Alexis - A Future South Hills Graduate



Alexis - Administrative Professional Graduate  Sept. 2017

While waiting outside the door where my 8 o’clock class would start, I recognized someone who was walking down the hallway toward me. Alexis was carrying her blue graduation gown and was on her way to have her picture taken with her fellow-students who will graduate from South Hills in September 2018.

Alexis is also one of the South Hills Student Ambassadors who organized groups of student visitors to take them to different classes where they could sit in while the classes were in session. I first met Alexis in the fall of 2015 when I was auditing courses at South Hills. When the “Day at the Hills” arrived that term, she encouraged me to attend a customer service class and an accounting class. She was a student in both classes, so I followed her. Both classes are in the Administrative Professional Program which is the program in which Alexis will receive her degree.

When I became a full-time student in the Administrative Professional Program in August 2016, I joined the Student Ambassador Club. On the “Day at the Hills,” I was able to work alongside Alexis who was always busy helping someone. It’s just her nature. She always had a smile for everyone.

Alexis lives near Belleville and would drive the back roads to South Hills, even in the wintertime. In addition to being a full-time student, she is always busy at home helping her mother and father with their work. She is doing her summer internship at Strawberry Fields, Inc., in State College, PA.

I will miss seeing her around school because she has been such an inspiration to all of us.

Congratulations, Alexis, on achieving your Administrative Professional Degree at South Hills! All the best to you in the future!

Determination

Determination

Rev. Karen Weiss at Woodycrest UMC, July 30, 2017

Rev. Karen Weiss talked about “Determination” in the continued series of sermons “Dog Days of Summer” in this morning’s service.

Our scripture reading was from Genesis 29:15-28.  

Our regular pastor, Pastor Renee Ford, is recovering from shoulder surgery.

 When we are determined to accomplish something, are our motives pure or selfish? Let’s look at four people, Jacob, Laban, Leah, and Rachel, in the above Genesis scripture. As we learned from an earlier sermon, Esau’s birthright was stolen by Jacob who had to leave his homeland to avoid being killed by Esau. Jacob traveled to Laban's home, a relative who lived 500 miles from Jacob’s home, and offered to work for him.

Laban asked Jacob what he should pay him for his work, and Jacob replied that he would like to marry Rachel, Laban’s second daughter, who was beautiful. Laban agreed to give Rachel to Jacob after he completed seven years of work. The seven years went by quickly for Jacob, and Laban planned the wedding to be held at night in order to trick Jacob.  He gave his older daughter, Leah, rather than Rachel to be married to Jacob.

Leah had poor eyesight and was not as attractive as Rachel, so Laban felt no one would ask for her hand in marriage and tricked Jacob into marrying her. The morning after the wedding, Jacob realized what happened and asked Laban to give him Rachel, as he had promised, but Laban said that Jacob would have to work another seven years. Jacob agreed to work another seven years for Rachel’s hand.

As we can see, Jacob was a determined man. He had the patience to steal Esau’s birthright when Esau was at his lowest, and he was willing to work for 14 years to marry Rachel. Laban was a determined man, too.  And we don’t know if Leah was in on her dad’s plot to marry her, rather than Rachel, to Jacob.  It seems she could be because the first daughter is married first, so she may have turned down offers of marriage which we don’t know. These are examples of determination driven by unhealthy thoughts.

How can we use determination for the betterment of the world without hurting someone else? Our motivations count because God sees our heart.

Rev. Weiss encourages us to pray to God for direction to help us know if our desires are pure or selfish.

Rev. Karen Weiss is an ordained deacon in the UMC and provides spiritual direction through Water Works Ministries. She has a Masters of Religion, Spiritual Formation, 2013, from Evangelical Seminary, and a BS, Environmental Systems Engineering, 2001, from Penn State. She has travelled as a ministry volunteer three times to Thailand, one time to Mongolia, and various times around the United States.

Sacrificial Love

Pastor Renee Ford and Cassandra Lyon, a Penn State Graduate

With the theme on loyalty this morning, Pastor Renee Ford continued her summer sermon series on the "Dog Days of Summer," and how it ties in with our scripture reading from Ruth 1:6-18. In this reading, Ruth shows her loyalty to Naomi, her mother-in-law, by staying by her side regardless of the consequences for Ruth.

Dogs also display loyalty regardless of the consequences. Zander, a white dog, travelled two miles through heavy traffic to the hospital where his owner was a patient. Pastor Renee shared how her own dog would travel to her school each day to watch for her and then travel back to where she would get off the bus after school. Incredible loyalty. She said there are countless stories about dogs’ loyalty that could fill volumes.

As we can see from the stories above, dogs will take incredible risks for their owners out of love. Ruth knew that Naomi needed someone to take care of her, so, out of love, she took incredible risks to stay by Naomi’s side.

Another moral to these stories is that often our richest treasures result from our faith journeys. We need each other more than anything else. Our lesson is not what we have that matters, but who we have. Picture God’s love for us.

This week, Pastor Renee would like us to follow Ruth’s example when someone needs our care.

Pastor Renee Ford is the pastor for Grays United Methodist Church, Houserville House of Hope, and Woodycrest United Methodist Church. She is also an Instructional Designer for the Department of eLearning Design and Innovation Group in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State.

"Sweet Beulah Land"

For our special music this morning, Pastor Renee Ford sang a song “Sweet Beulah Land.” Pastor Renee recently officiated a funeral for a lady who requested this song be sung at her funeral.

Pastor Renee said she has been thinking about the words since the funeral and wanted to share with us this morning.

 

The words are beautiful and touching. The song was written and composed by Squire Parsons in 1973.

 

 Listen to Carroll Robinson sing the song.

 “Sweet Beulah Land”

I'm kind of homesick for a country
To which I've never been before.
No sad goodbyes will there be spoken
For time won't matter anymore.

I'm looking now, just across the river
To where my faith, shall end in sight (Shall end in sight)
There's just a few more days to labor.
Then I will take my heavenly flight.

Chorus:

Beulah Land (Beulah Land) I'm longing for you (I'm longing for you)
And some day (And some day) on thee I'll stand (Someday we will stand)
There my home (There my home) shall be eternal (Eternal)
Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land

Pastor Renee Ford is the pastor for Grays United Methodist Church, Houserville House of Hope, and Woodycrest United Methodist Church. She is also an Instructional Designer for the Department of eLearning Design and Innovation Group in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State.



Beautiful Skies Bring Back Childhood Memories

These unusual cloud formations are so beautiful that I wanted to share them with you.

I was sitting on my deck this evening, thinking about the day, and became caught up in the beautiful sky all around me.

While taking the pictures, I started thinking about my Mother when I was a child and we lived on the farm in West Virginia.

Sunsets then meant the day was over, the chores were done outside, and we would be inside preparing to go to bed  (we were asleep before 9 p.m.).


To enjoy a sunset today has become a rare thing for many of us.

Our lives have become so busy that we don't have the time to take a moment to soak in the beauty of a sunset or even look up at the sky, except when we are driving.

Here are seven reasons for taking time to enjoy the sunset.

Enjoy and thank you for listening.

Have a great week!

Conflict and Struggle

Darien Parker, Pastor Renee Ford, Mary Bunge

This morning’s message was about conflict and struggle. In Genesis 25: 19-34, Esau gave his brother, Jacob, his birthright for a cup of red lentil soup.

In the story, Isaac and Rebekah were married 20 years before Rebekah gave birth to twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Esau was born first, all red and hairy, and Jacob, clinging to Esau’s heel, was born second. As Rebekah carried the twins, they wrestled in her womb, like two disagreeing nations. Esau became a skilled hunter and Jacob was a quiet man who stayed close to the tents.

One day, Esau came back to the tents and was exhausted from hunting. He said he was so hungry he would do anything for a bowl of red lentel soup that Jacob had been preparing. Jacob, seeing that Esau would do anything to satisfy his hunger, told Esau he would give him a bowl of red lentil soup if Esau would give him his birthright. Esau, who was famished and felt near death, agreed to give Jacob his birthright. The birthright meant that Jacob would become the leader of the family and receive twice as much inheritance.

This story helps me understand that all conflicts and struggles may not have immediate solutions, but my choices may make the outcomes different.  I am grateful for my family, my church family, and my friends for their support and friendship. 

Thank someone who has blessed you.

Have a great week.

Pastor Renee Ford is the pastor for Grays United Methodist Church, Houserville House of Hope, and Woodycrest United Methodist Church. She is also an Instructional Designer for the Department of eLearning Design and Innovation Group in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State.
 

 

The Smile of a Happy Dog

Mark and Suuki

Even dogs smile as you can see in this picture of our son, Mark, and our grand dog, Suuki. They let me take their picture when they stopped by in October 2014.  You can see her smile and the strength in her legs as she braces herself against Mark's knees.

Suuki is a rescue dog and is still shy around others even though she has been in our family for several years. She loves to ride in the car and stand on her hind legs and look out the window.

She loves to go hiking in the mountains. Even though she is a small dog, she has no trouble hiking up mountain trails. She loves to go in the water when she is near the stream because her little belly gets hot and the water cools her.

Her Grandpa calls her the "Great Suuk."

A Welcomed Surprise Visit

Tammy and Stephany

Have you had someone turn up at the "right" moment?

On Thursday, just before noon, Tammy and I were working on Advanced Word assignments  in Room 12 at South Hills when we noticed our classroom door open slowly. We saw a welcomed face with a big smile--Stephany.

It has been a month since we last saw Stephany, who is working a summer internship, while Tammy and I are attending summer term at South Hills.


Stephany was her bubbly-self, full of wisdom, with lots of good ideas about school. She truly made our day.

Thank you, Stephany, for taking your lunch hour to stop by. Have a wonderful summer!

You Are Never Alone

Pastor Renee Ford -Woodycrest United Methodist Church

In this morning’s message, Pastor Renee shared how dogs play hard but rest hard, too. Kids are the same way. We need to rest, too, but sometimes, it doesn’t seem very easy to do. We may feel we have a burden we are carrying, feeling like we can’t carry it any more. We are bad at resting and letting go, bad at the concept of resting our souls. We feel like we are all alone, bearing what is heavy on our hearts.

Matthew 11:28-30 states “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Yoke

Matthew uses the image of the yoke to help people understand what it is like to follow Jesus, and when we say yes to Jesus, we will be stronger.

Our church has a  prayer chain where anyone can call (814) 238-1683  and request prayer. Because of our own grief, it can be hard to pray, but others will pray for us when they know we need prayer. Resting in the faith of others can help give us peace in our hearts.

Pastor Renee Ford is the pastor for Grays United Methodist Church, Houserville House of Hope, and Woodycrest United Methodist Church. She is also an Instructional Designer for the Department of eLearning Design and Innovation Group in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State.

 

Happy Memories of July 4th

Larry, Kate, Suuki, Mark

It’s always fun to see the smiling faces of our son, Mark, and Kate, our daughter-in-law. And especially, our grand dog, Suuki. We joined them at their 4^th of July outing in Spring Creek Park to share in their fun.

When we arrived, Kate and Suuki were down at the creek where Suuki was having a good time wading in the water. Her little belly always feels hot during the summer, so she enjoys sitting in the water to cool off.

When Suuki got out of the water, she was all excited when she saw us but she was a little unsure on what to do, so she ran to each of us and smelled and licked our hands. 

Then she hurried to Mark’s feet and started looking up at him, with a begging look in her eyes for him to pick her up.


As you can see in the picture, she feels secure under Mark’s arm. You can see a smile on her face, too.

Our attention is focused on Suuki in the picture. She brings so much joy to our lives.

Nate - A Student with Many Talents

Nate -Management 101

Nate is a fellow-student in our Administrative Professional (AP) Program at South Hills School of Business & Technology. Nate has an amazing sense of humor, is nice to everyone, came up with word definitions in English when no one else could, and could talk off the top of his head while making presentations or participating in class skits.



Nate Captivating His Class With Humor
 

These pictures show Nate standing in front of our Management 101 class in the Fall Term of 2016.  Mr. Gates, our management teacher, would have us explain our understanding of a question at the end of each chapter after much discussion of each chapter in class. As you can see, Nate seems very happy to share his ideas to us. These pictures were taken October 12, 2016.

Another funny time earlier in Management 101, Mr. Gates created a skit that involved a ship with a captain and crew members who demonstrated different types of leadership. Mr. Gates made Nate the captain and the rest of our class was his team. Mr. Gates would ask Nate leadership questions and Nate would answer using nautical language. It was captivating to listen to their conversation back and forth. We felt as though we were truly out in the frightening ocean with our captain making hard decisions that would affect our lives. Also interesting was Nate's command of the nautical language.

A video would have been nice to remember a time in a customer service class where Nate could have been captured while he hilariously played the part of someone waiting to be interviewed for a job. The whole class was in stitches as he played out the role. While the interviewer tried to come up with questions, Nate continued his role with funny questions and answers.

Nate loves cars and could talk about any car problem you asked him. To get to school, Nate would walk or take the bus. He wanted to pay for his own car and waited until that was possible. One day, I was driving into State College via North Atherton Street and heard a horn honk. I looked to my left and saw Nate waving  as he sat behind the wheel of a neat-looking white sports car. He looked so happy. He was finally able to find a car of his dreams.