kohls

So I guess because my diverse readership hails from around the globe (or, uh, around the I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Raleigh), I at least ought to use the medium to provide occassional updates on the Life of Steph and Bert in addition to my rantings about sports, politics and Christianity. So here goes...

So I had an interview with Kohls yesterday, and for those of you praying for my job hunt I ask that you keep doing so. I should find out something soon (within the next week) about this one.

It was a weird interview. They're opening a new store in the WF (that is, Wake Forest... is this town hip enough to call "the WF"?) and are hiring about 130 part time employees to run it. Apparently that's the way to go these days - staff everything with part-timers. Good for the store, bad for many of the workers, but so it goes. Kinda makes me think of this cartoon I saw on Wilhite's blog: (click on it to enlarge)



That cartoon was originally published fifteen years ago, by the way...

Gotta love Calvin and Hobbes. If I could, I'd keep a book of them by the toilet along with my handheld Yahtzee game and Golf Digest magazines. (Steph's not going to like me revealing my man-throne secret stash on the internet...)

I wonder if they'll have a Calvin and Hobbes book in the Kohls employees' bathroom?

Anywho, the interview was a group one (to speed up the process for them of interviewing 1000, literally, candidates) and so I was sitting around a conference table with 11 other folks as the interviewer asked five questions to each of us. Afterwards, he had to go "check to make sure all the forms were filled out correctly", and the " " marks aren't there to signify a direct quotation. He actually came back and asked for me and two others to stay behind because we "didn't fill the forms out correctly", he ushered the others out of the room and shut the door to inform us that we've made the cut. Whew.

I felt like I was auditioning for American Idol...only this guy wasn't Simon Cowell and (thankfully) I didn't have to sing. Which, if I did, I would find myself on one of those first few shows where they make people look like fools.

So anyway, apparently I'm going to find out soon if I get another interview after I filled out a few more forms yesterday behind closed doors. Hopefully though they'll be more honest throughout the rest of the process...

So there it is. If you're of the praying sort, pray that I am gainfully employed soon.

And while you're at it, send up a little prayer for a Calvin and Hobbes book to be in the employee bathroom.

great interview to read

C.J. Mahaney recently did a GREAT interview with John Piper (that I think was a form he filled out...see response to "What do you do for leisure time?" Kinda funny...).


Here's one blurb:

CJ: "What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?"

Piper: "A great tree will fall with many small chops. Pray daily for grace to keep chopping."


Take five minutes, read the interview and be encouraged.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

three messages

Note: I attempted to put up the below post on Friday. I tried unsuccessfully for quite some time to get the video messages referenced below to stream directly on the blog from the SEBTS website. Sorry for the inconvience of having to use *gasp* a link! Also, I'll drop some thoughts from the recent conference with Driscoll, Mahaney and Akin soon.

We have Chapel twice per week here at Southeastern Seminary, and so far this semester it has not disappointed. Thursday, Mark Driscoll gave an excellent sermon on the differences between "Religion" and the Gospel, and the other three chapel services (preached by Daniel Akin, David Nelson and Jimmy Scroggins, respectively) were equally compelling. You can go to the SEBTS chapel website, click on the message you want, and either watch it online or download the audio version.

Here's three quick blurbs on the first three chapel messages:

SEBTS President Danny Akin's message - "Passing on God's Truth" - was a very strong message from 2 Timothy 2 about this generations call to pass off the baton to the next generation. Included is a passionate and thought-provoking call to consider world missions. This is a highly recommended way to spend 30 minutes...

David Nelson (Dean of Faculty, SEBTS) followed up Akin's call to follow the Great Commission by clarifying what exactly the Great Commission is. "What we mean by the Great Commission" is a great exposition of Matthew 28:16-20, especially for those of us (like me) who struggle with doubt.


And finally, Jimmy Scroggin (pastor of First Baptist, West Palm Beach, FL) gave a message centered around the struggle with pride that many serving in ministry roles face. While the message is application-centered towards seminary students or those in "full-time ministry," the principles in "A Warning to Young Men in Ministry" are valid and meaningful for everyone. A great message from a great preacher...

heads up...

just a tip...there's a free shipping deal going on right now at Monergism Books, if you put in a code you can find on Challies.com...

it's under a post from 2/2.

things said...

Three things I heard this week...

"You won't lose anything worth having walking within God's boundaries."
-Dr. Hammett on Psalm 84:11

"Being a soldier in Christ's army is no place for sissies; it is no place for wimps."

-Dr. Daniel Akin at Spring Convocation, January 27, 2009.

"Jesus is not saying that 'you ought to be witnesses', but that 'you, by the fact that you bear My name, are My witnesses.'"

-Dr. Beck on Acts 1:8

Redeeming Movies

Christianity Today's top ten (plus a few) "Most Redeeming Films of 2008."

It's worth checking out... As for me and my wife, it may be a guide to our next few rentals...

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Many convert to 'The Way'; Barnabas leaves

Maybe that was the news headline the day Barnabas walked away from Antioch.

Who knows? But can you imagine what this new, groundbreaking church must have been thinking when Barnabas walked away?

Let me set the scene. We're about a third of the way through the book of Acts and the church is still almost entirely Jewish. In fact, as Acts 11:19 informs us, the Christians outside of Jerusalem were "speaking the word to no one except the Jews." But that's about to change. At Antioch, we're about to see the real beginning of the Gospel finally going to the ends of the earth - to Jew and to Gentile. So (in Acts 11:20) when some Christians get together and share the message of Christ with some Gentiles here in Antioch, and "a great number" (11:21) of the Gentiles respond in faith, this is a watershed moment in the history of the Church.

(Interesting side note here: those preaching the gospel to the Gentiles in this passage go unnamed. How many times does that happen in the book of Acts? It seems that just some average Joe's head out to follow Christ's call to seek and save the lost ... interesting concept ...)

This mass conversion is so unprecedented that the news is heard a few hundred miles away in Jerusalem. So the big-wigs in Jerusalem send one of their own, Barnabas the encourager, up to Antioch to see what's going on and to help out.

This must've come as welcome news to the young church in Antioch. Now they'd have someone to help them grow. But, to their surprise I'm sure, Barnabas gets there, sees this growing and paradigm-shifting church, and walks away.

What would compel him to leave a place where God was doing so much work?

Simple, a rough-edged young convert named Saul.

Barnabas walked away from Antioch and the opportunity for instant successful ministry, seemingly trading the masses for a man. He left, traveling on another long journey, to head "to Tarsus to look for Saul" (11:25).

Ultimately, Barnabas and Saul return to Antioch and eventually are sent from there on their first missionary journey. Out of this movement, much of the New Testament was written, much of Europe and Asia-Minor was won to Christ, and historically the world has never been the same.

What's interesting for me to see, though, is Barnabas' willingness to leave this growing church for one man. Yes, Barnabas knew he would return. (Although I'm not convinced he knew for certain he'd find Saul and return with him.) But traveling took so long in those days and while he was gone he was missing crucial ministry time. He was leaving the mission to which he specifically was appointed!

Yet Barnabas believed in the importance of the man, he believed in the idea of bringing others with you into the labor and thus training and developing other leaders for the work of ministry.

Barnabas saw the best way to reach the world in developing one man.

How many of us would turn away from an opportunity for instant "successful" ministry in order to do what it takes to bring a rough-edged young believer into that work with us? How many of us see reaching the world through impacting one man at a time?

Barnabas did. And he must've left a profound imprint on Paul, who did the same thing later (2 Cor 2:12-13).

More importantly, Christ did. The more I read it, the more it seems all his time in the masses was aimed at developing the men around him, specifically Peter, James and John.

Would I do the same? Would you?