Duane's thoughts Apr 29 2016

Hi again. I hope that your week has gone well. Mine has been a little bit, well, interesting.

Most of you are probably aware that I have three brothers (no sisters which probably explains a lot). And although we are all very fond of each other, we are, in some ways, dysfunctional. Oh, not it the normal sort of ways. There’s no rivalries, jealousies (well, maybe a little jealousy but that’s another story), none of that usual stuff. The issues with us is that we were all raised to 1) always be there for each other, and 2) be exceedingly independent. Those two traits, while admirable, can come into conflict with each other, and in my family it’s usually somewhere around the phrase “I’m feeling so much better now that I am out of the hospital.”

On Wednesday of this week, just as I was getting ready to write something completely different to you all, I got an e-mail from my brother that started out with that exact line: “I’m feeling so much better now that I am out of the hospital.” Huh, what did I miss? It seems that he had developed appendicitis over the weekend and had had it removed on Monday. He said that other than feeling like being  on the wrong side in a knife fight, he was doing OK now. I should mention that this is the same brother that has been fighting cancer for the last few years. Fortunately he has an incredible wife and son to help him out, but hey, what am I, a pot of begonias?

Of course he’s not the only one in my family. There was the time that I was in the hospital for a week after getting my jaw and cheekbone broken along with a rather serious concussion. I was living in Honolulu at the time so I mentioned it to my family the next time I wrote them. And there was my mother just this last year who, at 90, broke two ribs while chasing her dog over the couch (another story) and didn’t say anything about it to anyone for two days because it happened on July 4th and she didn’t want to spoil anyone’s holiday. I guess we always figured that if a person was conscious enough to dial the phone or had enough fingers left to hold a pen, that they couldn’t be all that bad, could they?

But, you know, it occurs to me that sometimes we treat God the same way. We want to talk to him after the fact. Once we’re back on the mend. Of course, had we talked to him before we did whatever it was we did, perhaps there would be no mending needed. Philippians 4:6 says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” I now that God can empathize with me when I say that I really wish my family would talk to me before or during rather than just after.
So, what’s coming up?

New Light Friday night at 7:15 to 9

Middle School Sunday School this Sunday

Spirit West Coast June 12

Mother’s Day May 8

Let me know if I left anything out or if you want anything added in.

Cheers,

Duane

Duane's thoughts Apr 21 2016

Hi. I hope that you all have been having a great week. I have a story to tell you this week. It’s about my friend and his parrot. Several years back, a friend of mine got a parrot. I’m not sure how he came by it but it was already an adult when he got it and he was really excited about it. But there was one problem with it. It wouldn’t talk. And that made my friend very disappointed. He really wanted it to talk because, after all, that’s what parrots do. I remember seeing to him a couple of days after he got it and he told me the problem. I suggested that perhaps he should put a audio player (in those days it would have been a cassette tape) next to it’s cage that played a simple phrase over and over. After hearing it a few thousand times, perhaps it would pick it up. I saw my friend again a couple of days later and asked him if he had tried the audio player and he said he did. I asked if the parrot had talked and he said no but that the tape was driving him crazy. So I suggested that he put a mirror in the cage so that the parrot would see it and have someone to talk to. He that that was a great idea and said he would try it. I saw my friend again a couple of days later and asked him if he had tried the mirror and he said he did. I asked if the parrot had talked and he said no although it was much taken with it’s reflection. I thought about it for a bit and suggested that he put a swing perch in the cage. That way when the parrot landed on  it he would be surprised and perhaps would cry out with a phrase or two. He that that was a great idea and said he would try it. I saw my friend again a couple of days later and asked him if he had tried the swing perch. He said he had. I asked if the parrot had talked yet and he said no but that it really like the swing. I thought about it again and suggested that he get a feather bob to hang in the cage. That way the parrot would see it and think it was a competitor and that it would start talking to get rid of it. He that that was a great idea and said he would try it. I saw my friend again a couple of days later and asked him if he had tried the feather bob and he said he had. I asked if the parrot had talked yet and he said no but that it was getting to be quite good a punching the feather bob. I thought about it again and this time I knew what the problem was. I told my friend that he should get the parrot a cuttlebone. Before the bird could talk it had to sharpen it’s beak, right? I was sure that this would work. He that that was a great idea and said he would try it. As you can probably guess, that didn’t work and neither did the several other things I suggested over the next week or so. Finally one day I saw my friend in town and asked “Has anything at all worked? Has that parrot talked yet?” My fiend shook his head and told me “Not really and it’s not going to. The parrot died.” I looked at him in disbelief. “He died without saying a single word?” I asked. My friend replied “Well actually, he did say one thing before he died.” "What was it?” I asked. My friend, looking very somber, said “I came in and found him laying on the floor of his cage. I could see his beak moving so I put my ear close. That’s when I heard him whisper: ‘Food…’ Then he was gone.” Sometimes we focus on the things that we think they need without noticing the things that they need the most. And sometimes with ourselves we can focus on those things that we think are most important - the things that everyone else will notice - without noticing what it is that we need the most. In John 21:15-18 Jesus askes Peter three times if Peter loves him. Each time Peter says of course he does. And each time Jesus tells peter to take care of and feed his sheep. Whether we notice our own needs or the needs of others, we are nourished by the Spirit working through us. “‘Feed my sheep’ Jesus said.” (and parrots!) Upcoming Events: New Light, Friday April 22, 7:15  High School class this Sunday Spirit West Coast Christian Music Festival, June 12 BTW, if you have any announcements you would like included, just let me know and I will include them. Cheers! Duane P.S. If you want to check out this or any other notes that I have sent or see the latest happening with New Light, check out: http://newlightnotes.blogspot.com

People (33) Duane Fowler dlfowler@comcast.net

Duane's thoughts April 7 2016

Hey Everyone,

I hope that you’re all doing well and had a great Easter and Spring Break. I think most people should be back from their travels by now.

I have heard from several people that perhaps my messages have been a bit long. Well, I want to let you know that I hear you and to quote a famous American, I feel your pain. I’ll just share something short that happened to me this week at Apple.

At Apple, we have a tracking system to keep track of all the prototype and development hardware called “iTrack.” Actually, as you probably figured, most everything at Apple is called “i” something or other. Seems a little silly to me, but hey, I can play along. Anyway, as I was saying, everything it signed out and tracked. Once you have a device, you have to be able to account for it’s whereabouts at all times and if you ever give it to someone else, you have to transfer it on iTrack. Also, at the end of a project, all of the development samples are recalled and you have to hand them all in. And big time woe to the person who can’t find something and turn it in on time if it has been recalled! And that almost happened to me - not with one item, but with seven!

One of the problems is that I get hundreds of samples of things when I working on a new design and most of them don’t really survive in one piece. I often disassemble them, tweek them, rework them, and put them back together in a somewhat Frankenstein manner. Sometimes parts from one device get mixed up with parts from another and sometimes whole devices get mixed up, put in the wrong box, or misplaced. This week I received a recall notice for something that I had been working on from the time it was a concept until it was finally put out on the market. I dutifully gathered up all my samples which I had very carefully kept organized so that I wouldn’t lose any and took them to the distribution center to give them back. After scanning all the QR codes on every one of a box full of items I looked and the screen and there were still seven items that weren’t accounted for. I checked, double checked and triple checked and yep, they were missing. AAARG! What happened to them?!? (I should mention that these particular items would easily fit in any crack in any cupboard cabinet or closet. So today I spent the whole day searching through and clearing out every cabinet and drawer that I have and after hours of searching I FOUND THE LOST ITEMS!!! all seven of them in one place. I was so relieved.

After all that I know just what Jesus was talking about in the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10) He was talking about a woman who had ten coins and lost one so she turned her whole house inside out until she finally found it and was so relieved. That’s just how I felt. But you know what? In verse 10 Jesus says "I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” God’s angels feel the same way when they find one of us. Wow. : )

OK, that was a little longer than I had planned. But it’s also a good intro to intro to what we’ll be talking about this spring in New Light. Pastor Steve will be doing a series on the Arts of Spiritual Conversations which is about talking to people about God. And just think what it would be like if one of those conversations led to the Angels rejoicing because someone came to know God.

On to the schedule part:

High School Sunday School this Sunday.

New Light this Friday

Spirit West Coast on Sunday June 12th.

Also, one other important thing: There is a Real Options Baby Shower in the Fireside Room on Sunday evening at 6pm. All are invited to come, have cake, learn about Real Options and open baby gifts for clients of Real Options. I’ll send more information later.

Cheers!

Duane

New Light

7:15pm on Friday, April 8

Grace Community Covenant Church

Foothill Covenant Church

1555 Oak Avenue

Los Altos, CA 94024