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Victory

Posted by edrocha1961 on August 11, 2021
Posted in: English. Tagged: Castroneves, Indy 500, Jesus, Victory. 1 Comment

If you know me for some time, you probably know how much I enjoy watching motorsports, particularly car racing.

If you know anything about car racing, you probably know about the Indy 500.

This story is related to the 105th edition of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” held in 2021.

The race was scheduled for Sunday afternoon and I had more important things to do at that time (yes, there are things that are more important than watching Indy 500), so I programmed the DVR to record it, so I could watch it later.

When the race was over (some 3 hours after the “Ladies and Gentlemen, Start your Engines”), I was still not back at home, but I immediately started getting texts from friends that thought I would be watching.

They were celebrating that Helio Castroneves, a Brazilian driver, had won the race for the 4th time, tying the record of the biggest names in the long history of that race (yes, he is the guy from Dancing with the Stars).

While I had not planned to find out the result before watching the replay, I was very happy to hear about the result.

Later, when I eventually sat down to watch it, I could do it in a much more relaxed way, because even if my favorite driver was running in 15th place, I knew he was going to win. It was very fun to just wonder how that would happen (and not “if” it would happen).

Wouldn’t it be interesting if in life we knew how things are going to end?

If in the midst of the difficult moments of our lives, when things are not going our way, we could be sure that at the end we were going to have victory…

Well, we can have exactly that assurance.

Several Sundays ago, when I had the opportunity to present the message in church, I used a portion of the letter Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi, where he is talking about Jesus Christ:

“God has highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

While the last part of that (about every knee bowing and every tongue confessing He is Lord) has not happened yet, we know it will.

Like the hundreds of prophecies that were fulfilled when Jesus came as a man, to live here, to die for our sins and be raised again, this will as well.

There will be a day when everyone will recognize that Jesus is Lord. It will be inevitable when we all see His glory.

It will be a great day for those that have already understood that He is Lord.

Victory is certain.

Good Memories

Posted by edrocha1961 on May 12, 2020
Posted in: English. Leave a comment

VolvoStay home ordered? Call mom. Talk about the old times.

I did that several times and we went down memory lane to some interesting places. It felt good.

Recently we talked about the day my mom and I went with dad in a day trip to a customer he had to visit about one hour and a half from home (Caçapava, for the Brazilian friends’ reference).

I was about six years old and while my father was in his meeting, mom and I stayed by the car in the parking lot (the picture of that moment is still in my mind).

My mother sat in our VW Beetle with the door open and I played with some little cars on the sidewalk. Time went fast. When dad came back we quickly collected our stuff and started the trip back home.

Well, we “collected our stuff” too quickly and the little Volvo from the picture above was left behind.

How can it be in the picture then? Is it the same one? You still have it, you pack rat?

Yep. When little Ed found the Volvo was missing, dad turned around and went back for it. That’s love!

Yep. I still have it… together with each other Matchbox car I would collect over the years.  Mom and I would take the bus to go downtown Sao Paulo (Lojas Americanas – again from my Brazilian friends reference) to buy the little cars with the money I saved from my allowance, or polishing my grandpa’s shoes and selling old newspapers – an adventure. Those cars are all together in a glass jar in my “Man Cave” with their battle scars from years of abuse.

Talking about these and other stories with my mom brings very good memories.

Time won’t come back and we are very distant, but those conversations are creating new memorable moments to cherish.

Love you, mom.

I Wanna Be Contagious

Posted by edrocha1961 on April 6, 2020
Posted in: English. Tagged: contagious, mission, pandemic. 2 Comments

Contagious

This is not another post about the current pandemic. Too many have been written on that topic already.

This not even about the medical or financial effects of the global scenario.

Some time ago I wrote a post titled “Disruption” (December 10, 2016) talking about the original negative meaning of that word and its modern interpretation, now I want to do something similar with the word “contagious”.

By no means I want to minimize the seriousness of the situation, but my brain wanted to go in a different direction.

The foundation of my thoughts is: we influence others. Our behavior impacts the people around us.

Haven’t you notice a person with a “contagious smile”? It is good to be around such an individual.

Hard work can be contagious. Obesity can be contagious. Positive or negative behaviors can be contagious.

At this point in history (and in my history) I want to have a positive influence on people around me. I wanna be contagious!

In my time working remotely I want to be as serious as I am in the office, if not more. Liz and I must have a relationship that can be a positive influence for younger couples. The list goes on.

Actually this line of thought came to me when I was reflecting on my Personal Mission that I wrote some years ago. It contains the word “contagious”, so I was considering if it would be bad taste to have it there in a time like this.

But when I follow the thinking process I just described, I concluded that it should stay there. Probably more than ever.

I will close with my unmodified Personal Mission without detailing it, because I hope it is clear in its short format, but if you want to understand better what I mean, please check the post from December 17, 2017, where I explore it in more depth:

“To know and glorify God, in a contagious way”

I am sticking to it.

Dermatology

Posted by edrocha1961 on May 12, 2019
Posted in: English. Tagged: blood, dermatology, skin. 1 Comment

Many, many years ago, when I was in College, my sister was in Medical School and would eventually become a Pediatrician.
While in School she obviously had to study all areas of the Medical Field.
One day I flipped through her Dermatology book, and the images that I saw are still in my brain. They were not nice.
If I had ever studied Medicine, for sure Dermatology would be at the bottom of the list, next to Proctology, while Radiology would be on the top.
Those diseases shown in the pictures didn't look good at all and seemed very painful. I thought about illustrating this post with some of those images, but I didn't think they would be very appealing (kittens would attract more readers, but wouldn't match the theme at all, so the young lady with the mirror was a better idea).
I can only imagine how much someone would pay for a cream or a liquid that would instantaneously eliminate those skin conditions.
I can see the add on TV: "If you call now, you can have this extraordinary product that will clean your skin immediately! This exclusive offer will not last long, so call now."

Then I thought that I could compare sin with spiritual versions of those diseases. As if the sin would appear as a skin disease on the person:  Murder= Spiritual Melanoma, Gossip= Spiritual Eczema, Impure Thoughts= Spiritual Psoriasis, Lies= Spiritual Acne...
Can you imagine how we would walk around displaying our sins?
How would we face each other? Wouldn't you want to ask your husband about that Psoriasis on his face? 
Immediately I remember that God actually sees all that. 
He also saw all our sin in Jesus when he was on the cross, and that was a repugnant image.
For the first time in all eternity something happened to the Father-Son relationship that Jesus cried "Father, Father why have you forsaken me?".

Fortunately, I don't have to end the post here, because Jesus died for our sins and came out on the other end resurrected, and glorified. He no longer had the marks of our sin.

The good news is that differently from those skin diseases, our spiritual diseases can be eliminated instantaneously, but it takes a very costly medicine: Jesus' Blood.

So, if we have applied that precious liquid, when God looks at you and me He sees us without blemishes. Acceptable to Him.

Can't beat that!

"So call now and talk to God about this exclusive offer (really exclusive)"

William or William?

Posted by edrocha1961 on March 17, 2018
Posted in: English. Tagged: Billy Graham, Stephen Hawking. 1 Comment

In the last few weeks the world saw the departure of two very intelligent men. Both recognized all over the world. Both published several books. Both were recipients of the highest civil honor in the United States: the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the first one received it from Ronald Reagan in 1983, the other from Barack Obama in 2009).  Both influenced many lives. Both were named William.

 

You may have guessed the first one: “William Franklin Graham”, or simply “Billy Graham”.

Unquestionably one of the most admired persons of our time, Billy Graham is remembered among other things for his more than 400 evangelistic crusades, where millions heard his clear message about God’s love and redemption plan. He frequently quoted John 3:16 in his messages: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

At the same time he was spreading that simple message, he was writing over 30 books, some with deep theological matters, and was counseling American presidents and international leaders with his wisdom and integrity.

He frequently stated he was ready to be with the Lord, particularly after the departure of his wife Ruth: “Because I know where I came from and I know where I am going”.

 

The second one may have been a little harder to guess: “Stephen William Hawking”, or just “Stephen Hawking”.

Also widely recognized, the theoretical physicist became famous for his cosmology studies including the prediction that black holes emit radiation, which became known as Hawking Radiation. He frequently indicated his view that “scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge”.

Hawking became a symbol of perseverance while his ALS progressively paralyzed him over the decades, affecting his motion and speech. He also authored many books, including the best seller “A Brief History of Time”.

In an interview he stated “We are each free to believe what we want and it is my view that the simplest explanation is there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization. There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either”.

 

Hawking was correct when he stated that we are each free to believe what we want, and that reminds me of an interview with Billy Graham when the reporter asked: “But Dr. Graham, you have dedicated your whole life to what you believe, what if it is not true?” His answer was “What if it is?” How prepared are you for that?

 

When I was watching Billy Graham’s funeral I curiously thought about the death of another Stephen. The one that was stoned to death for his faith in Jesus Christ in the early history of the church. Not because of the form of his death, but because of his statement: “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”.

At that moment I pictured our Lord standing to welcome Billy Graham to His presence: “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

The Flipping Point

Posted by edrocha1961 on January 7, 2018
Posted in: English. Leave a comment

 

I have been dealing with customers for many years (more than I can count using all my fingers and toes), and at some point I observed a phenomena that repeats all the time, and I called it: “The Flipping Point”.

Let me explain it. In our relationship with our customers there are always some issues: the disruption caused by a defective part or a late delivery, the report that is not submitted on time or an unanswered phone call (or text message), the incomplete document submission, etc.

To a certain degree all that is understood and tolerated on a daily basis. To a “certain degree”.

Then, suddenly, either caused by a more significant event or an accumulation of smaller ones, we cross an imaginary line in our relationship with the customer and he or she explodes.

That is the Flipping Point.

Part of the phenomena is that when it happens, even the things that were recently tolerated are now unacceptable. The minor crimes are now punished with the equivalent of a professional death penalty.

The emails become harsh, the meetings become rude, the topics are easily escalated to the highest level of the organization, and so on.

Sounds familiar?

The next part of that process is the difficulty to bring the relationship back to the level it was before: below the Flipping Point.

It typically takes significantly more energy to cross the invisible line in the other direction. A significant time factor is always involved. We now have to re-gain the customer’s confidence, which brings me to the obvious conclusion: it is better to invest the effort to never pass the Flipping Point than it is to recover from that nuclear explosion.

The fact that makes the line invisible is that we are talking about human relations, and everyone has a different pain tolerance level, so you will not find here my formula for how many minor issues or how many significant ones it would take to cross the line. It depends on your customer.

Now that you are getting tired of nodding in agreement to what you are reading, let me make a fair extrapolation: the Flipping Point is not a phenomena that manifests itself in the professional world only.

Can you see this applying between you and your spouse, or you and your kids?

In those relationships as well, there are only so many little annoying things you can do or any major ones (one?) before you cross the Flipping Point.

So, the conclusions of this extrapolation are:

  • If you are below the Flipping Point, do your best to stay there
  • If you find yourself past that point, take a deep breath, and prepare to work hard to bring that relationship back to the good side of our mysterious Flipping Point

It is worth it.

Mission Statement

Posted by edrocha1961 on December 17, 2017
Posted in: English. Tagged: mission statement. Leave a comment

I have had several opportunities to be involved in the development of Vision and Mission Statements in different organizations I was involved over the years.

Some of those were very good experiences that made us think what we were about and express it in a way it could be used as a reference by members of that group for years to come. In some other situations the result was confusing and meaningless.

So, when I was writing this I decided to look for some good and bad examples of Mission Statements:

Starting with a bad one (this is real):

“To be a bank that doesn’t think like a bank. A bank that knows that yesterday is not today… and that today becomes yesterday tomorrow”

Now a better one (since I used Google for my “research”, I will give them credit and use theirs as my positive example):

“Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”

 

Some time ago I decided I needed a Mission Statement for myself.

After a few iterations I came up with a version that summarizes it well:

“To Know God and Glorify Him, in a Contagious Way”

 

It is interesting how it can work:

Recently I was driving and listening to a Christian Radio, and each pastor that spoke had some interesting characteristics: either an accent, or something they repeated frequently, or the voice intonation (unfortunately facial expressions and gestures were difficult to observe).

So I started practicing imitations of their individual styles and it was quite fun.

When I got home I demonstrated one of them to Liz and she initially laughed, but immediately said I had ruined it for her. She was not going to be able to listen to that pastor again without thinking of my impersonation.

That made me reflect: if by me doing those impersonations, people will to not focus on the pastors’ messages, my attitude would be going against my mission.

Based on this conclusion, I decided to not do that (well, I still do one of them that is not too distracting).

Now I use the mission in different situations as a gage to decide whether I should do something or not.

For example, if I am tempted to spread some gossip or say something bad about someone and I remember my mission, I have to stop.

 

Since we are about to start a new year, how about developing your own personal Mission Statement?

You can even copy mine, if you want (or Google’s, but that may not match your style very well, unless you are into the gossip thing).

Bondo

Posted by edrocha1961 on October 15, 2017
Posted in: English. Leave a comment

It was bad!

Growing up in Brazil in the 60’s & 70’s I used to see rusted cars all the time. Three or four year old cars would start to show the bubbles under the paint in the expected areas.

That only got better in the 80’s when automotive steel started to be galvanized.

I remember a friend of mine unsuccessfully trying to blame the car wash when his Karmann Ghia emerged from the booth very clean, but with a big hole on the rocker panel where the high pressure water hit it.

But… no worries… there was Bondo!

If you would react to the first signs of rust you could fix it in your garage: sand it until most of the rust would disappear, apply Bondo, sand again, prime and paint.

Bingo! You could now go for another year or two without any visible rust (or sell the car quickly).

It was so bad that used car shoppers would carry a magnet to check if the critical areas had been repaired.

 

Now, the sad thing is when you see people trying to do the same with themselves.

I am not talking about make-up covering skin imperfections, I am talking about character issues being hypocritically covered up.

A nice smile on that selfie on Facebook won’t cover for too long the issues someone may be dealing with: lies, gossip, addictions, slandering, lust, selfishness…

A “do it yourself” Bondo application won’t solve the deeper issue with the rust.

The metal has to be restored.

 

The same is the case for the spiritual version of rust: sin.

You can cover it, but it will come back. You can fight it (and you should) but you will not win it alone.

You don’t need the sin to be hidden: it has to be removed.

The painful grinding, cutting and welding can only be done by the One who can remove sins.

Not with Bondo, but with His Blood.

Stairway to Heaven

Posted by edrocha1961 on September 16, 2017
Posted in: English. Tagged: Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven. Leave a comment

Some time ago I was walking towards an escalator at the Charlotte Airport in North Carolina when I noticed that a young man was fixing it. As I approached him, the guy stood up and, to my surprise, he was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a long stairway going to the clouds with the words: “Stairway to Heaven”.

If you have been on planet Earth, or near it, in 1971 or pretty much anytime after that, you probably know that is the title of the best known song by the English band “Led Zeppelin”.

I went on my way humming that song and smiling with the mental picture of what I had just seen, and as I tried to remember the lyrics I figured out that I really didn’t know them (I didn’t speak much English when I was 10 years old, and never bothered to go back and pay attention to the lyrics).

I checked the lyrics on my phone, and most of it didn’t make a lot of sense to me, so I checked what people say about it, and it still didn’t make much sense. Regardless, it is one of the best Rock and Roll songs of all times.

Another interesting “incident” associated with this song happened when my younger son was in High School. We were home and he started singing that song and I joined him. He stopped and asked: “You know that song?”, and I said “Hey, I am the one supposed to be surprised that you know it. This is from the 70’s, almost 20 years before you were born”.

But I digress…

 

Back to the song, it starts with the sentence “There’s a lady who’s sure / All that glitters is gold / And she’s buying a stairway to heaven”.

I know that is poetry, but it made me think that some people really believe they can acquire a way to Heaven. Maybe not buying a stairway, but working hard to deserve to be accepted there.

Well, you are not going to have enough money or good works to buy your ticket to Heaven, but guess what, I have a friend who bought tickets to Heaven, and he paid an enormous price for that: his life.

Good news is, he didn’t stay dead. He came back and offers those tickets for free:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” John 14:6

You can’t beat that deal.

The Tale of Three Ships

Posted by edrocha1961 on May 2, 2017
Posted in: English. 1 Comment

Story published by Ron Hutchcraft in his blog “A Word with You” on March 21st, 2017)

Reproduced with personal permission from Ron (www.hutchcraft.com)
As I sit at my desk, I’m looking at a framed, century-old newspaper on the wall. It’s there because I never want to forget the story it tells. And the choice it represents.In short, it’s the tale of three ships.Everyone knows the Titanic. The one that 2,200 passengers thought was unsinkable. But that fateful night in the icefields of the North Atlantic, the Titanic went down. Over 1,500 passengers died. Only about 700 survived.Their only hope was a rescue.

Only about ten miles away, SS Californian saw the flares from the endangered Titanic. Captain Lord decided it was too risky to try to reach her in the dark.

The Californian stayed where she was.

The Carpathia was a daunting 58 miles away when they spotted the flares and heard the distress calls. There were some 700 passengers on board that night as Captain Rostron gave his fateful order – “Mr. Dean, turn this ship around.”

Captain Rostron ordered that all heat be turned off so all power could be directed to the ship’s engines. The Carpathia’s maximum speed was supposed to be 14.5 knots. She averaged 17 knots as she steamed toward Titanic’s last known location. On the captain’s orders, rooms were converted to infirmaries, hot food and drink were prepared and lifeboats readied.

Somehow, the Carpathia navigated around a deadly field of icebergs in the dark. Later, Captain Rostron would say that it was as if an unseen hand was guiding them.

But his heart sank when he arrived at the site, only to find no trace of the mighty Titanic. What he did find was 20 lifeboats, carrying those 700 survivors. Whose lives were in jeopardy from hours of exposure to the cold.

Had it not been for the Carpathia’s courageous intervention, there might have been no survivors.

Three ships.

The Titanic. The ship where people thought they were safe – that, in reality, was the ship of death. Where their only hope was a rescue.

The Californian. The ship that was within reach of the dying people – but did nothing to save them.

The Carpathia. The ship that did whatever it took to rescue the dying. No matter the risks.

We all either are – or were – on the Titanic. Because God says, “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard,” and “the wages of sin is death.” But “Jesus gave His life for our sins…in order to rescue us” (Romans 3:23, 6:23; Galatians 1:4). Our eternal destiny depends on our reaching for the Rescuer.

Some of us who have been rescued by Jesus are like the Californian. We have spiritually dying people within our reach. And the command of God is to “rescue those being led away to death” (Proverbs 24:11).

But we’re doing nothing. It’s too risky. All our fears are about what might happen to us if we tried to rescue them.

But some of us are the Carpathia. More concerned about the dying people than ourselves. Doing whatever it takes to save them.

Like our Jesus. Recognizing that we are under orders to “snatch others from the fire and save them” (Jude 23).

The tale of three ships confronts me – and all of us – with a soul-searching question. Even a life-or-death question.

“Which ship am I on?”

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  • My Latest Posts

    • Victory August 11, 2021
    • Good Memories May 12, 2020
    • I Wanna Be Contagious April 6, 2020
    • Dermatology May 12, 2019
    • William or William? March 17, 2018
    • The Flipping Point January 7, 2018
    • Mission Statement December 17, 2017
    • Bondo October 15, 2017
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