Peter's Musings

Merry Christmas

2009-12-17T18:20:00.001-08:00

Wishing you a very merry Christmas from our family to yours!

And, don’t forget the reason for the season…

Luke 2:11

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

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For you photo-bugs out there, here is the setup for the shot:

A Christmas Surprise

2009-12-14T19:00:00.001-08:00

One of the few benefits of traveling for work is that I get to stay in some pretty nice hotels along the way. This week I’m staying at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville.

I expected them to be “all dressed up” for Christmas, but was surprised when, instead of a larger-than-life Santa Clause and a bunch of rein deer on their very large front lawn, they had a full manger scene, the Bible open to the Christmas Story.

They also had the audible story being told by a low-Southern voice. I still think that Charlie White told it best at COD that is played during our Living Nativity this coming weekend – if you’re in Southern California, you must come see!!!

The best part is that Gaylord Entertainment definitely didn’t have to do this – as I said before, they could have easily had Santa and his sleigh. BUT, they chose to include the real reason for Christmas as part of their celebration. FANTASTIC!

They also had everything in the hotel dressed up too – including the arboretum and a great tree made up of Poinsettias about 20’ tall!

The Greatest of all Events

2009-12-14T16:48:00.001-08:00

A good friend of mine from COD wrote this. It is a perspective from a fellow Believer and guy who has worked at JPL most of his life… Through some of the great events that happened in JPL’s history. Take a read – I hope you’ll be as encouraged as I am!:

Do you recall where you were when Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon (that is if you were yet alive)? The year was 1969 and I was a young Quality Assurance Mechanical Inspector working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I had just returned home after a four-month stay at the Cape in Florida as part of the team preparing the Mariner ’69 spacecraft for its launch to Mars. What an exciting time it was for me being a part of the early space program and working on something so significant. But the launch of Apollo 11 and the subsequent landing on the moon that same year was much bigger than anything I could ever imagine. I could safely say then that the first moonwalk was the greatest human achievement in the history of the world.

Now forty years later I can tell you that there was a greater voyage of space travel than even that of Apollo 11. God sent His Son from afar to come and visit our world. Even as I was a witness of that historic event the summer of 1969, I am witness to the majesty and power of the One who has come in the name of the Lord. Now that I have met Him personally I realize that Christ’s coming is infinitely more significant than anything that has ever happened.

Please consider the wonder of the greatest of all events:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1,14)

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”

The everlasting God took on human flesh and stepped down from heaven to live with us here on earth

Just for a few moments be still and think of nothing else – God with us…

Do you believe that?

Do you really believe that on a real day in a real place God Himself came to earth?

Really?

That’s incredible

Do you really believe that?

Because there is no event that ever happened in human history that could compare to God coming and dwelling with us

If you were alive when the first man walked on the moon you will recall how great an event that was; people would talk about nothing else at the time of this awesome event

Yet man walking on the moon is nothing compared to God having walked on earth; you would think that we would be talking about this all the time

Well just as talking today about men walking on the moon, talking in awe about God walking on earth has all but disappeared

Oh yes, the fact that God has walked on earth is in our “religion” and in our churches but not necessarily in our thoughts and conversation

So think again, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”

God with us…do you believe that?

And yes, the entrance of God into our world is cause for celebration, in and out of season

And why?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Now with His redemptive work completed (John 19:30) this God-Man, Jesus the Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us (Romans 8:34)

But He has not left us alone as orphans, He has given us His Holy Spirit, and He will come again (John 14:15-18)

There is truly “GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY”

Be encouraged in Christ Jesus,

Bob

David Update: One Month Down

2009-12-08T15:56:00.001-08:00

From Celia yesterday:1 month down! Working with machines to try and stand up and doing well in wheel chair. Had a brief visit with Zach yesterday and David graduated to a normal diet today! Still waiting for further tests on liver, thank you for your continued prayers.

Please continue to pray that God would completely heal David and quickly!

David’s Day One at Rehab

2009-12-01T17:33:00.001-08:00

From Celia:

Day 1 of rehab done! David fully participated in 6+ hours of therapy and blew everyone away! He even got a round of applause from the elderly group watching! :) Liver enzymes are NORMAL, which means no biopsy! Praise God!! Clinging to the verse from our devotion today "...but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Praise! David on His Way to Acute Rehab!

2009-12-01T08:50:00.001-08:00

From Celia:

Dear friends and family,

We have the word that we will be moving to acute rehab today! We don't know exactly when...but this is what we are planning. :) The acute rehab center is on site at the hospital. This is great because his doctor's can still follow him very closely. They are deciding on an appropriate nutrition plan and are running follow up tests to figure out his liver enzymes, which are still not normal.

Please pray for wisdom in decision making and for David to be encouraged as he transitions to this difficult rehab portion of his journey.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Celia

David Out of ICU!!!

2009-11-27T07:46:00.001-08:00

From Celia:

We have thankful hearts this morning. We moved to less intensive care last night...what a Thanksgiving gift! David is stable and continually showing improved strength in many areas. So much to be thankful for! Bottom line: thankful for a GOOD God. Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for your continued prayers.

Update on David – On His Way OUT of ICU!!

2009-11-25T15:33:00.001-08:00

From Celia: We have had huge encouragements this morning! David passed his swallow eval last night and this morning and is starting on thick liquids. :) There is talk to transition back to DOU (direct observation unit) today or tomorrow. All vitals are stable, but David is still weak and exhausted. He sat up at ...the edge of the bed with assistance 2 times today so far!

Please continue to pray!

Father, please heal David Newkirk quickly and completely!

Update on David

2009-11-24T18:53:00.001-08:00

From Celia: Ventilator is OUT!!! David is doing well breathing on his own. Please continue to pray! He is still vulnerable to infection and needs to regain his swallow reflex. Praise God!!

Please keep praying!

Update on David

2009-11-20T17:47:00.001-08:00

Please pray!!!

Father, please heal David Newkirk quickly and completely!

from Judy:

Ed just came in the office to say they are moving David to ICU—they are having to put him on a respirator. His respiration is very shallow!

Pray! Pray! Pray!

Thanks for passing this on to others.

Buzzing Prayers for David

2009-11-19T11:33:00.001-08:00

Father, please heal David Newkirk quickly and completely…

David Newkirk has a condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome. He is very sick in a hospital bed in Pasadena. He asked that his Christian brothers and sisters pray for him with the above prayer.

Our good friend and Brother Mark McCune sent an idea that they did for a friend of DTS when he was sick. They gave him a prayer beeper.

David has a standard numeric beeper (pager) with him and what we are asking you to do is every time you pray for him, send a page. This will let David know that his brothers and sisters around the world are lifting him up to our Father and will be a witness to Him for the people around David when they hear buzzes coming in and ask “why does your beeper go off so often?”.

What a huge and wonderful thing!

The pager is numeric only, so just send your prayer location. Here are the instructions:

Every time you pray for David let him know where you are in the world, send him a page with the following numbers:

Country Code – (USA=01, UK=44, India=91, etc.)
Area/District Code – (626=Glendora/Pasadena, 909=San Dimas, etc.)

If I happen to be in San Dimas – my prayer location would be 01909 (USA, San Dimas).

Here are the pager details:

To send via telephone or cell phone:

Dial his pager number: +1 (626) 231-4107
Wait for beeps….

Enter your prayer location: (eg: 01909) then #
Wait for beeps….

Hang up.

To send via website:

Web Site Address: http://www.usamobility.com/send_a_message/index.asp

When asked for pager number, put in: 6262314107
click “continue”

Put your prayer location in the “Numeric Message”
click “send”

Air Travel

2009-08-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

This has to be the most frustrating time in history to use air travel.

I just returned from a one-day meeting in Charlotte, NC.

Ten years ago, I would have been able to get a reasonable, direct flight from Ontario to Charlotte without much trouble. Not so today.

On the way there, I took US Air (which, by the way is my new favorite airline – the employees actually try to understand your frustration with the whole nightmare of the TSA required processes and the constant of the “unknown”) from Ontario to Phoenix. We landed in 119+ degree weather. Of course, the flight from Phoenix to Charlotte was over booked and, due to the heat, the plane had significant weight (balance) restrictions. Another 45 minutes of people running around trying to figure out how many children there were that were not ticketed (children that small don’t weigh much do they?) and we were finally off. After spending an extra $15 for an aisle seat and $7 for a pathetic salad for lunch, the dreaded announcement comes on informing us that “due to weather conditions in Charlotte, we have been diverted to Greenville to refuel”. Well, this turned into a 2 hour detour.

The way back was not much better. I had to go through Denver this time and switch to United from Denver to Ontario. Which, of coarse was delayed.

Another surprise to me was the sheer number of people traveling in this “down” economy. The flights were all full (full = zero open seats) and the airports were more crowded than I’ve ever seen them.

Oh, and then when I landed back in Ontario I quickly figured out that United is in a completely different terminal than US Air (the one I departed on). So, 1/4 mile walk to the “correct” parking lot after almost halving a heart attack that my car was stolen…

I’m really disappointed in that it looks like I’ll be back to being a “road warrior” again… Need to quickly rack up those mile to get some status on these airlines!

I don’t know what the solution is, but WE NEED ONE.

Maybe when Obama is done socializing medicine, he can look at this and just kill it… Then, the next administration can start over from scratch!

Serving the Casa De Dios in Tecate

2009-07-12T19:49:00.001-07:00

The COD High School Group went on our annual short-term missions trip this past week and I was able to join them. Every year we assist them in serving the children in Tecate through a Vacation Bible School (VBS) program.

This is the Team!!!

Personally, it was an amazing time serving the little children who are of ultimate importance to our Lord Jesus Christ.

We went down after church service on Sunday July 5th. After we unloaded the luggage and assigned changing rooms for the “girls” and “boys”, we got our tarp out and made preparations for our first night (on the ground) in Tecate. We had our beds where we worshiped and watched puppet shows, so we had to completely setup bedding at night and pick up in the AM. Here is what we all looked like waking up on Monday morning:

The first day we had about 90 kids and by the end of the week, there were over 120!

They came from many different local colonies around the church. Some walked, some parents brought them, and some were picked up by two of our vans that drove to some that were too far to walk. We all became familiar to them after the first couple of days and everyone had a great time and learned about God’s Word.

We brought a few of the Evangi-Cubes with us which the kids were fascinated with. The fascination was a great lead in to talk to them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This was difficult for me who completely forgot all my “conversational” Spanish that I picked up when I was High School age. I committed that I would learn before next year – so, I have a goal for this year to learn!

Many of the kids accepted Christ as their Savior from this ministry. One that I overheard I also captured a photo. Shawn, one of the parents that came down with us spent time with a child that was visiting Tecate from the States. Both knew English and after hearing the Gospel, understood it, prayed, and accepted Christ – WHAT A BLESSING TO SEE THIS!

Some of the stories we told were done with puppets – kids just love puppets. Here are the some of the puppeteers – can you tell which is which? :)

God is so good that He gives us fulfilling works to do for the willing – I strongly encourage you too to be willing! Working with children is hugely rewarding and will teach you to have child-like faith as they do!

Luke 18:16 - "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy … Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."

Times Are Changing…

2009-06-29T11:45:00.001-07:00

Wow, it has been over a year since I wrote anything here and much has changed…

To begin the year, the family and I returned from visiting Carrie’s folks in Wisconsin to find out that Sun (my employer at the time) was gearing up for yet another set of layoffs. This one was going to be bad for us (those of us who came to Sun via the acquisition of SeeBeyond). Sun decided to defocus on the SOA and Integration technologies that we are all very passionate about. Meaning that, most of us were being let go.

To be honest, it was time. Sun had really defocused us long before they communicated it to us. Personally, I was heading up the RFID, the B2B, and MDM engineering teams. We had to cut the RFID technology and most of the team last year and stopped all but a few efforts around the B2B space. So, needless to say, I was not feeling like I was contributing all that much.

After I learned that I was “effected”, I found out my long time friend and colleague Gevik was also going to be out of a job. Both Gev and I had always talked about starting our own business. So, we took the opportunity and started RedSeal Solutions. We worked hard trying to make it for four long and very fun months. However, with the economy in the state that it is in and the pending Oracle acquisition of Sun this summer, we had a hard start!

We decided to hit the “pause” button on that and start the painful search for a full-time job. Wow, what a hard market. I haven’t had to cold-interview for over 20 years and had forgotten how painful it is to have to talk about yourself! Anyway, this is ongoing now and I have a lot of friends helping (and praying for) me!

So, now we’re up to today. Being out of work puts a huge amount of stress on me and subsequently my family. I am trying to be sensitive to this, but it is making home life stressful.

One of the positives about not having a hard schedule is that I am able to go with the COD High School Team down to Tecate and help mentor them and minister to our friends at a church down there. I’ll write about this when I return.

Berkman Photography

2008-01-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

I finally had some time over the Christmas and New Years holidays to get my hobby to at least look like more of a business - Berkman Photography.

I've always loved photography. I first started back before digital when I was in junior high school where I took my first "darkroom" class. Yes, this was back when you had to actually develop the film :)... I've also done some videography (is that a word?) - a couple of weddings. This video passion started when I got to help a good friend/brother of mine Mark do the 90th anniversary video for our church (C.O.D.).

Anyway, I've gotten mixed advice from friends and family - "you should absolutely start a business around your hobby and passion"... all the way to "no, don't do it - your passion will become your nightmare"... anyway, I took the first one :)...

Have a look around and let me know what you think:

Berkman Photography's web site

Thanksgiving Club 2007

2007-11-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

This year it was up to Oregon to visit our friends the Fairbrother's and to attend the Cannon Beach Thanksgiving Christian Conference (http://www.cbcc.net/).

The McCune's came up from Texas and met us at the airport, we then drove to Sun River and stayed with the Fairbrother's.

The Bock's joined us on Saturday - now a full house!

We all had a great time there! We went to visit Loy and Dian Wiggers at their church in La Pine.

On Wednesday, we traveled to Cannon Beach. On our way there, we stopped in Tillamook to see the Cheese factory - funny enough, they had GREAT ICE CREAM!!!

We then got to Cannon Beach where we met up with most of the Underwood clan and Norm and Patti Anderson! Now we're ready for Thanksgiving!

The conference was GREAT! Pastor Ed spoke on the "Whenever Psalms". Cannon Beach Conference Center had a HUGE spread for Thanksgiving with all the fix'ens!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous!

It was a great blessing that we were able to all get together! There are more pictures at:

http://www.berkmans.net/Pictures/Holidays/Thanksgiving/Thanksgiving2007/Pics.htm

Next year is in California!!!

Sweet Victory - Saints

2007-10-13T19:49:00.001-07:00

My son Adam didn't get to play in this one - this was a big one and only the first-string got in - but, the entire San Dimas High is cellebrating this one.

San Dimas Saint won the "Smudge Pot" against rivals Bonita High.

It was very "cute" - the Cheer Squad went and "borrowed" the team's away jerseys for the game... #30 is Adam's!

San Dimas' principal was very happy too! By the way, a "smudge pot" is what she is holding and is used in agriculture to prevent fruits and vegetables from freezing.

Purity and Accountability

2007-10-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

I am presenting some technical solutions around the Internet and our kids this Saturday at our C.O.D. Men's Breakfast.

It has been interesting doing research and remembering what I did with my kids. Unfortunately, I found I missed a lot with them! So, I have some work to do as well.

So, I've put together a presenation and the software that came out of my research over the past couple of weeks. You can review it on my website: http://www.berkmans.net/accountability/

so far, the "winners" in the software area are Safe Eyes for internet filtering and tracking; and X3 Watch for accountability. Both of these are installed on the computers in your home.

I hope you find these useful. I will update them if I find better software or other items that are of interest.

So Far, Perfection 5-0!

2007-10-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

My son's school (San Dimas - Saints) are on their way to a perfect season. the latest (and sweetest) win was against their rivals (Bonita Bearcats). It was a great game and the team played very well...

the "other" Football

2007-09-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ryan, my younger son, is still dedicated to soccer - he absolutely loves it! this is from the playoffs back in June at Huntington Beach - AYSO. Ryan usually plays mid-field, but is a generalist and has fun playing pretty much any position.

San Dimas Saints - So Far, Perfection 4-0!

2007-09-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

My eldest son, Adam, is a sophmore at San Dimas High. He is playing JV and Varsity. The picture above is him kicking (#17) in the latest JV game - he gets a lot more playing time in JV currently.

this is his first year playing American Football. up until this year, he has been completely focused on soccer (the "other" football) and is a fantastic goalie. But, the fan-fare (especially the girls) and the competiveness of American football pulled him away.

The San Dimas Saint - both JV and Varsity - are currently 4-0 -- on their way to perfection!

Hello!

2007-09-27T09:53:00.001-07:00

so, this is me! I currently work for Sun Microsystems leading software engineering teams in our SOA/Business Integration organization.

Prior, I worked for SeeBeyond which Sun Acquired in 2005. Sun has proven to be challenging. it is very much like a huge startup. lots of ideas flowing with process.... an interesting combination when you try and pick up the pace...

My family and I go to a fantastic Christian church in Glendora - the historic Church of the Open Door. COD used to be down in Los Angeles and moved to Glendora in 1985 up "on the hillside". it is an awesome community of believers!

this is my first time "blogging", so as I think of ideas to write about I will. please comment as I'm trying to understand how to make this valuable to others!