NAME: Mark Ham
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF:
Hello, my name is Mark Ham. I’m turning 50 again in August. I was born and raised in Michigan, lived in the DC area for a dozen years, and I now live in Pennsylvania, just across the line from Newark, DE and Elkton, MD. Andrea and I share our home with a dog, two cats, a school of fish, and the occasional guest. One week last summer a local church housed 16 teenagers with us. At least I think it was 16. I’m not sure I ever got an accurate head count.
I wear a number of different hats. I consult as a solution architect, professional engineer, and business developer. I’m a real estate investor. I’m involved in several ministries where I have a tendency to pastor pastors. And some hats just serve to replace the plentiful hair that once covered my head.
WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A CLEAN HOUSE OR A CLEAN CAR?
I appreciate both. If you are offering, feel free to clean either. But I would have to say a clean house. A clean house makes my wife happy. Happy wife = happy life.
IF YOU HAD YOUR OWN PERSONAL “MOTTO,” WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. From 1 Corinthians 13:12, this concept has served me well in so many areas of my life including engineering. It helps me to recognize the boundaries and certainty of what I know and, perhaps more importantly, make allowances for that which I do not yet know.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR 25 YEAR OLD SELF?
I am not yet wise enough to know what advice I would give my 25 year old self. The very thing I might choose to effect a change in might cause me to take a path away from where I need to be, to not experience a part of the journey God has for me.
FEAR CAN SEEM LIKE AN INSURMOUNTABLE ADVERSARY. SHARE WITH US SOME STRATEGIES THAT YOU USE TO CONFRONT FEAR.
I try to identify the source of the fear. Is the fear based in wisdom, a perception of an experience, shame, or a lie of the enemy? It may be wisdom not to climb a ladder when the ground is soft. Or am I perfectly capable of safely using a ladder in this situation and I need to set my reluctance aside long enough to do it.
FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO LIVE A VICTORIOUS LIFE?
Good question. Still working on that. Some days it seems like there is always one more thing to overcome, like the layers of an onion. Other days I look around at my life and cry out “Thank you, Lord!” in appreciation for the life I have been given. Maybe that is it. Perhaps living the victorious life is recognizing and appreciating where I am, the life I have, focusing on God and those He has placed around me. Choosing not to focus on circumstances, accusations, and self.
OFTEN TIMES WE ALLOW FAILURE TO DISTORT OUR VIEW OF OURSELVES. CAN YOU SHARE HOW YOU FEEL FAILURE IS SOMETHING WE CAN LEARN FROM?
It is so easy for failure, even just falling short of expectations, to overshadow success. The question, as with so many things in life, is not what happens to us but how we respond. Am I going to look for the constructive lessons to be learned from an experience or am I going to look for the shortfalls, shortcomings, and lack?
YOU HAVE SAT UNDER MY MOM’S (DR. MELODYE HILTON) TEACHING FOR MANY YEARS. WHAT IS ONE TRUTH THAT SHAPED YOUR THINKING SO THAT YOU COULD BECOME A MORE EFFECTIVE LEADER?
The first time I experienced Dr. Melodye Hilton’s teaching was in a secular work setting not quite three years ago. I appreciate how she uses current scientific understanding to reinforce biblical concepts, whether she is in a venue that permits the explicit quotation of the foundational scripture or not.
Her teaching gives voice, vocabulary, and clarity to leadership concepts I previously only saw dimly, as in a mirror. I think that it is this organized presentation of truths that has shaped my thinking the most, helping me to effectively lead myself that I might lead others.
IF YOU WERE SPEAKING TO A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim…freedom to the captives” from Isaiah 61 … or whatever else the Spirit of the Lord might lead me to say to the audience.
For one audience, the readers of a forthcoming book, I echo the cry of the masses gathered in Timisoara while overthrowing the yoke of oppression, “God Exists!”
IF YOUR LIFE HAD A THEME SONG, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Can I select a medley or a song not yet written? First Song That I Sing by Sara Groves may not be a theme song but it addresses a cry of my heart. As does You Said by Hillsong and All About Love by Rick Muchow. Music is a very important facet of my personal and corporate worship.
WOULD YOU RATHER SLAY A DRAGON OR RIDE A DRAGON?
I would rather banish the dragon. It takes a lot less energy and can be just as effective as slaying it in my experience. Riding the dragon just leads to trouble.
THANKS FOR GIVING US A GLIMPSE INTO YOUR LIFE AND HOW YOU DO PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.