Diversity - Bahumbug

     My company recently gave me the opportunity to take an online employee survey and most of the answers were in the form of choose one, strongly agree all the way to strongly disagree.  There were many questions which needed a written explanation, so I was a little frustrated with some of the wording.  At the end, there was actually a comment section.   You could choose a topic, make a comment, and click next for another topic.  I was pleased they did that, until after the second comment, they thanked me for taking the survey.  I felt cheated to only have two opportunities with such great topics. 

     One of the choices was "diversity" and I was getting to that one when the opportunity was taken away from me.  So, I'll let this blog be my comment on the topic, not just to my own company but to the world as a whole.

     Our leaders have, for some time, participated in social reengineering.  When I was a child in elementary school, I was told I couldn't attend the sixth grade at my current school.  The street I lived on was separated into different districts.  The north side students were able to attend my old school, while I, on the south side, was moved to a smaller school further away.  I had walked to school each day with my friends for several years, and now had to make new ones with a longer walk.  My parents laughed when I wanted to send a letter to the Board of Education, but relented and allowed it.  The reply I received back said they were just following Federal guidelines.

     Today, I see "diversity" as just another bad tasting medicine that the government and the intellectuals think we need.  Diversity in this case, means a couple of things.  One, everything is just too white.  There are too many white people and we need to bring in others, especially Hispanics!  Now, I don't have a problem with the Hispanic race.  I think they are a good, hard working bunch of folks.  I do have a problem with illegals who come here to work for a lower wage than normal citizens get.  There are no taxes taken out of what they earn, so their wages end up being higher than you might believe.  The jobs they take keep our citizens unemployed.  The commercials opposing Alabama's new immigration law make you think they only pick vegetables.  Hispanics are heavy into the building trades.  Look at the contractors in any new housing area and you'll find that neither blacks nor whites are the majority employees.  Generally, it comes down to greed.  By not employing American citizens, the building industry is allowed to keep more profits.  May God reward them for their selfishness!

     The other and more ominous meaning of "diversity" is the acceptance of sexual diversity.  In other words, you must approve of lesbians, homosexuals, transgender, and pedophiles.  I do not approve, nor will I ever!  I will never bow down to their alter of diversity because it is not a healthy lifestyle,  it is unholy, and it is an abomination against nature! 

     Companies want you to think that "diversity" is all about skin color.  However, they give it away in other comments by bragging on being awarded #1 in diversity by the Gay and Lesbian organization for whatever.  We often use a chat program, at least I did, until several months ago it highlighted pictures of homosexuals and their accomplishments.  I didn't realize gay history month followed black history month.  Is there a Hispanic history month?  Irish history month?  White history month???  Wait, what about this...  A Chistian history month?

     Christians are the very people who are truly color blind!  We're the ones going to the places others won't go!  We're digging wells for thirsty people and feeding the hungry.  We understand the Bible says, There is neither Jew nor Greek, thee is neigher bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:  for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:28  AND...  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you Matthew 5:44  Just like those Christians, won't hate when you want to call them haters!  Refusing to disobey God does not make one a hater.

     I would plea to those who are so easily influenced and those who reign over us, please get out of the social engeering business.  Stop trying to legislate your ideas of morality.  As for me, I'll stand with Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego from Daniel chapter 3.  Their answer to the king is the same I'll give.  Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up.


    

A Tale of Two Worships

     It's Sunday evening and we've just returned home from our second worship service of the day.  I sat down to write about it and just for fun, checked the stats on blog hits.  It surprised me that one of my older ones was in the lead today.  It was my "Does Membership have it's Privilege's", written in December of 2010.  That was very appropriate since our family declared this a visiting Sunday.  We love to step outside the box every now and then.  There is nothing more enjoyable than a little variety in Worship.

     There is a long story about our visiting different churches.  Fact is, I've written a book about it and it's almost ready to be released to the world, if someone will publish it.  On the way home last week, we were laughing about some of our church visits.   Someone brought up the fact that we hadn't been to a Presbyterian church.  We all agreed to attend Briarwood Presbyterian Church, the largest and oldest one in our area for our next worship.

     Briarwood has a rich history, being the oldest Presbyterian Church in America.  They broke from the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1973 when delegates from 260 congregations met at Briarwood in opposition to teachings which denied the diety of Jesus Christ.  They formed the Presbyterian Church of America.  The local church has a membership of around 4,000 and is pastored by Dr. Harry Reeder.  They have a beautiful facility near the Acton road exit on Interstate 459 in Birmingham, Alabama.  Briarwood is very involved in local and foreign ministries.  They have around 2,000 students which attend Briarwood Christian School and a very good football team which is often in the news.  They place a big emphasis on families, and I like that!  And looking at the announcement sheet, there is always something going on. 

     Briarwood has a very traditional worship which the old me(Church of Christ) enjoyed.  The singing was good, the sermon by Dr. Reeder was excellent and very motivating.  He is, without a doubt, one of the better Bible teachers in the area.  The attendance was possibly 1200(we attended the second service) and was somewhat dressy.  By that, I mean that I saw more suits and ties than I have in ages! Today's message was from the Book of Nehemiah and was designed to encourage sacrificial commitment.  At the close of the service the congregation offered their pledges for a new building program.  I liked the verse used on the commitment card, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.. Psalm 78:6,7 

     Our evening worship was quite a contrast.  We drove to the Church of the Highlands at their Grants Mill campus.  It was the last worship in their "at the Movies" series.  It's a great series where Pastor Chris Hodges uses clips from a certain movie to teach Biblical truths.  He calls it a "modern day" parable.  Tonight's installment was from the movie Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe.  The parable was excellent with some great thoughts on family, adversity, and having God on your side.  One of the verses he used was Nehemiah 4:14,  After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

     Highlands is a true mega church.  It started in 2001 when Chris "dreamed of planting a church with a simple goal: help people connect with God in a church without letting structures and programs get in the way."  I took that sentence right off their website...  Great, isn't it?  With that said, they have 7 campuses plus one online.  The facility at Grants Mill is top of the line with all the technological bells and whistles.  Five video screens, a sound and light system that is impressive, and singers that could be on any radio station in the country.  More than 12,000 attend each week at one of a multitude of services.  We were at the 5pm service and I estimated over 1500 present.  Needless to say, it is a contempory worship style.  The average age is probably under 35 with a tremendous number of youth. 

     Which did I personally like better?  That is difficult to say with a short answer, but I'll try.  The old me liked the traditional service.  The proper dress, the hymns, the deep Bible lesson.  But I'm not who I was!  I enjoy the more contempory style now, with a blend of all the rest.  You should worship wherever you like, but do go to worship.  The media in our country wants you to think that no one goes to church anymore.  That couldn't be further from the truth!

     Today, the most wonderful thing about both churches is that they each preached the salvation found in Jesus Christ.  Hey, if you preach Jesus, I can worship with you!

Go Safely & Prosper 2

  
Yes, I am an employee of AT&T and the following is my opinion...

     This is a follow-up blog to my last one concerning safety.  It is here, if you would like to refresh your memory.  None of the items in that blog have been addressed!  I talked to the Vincent Mayor about the 110vac line tied to the telephone cable.  He said that he would like to help, but money was a problem right now.  So in the City of Vincent, money trumps safety!

     This week, our area has been invaded by the safety gestapo.  They drive around looking for technicians commiting a safety sin so they can burn them at the stake.  Kind of like a salem witch hunt.  Wouldn't it be much better if we focused on doing a quality job and helping the customer, instead of always hunting the rule breakers?  I mean really... You put a system in place to make everyone run fast from job to job, and you don't think they'll cut corners to make their numbers???
   
  Put your hardhat on in this circumstance...
  Always put an orange cone out in front and back of your vehicle...  ALWAYS!
  Always WEAR your nighttime reflective vests!
  Keep your aerosol cans upright and with the labels facing front...  CAPS ON!
  Where is your voltage detector soldier?  ALWAYS KEEP IT WITH YOU!
  And Where are your Papers???  SHOW THEM TO ME!

    My least favorite is the cone thing.  I'm sorry, customers even laugh at us for that one.  "Son, you don't have to put those out here in the yard."  "Yes maam I do, they'll lay me off if they catch me parked without cones out"  "Why?"  "Well, they say it keeps kids out from under our trucks"  "Sneaky little devils, maybe I should get some for the buick... ran over three last week!"

   I don't know if you've noticed, but good business practices get copied by others.  If your business starts something that others like, it won't be long till everyone is doing it!  Why don't we see others using cones when they park?

Does UPS do this when they stop?  Of course not, it would take up too much time.  I used a stopwatch today and put my cones and chocks out in 30 seconds.  I picked them up and made the safety circle around my vehicle in a little over 40 seconds.  So, if I stop five times on each trouble, and I go on five troubles each day, that would subtract about 30 minutes/day that I could be doing other things.  Now, granted I would probably put out some for WAP(work area protection) at times, but still, that is several minutes each day! 









   Do we ever see customers using this practice?  I'll bet if you looked in any parking lot or practically anywhere private vehicles are parked, you will not see this!

     If you go back to the original purpose of traffic cones, they are for work area protection.  They are not "child repellents"!  Kids aren't hiding in the bushes trying to crawl under our trucks.  It makes for good stories but the statistics just aren't there.  The circle of safety concept was originated by Hubert Tipton.  I worked for Hubert several years ago, he was a good supervisor.  However, the circle of safety needs to go away!  Why put cones out in the middle of a pasture?  Since we use them for something they're not designed for, traffic can become blase to their placement!  It's not even a practice that is company wide, the southeast seems to hold on this for some unknown reason.  If it's to spot us easier, paint our trucks orange!

  Speaking of orange, let's talk about the orange vest thing.  I've read the OSHA rules which require various classes of vest for different highway speeds.  I wholeheartedly concur that safety vest should be worn in traffic areas, regardless of speed.  However, we took the highest rating speed vest and made it manditory to wear whenever leaving  the vehicle.  At least that was my last supervisor's interpretation.  I spent the majority of this hot Alabama summer sweating unnecessarily!  Wearing a vest keeps heat close to your body.  The only time we could take the vest off was when entering a house or business.  The lastest ruling is that I have to wear the vest if I'm in the road "right of way".  That's like using common sense again.  I guess it does happen.

  An OSHA field agent, said that she had no problem with the orange shirts we wear.  They would not be correct at night because of no reflectivity.  So actually, in most instances(except for higher speed traffic) orange shirts serve the same purpose.  The colors are very close, as you can see in this picture.

  I wish that our emphasis could shift from headhunting over safety and quantity(MSOC) to encouraging quality and a customer first attitude.  If we had teams riding around looking for quality issues they might find things like this...

   That serve subdivisions like this...

     It's about quality, not quantity!!!  Yes, that is a working cable!

Crime Scene or Darwin Award?

     Just happened to come across this scene today in Columbiana, Alabama.  I thought at first it was just asleep in the parking lot.  When it didn't move with my truck parking so close, I assumed the worst.

     My investigative instincts kicked in and I immediately began looking at this as a crime scene.  Did the murder take place elsewhere and the face covered out of guilt?  Was the can laced with strong poison, so strong the cat didn't even have time to get it's head out?

     I looked around the area for clues.  Found a good one about fifty feet away at the back of a nearby building...

     I now believe our victim was dumpster diving and found what seemed to be good leftovers.  Alas, it was to be his last meal...

     We'll never know how this awful tragedy actually took place without proper forensics.  In the mean time, pick up your garbage and guard your kitties!  Eating Chef Boyardee... your call!