Why we are here is a two fold question. The primary reason is to have meetings. We are involved in 6 days of meetings that cover 3 different things. The first two days were focused on our Global Technology Leaders (GTL). This is a group of men that provide leadership all over the world in how CCCI can use technology to reach the world for Christ. We have participants from all over. We discussed wide ranging topics on what is happening in our areas and what we would like to see happen. Ingrid led a session where she presented data she had analyzed on some of our on-line communities and tools. After that we did a day off.

The next 2 days of meetings, the first of which was today, are for our Global Measurements Application (GMA) partnership. It is mostly the same people that make up the GTL. GMA allows us to track what God is doing through our various ministries and then plan and lead from that information. It’s an important part of ministry and a high priority of our global leadership. We meet regularly with the people who manage and implement GMA for each area of the world. Supporting GMA is a very large part of my work and I’m very much enjoying this time with my counterparts that I work alongside virtually every day. A key part of these meetings is just reinforcing those relationships that take place via email, skype and such tools.

Our last 2 days are software training. A couple of my co-workers (one from Singapore and one from a closed country) and I will be teaching the other attendees to use software called Drupal. Drupal is a powerful tool for building many different types of web sites. GMA is built on top of Drupal and we are leveraging that platform for many other uses.

That is the big part of why we are here. The smaller point of why we are in Thailand specifically is due to the fact that many of those in the meetings come from places where getting a travel visa can be difficult. Many parts of the world are closed to them. For example our co-workers from Africa can have some difficulty traveling to a number of places. Thailand though, is easy for them. On top of that we already have staff here who can set up the conference and things here are not as expensive as many other places. All that adds up to make Thailand an ideal place for this kind of meeting.

Next Sunday, after everything is done, Ingrid and I will fly back to Bangkok. We will take a couple days to visit the city and then we head home. Later I’ll put up a post just on the travel aspect and what it is like getting from Orlando to here and back.

One of the groups packing meals for Haiti

There is rice and other ingredients to go into the meal packs. They have tables spread out all over (my picture is just of a few) where the meals will be packed. Then there are boxes for the meal packs.

We are doing this with Kids Against Hunger. If I remember correctly Kids Against Hunger are one of our partner organizations through GAiN, our relief arm. From 11 – 1 today anybody from the office can go down and help pack up meals. Like most of the stuff we do around here families are invited, so soon I’m sure it’s going to be pleasantly noisy as hundreds of people start packing meals.

Who isn’t you ask? Yeah, I know, it seems to be a condition impacting us all. But as much of our business is ministry related, I thought I’d share.

In a couple of weeks Ingrid and I head to Thailand. We’ll be taking part in a set of meetings that involve our Global Technology Leaders. These are guys from all over the world that take leadership in planning and implementing technology use for their area. We meet in Thailand because some are coming from countries where it is difficult to get a visa into other places. Thailand is very liberal in this respect and so everyone can come. As a bonus one of our members lives in Thailand and can easily make all the required arrangements to host the meetings. We will be in the city of Chiang Mai.

The last two days, I’ll be working with a couple other men (I’d say who but they are coming from a closed country and I can’t.) to train another 20 in using some software that we’ve found to be very useful, called Drupal. It is free software that makes building powerful web sites relatively easy. (Not easy, but relatively so.) Getting ready for that has kept me pretty occupied. I’ve been collecting training materials, donated by three different U.S. companies. I’ve also been putting together a collection of our own resources to distribute to those that attend.

During all the meetings we’ll be using some chat software to help facilitate interaction. We’ve found this is helpful, especially for the folks that don’t speak English as their first language. We also run an on-site web server for the training in case internet access gets too slow. I have the computers we’ll use as the servers in our cube and I’m making sure they are working well as well as the networking equipment that connects them. It has to be set up so that everyone can properly connect to the servers as well as the outside world.

Ingrid will be doing a presentation that involves some number crunching and statistical work. Thank goodness she’s so gifted in that area and has such a strong math background. She’ll be helping leaders understand some trends going on within our organization as relates to some current tools we’ve had in place for a while now.

At the same time, on the home front, we are getting things ready for my mom and dad to come visit. They will be watching the kids while we are gone for 13 days. Any of you with kids know how crazy it can be, the driving to and from different events, homework, getting to and from school, etc. So we are trying to make sure we’ve got everything organized and ready so they can know where and when to do what they need to do. And we’ve been moving around some furniture and doing stuff to make sure they have room.

And of course all that stuff they will be doing continues for us as well. And our regular work. Ingrid and I will both be in a meeting today for what I think is a rather exciting young ministry that works to reach lawyers all over the world. They want a web site built and we’ll be helping them navigate how to make it happen. It’s great to be busy because all of it is valuable work that we are excited to see happen.

This year the breakfast will be edited (to shorten up the time frame a bit) and broadcast over the internet. It’s going to be available by 6 pm Saturday, the 6th of February. (Eastern Time I assume.) I’m not sure how long it will be up, but this is a great opportunity for any men’s group that wants an opportunity to get together and watch. The Gospel will be presented. Or if you have a friend or neighbour that you would like to see it you could do that too. There is no cost to watch it. I’m assuming the video itself will be available right here once it is ready. You can get more information about it at the Athletes In Action page about it. I’m sorry for the late notice, I just found out about the web broadcast today. The AIA page has some video from last year if you want to see what it is like. I’ll be checking it out, I hope you do too.

As you know CCCI is made up of multiple ministries and a number of them are actively engaged in providing aid and relief in Haiti. You can check the main CCCI site to give any of our other groups that will be working their. Though I think in this kind of situation GAIN will be our primary means of offering immediate relief. Their site has more info, and a place where you can contribute to efforts that will be taking place in Haiti.

And finally, stupid as it is, I feel a bit of pride whenever I hear or read that the carrier being dispatched is my old ship, the USS Carl Vinson. Vis Per Mare.

And of course on a smaller scale it makes me think about the Church and Christians. We are a diverse group, spread all over the world, called to one purpose. Yet often our greatest levels of conflict are with one another. This in the face of the fact that we are commanded to do the opposite and have been given the Holy Spirit to assist us in that regard. It seems in times of conflict and strife with one another that this ought to be a key indicator that has us stop and search our hearts and motives. Are we walking in the Spirit or in the flesh?

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.
Ephesians 4:1-6(NLT)

Footnotes below the jump.

*Our kids don’t have a chance. One morning they were complaining because they weren’t crazy about the cereal they were getting for breakfast. Ingrid busted out the photo album to show the kids what a ‘grocery store’ (open air market) looks like in Ghana. She explained to them about going and getting water from a well and working to get food to eat. We let them know how fortunate they are to never have to be hungry and to get breakfast every day.

**When I was a college student I used to spend entire evenings in the library just following trails of information. I’d run across a term or concept, hit the card catalog and just go where it took me. It is so awesome that I can now do this from my couch. I hope I never take it for granted.

Here at the Peck house we were up early, our bed surrounded by eager children. They were apparently completely unaware of the fact that it was still dark out and much too early. But there was no going back to sleep for that crew, and so no chance for us as well.

Last night we attended a wonderful service at church and came home to light the last candle of our advent wreath. We read together about what Christmas means. I’ll leave you with that.

“3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:3-11

Lately, I have recalled the face frequently in my mind.  The cheeks on her face were red and splotched as tears spilled down her face.  Her hair was thrown back in a quick pony tail with hair coming out of it in many directions.  Three kids were in her car, two little ones in the back and one that was dressed for school.  She wiped her face several times as it was evident she was trying to put herself together.  Fortunately, she never noticed my stupid stare in the few seconds her image imprinted itself in my brain.  The child in the front seat had brown eyes and was staring openly at his mother with a face filled with concern.  I had never seen her before and I’m not sure if I will again.  I have been there before, in her situation.  The times where you are overwhelmed and the tears are hard to control.  My heart was filled with empathy.  After seeing her and then driving by her, my pity party vanished as I realized how good I have it.

That same night, my kids and I were riding bikes through the neighborhood delivering invitations to our neighbors for a cookie exchange we were having in our neighborhood.  As we rode our bikes by a particular townhome, a women stepped out holding a small child, most likely under the age of one.  We were a bit of a distance away from her, so we crossed the street and rode our bikes up to her.  The kids stayed on their bikes, and I got off of mine so I could give her the invitation.  As I approached it, I saw the tears on her face as well.  Tears were actually on her eyelashes and she quickly wiped her face as I drew nearer.  I invited her to the event and talked with her a bit.  She is new to the neighborhood and speaks excellent English, but profusely explains how she needs to learn English, when I don’t know but about 12 phrases in Spanish.  She explained to me her loneliness for others.

These 2 women in my mind represent so many people in our society that perhaps go unnoticed, but yet, they are hurting.  JR constantly reminds me, “People’s lives are usually worse than what we can imagine”  I’m not really sure why I am sharing this.  You see, I am reading this book called The Reason For God and I am so impressed at the authors ability to tell us, quote is mine because it’s how I interpret it “Hey, we’re all screwed up – the only goodness we get is simply an act of God’s grace – don’t think you are better than you are, don’t judge people, love them, be there for them, help them, reach out to them.  Don’t ignore them.”  So, I think of these 2 women.  I met the one woman, because she did come to the cookie exchange.  Join me in prayer for both of them.