servants by design

everyone at my work took this test to see how they work with others- here are my results: what do you think? is it me?

DREAMER - This is the part of your personality that focuses inward. The Dreamer part is the imaginative, conceptual and divergent thinking part of your personality that considers possibilities and asks “What if?” The Dreamer’s eyes are turned inward and this part does not initiate or even respond. In order to move outward, you must shift to some other part of your personality.
This is the strongest part of your personality. You can draw on these abilities at all times and have the least chance of experiencing stress and moving into negative behavior when the tasks at hand call for this part.

ACHIEVER - This is the logical, requesting, fact-finding part of your personality. Your Achiever part does not make demands or give directives. It does not even form opinions. It simply exchanges and processes information, asking questions, drawing conclusions and solving problems in a logical and sequential manner. Your Achiever crunches data with no emotions.

ENERGIZER - This is the playful, emotional, and spontaneously expressive part of your personality. Much artistic expression and creativity comes from the Energizer part. Your Energizer cries, laughs, sighs and jumps for joy. This part allows you to express anger in healthy ways, without attacking or blaming someone else, and to experience and express deep grief or sorrow over losses and disappointments.

HARMONIZER - This is the warm, nurturing and affectionate part of your personality that expresses love and concern emotionally through soft words, reassurance, permission, affirmation and appropriate touch. Your Harmonizer offers emotionally expressive, feeling-oriented, unconditional love.

CATALYZER - This is the part of your personality that gives commands (without attacks or threats). Your Catalyzer part gives directives, commands and imperatives aimed at getting something done. It calls others to action and/or compliance. Unlike a request, a message from your Catalyzer part does not ask someone to think or decide for themselves. It directs them to actions; to “do it”.

PERSISTER - This is your protective part that evaluates and avoids danger. The Persister part of your personality is value-driven, measuring everyone and every experience against an internal system of your beliefs and standards.
You have relatively little energy available in this part. You can call upon these traits briefly but then must return to a stronger personality part to energize yourself.

lectio divina:: ephesians 6

I always find it interesting that the apostle paul gives prayer requests in his letters- here is a prayer request that got me thinking yesterday:

Ephesians 6:18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

paul ask for prayer for a couple of things here:

1- he asks for prayer that he would have the right words to say when he is sharing the gospel

and
2- he asks for courage when he is sharing the gospel. the word fearlessly is used twice in that passage.

to me this is comforting, because I’m often intimidated to share my faith. I often fear that I won’t know what to say, or how to say it, or that I’ll sound dumb, or closed-minded, or like some kind of religious sales person. I’m afraid that by sharing my faith, I’ll do more damage to this person’s journey toward jesus than good!

I have a friend who shares his faith so fluidly with so many cool people, and it always goes over so smoothly. for me, I get all nervous and end up with regrets over not saying all that I should have when I had an opportunity.

but paul asks his readers to pray that he would have the words, and the courage- because even paul himself struggled with finding the words and the courage! and I think that he is saying that it’s a little normal to struggle with the right words and having the guts to say what is in your heart.

and paul also seems to give the prescription for this fear: prayer.

he’s aware of the problem, and he’s praying about it- and he is asking others to pray about it.

and that’s a good thing for you and me too- to be aware of the fact that God wants us to share with others the wonderful things that He has done for us-

and to understand that its going to be intimidating and maybe a little frustrating to find just the right words- but with God’s help we will have the courage and the words to say.

so my encouragement to you and to me is to pray for your friends and family that are far from God- and pray for yourself, that when the time is right, you will be able to have the words to say, and the courage to say them with love.

so I’m with paul, and I'm asking you: pray for me- that when I get the chance to share my faith, that God would give ME the right words and the courage to speak them with boldness and love.

God is love.
-rev-rob

monday correspondence:: 10/8/12

standing tall in 2012::

2007: just about 3 feet tall-

2011: almost 4 feet-
























2012:  just over 4 feet

such a tall girl! when we first went to this pumpkin farm, I thought, "cool place! we'll have to come back again and have even more fun!" but last night we went there and I thought, "cool place! I'm not sure how many more times we'll get to come here- her childhood years are just evaporating right before my eyes."

enjoy it while it lasts, parents- they don't stay small very long.
being a dad is cool.
-rob