at our house while he's here.

And of course, my friendship with my wife Amy deepens. So the sparks don't fly as often, nor do I get the sweaty palms and the heart palpitations as much. But they still happen. And what we have now that we didn't have back in our days of courting is a comfort level with one another. We talk politics, tell each other crass jokes, argue, and forgive one another. Best of all, when we're together, we're allowed to just be. How wonderful!

Paul once told the Thessalonians that they were his "joy and crown." I too feel undeservedly and richly blessed in the area of dear friends. They are like precious jewels to me, and I treasure them with all my heart. Though many come and go (and some go quite far), and with their departure there is sadness, so there is also a depth of connection that knows there will be another time in the future to renew acquaintances and to rejoice in what we have in each other. I can hardly think of any better blessing.

A MORE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

I'm back from a four-day conference in Richmond VA. It was the National Business Incubation Association's 17th annual International Conference on Incubation. I've attended this conference seven times in the last eight years, and each year it gets more and more international. We Americans often act like we have a monopoly on good ideas, that the world revolves around us, and that whatever's happening outside our country isn't that important. Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Why, just by keeping my ears open this week, I've learned about the importance of family in Jordan, the lack of infrastructure in Rwanda, and the amazing growth of entrepreneurship in Taiwan. I've heard non-US folks lament that we call our baseball finals the "World Series" when it only involves teams from two countries. I've marveled at workshop presenters sharing excellent information and fielding difficult questions in their second (or even third or fourth) language, knowing I couldn't possibly do the same in Taiwanese or French or Mandarin.

I've been fortunate to have opportunities to travel, and to be in situations where I am in the minority as an American. So I feel a little more attuned to such things. Nevertheless, I too have my narrow blinders and incorrect assumptions. I sometimes forget that speaking English with an accent doesn't make you stupid if it's not your first language. I casually share fundraising strategies as gospel truths, oblivious to the fact that people and corporations in other countries have different values than those in the US. And I complain about how constrained our organization and community are in their resources, conveniently forgetting that most of the rest of the world would consider us impossibly rich in money and technology and infrastructure.

But I believe I will now think these incorrect things less often, for having had the opportunity to interact with so many professionals who traveled to our country to learn more about incubation. And in that regard, this conference was a very useful one for me, as a person and a Christian and a professional.

EVER JUGGLING

Perhaps this portends post-sabbatical blogging: only being able to do this on a weekly basis. Even as I've carved out this year to slow down, figure out what are the important things, and trade breadth for depth, I'm feeling busier than ever, and finding myself juggling more and more activities. To be sure, my consulting work has really taken off, which accounts for a majority of my work time, travel opportunities, and contact maintenance. And I'm experimenting with things like sitting on boards and campaigning for politicians, and those things take time, too.

But there are other things, too. At church, our youth director if coming off staff next month, right in the middle of our churchwide strategizing about what's next. That has me seeking to strike while the iron is hot: we have to replace her immediate responsibilities, but the more we take our time the more we can make this ministry more important to the church as a whole. How this affects my time management is that practically on a monthly basis, I've been convening key youth ministry volunteers with our interim pastor to help me strategize. (Whereas in previous years, we probably met two or three times a year.)

Any given week has me keeping ties with any number of sets of relationships, whether it is driving five hours one way for my cousin's wedding or having breakfast with college friends of mine who are in town. I'm planning a trip to San Jose to see one friend who's having his first baby and another friend who's leaving the Bay Area to finish his seminary degree. Another friend of mine leaves Philly next month for grad school in Cincinnati, so a farewell party (coed) and one last "guy's night out" is in order. And the man that married Amy and I is visiting from the mission field later this month, and I simply must see him, I miss him so.

All of these connections are desperately important to me, as are my other responsibilities, little and not so little. Supervising the exterior of our house getting painted. Going grocery shopping and cooking dinner ever so often. Trying to get in a good long run at least once a week. Keeping up with my pile of news magazines and books checked out from the free library. Working on my book manuscript here and there (and lately, it's going nowhere).

It just doesn't seem there are enough hours in the week to fit in all I want to do. Does that mean I'm a workaholic? Bad at saying no? Unrealistic about what I can and can't accomplish in my life? Lost in the clutter of doing things right, and not taking the time to do the right things? Hopelessly flawed, to the point that I am unable, save by God's grace, to get off this treadmill I've put myself on? Or simply living life to the fullest, glorifying God with all I got and enjoying Him in everything I do? I'm embarrassed to say I have no idea. Until I've figured this out, I'm just going to keep on striving, keep on resting here and there, and keep on blogging (at least once a week).

FEASIBILITY STUDY

I'm back, after two weeks of being away from the Internet. Half of it was pleasure (vacation in Orlando) and half of it was business (consulting in Atlanta). I may be spotty in my blogging over the next two weeks, too, as I've got to turn around my report to my client in that time period, plus I'll be making short trips to Morgantown, West Virginia, for a cousin's wedding, and to Richmond, Virginia, for a business conference.

What I'm working on for my client is a feasibility study for the expansion of their existing business incubator. Think of a feasibility study as a business plan for a non-profit organization. My goal, then, is to produce a report that documents my recommendations for if and how they should proceed with such an expansion. It's fun to apply all of the business tricks I learned at Wharton to a cause as worthy as stimulating commercial development in an economically challenged area.

I spent four days in Atlanta collecting data and interviewing different stakeholders involved in the incubator project: current clients, potential funders, staff members, urban planners, and architects. Now I need to crunch all the data, apply over best practices from our incubator, and produce a document that can be used by my client internally (for planning next steps) and externally (for selling partners on the project). I only hope I will have enough time and insight to pull this all together.