If Oprah would just repent of her sins, be baptized in Jesus’ name and receive the Holy Ghost everything would be just dandy!

From: http://ping.fm/eKVeq

It is very important to have people in your corner who are trustworthy and honest. I want to take a few minutes to give a shout out to some amazing people!

Amanda Posey - Sometimes your honesty cuts me deep Shrek! What would I do without you? Geez BFF!
Dr. Jerrod Henderson - You honestly have the ear of God and I know whatever you tell me will be based on SCRIPTURE!
Shavante Austin - Can you believe how far we’ve come girl? Those LONG conversations where you let me say whatever I needed to say truly helped me.

Because of your prayers and encouragement I can see the light!

OK, now I must get back to work!
MUAH!

Thanks D for sending this to me!

“Two little lines I heard one day,Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgment seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill, living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife, Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. ”

So I went to see Inception last night. The movie was AMAZING. I have no idea how you could even begin to come up with the concept behind that movie…and let’s not even BEGIN to talk about the special effects!

The movie got me thinking though about dreams vs. reality. Have you ever been in a dream so deep that you woke up crying, screaming, or in a cold sweat? Have you ever thought of something so much that you began to think it was reality?

That happens a lot in relationships actually. Especially with women. I can admit to that. I won’t tell on myself here, but I will say that I used to think of the worse possible scenarios so often that I’d begin to think they were true! Not a good place to be people.

Has someone planted a thought in your mind? Are you living your life through someone elses dreams and hopes for you? That’s not a good spot to be in people.

Today I want us all to wake up and face reality. If you’re in a relationship that is going NOWHERE fast, stop imagining what could be some day. If you’ve interested in someone and waiting to see if they’ll ever notice you-wake up! People aren’t mind readers. You have to go after what you want in life.

If someone has planted an idea in your head that you don’t agree with, but you can’t seem to shake it, I want to know about it!

Also, if you haven’t seen Inception, go see it, then come back and tell me what you think:)

This morning I was struggling to get some prayer time in. I felt so drained! I thought my day was going to be unfruitful, but I decided to just change my mindset. Positive affirmation actually works people. No matter what happens today YOU CAN have a great day and be happy. We choose to let the things/people in life determine whether our day goes well or not. I can’t live like that. I can control my day just by deciding how I let the events that occur during my day affect me.

If someone cuts me off on the freeway it is my choice to either a) scream, yell, blow my horn, raise my blood pressure, or b) let the person cut me off, turn up my gospel music and praise God for preventing an accident.

Come on people…be happy! You’re alive! Make the most of today. At the end of the day I want to know how your day went overall.

Opportunities do not come with their values stamped upon them. To face every opportunity of life thoughtfully, and ask its meaning bravely and earnestly, is the only way to meet supreme opportunities when they come, whether open-faced or disguised.
-Maltbie D. Babcock

Define opportunity. What was the last “great” opportunity you stumbled upon? Are most of the opportunities you encounter disguised, or open-faced? How can you tell when opportunity is knocking and how quick are you at opening that door?

One of my struggles is knowing when GOD is giving me an opportunity versus when I’m going after whatever I want. It’s important to know God’s will for your life, but sometimes you may not know exactly what that is. How do you go on with day-to-day activities not knowing exactly what God’s will for your life is?

I’d love to discuss these questions…so let’s go!

(Excerpt taken from @Ford Online News to Know)

President Obama will attend a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday at a Holland, Mich., battery plant owned by Korea’s LG Chem in a visit that will put international news focus on alternative technologies and jobs. [President] Obama is working to reassure Americans he is focused on the economy, business investment and job growth. Ford announced this week that LG Chem’s Compact Power subsidiary will produce lithium-ion battery packs from cells for the 2011 Focus Electric debuting next year. GM is expected to be a part of the Thursday event because Compact Power also developed battery packs for the Volt.

If only I could get an invitation to that meeting!

I put a question out to my Ford Yammer network asking what books every Engineer should read (regardless of your major). I received some great suggestions. If you’ve read any of these books please leave a review!

-The Great Gatsby. Nothing to do with engineering, it’s just a good book. :) Or To Kill a Mockingbird (50th anniversary was in the news recently); same reason. The Mythical Man-Month is great. It’s about software development but the advice probably applies well to many disciplines.
-How to win friends and influence people:), the best engineers communicate best.
-To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (by Henry Petroski). This book explains how engineering design (usually using civil or structural engineering examples) evolves. In fact, it shows how designs continue to evolve over long periods of time and across projects and designers to the point of expand »failure. Designers and builders, in pursuit of lower cost, faster development, etc. continuously alter known good designs, but only slightly over the previous version, under assumptions that very small changes won’t introduce much risk. This incremental strategy works for a while, but eventually that last incremental “refinement” pushes the design over the threshold of failure. Example: bridge design evolving from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
-A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, et. al.
-The ZEUS Book
-Tracey Kidder’s “The Soul of a New Machine” and Don Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things”. I’d advocate Edward Tufte’s trilogy of books to anyone thinking of visual expanding representation in any way, and in a similar vein Richard Feynman’s ‘Six Easy Pieces’ audio tapes are a master class for those desiring to inspire or teach others (as well as for those who want to learn about the physical world around us).
-Ingenious Mechanisms for Designers and Inventors (4-Volume Set)
-Quality, Productivity and Competitive Position by W. Edwards Demming. Simple, experiential and thus very readable. Demming was a physicist turned statistician, who enabled U.S. to win WWII by improving quality of our military goods. After the war, U.S. was not interested in his lessons, but Japan invited him there, and he taught Japan quality.
-Another great reference book is the Bosch Automotive Handbook.

I am reading a great book given to me by Alan Mulally (President and CEO of Ford Motor Company) on the principles for achieving excellence in managing projects, teams, and organizations. There is a section in the book that talks about arousing passion in people. Allow me to give you a short excerpt:

“I got a bit upset about something at work, and my boss told me that I should leave my emotions outside when I came to work. Yet in the next breath, he wanted me to be motivated to do my job. What he overlooked is that emotion and motivated have a common root, Old French emouvoir, “stir up,” and Latin emovere, “move out” (Barnhart, 1995).”

So what do you think? Did the author make a valid point/comparison? Can you be motivated to do your job without showing emotion? When is it okay to display emotion in the work place? This calls for some good old fashion discussion…so let’s talk about it!

A good friend of mines from Morehouse College reminded me that I haven’t updated my blog in so long! Trust me I have not been neglecting you. There are so many changes happening in my life. Some of the changes I am super excited about-others make me want to cry. All in all God is good and I’m still standing!

I’ve been trying to get my life back in order. School has been kicking my butt! My personal life is like an emotional roller coaster! One thing that has been constant is God’s love for me. It’s the only thing that I can hold on to. The world will try to make you feel terrible and under such condemnation, but God is our judge and I want to encourage you to let go and let God! That’s what I’m learning to do.

I’ll be back soon…no more hiatus!
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Kari L. Brown offers mentoring to students and professionals struggling with success and maintaining a personal relationship with God. For more information visit www.karilbrown.com and follow @karilbrown on Twitter.