Statement of Intent

That's right. Four years after graduating college, I am hoping to go back in order to pursue my MBA. I am currently in the process of applying to Concordia University, and as with all graduate school applications, I was asked to provide a statement of intent – “Why do you want to attend school at Concordia? What do you plan to do with your advanced degree? Explain how this new academic program will contribute to your career goals.” Thus, I began a journey of prayer, Bible reading, and silence, as I asked God to direct my path, to show me if this is what He has for me, and to gain a vision of my vocation. He met me in this place of searching just as He promises in Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

Last Friday I sat on a bench in the courtyard at the San Juan Capistrano Mission, reflecting on the lifework of those courageous priests. Thinking of the Christians who have faithfully served the Lord for the past two millennia and further back into our Jewish heritage, I asked to be given a vision of what it means to be a Christian woman and a business woman. In His loving kindness He brought Proverbs 31 to mind (you should pause to read it if it has been awhile: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2031:10-31&version=ESV ). I was captured by the beauty of this image and how it brought together the competing viewpoints that I was entertaining of a Christian woman as gentle and kind while a business woman was strong and assertive. In these verses I found my calling: I long to be a virtuous woman - a woman who tenderly cares for your family, works diligently and wisely, generously gives to the poor, and seeks to honor the Lord in all that she does.

Well, without giving too much more away, here is my statement of intent for your reading pleasure (safely under the 500 word count maximum at a smooth 494):

The Lord has given me a passion to see the Kingdom of God grow, both through the ministry of the church and in the marketplace. Since graduating from Biola University four years ago, I have gained experience at ECCU (Evangelical Christian Credit Union in Brea, CA) working with churches, Christian schools, and non-profit ministries through banking operations and loan servicing. It is my desire to continually grow in effectiveness, as I pursue excellence coupled with efficiency in my current position as a Quality Control Specialist. In the days ahead I would like to move into a management position where I could seek continued enhancements to my unit, and be able to invest in staff, mentoring them to maximize their potential. Eventually it is my dream to work for a non-profit, particularly because they do so much good, but have so few resources. I currently volunteer as a child advocate for Compassion International, so I would love to help shape the future of that ministry. Additionally, I have a passion for museums, so it would be exciting to work as a business consultant for a struggling museum, striving to increase their effectiveness and sustainability. Finally, it is a dream of mine to partner with my husband, who is a high school teacher, in order to start a classical Christian school at our church in Newport Beach. Wherever the Lord leads, I want to be equipped for the journey.

During a recent informational meeting I was impressed by the caliber of professors and students who are drawn to this university, and I would love to be a part of what God is doing in the business community of Orange County through this school and its alumni. I have a few years of business experience now and with a proven track record, I will continue to grow and progress over time, but the MBA program at Concordia University would equip me with unique tools to be more effective, as I seek to grow in knowledge and experience beyond my present capacity. At Concordia I would be challenged and given the opportunity to explore aspects of business like marketing and financing that I do not encounter every day, and to embrace my calling as a business woman. I am particularly fascinated by the Public Policy emphasis, as it would unite my passion for history, fascination with government, and exposure to regulations, federal legislation, and legal documentation in the banking industry.

Ultimately, it is my desire to be a woman of virtue, as described in Proverbs 31 – a woman who tenderly cares for her family, works diligently and wisely, generously gives to the poor, and seeks to honor the Lord in all that she does. For the past few years I have debated and prayed, asking the Lord to direct my path. I genuinely believe that the MBA program at Concordia University is my next step on this journey to grow in grace and truth both professionally and personally.

I appreciate your prayers as I prepare for classes to begin and more fully embrace my calling. May the Lord bless you and direct your steps as you seek His face.

One Year Later...Our First Anniversary

Last Monday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Wow! While engaged it seemed like the wedding day would never come, and now it has come and gone, and here we are a year later, hand in hand.

It has been quite a year! When I look at what we did just in 2011, I laugh to think that we had no idea what we were really getting ourselves into, and then I smile at the delightful surprise and precious gift that God has given to me in my dear Clint.

Our first place was a cute, but sometimes cramped, studio apartment in Anaheim. It proved to be our testing grounds for this first year, as well as our little abode, our hiding place. In reflection, I think the biggest lessons of this first year for me have been about communication, vulnerability, and trust.

"An Ode to Our First Place"

To you, small box of the dull white walls,

To the metal handles that always fall off

To the jet engine fan in the bathroom

And the angry wasps on the patio eves

I will not miss you on the summer nights

When the room was stifling hot

Until the whirling air condition clicked

Turning it into a freezing ice box

Moving: Clinging to God's Promises

Moving. Ugh. It happens to all of us – some more often than others. Growing up my dad was in the Navy, so we moved every three to five years. We were the “lucky” ones who lived mostly on the same coast, but no matter the distance or the noble cause, it is hard for a second grader to understand the goodness of leaving her home, best friends, church, school, and all that she knows because Dad has to report to a new boss. Perhaps I still have some unresolved issues from my childhood trauma, but I encourage you to honor the servicemen and women you know, for they and their families have sacrificed quite a bit for the freedom that we all enjoy in this land.

The Art of Seeing: A Visit to the Getty Center

A trip to the Getty Center in Los Angeles is always a delightful excursion!  Its vast collection could certainly keep a person occupied for an entire weekend if he simply wanted to “see” all the pieces.  My favorite visits, however, are with a single destination in mind, one gallery upon which to focus my attention.  I will view one exhibit and then spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying a picnic with friends on the lawn or reading a novel and sipping a glass of iced tea on the patio overlooking the central garden with its beautiful and mysterious waterfall.  Last Saturday I had just that opportunity.

The Getty has amassed a wide collection of illuminated manuscripts spanning from the eighth century to the sixteenth. Due to the delicacy and age of the texts (particularly the ink), the Getty rotates their collection of illuminated manuscripts on display every three months or so. In this way I have an excuse to visit four times a year at minimum. Who knows when these texts will see the light of day again? This might possibly be a once in a lifetime opportunity, so my husband and I filled up the gas tank and drove into the city.

Living in Anaheim we have our fill of traffic and concrete as we meander up and down Orange County each week, but we do not make it into L.A. County very often any more, save to catch up with friends from Biola at the La Mirada Starbucks, to jump on a plane at LAX, or to visit a museum.  Still, it is always obvious when entering LA County for the traffic increases instantly, even on a Saturday morning, the lanes narrow, and the square footage of concrete increases inversely to the number of trees. Along the pavement, claustrophobia increases upon merging with the 405, only to exit and be led by the florescent lights into the cave of the parking garage.  Here, however, is clearly seen the intentionality and psychological insight of the architect. All visitors mount a white platform in the sunshine and eagerly wait. The tram slowly arrives, the passengers glide into their seats, and the tram gently rises up the slope, passing through clusters of shady trees and emerges on top of the hill.  On a clear day the skyline is visible and even the ocean.  Time has slowed down on this journey of transcendence.  The hustle and bustle of the city has been drowned out and all are brought to the foot of the staircase, all men on equal footing and with a renewed sense of peace.  We are above the worries of life and concern for our daily bread.  Here we are encouraged, we are free to discover our humanity, to touch the heavens.   On this hill we are free to explore, to stare at a painting, to examine a drawing under the magnifying glass, to try our hand at sketching one of the great works of art, or simply to relax and read a book or enjoy a sparkling conversation with friends.

Whether leading an epic outing of friends and family or as a solitary contemplation, the Getty has facilitated dozens of enjoyable days for me over the years.  It was here on this hill that I first fell in love with art, here where I discovered the beauty of paintings and the powerful insight of the artist.  As a seventh grader I was challenged here to see art for the first time, to really see it, to look, to view, to stare into the lines and sway with the curves of the paint, to imagine myself as one of the characters, to sense the softness of a silk dress or the warmth of the sun, to feel the hue of the paint, to squeeze between the shapes and into the blank space, passed word, shape, color, sound, gazing, or rather glimpsing for a brief moment, True Beauty.

Are you looking for something to do this Saturday? Consider a trip to the Getty Center. The Villa in Malibu is also a great place to view Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art. Begin to plan your trip today at http://www.getty.edu/museum/ or chat with me and we can plan one together!

I joined the fight against poverty: Clemence and Compassion International

“I joined the fight against poverty!” the white-lettered t-shirt seemed to shout from its black canvas, as I pulled it out of the cardboard box, careful not to dump the packing popcorn all over the floor. I had been waiting for this package to arrive for weeks, and it was finally here!

It all began long ago, but in the spring of 2009, I finally took action. I was looking ahead to my one year review at work, my first full-time, "I’m an adult now," job, and I wanted to do something special to celebrate my adulthood and God’s provision for me. That's when it hit me - I was, for the first time in my life, financially stable, generally independent, and actually able to sponsor a child through Compassion International! I had grown up watching the commercials on TV of children in need, their empty eyes yearning for food, for hope. I had even spent a couple summers with the Continental Singers raising sponsors for the organization. I had always wished that I could do something for the poor children of the world, but I hadn’t had a steady income. Now I did! Now I could do something about it!  Now I could change the life of a child!

Praying As Our Fathers: The Book of Common Prayer

*This morning I led the devotional time for my department at work.  Below is what I shared:

I have found that learning to pray is one of the hardest aspects of the Christian life.  Scripture exhorts us to pray, but what do we say?  How do we maintain a balance in our approach between the amiable sentiment of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and the sobering “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” both talking to a trusted friend and standing before the throne addressing our almighty king?  The disciples themselves struggled with prayer, and asked Jesus for lessons in how to pray, for in that context of the Gospels is the Lord’s Prayer recorded.

Over the years I have attended many seminars and Sunday school classes on prayer, with advice ranging from “follow these five helpful tips to improve your prayer life,” to “just pray as the Spirit leads.”  Many times I have struggled praying consistently and finding motivation to pray for extended periods of time because I feel like I do not know what to say.  When I do pray, it can be heavily laden with my emotions at the moment such as bemoaning my overwhelming problems, without always clearly clinging to the truth of Scripture in faith.  In the midst of this struggle to find a balance between expressing how I feel to my Father and seeking for my will and desires to become more aligned with those of my Lord, I found a little book, written five hundred years ago by devout clergy and drawing on centuries of the Christian tradition, which has radically changed the way that I approach prayer.  It has brought a new consistency in my daily prayer.  This book does not replace spontaneous prayer, but it has brought a balance to my extended daily prayer life, by equipping me with a language and structure for my prayers.  It has encouraged me to daily confront my sinfulness and to truly be thankful for the abundant redemption that we have in Christ.  It is called The Book of Common Prayer.