Debriefing: Obsess 2010 and the CFA Exam

I returned home around 3:30 AM from the weekend at the CBS campus in Arkansas where I spent a long weekend at Obsess, a camp/retreat weekend for girls 13-16 years of age. More later. Just this: it was one of the most encouraging times of my life--except for the trials of threading our way through the Ozarks in a boat of a vehicle--with Google Maps, Mapquest, and a GPS all conspiring to confuse us royally. Old-fashioned, well-thumbed Rand-McNally Road Atlas to the rescue.

On the way home Lois and I decided the trip itself was our "Initiative"--the word used at Obsess to describe the sometimes-grueling and character-building group activities that the girls participated in. With some good advice from a number of different people and many prayers along the way, the trip home went much better than the trip to CBS.

I think it's safe to say that everyone that was at Obsess 2010 will, for the rest of their life, regard it as a highpoint in their walk with God. For many it was a beginning. For others, it was a significant time of reflection and reordering of priorities and commitment to faithful discipleship. For all of us, it was an amazing demonstration of the Holy Spirit's work in response to intercessory prayer. The passion and investment on the part of those who planned the event and the staff who carried out the plans were important to the success of the project as well. Humility before God was evident all around, as was a realization that people's best efforts don't amount to much, apart from the blessing of God.

I was so proud of the girls who went with us from here, and am deeply respectful of their sincere and appropriate responses to what God had done. I think you would hardly believe what we saw and heard on our way home with them. There was much singing and prayer and reading aloud of Scripture to each other, along with some needed girl-to-girl challenging of perceptions that might take them off course--prayers on the spot for whoever was struggling, thinking about others who God might be calling to Himself and commitment to pray for them, gratitude for the people who prayed for them during the weekend, a plan for accountability, a wish to share with others what had happened in their hearts--I can't imagine what more anyone might have wanted to come from the time together.

Today we all love God and want to walk with him in a way we could not have imagined less than a week ago when we piled 12 of ourselves and our stuff into that 12-passenger van to head for the hills of Arkansas.

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Not all was serious and sanctimonious on the way home, as the girls could vouch for after witnessing several serious giggling fits Lois and I experienced--the kind that are really best shared with a sister. Sisters are the most satisfying of all giggling partners. It's a little embarrassing to admit that the girls prayed and the ladies giggled, but that's at least partly how it was.

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Joel got his CFA exam results this morning. He is now officially qualified to be awarded a Chartered Financial Analyst charter, and the formalities will likely soon be taken care of.

I've occasionally posted information about the grueling steps in the three-year process on the way to this milestone--three years, post-graduate, being the minimum number of years in which it can possibly be done. Four years of approved work experience in the financial sector are also required, as is being a member of the CFA Institute, and signing their ethics pledge. For him, the annual opportunity to sit for the exam has always come at the end of a schedule crisis--twice, shortly after a return from a stint in Bangladesh, and once after his own wedding. This year, the time between the return from Bangladesh and the exam in June was filled with more traveling, a family wedding on Hilda's side, a move to a new home, and I forget what all else.

We're all really happy that this demand on his time commitments is behind him. Perhaps it will become more evident as time goes on how this can fit into the plans God has for his life. For now, he is involved in several charitable and non-profit organizations where these skills are being put to use--on the Mennonite Manor board, a local wind energy organization, and as the administrator of Kansas Brotherhood Financial--a church-based plan for sharing with each other monetarily. He could, under the right conditions, also, with the charter as one step to approval, legally give financial advice and require payment for his services. Working as an independent financial adviser would involve procedures beyond that which would qualify him to work as a representative for an existing investment company, for example.

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I'm off to school now to work on getting ready for the work night there tonight and the start of school on Friday. For now, no more time to emote and remember. Back into the harness . . . .