In Musings

"The Snow Man" Glorieta Recreation Intern Chase McKeown adjusts a snow machine on the snow tubing hill in preparation for the opening of snow tubing season.

This post provided by Glorieta Intern Mindy Cook

I attended the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta last week and it was a great event.  One of the speakers this year was Pricilla Shrier who in her closing comments recited this poem that I found on her website.  It had the crowd cheering and I thought I would share it with you this week.

He is the First and Last,
The Beginning and the End!
He is the keeper of Creation and the Creator of all!
He is the Architect of the universe and the Manager of all times.
He always was,
He always is, and He always will be...
Unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and never Undone!

He was bruised and brought healing!
He was pierced and eased pain!
He was persecuted and brought freedom!
He was dead and brought life!
He is risen and brings power!
He reigns and brings Peace!

The world can't understand him,
The armies can't defeat Him,
The schools can't explain Him,
and The leaders can't ignore Him.

Herod couldn't kill Him,
The Pharisees couldn't confuse Him,
and The people couldn't hold Him!

Nero couldn't crush Him,
Hitler couldn't silence Him,
The New Age can't replace Him,
and Oprah can't explain Him away!
He is light, love, longevity, and Lord.
He is goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and God.
He is Holy, Righteous, mighty, powerful, and pure.

His ways are right,
His word is eternal,
His will is unchanging,
and His mind is on me.

He is my Savior,
He is my guide, and
He is my peace!
He is my Joy,
He is my comfort,
He is my Lord, and
He rules my life!

I serve Him because
His bond is love,
His burden is light,
and His goal for me is abundant life.

I follow Him because
He is the wisdom of the wise,
the power of the powerful,
the ancient of days,
the ruler of rulers,
the leader of leaders,
the overseer of the overcomer's,
and is to come.
And if that seems impressive to you,
try this on for size.

His goal is a relationship with ME!
He will never leave me,
never forsake me,
never mislead me,
never forget me,
never overlook me,
and never cancel my appointment in His
appointment book!

When I fall, He lifts me up!
When I! fail, He forgives!
When I am weak, He is strong!
When I am lost, He is the way!

When I am afraid, He is my courage!
When I stumble, He steadies me!
When I am hurt, He heals me!
When I am broken, He mends me!
When I am blind, He leads me!
When I am hungry, He feeds me!

When I face trials, He is with me!
When I face persecution, He shields me!
When I face problems, He comforts me!
When I face loss, He provides for me!
When I face Death, He carries me Home!

He is everything for everybody everywhere, every time, and every way.
He is God, He is faithful.
I am His, and He is mine!
My Father in heaven can whip the father of this world.
So, if you're wondering why I feel so secure, understand this...

He said it and that settles it.
God is in control,
I am on His side,
and that means all is well with my soul.
Everyday is a blessing for GOD Is!

If you haven't heard Pricilla Shrier speak you should, it will be a blessing for you, it sure was for me.  Look for an event near you at http://www.lifeway.com/women.

 

 

The Balloon Fiesta in Albuqurque is a big deal around Glorieta Conference Center, and many of the staff and volunteers took time to go enjoy the festivities. This shot is from one of the mass assentions, which involved over 200 hotair balloons.

This post was provided by Glorieta Intern Mindy Cook.

Today, as I was looking through the books in my office bookcase, I came across a blast from the past. The book is titled Without Reservations - An Uncensored, Unabashed Look At How People Behave In Hotels and is a compilation of guest stories from Holiday Inn hotels during the early 90's.

As I looked at the book, I remembered first reading it when I was the general manager of the Holiday Inn Townlake in downtown Austin, TX. The book was loaned to me by Oscar Sanchez, my front desk manager at the time. After reading I must have set the book aside and forgot to give it back when Oscar left to go to another hotel. So, Oscar, if you read this... I'm sorry man!

From experience, I can tell you that guests really do some strange things when staying in your hotel. I wish I would have been smart enough to right down all the crazy stuff I've seen over my hospitality career. While I don't remember all of them, here are just a few that I'll never forget.

• While helping to open the Crowne Plaza Galleria in Houston I remember I man coming down to the front desk and complaining about the toilet in his room. Not an unusual complaint for most hotels. However this one had a twist. See, we had really rushed the last couple of days of construction in order to get the hotel open in time for the Houston Homebuilder's Show and when you rush construction, some things tend to get missed.  When the desk clerk told him she'd send maintenance right up to fix the toilet he told her the problem was not a 'broken' toilet. No, the problem was he didn't have a toilet at all, only a hole in the floor of the bathroom! Big oops!
• One night, when serving as the Manager on Duty, I got a call on the radio that someone was shooting off a fire extinguisher on the 4th floor. Grabbing two security guards to go with me, we headed up the elevator. When we got off the elevator, we didn't see anyone and it was very quiet. Thinking we must have missed them, we started to head back down to the lobby. However, before we could, we noticed CO2 powder running down the corridor carpet so we followed the trail. The trail led us directly to a room on that floor so we knocked on the door. Imagine our surprise when a young man opens the door with a fire extinguisher in his hand. Talk about finding a smoking gun! Needless to say, he and his buddies had been partying in their room just a little too much. They ended up spending the rest of the night in jail...
• One Saturday afternoon, while working as the F&B Director at Holiday Inn East in Montgomery, AL, I got a call from the front desk saying someone had reported a 'bum' loitering in our Holidome. She asked if I would check it out and if true, politely ask him to leave. I said sure, but before I could walk out of the restaurant, one of my waitresses came running into the restaurant all excited. I asked her what was going on and she breathlessly explained that she had just see Hank Williams, Jr in the Holidome. Turned out he was the 'bum' that had been reported to the front desk. Evidently his tour bus had stopped next door to the hotel and he was just walking around to stretch his legs. Needless to say, I didn't ask him to leave. Even though he did look a bit like a bum...

What about you? Care to share an unusual hotel experience with us?

I read this on a friends blog and thought it was great. 29 things you can do to have a better life.

• Take a 10-30 minute walk every day and, while you walk, smile. It’s the ultimate anti-depressant.
• Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes a day.
• Tape your late shows and get more sleep.
• When you wake up in the morning, complete the following statement, ‘My purpose is to _________ today.’
• Live with the 3 E’s - energy, enthusiasm and empathy.
• Play more games and read more books than you did last year.
• Make time to pray. Prayer provides us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
• Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6. Appreciate their genuine nature, strength and innocence.
• Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
• Try to make at least 3 people smile each day.
• Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid.
• Smile and laugh more.
• Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
• Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
• You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
• Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
• Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
• No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
• Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In 5 years, will this matter?’
• God can heal any hurt.
• However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
• Your job won’t take care of you when you’re sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
• Envy is a waste of time.
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
• Do the right thing!
• Call your family often.
• Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
• Enjoy the ride. Remember, this is not Disney World and you certainly don’t want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
• Glorify God with your life. 

What would you add?
 

I am often obsessed with what others think about me. I wonder how those around me assess my work, my relationships, my parenting skills, you name it, I've thought about it. I constantly replay conversations and interactions in my head, examining them from every angle.

However, I realize I'm obsessing over the wrong people. The opinion that really matters is God's. The energy I expend on analyzing everyone else, me included, needs to be re-directed to what God thinks. No one else needs to approve of me.

Isn't it amazing how God uses our weakness to remind us of how much we need His strength. Now, I'm trying to trade my imaginary assessments from others for real conversations with God.

By the way,  I sent this to our Blog advisor for approval before it went live.  I'm a work in progress.

Everyone has a telephone,right? We are supposed to be more connected now than ever, but it seems to me that people don't want to actually talk anymore. We text, email, Tweet, write on Facebook walls, instant message, and blog without ever speaking a word out loud.

I personally would rather talk to you. I like the personal interaction rather than trying to read what your feeling through your written words. I'm not saying that all of the written forms are bad, I just think we need a balance. It's funny to me that with so many of these social media tools taking off, we are forgetting about the personal connection you find in someone's voice.

I'm just saying...