lifeasmission

Riding for Refugees

September 29, 2009 // 1222No Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/riding-for-refugees/Riding+for+Refugees2009-09-29+17%3A12%3A17JR+Rozko

This Saturday Amy and I are participating in a Ride for Refugees.  I did my first concentrated work with refugees when I was living in midtown Memphis and much of Amy’s current work has to do with refugees around the world.  Helping people to become aware of the great needs of refugees here in the states and around the world as well as providing what assistance we can are things we both care about deeply.  We’re hoping that you’ll help us by making a pledge to our ride, no matter the amount.  I am planning to ride 30 miles, further than I have ever biked before and Amy will probably do 15 as she wants to get back sooner to help with other things that need done during the event.

You can see the details of the Ride for Refugees here.

You can visit out pledge page here.

The Facebook Fan page is here.

If you’re a Twitterer, you can follow here.

Thanks for checking it out and for your help.  I’ll try to throw up some pictures and thoughts on the event next week.

Posted in Amy, Refugees, chicago, memphis

Church as Revealer

September 28, 2009 // 1217No Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/church-as-revealer/Church+as+Revealer2009-09-28+16%3A46%3A47JR+Rozko

A week ago today I learned that my Uncle Dick Hammond had passed away.  He was 70 and had been fighting cancer for the last 5 years.  Since well before I was born, the Rozko’s have been good friends with the Hammonds.  Uncle Dick and Aunt Judy invited my family into their lives at both Longboat Key, FL a frequent vacation spot of my adolescence and Pelee Island, Ontario, which became more permanently ingrained into our family when my grandparents bought a cottage there several years ago.

I was honored when the Hammond family asked me to conduct Uncle Dick’s funeral.  Amy and I traveled to Cleveland last Thursday, met with the family that night and gathered the next day with more than a hundred people to both morn our loss and celebrate Uncle Dick’s life.

When it was my turn to speak and offer words of pastoral comfort, I talked about the illusion of death’s finality.  Like a good magic trick, death makes us think and feel something based on our immediate experience, but when we pause, step back, and really evaluate things, we just know that there’s something we are missing, something is hidden and we ache to know it.

It was a good reminder to me that it is the unique calling of the Church to pull back the curtain, to reveal that which is hidden, to spoil the illusions of this world with the reality of God’s Kingdom in all its forms.  This is a high and lofty calling, but man, what a joy to say to those wracked by the pain of the illusions the finality of death (in all its forms) of this world, “I’ve got good news!”

Posted in church, gospel

Mr. Deity and the Skeptic

September 24, 2009 // 1211No Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/mr-deity-and-the-skeptic/Mr.+Deity+and+the+Skeptic2009-09-24+16%3A54%3A14JR+Rozko

If you haven’t come across Mr. Deity yet, you ought to check it out and subscribe via iTunes.  If nothing else, it’s a fascinating window into the social standing of the Christian faith.

Thought it was interesting that shortly after posting previously, I made it around to watching the most recent episode.  Anxious for your thoughts.

Posted in decisions, salvation, video

On Salvation

September 23, 2009 // 120719 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/1207/On+Salvation2009-09-23+16%3A56%3A05JR+Rozko

A long while ago I had some thoughts on understanding salvation as a sort of cosmic dance.  This past weekend, as our missional church community gathered, we proclaimed this truth…

God’s Salvation is cosmic and we receive it only by participating in it.

This is vastly different than the more common evangelical take on salvation as something we receive by virtue of a decision we make, illustrated thusly…

Anyone care to offer any thoughts on the subject?  I’m particularly interested in what others might thing is the central implication for the life of a church community if this difference is to be reckoned with.

Posted in LOV, salvation

Mi Amigo Manuel – Neighborliness Lives!

September 15, 2009 // 11962 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/mi-amigo-manuel-neighborliness-lives/Mi+Amigo+Manuel+-+Neighborliness+Lives%212009-09-15+21%3A33%3A44JR+Rozko

I stopped by a thrift store yesterday and was amazed to find a desk that matches one we got a few weeks ago at different thrift store. It was cheap and we had a spot for it, so I bought it.

Now, the other one fit in the back of my car… snug, but fit just fine, so I assumed this one would as well. I was wrong, it’s a little bit taller. So there I am, trying to jimmy this thing into the back seat of my Maxima and 2 Hispanic guys who worked there (risking their jobs by doing so) were trying to help.

I had given up hope when one of these guys pointed to his truck and held out his keys for me to take.

Uh…

He didn’t speak a word of English and the Spanish I know just wasn’t getting the job done. Nevertheless, this guy, who didn’t know me from Adam, straight up gave me the keys to his truck and his insurance card. I let him know that I could be back in “veinte minutos,” and he just replied, “Si, veinte minutos, bueno.”

So there ya go, neighborliness at its finest. He wouldn’t take any of the money I offered him to say thanks and I’d go back and let his boss know, but he’d probably get fired for being awesome.

Muchas gracias Manuel, muchas gracias mi amigo!

Posted in friends

An Open Letter to My Friends in HR

// 11985 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/an-open-letter-to-my-friends-in-hr/An+Open+Letter+to+My+Friends+in+HR2009-09-15+17%3A29%3A16JR+Rozko

I don’t claim to know all the ins and outs of Human Resources, but as a job seeker, here’s a letter I wish I could send to all HR people everywhere.

Dear HR,

You know those stacks of paper you have in front of you – they represent real people. People with hopes, ambitions, and dreams, many of them aching to use their knowledge and skills to help you, your company, and your cause. It’s not enough to serve them well after they are hired. If you are good at your job, you will serve them well as potential partners.

I know the job market is tough right now, but still, anyone worth your time, worth being considered and hired as a part of your organization, will be interviewing you as you interview them. They will want to know that they can trust you as an employer with their time and efforts. When you trivialize them and the time they took in preparing the necessary paperwork for you to consider by ignoring them, giving them sketchy information, and not truly being thankful that they would consider investing a huge chunk of their lives in your company, you are creating an environment for bitterness, resentment, and mistrust before a formal relationship has even begun.

If a position is worth hiring for, it must be worth thoroughly communicating, even if en mass, to prospective candidates about.

To be as plain as I can be – tell your candidates when you hope to hire by. When they submit materials, acknowledge that you received them, letting them know when you hope to follow up and then actually do follow up when you said you would.

True, there are so many people hurting for jobs that they will put up with being trivialized for the sake of a paycheck.  But are those really the people you want working for you?  Do you think they will serve you well or do just enough to get by?  Or, do you want to hire people with enough self-respect and dignity that they actually care when you treat them like crap?

Respectfully,

Your Potential Co-Worker

Posted in random