Wait…being removed from the garden of Eden might actually have been the bigger blessing?

Genesis 3:22-23

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

I’ve been struggling lately with my faith. Not that I don’t believe in Christ, but knowing that my relationship with God hasn’t been what it should.

While cruising Instagram today I stumbled across this little gem that sparked my curiousity.

Item #1Behold, the man is become as one of us

I think this is the earliest reference to a 3 part God (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), but also demonstrates the collaboration of the 3?

Item #2 – Was it a punishment? Or a blessing to be removed from the garden of eden?

I grew up believing that humanity was punished from Eden for eating from the tree of good an evil…but that might not actually be the main reason. Because we have free will and sinned, God was afraid that we might also eat from the tree of life, and thus live forever…

…and here is the mind blower.

If Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of life, humanity would forever live a hopeless unending existence, separated from God. Jesus as a human descendant of Adam and Eve couldn’t die on the cross, and our sins forgiven.

Right from the moment we sinned, God had a plan to redeem all of us.

#mindbown

A Sense Belonging?

I have almost always worked for a company that I almost instantly fit into. I’ve been very fortunate with my workplace history. Despite being in IT and being profoundly private, I enjoy getting to know the people that I work with. I loved my boss, and my co-workers within the greater team, and even a bunch of people outside those work boundaries.

I was incredibly comfortable in my career, and had gone out of my way to learn the unique facets of the concrete industry (including Gypsum operations, RMX plants, and Aggregate pit operations). I even got to push the button and blow dirt up. I travelled around the world for my company…doing things that were uniquely me.

I assisted with safety audits throughout Canada, and the USA. I worked with and trained our after-hours support team in India (reducing incidents in a huge way). I travelled to Brazil, to make suggestions as to how to integrate their operations into our support package. I worked with the business teams, as well as the software vendors, ensuring that our quality applications were working as expected and were being developed to our specifications.

I was “the guy” that did anything and everything it took for the Quality teams.

I felt invulnerable…which is why it shook me to my very core when I was WFR’d (work force reduced).

After the announcement, they kept most of us busy training our replacements, and ensuring that the work we did would carry on. It was…profoundly difficult. I loved the work, and I have always enjoyed training people…it was great to do one last time, before I began the next phase of my career.

Because who knows what the future holds…right?

For me personally, the moment I stopped working, I felt a sense of urgency to provide for my family.

I began talking with a local employer that sounded promising. They were a Microsoft Service Provider, providing services to businesses in and around the area that I lived in. So I was quite pleased when they indicated that they were interested in working with me based on experience etc. While I had worked with AWS previously, they were heavily embedded with Microsoft and I was clear with them what I had, and had not done previously…but was eager to learn.

It was like going back to where I started…Which is when I learned a very important life lesson.

Just because you speak the same “nerdspeak” as others, doesn’t mean that you belong, or are part of the team.

I listened and learned what I wanted to learn. Ultimately it didn’t work out…while I had a cursory friendship with one of the guys, the reality is that I was twice their age, didn’t smoke, and generally didn’t fit in.

I was a puzzle piece that didn’t fit. I was…embarrassed, and incredibly frustrated.

Which is when I learned that a company that I had previously worked with as a vendor was actually looking for me specifically and wanted to chat. They had learned that I had been released, and were curious about whether or not I would be interested in working for them…

I was a puzzle piece that appeared to fit.

Two years in, I am more relaxed, working at home, with friends and colleagues. Only time will tell if I’m the right piece for this puzzle, but at the moment…it looks like I fit well, and the puzzle image is starting to appear.

So take my advice, if you feel like a puzzle piece that just doesn’t belong, perhaps you are just in the wrong puzzle.

Why Experts Get Paid More

A cruise line spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new highly efficient cruise ship. Everything tested fine and the ship was launched successfully, on budget, and on schedule.


On its maiden voyage, its engine failed. The brand new crew ran through their basic tests, searched manuals, but were unable to fix it themselves.
The ship’s owners tried one ‘professional’ after another but none of them could figure out how to fix the broken engine.

They brought in a local shipwright. He was an older man, had grown up on the docks, and had been fixing ships for as long as people could remember. He carried a small bag of tools with him, and when he arrived on board he immediately went to work.

He quietly inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.
Two of the ship’s owners quietly watched the man, hoping he would know what to do. But as time dragged on, they didn’t think it was looking good as they noticed the man quietly speaking to himself as item after item checked as “being ok”.

After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something on the side of the control panel, and instantly the engine lurched into life.

He carefully put his hammer away, the engine running properly.A week later, the owners received an invoice from the old man for $50,000.
Stunned with the amount of money, the owners asked the shipwright to provide an itemized invoice.

The man responded with an invoice that read:
Tapping with a hammer – $2.00,Knowing where to tap – $49,998.00

Experience, and knowing where to direct that effort makes all the difference in the world.

…and now the news.

Perhaps something to think about.

What source of news is actually legitimate anymore? With companies like the CBC and CNN sitting so far “left”, and other outlets like FOX sitting so far “right”. When there are only the extremes…it would make sense that the truth is somewhere in the middle.

So…who covers the middle. Who covers, and provides the truth?

If we as a society can’t figure that out….How can a “news aggregator company” like Facebook, Twitter, or Google source legitimate news without being politically unbiased.

I don’t think it’s possible.