Personal

I’m extremely excited about a new opportunity that has just recently opened up for me.  I’ve been offered the opportunity to do some writing for a VMware-focused web site that will be launching shortly.  I can’t disclose the name of the site or anything like that (at least, not as far as I know), but I’ll be sure to let everyone know when the site goes live.

I will say that this site is being launched by a fairly well-known organization that already operates a number of very popular sites, so it’s not like this is some fly-by-night operation.  I’m very honored to have been offered this opportunity, and writing is something that I truly enjoy.  In fact, getting the opportunity to write—even if only for my own benefit—was one of the reasons I started this site almost two and a half years ago.  As it turns out, some of the information I’ve been able to share has been helpful to others as well, and that makes it even better.

I do not anticipate that writing for the new site will negatively impact this weblog.  I plan to continue to do my best to provide content and information centered around virtualization, servers, storage, and life as a systems engineer.  I’m sure that the occasional personal post will show up now and then as well.

So stay tuned, and when the new site goes live I’ll hopefully be able to provide some links to some of my work.

How many of us would like to be indestructible?  To know that no matter what happens, no matter what comes against us, we cannot be destroyed or killed?  It would be pretty cool, right?

Well, here’s a newsflash, given to me courtesy of Pastor Greg Laurie on the radio yesterday on my way to Charlotte, NC for a meeting:  for Christian believers, we are indestructible.

That’s right, we’re indestructible.  To paraphrase what Pastor Greg had to say:  Until God is ready for us to come home to Heaven, we are indestructible.  No plots schemed against us, no attacks targeted at us, no lies told about us—nothing—can destroy us.  Why?  Because it’s not God’s will!  When God is ready for us to leave here and go to Heaven (i.e., when our time is up), we’ll go.  Until that time, we won’t.  It’s as simple as that.  Until God is ready for us to be with Him in Heaven, we are indestructible.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we should test God, and Pastor Greg pointed that out.  But what it does mean is that we don’t have to live in constant fear.  Should we take reasonable steps to protect ourselves, our families, and our friends?  Of course.  God gave us a brain so that we would use it.  But after taking reasonable steps, we don’t have to live in fear.  Why?  You’ve got it—because we’re indestructible!

So, if you’re facing a challenge, facing a mountain ahead of you, if your opponents are lining up against you (and believe me, I’ve been there before), take heart and be encouraged.  You, my Christian friend and believer, are indestructible.

A week ago, I posted a call for prayer for my family.  I appreciate the many responses that I received, and I am happy to report that the Lord has answered our prayers.  Although the answer did not come in the form that I had hoped, I am still thanking God for deliverance and I am praising God for his wondrous works.

Things could have gone much, much worse in this situation, but God’s power carried my family and I through this trial and I believe that our faith and our belief is stronger for it.  Again, thanks to everyone who responded, and thanks to all those who lifted their voices in prayer for my family.  I hope that God richly blesses each and every one of you for your compassion and concern.

I know that my weblog defies the “normal rules” of how one should run a weblog in that I freely mix both personal and professional topics on the same site.  As I said in my very first post, I can’t hide who I am, and I am a Christian.  If that means that my Christianity bleeds into everything else, so be it.

I don’t know if you read my site for my technical articles, or for my occasional personal post, and I don’t know if any of you reading out there are indeed Christians.  If you are a follower of Christ, then I’d like to make a simple request of you: please pray for my family.

My family is going through a rough time right now.  The details of the specific situation aren’t important; what’s important is that I—we—continue to lean upon the Lord and His strength in order to make it through the storm.  To do that, we’ve already enlisted the help of many prayer warriors that we know personally.  Now I seek the help of prayer warriors that I don’t know personally.

This situation that we are going through will come to a head sometime next week.  If you could, please remember my family in your prayers throughout the remainder of this week.  My wife and I are praying together with the family nightly, and praying with each other every day.  Our friends, our pastors (past and present), Christian co-workers, and fellow church members also have us on their prayer lists.  Will you pray as well?  I know that through the combined prayer and faith of the believers that my family can emerge through this situation with a powerful testimony to share with others.

Approximately 11 minutes ago I started my first 30 Hour Famine, an event sponsored by World Vision.  Our youth group is participating in the 30 Hour Famine this year to raise money and awareness of hunger around the world; all our proceeds go to World Vision to fund their efforts.

A lot of people think that they can’t make any difference against a problem like world hunger or starvation; the reality is that $1 can care and feed a child for a day.  That’s the message I’ve been trying to get across to the kids in my youth group:  everyone can make a difference.  We’ll spend the entire day today fasting from food and participating in service projects to help others in need.  The idea is that while helping those in need—homeless, orphans, etc.—we will ourselves be experiencing the effects of hunger.  We’re hoping that God will reveal Himself to us in a new way and open our eyes to His will and His purpose for us as individuals and us as a youth group.

Pray for us as we lead the youth group through the 30 Hour Famine, which runs from 7:00AM this morning to 1:00PM tomorrow afternoon (just after church), when we’ll “break the fast” and reflect upon what God has shown us during our time of service and fasting.

I won’t go into all the details that led to my posting “Joy in the Morning?” other than to say it wasn’t (and isn’t) pleasant.  It was a very difficult and very trying time, and while things aren’t completely over now, God did give me a different perspective on times like this.

Later that same evening (after I posted that message), I had to drive down to a local supermarket to pick up a few items.  I had the radio turned to a local Christian radio station (as I almost always do), and this advertisement came on for Key Life Network, a Christian radio program.  Specifically, it was one of these “You think about that” little spots that come on between songs.  If you’ve listened to a Christian radio station, you’ve probably heard Steve Brown and Key Life and one of those little spots.

Anyway, I can’t remember exactly what he had to say that night (and I tried searching the Key Life web site but couldn’t find it), but the basic gist of the thought was that while going through the night is difficult, it is only at night that we can see the stars.

Wow…what a difference one phrase can make in your outlook.  He’s right, of course, and God used him to remind me that there is always a purpose in His plan—we may not know what that purpose is, but rest assured there is a purpose.  While I was in the darkness, waiting for the joy that comes in the morning, all I had to do was remember that some of God’s greatest blessings can only be seen at night.  Some of God’s most beautiful creations can’t be seen during the light of day; only during the darkness of night.  And while they don’t take away the darkness, the stars that God created remind us that we aren’t alone—even in the darkness.

For what it’s worth, try to keep that in mind next time you are in a time of spiritual darkness.  I know I will.

Have you ever been in a situation so dire, so serious, so—I’m not sure which word to use here—that you couldn’t see your way out of it?  Ever been in darkness so deep that you couldn’t even see your hands in front of your face?  (Side note here:  if you’ve ever been on a tour of an underground cavern, you’ll know what I’m talking about.)  We’ve probably all been there, and according to the Bible this is only a temporary thing:

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalms 30:5, KJV)

Right now in my life, it is the middle of the night.  Weeping abounds.  I have lost someone near and dear to my heart, and I don’t know what comes next.  When will the morning come?  When will the night end?  How long will this last?

In my head, I can hear the Scriptures that talk about trial and tribulation.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. (James 1:2-3, KJV)

Patience?  I didn’t ask for patience.  I don’t want patience.  I just want this to end.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, KJV)

Work together for good?  I don’t think so.  How can this be good?  How can this be part of God’s plan?  I’d like to know that.

I’d like to take this time and wish everyone a very Happy New Year!  I hope that the Lord has blessed you this past year, and I hope that He will continue to bless you in the new year.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33 KJV)

I purposefully scheduled a later flight out of Atlanta because I wanted to allow plenty of time to get from Duluth (where my training class was located) to the airport.  Knowing that traffic in Atlanta can be troublesome at times (cough, cough), I wanted to be sure to allow plenty of time.

Instead, my class ends early and I think, “Well, I’ll just head on down to the airport and get an earlier flight.”  Hah!  Right!  No, sorry—no seats on any earlier flights available.  Oh, and by the way, I can’t check in to my original flight yet because (get this) I’m too early.

So I waste a few hours until I can get checked in, then need to waste a few more hours before my flight is scheduled to leave.  As it turns out, there are numerous storms, snowstorms, bad weather, etc., in the Midwest, and the resulting chaos/delays/cancellations is overflowing into Atlanta.  Oh, joy!  Rumor has it that the airlines are overbooked and offering to put people up overnight in exchange for their seats.  A lady in the line with me to check in says she’s been delayed three times and has now been bumped to an entirely different airline.

This smells like a serious delay to me, and I ought to know what a delay looks and smells like—I’ve certainly seen my share.  I’m beginning to believe that the comment a co-worker in my class made is true: “Man, you have bad luck with flights.”  Tell me about it!

Next time I have to come to Atlanta, I’m renting a car and spending the eight hours on the road instead of sitting in the airport.

I suppose it could have been worse; I could have gotten in a car accident, been injured, or any number of things.  So, it’s important to keep that in perspective.

Still, it was a really bad day.  First, I overslept this morning because I turned the alarm off after my wife left for work (she had an early shift today), so that put the whole morning into a tailspin as I tried to recover.  Once at work, I had so much catching up to do after spending last week in Los Angeles at VMworld 2006.  Then, I found out that two of my virtual servers in the VMware farm were corrupted because we had a power surge while I was out last week; that meant I had to rebuild two servers (a remote desktop-type server and a mail server).  Fun.

I run home from work only to have to turn right around and go to a PTSA executive board meeting.  However, the night doesn’t end there; it would appear that during the meeting, a pipe burst under the house and nobody noticed until a couple hours later when I got home.  By that point, almost the entire crawl space was flooded under a couple inches of water.  Oh, joy.  Hence the title of this post—soaked.

As a result I get to spend the rest of the evening with a Shop Vac sucking water up and pumping it outside.  Tomorrow I get the unique pleasure of attempting to fix the problem that caused all this grief.

Needless to say I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’m frustrated.  Time to go to bed and take care of the tired part, at least.