Blog Posts

Do you have 40/40 Vision?

40-40 Vision

A little more than 6 months ago (September 13, 2015 to be exact), our Pastor preached on the importance of Sabbath, drawing from Hebrews 4:9-11, which says, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.”

He pointed out that Sabbath was not only one day per week, but also one year every 7 years and once every 50 years (the Year of Jubilee).  It was then that I was struck with the sense that, if selected for the NASA’s HR Director role at the Johnson Space Center (which I later was), that my time in that role should end when Cody graduates from High School in 2021—just shy of both 7 years in the position and just before my 50th birthday!

Ever since then, I’ve been hearing different messages on Sabbath, including today’s sermon entitled “My Busy Life (based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)”, where our Pastor pointed out that Sabbath laws reveal God’s purpose for a balance between rest and work.  This week, I attended the Christian Leadership Alliance’s annual conference in Dallas.  There, I picked up Bob Fryling’s book (he’s the President of InterVarsity Press, and I hope to get some mentoring from him).  He closes the first chapter by pointing out, “Sabbath keeping is counter-cultural in our 24/7 world.  But it is a practice that…allows for a deeper contentment of our souls.”

To help prepare for the future, I picked up Peter Greer’s book, 40/40 Vision: Clarifying Your Mission in Midlife, and read it this week.  To help you prepare for midlife (if that applies to you), I encourage you to read on…

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Beware The Shadow Side of Power

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One of my leadership tips is “Do what you love…love what you do.”  That approach has served me well for more than 20 years.  In fact, my career started as a GS-3 Cooperative Education Student Trainee (NASA doesn’t even have GS-3s!) with the Department of Health & Human Services’ Regional Personnel Office in Dallas, Texas.  Following that tour, I worked for their Assistant Secretary for Personnel Administration in Washington, D.C.  From those experiences, I learned that I wanted a career in Human Resources, so I pursued a Master’s degree in HR management from Texas A&M University then became a Graduate Cooperative Education Student with NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in 1995.

Now, just a little more than 20 years later, I’ve been promoted as JSC’s fifth HR Director and recently became a member of the Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service (SES).  As the keystone of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the SES was established to “…ensure that the executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the Nation and otherwise is of the highest quality.”

Last year, I learned that NASA’s Associate Administrator (the highest ranking career senior executive at NASA) required new SES members to read The Shadow Side of Power: Lessons for Leaders.  So on Easter weekend 2015, I read it.  Now, as I prepare for my SES orientation, I thought it would be a good idea to review what I learned…

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