For the Joy of the Journey

Enough is Enough

George December 21, 2019 Covoid 19 Pandemic 10 Comments

Enough is enough!

All this week I have been subjected to a relentless assault on truth. Beliefs and values have been denigrated. I have come to understand the power of media and how it shapes our culture. Propaganda, fake news, misinformation, blatant lies prevail. Truth is being sacrificed on pagan altars. Sacred traditions, traced back to our pre-America ancestors have disappeared. The fabric of family tradition is being torn.

We must stop this madness.

This post will reveal the truth and sound an alarm for the the treacherous path we have chosen(?) or more, likely been manipulated into by sinister forces.

Christmas for me, always brings early memories of my parents and their traditions. As an only child most of their attention was on me. One particular tradition that stands out is the baking of fruitcake. It was the only time I remember them working together in the kitchen. There were no mixes, everything was done from scratch. Coconuts were cracked and the meat carved out at substantial risk and then grated. Candied fruits, dates, raisins and nuts were carefully prepared. The highlight of fruitcake preparation was the addition of rum. They never explained how the rum was obtained. It seemed to make the occasion deliciously immoral. I presume there was a special exception for fruitcake. The heavy batter was mixed by hand, requiring my Dad’s strength. Fruitcake and boiled custard became a staple of my Christmas experience. Which brings me to the reason for this post.

In recent days since I purchased a fruitcake, it has become apparent that fruitcake has become a victim of the the destructive forces that are undermining our society. Everyone to whom I have offered to share my fruitcake has not only refused but has brought into question my intelligence, my motives, my integrity and even my faith, not to mention my taste.

To understand how we got here, a bit of fruitcake history is necessary. (Wikipedia)

The earliest recipe from Ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash. In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added. Fruitcakes soon proliferated all over Europe. Recipes varied greatly in different countries throughout the ages, depending on the available ingredients.

Starting in the 16th century, sugar from the American Colonies (and the discovery that high concentrations of sugar could preserve fruits) created an excess of candied fruit, thus making fruitcakes more affordable and popular.

Typical American fruitcakes are rich in fruit and nuts. Mail-order fruitcakes in America began in 1913. Commercial fruitcakes are often sold from catalogs by charities as a fund raiser.

Most American mass-produced fruitcakes are alcohol-free, but traditional recipes are saturated with liqueurs or brandy and covered in powdered sugar, both of which prevent mold. Brandy (or wine) soaked linens can be used to store the fruitcakes, and some people feel that fruitcakes improve with age.

In the United States, the fruitcake has become a ridiculed dessert, in part due to the mass-produced inexpensive cakes of questionable age. Some attribute the beginning of this trend with The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson. He would joke that there really is only one fruitcake in the world, passed from family to family. In fact, the fruitcake had been a butt of jokes on television programs such as Father Knows Best and The Donna Reed Show years before The Tonight Show debuted and appears to have first become a vilified confection in the early 20th century, as evidenced by Warner Brothers cartoons.

Yes, I know there are fruitcake lovers somewhere out there, but the truth is, our numbers are shrinking.There was a time when we were the majority and life was good. Families gathered in the kitchen at Christmas and created a delicious treat handed down for centuries.

After decades of derision and substandard fruitcakes, coupled with the emergence of generations unappreciative of tradition and family values, we fruitcake lovers have become irrelevant and facing extinction. We have contributed to our own demise by abandoning our precious tradition for commercialized and empty substitutes.

Is there no hope?

Perhaps if I began to make high quality fruitcakes and shared them with my neighbors? The negative image of fruitcake is such that just delivering them unsolicited to my neighbors would almost assure failure. A better strategy might be to invite them over and gently introduce them to the idea of fruitcake. (Generous amounts of rum and/or brandy might help, also put some into the fruitcake). After listening to their pre-conceived notions about fruitcakes and those who eat them, they might begin to trust me and try a piece or two. Truthfully, fruitcake is an acquired taste, but like bourbon, the conviviality created by sharing with friends can overcome deep divides.

What choice do I have? Some would tell me deepen my resolve and fight for fruitcake at all costs. We are no longer the majority and our power is waning. I grieve the prospects of a society without fruitcake. Legislation seems to be out of the question. Although it not outside the realm of possibility, I do not expect a presidential candidate to run on a fruitcake platform.

Who can we blame this on? Johnny Carson? Perhaps, but all fruitcake lovers share responsibility. We failed to recognize and understand the cultural shifts that were occurring and chose utility and convenience, surrendering community for commodity. Like the entrepreneurs pitching their products on Shark Tank, we did not understand the real value of fruitcake was its tradition. Absent that, it becomes a commodity that can be knocked off by anyone. Truth be known, I would guess purchasers of fruitcake are motivated more by nostalgia than taste.

I’m not optimistic about fruitcake but I could imagine that we might find community and when that happens fruitcake will be redeemed in ways we could never imagine. Until then, I’ll keep buying fruitcake and remembering those precious times long ago.

Merry Christmas

Serendipity

George December 13, 2019 Faith Challenges 2 Comments

serendipity : the phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for

This morning I experienced a serendipity. It came by virtue of a blog post from the Internet Monk by Chaplin Mike. I fully understand a serendipity for one person may not be so for another person. However, serendipity is delicious and should be shared. There is always the risk that my taste isn’t your taste but I’m willing to take the chance.

Another Look: My Ambiguous Apologetic Chaplain Mike

I confess. I have no apologetic.

There is no defending God. There is no proving his way is right. To do so would require that I understand God, that I can substantiate the claims of truth my faith calls me to hold.

I can explain what I believe well enough. I can demonstrate to a certain degree that my faith is reasonable and not the delusions of a crackpot. But I can’t prove anything. I can’t argue an airtight case. I can’t campaign for Jesus on a platform of certainty.

You see, all the “evidence” is ambiguous. It is capable of being interpreted in a variety of ways. What convinces one person to believe may lead another to have serious doubts.

Even the bedrock occurrence in the story of our faith — the resurrection of Jesus — was not what you would call a public event. It was unexpectedly discovered by a few common people in the hazy dawn of Easter morning. All of Jesus’ appearances were reserved for people who became his witnesses. It is their word we have to trust. I happen to be convinced that they were trustworthy and that they had no reason to invent a story so fantastic, but I can see why people might have doubts.

I suppose this is why some Christians feel the need to posit an inerrant Bible, a fully trustworthy revelation directly from the mouth of God that demonstrates in incontrovertible terms that it is TRUTH™. Thus, all we have to do is open up the book and — there it is! — a sure and certain foundation for our beliefs. However comfortable that might make believers feel, in reality it just creates another proposition Christians must defend. Proving the divine perfection of the Bible requires herculean efforts and, as centuries of dispute over Scripture’s nature, meaning, and interpretation show, the evidence here is muddy too.

So, I don’t really have an apologetic. At best, it’s ambiguous.

The other day I was thinking about the shepherds in Luke’s Christmas story. Surely they had a sense of certainty. Surely what they experienced was so unambiguous, so transformative, that they lived the rest of their lives in the assurance of faith. Surely God had proven himself to them. They beheld the angel hosts! They heard the gospel announced directly from heaven! They saw the baby Jesus in the flesh!

However, sometimes I wonder what happened next. The Gospel tells us they went back to work later that night. We never hear from them again. What was it like for the shepherds a week later? a month? ten or twenty years? I don’t know if they were around when Jesus went throughout Judea proclaiming the Kingdom. I’d like to think their faith was confirmed and strengthened over the years, perhaps by personal encounters with Jesus in his ministry.

On the other hand, it is possible they didn’t hear much about Jesus again, perhaps for the rest of their lives. If so, what would that long silence have communicated to them? Based on the angel’s message they would have expected, somewhere along the line, a Son of David to ascend the throne in Jerusalem, bringing lasting peace and relief from their enemies. An unambiguous fulfillment of God’s promise. But even if they did become part of the crowd and followed Jesus around Judea and Galilee, they never saw that happen, did they? How might they have reconciled that grand birth announcement with reality on the ground years later — an itinerant rabbi with nowhere to lay his head? And then, the cross? Some king. Some throne.

All this is pure speculation, of course, but I think it makes a point:

In my opinion, Christians (and I include myself) have been far too cocksure in talking about Jesus and our faith. As though it’s about having a sense of certainty that carries us blissfully through life. As though what we believe and the reasons we believe are so clear, so transparent, so unambiguous that we just can’t imagine others being unable to see it.

I had a spiritual awakening in high school, and it was prompted by relationships I developed with a group of Christian young people in school and church. What I liked about them was that they were real. I saw their imperfections and could blow holes through their arguments. But I couldn’t get past their joy, their belief that life was worth living in spite of problems and doubts. There was something that kept them moving forward to embrace the goodness of life and faith and hope and love. They were pitiful at trying to explain it, but it was there. Ultimately, I found I couldn’t resist the song their lives sang to me.

So this is what I keep coming back to. Sometime long ago, on a dark night I heard angels sing. I saw the face of the Savior. And it was real.

My experience wasn’t nearly as spectacular as the show the shepherds witnessed. However, it just as effectively got my attention and caused me to change direction in ways that I suppose were as crazy as leaving your job in the middle of the night to go see a stranger’s newborn baby, and claiming you heard the news from angels.

But then, like the shepherds, I had to return to life, plain old life, everyday life.

Through the years I’ve had reason to doubt over and over again whether that experience was real. I have wondered whether the promises I received were genuine, or whether it might not all have been some adolescent fantasy born of hormones, naiveté, and group dynamics. It can get awfully ambiguous at times.

Whether or not the shepherds ever saw Jesus again, I can testify that since my epiphany, every once and awhile along the way I have encountered him. Thing is, he’s never what I expect. He constantly confuses me and makes me scratch my head. The more I try to define what he’s all about or what he’s doing in my life, the more mixed up I become. And when I go to speak, I fumble around for words to explain him, to express what he means to me, to put my finger on the gifts with which he has so graciously filled my life.

He’s real, and that’s about the best I can do.

And there you have it. My ambiguous apologetic.

Maybe you were hoping you’d read something today that would nail it all down for you, relieve your doubts, answer your questions, make it all certain.

Sorry. Just a shepherd here.

Most nights are pretty quiet.

Answers Aren’t Enough

George December 9, 2019 Faith Challenges 4 Comments

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of our grandson Ryan’s death. Grief remains a frequent companion and unanswered questions still echo in our hearts. Why? is the anthem of the grief stricken.

My old friend MIchael Spencer wrote in response to an assertion of a well known pastor that “..sooner or later people want more than empathy and aid—they want answers.” MIchael says “That is just plain incorrect.”

People ultimately want love, not answers. Answers are not the capstone; love is. Most can do without specific explanations. No one can do without love. Even when sufferers cry out, “Why?” they are not asking for answers. They are expressing pain and hoping someone is there to hear their cries. Above all, they want to know they are not alone, not abandoned, not rejected. They want love. They want the presence of someone who cares. They want reassurance that someone is there to embrace them, listen to them, hold their hand, be their friend.

I deeply affirm Michael’s rebuttal. The grieving do not want Job’s friends. Answers aren’t enough. I am thankful for all the love that has, and continues to be, showered on our family.

Dr. Deming – Profound Knowledge

George December 7, 2019 Deming Disciple 1 Comment

This post continues my series on W. Edwards Deming and the impact his principles and philosophies have had on my life. Previous posts can be read HERE and HERE and HERE.

The previous post focused on the prevailing Whack-a-Mole (WhaM) management paradigm that confronted Dr. Deming when he was contracted to achieve quality improvements in the automotive industry. It is my belief that Ford management was naive about the depth of Deming’s principles and philosophies and the dramatic changes their adoption would require.

Consistent with WhaM, the possibility of solution/survival made choosing Deming to lead them out of desperate straits an uncontested choice. That decision ultimately proved to be bittersweet. As documented earlier, the result of Deming’s influence brought dramatic returns in improved quality, sales and profitability. What was not so obvious was the equally, if not greater , impact on the culture of Ford Motor Company. Deming’s theory of Profound Knowledge proved to be a persistent challenge to Ford’s management and established a trajectory that would transform the company’s future.

Profound Knowledge

Deming’s theory of profound knowledge is a management philosophy grounded in systems theory. It is based on the principle that each organization is composed of a system of interrelated processes and people which make up system’s components.

The preceding is more descriptive than a definition. While it is accurate it does not do justice to the concept of Profound Knowledge Dr. Deming understood and taught.

The radical character and nature of Deming’s Profound Knowledge becomes clearer in reading the Merriam – Webster Dictionary definition of profound:

having intellectual depth and insight.
difficult to fathom or understand
extending far below the surface
coming from, reaching to, or situated at a depth
characterized by intensity of feeling or quality
all encompassing : COMPLETE

The idea of profound knowledge being a theory also skews understanding to some degree. To some, theory implies speculation. The following definition of theory clarifies its application to profound knowledge.

Theory: a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained.

With that introduction, I will attempt to summarize the ways in which Profound Knowledge (PK) has influenced my life. It is necessary to begin with a fundamental premise Deming held:

PK generally comes from outside the system and is only useful if it is invited and received with an eagerness to learn and improve. A system cannot understand itself without help from outside the system, because prior experiences will bias objectivity, preventing critical analysis of the organization. Critical self-examination is difficult without impartial analysis from outside the organization. Also, insiders can rarely serve as hostile critics who speak frankly without fear of reprisals.

Without acceptance of that premise, Deming was vulnerable to the inherent mechanisms of organizations to protect themselves. Like organizations, individuals are adverse to self-examination and even though they may submit to self-examination will resist and rationalize negative conclusions. That remains a challenge for me. Humility and fallibility are rare commodities.

Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge consists of four parts: Appreciation for a system, Knowledge about variation, Theory of knowledge, Knowledge of psychology

A more comprehensive examination PF can be found in “There is a Relationship Between Systems Thinking and W. Edwards Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge by Dr. Barbara Berry” as well as other available sources. I would encourage readers to seek those out. For the purposes of this post, I will share some personal take-always that generally relate to the the four parts above.

Appreciation of a System:

Organizations are a system. Each organization is composed of a system of interrelated processes and people. Action in one part of the system will have effects in the other parts, that is, “unintended consequences.” By learning about systems we can better avoid these unintended consequences and optimize the whole system.

For a WhaM manager, facing the reality that their business / organization is a system rather than a conglomeration of seemingly unrelated problems, is a life changing proposition. It soon becomes painfully apparent that the skills and tools they have employed to be successful in managing and controlling, are inadequate, or worse, useless. (The irony being that WhaM was successful in whacking whatever mole appeared, not in achieving quality.) When the definition of success shifts from whacking a mole and becomes not just improving quality, but leading continuous quality improvement, a new paradigm has emerged.

This is true of any human organization. The personal impact beyond Ford Motor Company was felt most acutely in my family and church. In each case, I came to understand it was about leading, not about managing.

Knowledge of variation

Appreciation of a system depends on understanding the interconnectedness and interdependence. Interconnectedness must be clearly defined and documented for successful flow or continuous improvement of the process.

No two things are exactly alike, not people, not processes. Variation is a natural, inevitable part of life. This principle of variation is irrefutable but WhaM employs solutions which ignore that principle. Essentially, a one-size-fits-all approach. Expediency triumphs and avoids the hard work of leading while satisfying misguided objectives. Perhaps a alternative definition of insanity could be: Expecting to eliminate variation.

Once there is an appreciation of systems, it should not take much imagination to understand how counter-productive such a goal can be to organizations.

Theory of Knowledge

The theory of knowledge implies that system improvement depends on continuous study of the organization. Improvement is learning and developing new knowledge about the system.

Deming said. “In God we trust God, all others bring data”. As humans we are subject to self-deception regarding how much we know and whether it is accurate or true. A general human tendency toward infallibility and arrogance becomes exponentially greater when given responsibility for leadership. In my experience, many, if not most decisions by leadership are made without reliable understanding of the system and/or good data. Accepting the principle of variation, study of the organization will be necessarily continuous. The quality of knowledge about systems is dependent on reliable data. Deming’s primary tool for obtaining reliable data is Statistical Process Control (SPC). SPC is worthy of its own conversation and beyond the scope of this post.

Sources of data, in the absence of a disciplined approach like SPC, often relied upon are opinion, past experience, anecdote, tradition, SWAG, et al. Increasingly prevalent is reliance on social media.

The personal impact of Deming’s theory of knowledge and SPC have resulted in an awareness of the necessity of reliable data to make decisions and an attendant caution with regard to the reliability of data presented. Where practicable, I insistent on verification of data.

Knowledge of Psychology

WhaM requires a management style of command and control, creativity and cooperative skills are not encouraged. WhaM management theory holds that everyone learns alike and that motivation is extrinsic and influenced by external forces of reward or punishment and fear. It is at those intersections that Deming’s principles and philosophies encountered their stiffest opposition.

Deming believed that people are born with intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, desire to learn, finding creativity and joy in accomplishment, and a need for freedom and belonging.

As implementation proceeded it became clear that WhaM management, including myself, did not accept Deming’s premises about people to be true. Ironically, we believed they were true of ourselves. Although many of Deming’s principles could be implemented and produce benefits, without acceptance and internalization of his philosophies regarding human behavior, organizations will not achieve their full potential. If I could reduce that philosophy to one simple phrase, it would be “Treat others as you want to be treated.” It was on that point that Deming’s relationship with Ford Motor Company took a left turn and eventually ended. Like most organizations, and for that matter, most people, the requirement to subject oneself to self-examination and see ourselves as we truly are and make changes is a bridge we are not willing to cross. For those who are willing to make that journey, the rewards are worthwhile.

“The individual, transformed, will perceive new meaning to his life, to events, to numbers, to interactions between people. Once the individual understands the system of profound knowledge, he will apply its principles in every kind of relationship with other people. He will have a basis for judgment of his own decisions and for transformation of the organizations that he belongs to.”

If you have endured to this point, thank you. This post completes my series on Dr. Deming.

There is always a day before

George December 1, 2019 Faith Challenges 0 Comments

Today is the first day of advent. Admittedly, the Christian calendar has not been a part of my spiritual rhythm. Although, In recent years, my journey has led me to become more aware and responsive to the Christian calendar. In my reading this morning, I came across the following excerpt written by Michael Spencer that gave me pause on this first day of advent.

We all live the days before. We are living them now.

There was a day before 9-11.

There was a day before your child told you she was pregnant.

There was a day before your wife said she’d had enough.

There was a day before your employer said “lay offs.”

We are living our days before. We are living them now.

Some of us are doing, for the last time, what we think we will be doing twenty years from now.

Some of us are on the verge of a much shorter life, or a very different life, or a life turned upside down.

Some of us are preaching our last sermon, making love for the last time, saying “I love you” to our children for the last time in our own home. Some of us are spending our last day without the knowledge of eternal judgment and the reality of God. We are promising tomorrow will be different and tomorrow is not going to give us the chance, because God has a different tomorrow entirely on our schedule. We just don’t know it today.

Live each day as the day that all of the gospel is true. Live this day and be glad in it. Live this day as the day of laying down sin and taking up the glad and good forgiveness of Jesus. Live this day determined to be useful and joyful in Jesus. Live this day in a way that, should all things change tomorrow, you will know that the Lord is your God and this is the day to be satisfied in him.

He didn’t know it at the time, but when Michael Spencer wrote those words, he had cancer. Within five months, he died. We never know the time or day, either of Jesus’ return or of the day when our lives will be forever changed.