I am still trying to process my experience in Ethiopia. It was so profound that I can barely articulate it. It has been a true shift in my worldview. As I have thought about this, I have realized that “I need Africa more than Africa needs me.” This has been beautifully depicted in this video:

I would be grateful if you would consider sponsoring a child from Ethiopia. For $35.00 (U.S.) a month, you can make a huge difference. You may not be able to change the world, but you could completely change the world for one child. In fact, as we witnessed first-hand, child sponsorship has an impact far beyond the life of one child.

A few weeks ago, Gail and I visited Ethiopia as guests of World Vision. This was our very first trip to Africa. Although we Twittered about the experience in real time, words can barely describe the incredible shift that took place in our thinking. It has profoundly affected us.

I hope to say more in another blog post or two. However, for now I think a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are some pictures that Gail and I took with our little Sony Cyber-shot camera. It will give you a feel for what we experienced.

My wife, Gail, and I are in Ethiopia this week with World Vision, the largest non-government humanitarian organization in the world. They specialize in “sponsoring children” in developing countries.

Their work is truly amazing. We are traveling with Max Lucado and his wife, Denalyn; Rich Stearns, CEO of World Vision and his wife, Renee; Mary Graham, head of Women of Faith; and a few others.

You can’t listen to the news for five minutes without hearing a story about the Swine Flu. It is amazing at how this has taken center stage in just a few weeks. By the sound of things, you would think we are on the edge of a pandemic, not unlike what Stephen King described in his novel, The Stand.

In times like these, it is important to maintain perspective. I did a quick search on Google and found the leading causes of death in the U.S. The most recent data I could find were from 2004. These are the annual numbers:

At Thomas Nelson we use Microsoft Outlook for Windows and Microsoft Entourage for Mac. They are connected to our Microsoft Exchange Server. This setup has been our corporate standard for years.

I have used Entourage since I converted to the Mac about four years ago. However, I have had some calendar issues, and I am tired of the clunky user interface. I was using Entourage for both my corporate and personal email.

Indulge me. Today is Valentine’s Day. At the Hyatt household it is the third most important holiday of the year, right after Easter and Christmas.

Two years ago, I ran the Country Music Half Marathon for the first time. Sixty-five of my colleagues from Thomas Nelson ran with me (about 10% of our workforce at the time). It was such a great experience that we did it again in 2007. Last year, we doubled the number of participants—135 finished the race (about 20% of our workforce).

Well, we want to do it again this year. My goal is for 150 of our Thomas Nelson employees to run the half marathon this year. This represents about 25% of our post lay-off workforce. I don’t know about you, but after the holidays, I am feeling more motivated than ever to get myself in shape.

I’m tired of the relentless torrent of bad news coming from the media. I feel like I am stuck in a recession version of Ground Hog Day. The names and places change with each story, but underneath the veneer, it’s the same story-line:

The list I posted yesterday was so popular, I thought I’d post a few more items from the original one. So by popular demand, here they are:

Thank God there is a filter in place between my brain and my mouth. If I said everything I thought, I would be in constant trouble.

Yesterday, while cleaning out my closet, I stumbled across an article I had saved. It is called “Things You’d Love to Say at Work But Can’t.” It had thirty-eight items. Here are the first ten: