I’m A Whirlwind of Emotion: The WE-Wu for February 3-7, 2025

So this is a thing…

I was warned it was coming. I still wasn’t prepared.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I love working at OMS. I love my job. I feel called to be here.

It’s also frustrating and exhausting and discouraging sometimes. A bit like life, you know?

This is one of the first things I saw Monday morning when I opened up my email. And then I kept seeing it because it took me a really long time to figure out how I wanted to answer it. (And the subsequent question about things that could change.)

PLUS, this question does not give me enough information. Who am I recommending OMS to? What work would they be doing? It’s like those stupid surveys you get after you buy something or have a medical appointment. “How likely are you to recommend this place to others?” I DON’T KNOW! Is it someone who needs this place? If they don’t need that place or thing, I’m not likely to recommend it, am I? I can’t think in generalities. I am physically and morally incapable of doing so. (I’m convinced this is why my Birkman showed such low understanding of how most people think about things. I’m surprised men in white coats didn’t show up to take me away.)

(It occurs to me that it might be somewhat concerning how difficult it seems to be for me to answer this question. Hasn’t she worked there for almost 15 years?! Yes, I have. And no place is perfect. Even a Christian mission organization. But it’s more my inability to give a blanket judgment on something without any nuance. And maybe that’s what the second question is for. But that’s not how my brain works.)

Also, this is a very wide scale. If you assume 0 means you would not recommend OMS to anyone ever, and 10 means you’re shouting from the rooftops and stopping people in the streets to tell them about this amazing job opportunity, what do the rest mean? I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that strongly about anything in my life.

Realistically, I could say 9, because I have actually recommended people for jobs at OMS! Three that I can think of, one of them being my MOTHER.

But it’s the principle of the thing.

In the end, I chose the number I instinctively chose from the beginning. A nice, non-committal number. A perfect number, one might say…

I’m keeping my comments on the second question to myself, though.

Let’s move on.

We are still swapping art up in this house! I think I’ve made it through most of my back catalog of podcasts doing this work, which is impressive considering I still have a stack of magazines from 2022 that I still need to read. (It takes a lot longer to read something than listen to something, mostly because I can’t read and do other things at the same time.) And I’m only in group 7!

Why do we have so many images in these booklets, anyway?

When I’m not swapping art, I’m working on the new booklet. And in between, I’m working on my prayer letter. It’s gonna be a banger, if I do say so myself.

(Short pause here while I go take a walk. It has nothing to do with anything. Not a thing. Nobody walked into my office just now. Nope.)

Speaking of reading, it was library card renewal week! We (and by we, I mean Sarah, Lydia, and me) had to actually go to the library because I guess people totally borrow books from the library even when they don’t live in the vicinity. I guess? I don’t know. We had to prove we still live here. I could probably make a case for it, but I’d have to try real hard to do it. Either way, it was a nice trip out for the three of us.

In the mindless activity news, I finally finished my 2024 calendar of crossword puzzles. I actually found a nice life application while doing those. The clues get a little tricky sometimes, you know? Your brain goes one direction, but the clue could and often does mean something totally different. It’s a good reminder for us all to try to look at things from all the different angles. And don’t make assumptions that we understand what someone else meant by something. Just ask.

Speaking of just asking…

Apropos of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This seems like a really good time for a reminder of what Biblical confrontation looks like. I’m going to use one of my favorite T&M booklets to assist in this. It’s called “Agreement in Administrative Meetings.”

Groundbreaking stuff here, guys. If you have an issue with someone, talk to that person. You don’t need to bring someone else into it, unless the issue persists.

This comes from Matthew 18:15-17.

I get it. People don’t generally like confrontation. And if you view confrontation the way the world views it, I wouldn’t either. The Oxford dictionary defines it as a hostile or argumentative meeting or situation between opposing parties.

Some people thrive on arguing with others. Lawyers come to mind. But even lawyers have a specific framework within which to make their arguments. A good lawyer will be logical and reasoned, with precedent to back them up.

(One of my favorite Monty Python sketches is the Argument Clinic.)

Anyway, most people think of confrontation as something that will inevitably devolve into a screaming match. A lot of people just quietly concede their position because it saves them the bother of arguing with someone. This isn’t really helpful, because if you never tell someone why you have a problem with them, they’ll eventually end up wondering why everyone has ghosted them.

That’s why I like this definition of biblical confrontation I found - having a face-to-face encounter with someone in order to bring biblical truth to bear on an area of concern. It won’t be easy, and you might just find yourself in the wrong. But it’s helpful to have this dialogue so that everyone is moving in the right direction. Especially when you’re all theoretically working together to reach people for Jesus.

The T&M booklet has a great illustration that I might have to frame.

In other words, stop sending people to do your dirty work for you. Hypothetically.

(Am I being passive aggressive by addressing this in my blog instead of going directly to the person I totally don’t have an issue with right now? Yes. Yes, I am. Do what I say, not what I do.)

Anyway…

Have a great weekend, my friends. Take care of some small stuff for me, yeah?

Bye.