Author: Kevin

I am a follower of Jesus, husband, pastor, author, and caffeine addict. Please follow me on Facebook or Twitter. You may also want to consider subscribing to the RSS feed.

Excellence: Stand Before Kings!

“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”
– George Washington Carver (1864-1943)

If you’ve ever spent time at my apartment, you’ll know that Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic are three of my favorite channels. I figure I might as well learn something while watching TV. I’m not really sure what I learn from watching the lions attack the buffalo heard for the 100th time, but it’s still better than soap operas.

One show I like to watch is American Chopper. It is sort of a reality show, based on the work of the Orange County Chopper garage. They explain their project at the beginning of each show. After an hour you get to see the finished product—a custom made motorcycle. Part of the show’s entertainment comes from watching father, son and son argue over how to make the motorcycle. I’m particularly thankful for TV censorship; since the explicatives are abundant during their arguments (lots of words get “bleeped” out).

Here’s what I find particularly interesting about these guys at OCC: they are basically fabricators, designers, mechanics and motorcycle enthusiasts (nothing particularly glorious about these titles). I doubt that they ever planned to be famous, yet they have their own TV show. They even have their own video game I hear. It is normal for them to meet professional athletes, celebrities, CEO’s, and the like. How does this happen?

The answer is this: EXCELLENCE. They’ve established a reputation for excellence in what they do. Their work has become world renown.

Proverbs has something to say about this subject:
Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will serve before kings;
he will not serve before obscure men.
–Proverbs 22:29

I imagine that King Solomon wrote this because he had personally experienced it. Solomon’s building projects are famous until this day. Those who were highly skilled had the honor of working for him—perhaps even meeting him personally.

As this New Year begins, let’s strive for excellence in all that we do. You never know just where your skills might take you if you do your best and pursue excellence. Perhaps you too will stand before kings!

Lihi: genetic engineering, Filipino style!

Today I was reminded of a unique Filipino belief while buying a birthday card. One of the women behind the counter spoke to the pregnant cashier. They were joking that I should spend more time near the cashier so her baby would inherit my pointed nose. This is an old myth here in the Philippines. The idea is that an unborn child’s physical appearance can be influenced by various factors, such as who spends time near the expectant mother. I read about this several years ago, but haven’t heard it mentioned since.

I talked with a couple of my Filipina friends/students about this later in the evening. They told me that this belief includes the idea that the mother’s diet can influence the child’s appearance. Eating dark foods, for example, causes the mother to give birth to a dark-skinned child. Eating spaghetti causes curly hair. The Tagalog language even has a verb for this—“lihi.”

The complexity of Filipino verbs never ceases to amaze me—there’s a verb for everything. There’s even a verb for experiencing sleep deprivation—a verb for not sleeping.

I presume that most Filipinos do not believe in “lihi” anymore. The students I talked to were nursing majors, so they obviously new about genetics. The cashier and her friend were just joking around. Regardless, it made for a fun cultural discussion and helped me to learn an interesting new word.